Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Lorraine occupied a somewhat awkward position within the Medici family.

Her mother, like Cecil's, hailed from a branch family. Recognized for her exceptional talent, she was designated by the previous family head as Sparti's fiancée. They married and had children who met the family's exacting standards. However, whether love played a part in this arranged marriage remained unknown.

Lorraine was born as a "replacement" for Cecil—a contingency plan in case the firstborn's aptitude proved insufficient. Their mother, tragically, succumbed to an incurable genetic disease shortly after Lorraine's birth. Fortunately, both children displayed remarkable potential: Cecil flawlessly inherited his father's S-Class Spiritual Power and the *Silver Moon Clematis* Spiritual State. In contrast, Lorraine's A-Class Spiritual Power seemed somewhat inferior, and she did not inherit her mother's *Mist Cloud Vine* Spiritual State, one of the three saints.

Yet, she was a girl—and a beautiful, high-born one at that.

In the original narrative, the Medici family sought to challenge the Oliver family's monopoly in alchemy through a strategic marriage alliance, a proposition the Oliver family viewed with ambivalence. Both families possessed ideal candidates for such a union: Lorca and Lorraine, both from the main lineage but not in line for inheritance.

Tragically, Lorca died too young. After his demise, the Medici family turned their attention to Ludwig. However, Ludwig was deeply enamored with the heroine, Alice, and harbored little affection for the Medici heiress, whom he had met only a handful of times—especially given that she was his romantic rival's younger sister.

The novel offered scant details about Lorraine, omitting even her alchemical prowess. The only significant portrayal depicted her attempt to instigate a family coup, which her brother suppressed, and her casual acquaintance with her future sister-in-law, Eve.

It was Lorraine who handled Eve's funeral arrangements after her death.

The world of the novel often operated on such simplistic principles: characters were roughly categorized into good and evil based on their relationships. The heroine embodied righteousness, while Eve, her adversary, represented villainy. Since Cecil adored the heroine, he naturally belonged to the righteous camp. Lorraine, by assisting Eve, was thus logically cast as a villain.

And justice triumphing over evil was presented as a natural, righteous, and inevitable outcome. Thus, Cecil effortlessly defeated Lorraine, who had been biding her time within the family for years.

Yet, from childhood, in the interactions between these siblings, it was always the younger sister, Lorraine, who endured the unfair treatment.

Hearing Eve's question, Lorraine seemed momentarily disoriented. Her eyelashes fluttered twice before she replied, "...I don’t know what you’re talking about."

She was the first to turn her head, avoiding Eve’s scrutinizing gaze. Only then did she notice a sharp intensity in the girl's eyes, a piercing quality that made her Spiritual State subtly ache.

Her awkward standing in the family was no secret, and the rift with her brother was a known fact. But when Eve deliberately brought it up under the guise of gratitude, Lorraine felt a pang of embarrassment. She attributed it directly to their differing origins.

*Since when do branch family members mock the main family?* she thought with a touch of displeasure.

Lorraine's voice turned cold again: "It’s late. If you have nothing else, you should head back and get some rest."

She tried to withdraw her hand from Eve’s grasp, tugging once or twice without success. Lorraine couldn’t help but feel annoyed. "Let go," she hissed in a low voice.

Eve, however, remained unmoved, her gaze fixed on Lorraine. "If you don’t want to talk about it, I won’t press. But I am genuinely grateful that you taught me the Cipher, and I truly want to learn alchemy—if I have more questions in the future, may I still come to you?"

This time, Lorraine remained silent for a long moment before softly replying, "Yes."

"You can find me in the evenings. If I’m not here, look for me in the alchemy classroom. I’m usually in one of those two places."

At other times, the Fourth Steward would accompany her. He was the Third Steward's younger brother, dispatched by the family head and the eldest young master to monitor her.

Although the Fourth Steward wouldn’t act against others without direct orders, Lorraine instinctively preferred he not encounter Eve.

Eve then offered a slight smile, gathered her textbook, and said, "Thank you, Lorraine. I hope we can get along well in the future."

Lorraine gave a soft "Mmm" in response. She watched Eve stand, bid her goodnight, and walk toward the door. Lorraine remained seated in silence for a while longer, but just as she was about to leave, she unexpectedly noticed faint scratches on the table—Alchemical Cipher.

One symbol meant "four," and the other, "incense."

What was this hint?

Lorraine’s eyebrows subtly furrowed. This could only have been left by Eve, but what did she mean?

***

The Fourth Steward had always aligned with Cecil, following his older brother, the Third Steward. Having read the original novel, Eve knew that from the day the Fourth Steward was assigned to Lorraine, he had secretly received Cecil’s orders to add substances harmful to the spiritual development of minors into the incense Lorraine most commonly used.

She didn’t dislike Lorraine and, moreover, wanted to cause some trouble for Cecil, so she didn’t mind revealing this to Lorraine.

After much deliberation, Eve concluded that the downgrade of Lorraine’s Spiritual State from the S-Class *Mist Cloud Vine* in the original story to an A-Class Sky Vine was undoubtedly due to Cecil’s years of poisoning her, regardless of any butterfly effect she might have caused.

Conversely, if the poisoning ceased, given Lorraine’s capabilities—having been lying low for years in the original story and gaining the support of more than half of the eight stewards to launch a rebellion—Eve believed she could restore her Spiritual State to S-Class within two years.

In the original story, even without anyone warning her, Lorraine eventually uncovered Cecil’s long-term poisoning.

The internal family struggles were silent yet fierce. Supporting Lorraine would inevitably impact Cecil’s standing. After all, this was the Interstellar Era, and societal views were quite progressive: girls could inherit, and boys could be sent off for marriage alliances.

For instance, the Cavendish family, one of the other four great families, had a young woman with an exceptionally high genetic level as their heir. Moreover, both the Cavendish and Medici families were among the four great houses more closely aligned with the royalist faction.

While the Oliver family's monopoly in alchemy was undeniably formidable, if an alliance proved impossible, the Medici family would likely not hesitate to strengthen ties with the Cavendish family instead.

It all hinged on which choice yielded greater benefits for the family.

Lorraine’s introverted nature, years of suppression by her father and brother, intentional or unintentional neglect within the family, and a lack of peers meant her only close connections were the few loyalists her mother had left her. However, these loyalists either defected to her brother Cecil, like the Fourth Steward, or had given up hope for her marriage destiny, interacting with her only formally. This left Lorraine with almost no one to confide in except the eager Dick, which allowed Eve to quickly approach her.

At the same time, this caused Lorraine to automatically maintain a certain emotional distance when interacting with others. This was why Eve dared to leave her a hint—Lorraine wouldn't question how Eve knew these things, nor would she discuss them with anyone else.

...To be honest, it was somewhat pitiful.

But this flicker of pity in Eve’s heart quickly vanished. As for using Lorraine, Eve felt no guilt.

At their core, the two were simply engaging in a mutually beneficial arrangement. Eve would help Lorraine restore her S-Class Spiritual State early, giving her a chance to compete with Cecil. In return, Eve would learn alchemy from Lorraine and form a temporary alliance.

Besides, was it so strange for two female antagonists to cooperate?

In the original story, Lorraine at least survived, while Eve almost had no one to collect her body. She was already in dire straits herself—how could she afford to help others?

Tomorrow, Eve would need to visit Lorraine again. She needed to obtain Chionanado’s manuscript collection, find the alchemical formula that could solve the Oliver family’s urgent problem, and then find an opportunity to visit.

This step, of course, couldn’t be done under the identity of Eve Medici. She would likely need to find an excuse to stay outside and create another identity. Obtaining the alchemical formula was only the first step of the plan. As for how to obtain the alchemist’s license without exposing her identity and then gain the attention of the Oliver family to incur a favor, each step required careful planning.

Lorca was a year older than her, with only one year left before his demise in the original story. If she wanted to start with him, Eve needed to plan early.

Really, time was always so insufficient.

As Eve pondered, she slowly made her way back to her residence. Grace and Dick had already gone to bed, and the room was pitch black. She reached out and turned on the ceiling light. The moment the light illuminated the living room, Eve’s gaze froze.

She stared at the scattered crystal fragments on the floor. Some pieces still bore dark golden patterns, while the silver base engraved with floral branches remained intact in the center of the table.

It hadn’t fallen off the table by itself—Eve quickly ruled out an accident. That left only the possibility that it was done by someone.

Who would want to shatter this suspicious crystal ball? Was it a spy Ludwig Oliver planted in the Medici family? Did Grace or someone else break it by accident? Or did someone else enter their residence?

There were no cameras in the residence. No matter how curious Eve was, she could only wait until Grace and the others woke up tomorrow morning to question them. She couldn’t help but feel grateful for her foresight in copying the Cipher from it beforehand.

—Speaking of which, since Lorraine was a Three-Star Grand Alchemist, she should be able to understand the Cipher on alchemical trinkets sold at counters, right?

Little did Eve know that, far on the other side of the capital planet, in the Oliver family, a brown-haired alchemist who had been guarding the crystal ball for nearly the entire night was now smugly requesting an audience with the second young master.

His perseverance had paid off. He had almost turned into a fool sitting in front of the crystal ball, but he actually managed to catch someone else using it—and not just anyone, but the young master of the Medici family. The alchemist had eavesdropped on two major pieces of information.

The first was just some useless gossip about the young master’s intended fiancée. The alchemist thought for a few minutes but couldn’t recall any noble lady on the capital planet by that name. She must have been selected from a branch family.

He curled his lip, uninterested.

But the second piece of information was astounding: the heir of the Medici family had been poisoning his own younger sister to diminish her Spiritual Power talent, all to consolidate his position and ensure she would obediently enter a marriage alliance.

Even an alchemist like him, who had done plenty of wicked deeds for Ludwig and never considered himself a good person, couldn't help but suck in a sharp breath.

This was no ordinary poison—toxins targeting mental energy were, without exception, extremely insidious, highly likely to leave lasting damage, turning into chronic conditions that gnaw away at the body for years to come.

What kind of bone-deep grudge could drive someone to do this?

After the rebellion, the Oliver Family had placed great emphasis on unity within the clan. Even someone as eccentric as Ludwig held genuine respect and affection for his elder brother. Even during the rebellion, when people resorted to poisoning, they did it swiftly and lethally—nothing as drawn-out and torturous as this.

Who would have thought that the seemingly proud Medici family would harbor such internal malice?

The alchemist felt nothing but contempt and disgust toward this.

How vile! It reeks!