Chapter 21…
He waved his large hand up and down in front of Cynthia’s face, as if to say, “Come on, pay up.”
His shameless and annoyed attitude made Cynthia finally lose her patience.
“Try using the Titronia flower!”
“What?”
“The Titronia flower! Add that elixir or whatever it is you’re so good at making! If you mix it this way and that way, don’t you think something might actually work?”
“You’re saying to use the Titronia flower for vision improvement?”
The man blinked in surprise, then awkwardly pulled up the corners of his lips.
“I thought you were a naïve young lady, but you know of a flower only specialists recognize. The Titronia flower has strong hallucinogenic effects. It’s usually used in… more secretive places.”
“I’m not talking about using it for something filthy like that!”
Cynthia stomped her feet in frustration. The man raised his thick eyebrows and looked down at her small feet.
“You’ve got quite a temper, huh?”
“The Titronia flower causes hallucinations because it releases a substance that confuses the nerves, right? So if you extract and use that property correctly, couldn’t it help stimulate damaged optic nerves?”
“That’s a reasonable thought, but how would you even extract that substance separately?”
Remember, Cynthia…! Think!
Cynthia furrowed her brow, trying hard to recall the contents of the original novel. Something was right at the edge of her memory—so close, yet so frustratingly out of reach.
A maid had once found a long-forgotten, wilted flower and put it in a vase. But the liquid inside wasn’t ordinary water. It was some kind of solution… what was it again?
“Besides,” the man continued, “for something like that, you’d be better off seeing a chemist. I can introduce you to a very good scient—”
Ah, that’s it!
“Kirchi sap.”
“…What?”
Cynthia smiled, cutting him off mid-sentence.
“If you use Kirchi sap, you can extract only the component that stimulates the nerves—without the toxic hallucinogens.”
“Kirchi sap? Isn’t that that cheap nutritional tonic commoners buy?”
At his question, Cynthia slowly nodded.
The maid who discovered the Titronia flower had mixed the wilted flower’s water with Kirchi sap, thinking it would serve as plant nutrients. But the problem was—Kirchi sap wasn’t meant for plants.
The uneducated maid had accidentally used a human nutritional tonic instead of a plant fertilizer—and that mistake actually helped.
“I don’t know the exact mechanism,” Cynthia continued, “but some component of Kirchi sap neutralizes the toxic compound that causes hallucinations.”
“…What?”
The man’s usual mischievous grin slowly faded from his lips. But Cynthia didn’t notice his change in expression and kept talking excitedly.
“So basically! You take Titronia flowers, keep them in a dark room for a few days, then mix them with a properly diluted Kirchi sap solution—and you’ll get medicine that only stimulates the optic nerves!”
Cynthia, thrilled to have recalled this important detail, was chattering away when the apothecary suddenly grabbed her wrist.
“Huh? What?”
She finally noticed the dangerous glint in his yellow eyes and froze.
“Who are you?”
“…What?”
“How do you even know about something like this?”
His yellow eyes gleamed sharply. The playful tone was gone—completely replaced by something dark and serious.
Cynthia, startled by his sudden change, blinked and yanked her hand away.
“Who cares? Anyway, can you make it or not?”
“…With that method, I might be able to experiment.”
“By next week. Can you do it?”
Cynthia held up a finger right in front of his face.
He blinked slowly at her finger, then drawled lazily,
“What’s your name?”
Whew. Good thing I didn’t wear my contact lenses. Her rare light-green eyes would have given away her connection to the Bailey family immediately. Cynthia smiled proudly at her foresight.
“You don’t need to know my name. Just tell me—can you do it by next week?”
“I’m Enoch.”
He smiled charmingly, lifting one corner of his lips.
Enoch? Maybe that was his name. Whatever—she only remembered her favorite characters anyway!
“Fine, Enoch. Can you finish it by next week?”
Cynthia’s tone hardened.
You talk casually to me? Then I’ll talk casually too!
Enoch looked at her with amused eyes, as though he’d discovered something fascinating, then nodded.
“I can do it. Come pick it up next week.”
“Dale…”
“…”
“Dale, um…”
Cynthia paced around Dale’s desk as he worked through his papers, cautiously trying to get his attention.
Without looking up, he lifted one hand to block her from his line of sight.
“Dale, so… well…”
“What is it? You look like someone about to ask for a very big favor.”
Unable to hold back his irritation, Dale finally looked up.
Cynthia didn’t flinch.
“Could you maybe… pay me just a tiny bit of the agreed payment in advance?”
“How much?”
“Just 100,000 mint!”
If she could get 100,000 more from him, she’d have enough to cover the 600,000 mint cost of the potion—adding it to the 500,000 she’d already received.
Sure, 600,000 mint was a lot, but if everything went well, she’d earn 5 million mint later. A worthy investment for Tesion’s sake.
Dale leaned back in his chair, tilting his head skeptically as he looked at her.
“100,000 mint? What do you need such an oddly specific amount for?”
“I just… need it for something important.”
“No.”
He rejected her instantly.
Cynthia leaned in closer, pleading.
“Please, trust me! I swear it’s all for your sake—and for the Baileys’! You won’t regret it. Just this once—believe me!”
“Hm… it’s rare for you to beg like this. You must really need it.”
“Yes, exactly!”
Cynthia nodded eagerly. Come on, Dale, you’re flexible, right? Right?
After a pause, Dale smiled faintly.
“…Still no.”
…Evil man.
If she couldn’t get the money that way, there was only one option left.
A week later, Cynthia returned to Enoch’s magic apothecary.
Striding confidently inside, she called out,
“Is it done?”
Enoch, looking tired, nodded with a huge yawn.
“No matter how you look at it, 600,000 mint wasn’t nearly enough. Between setting up a darkroom and adjusting the Kirchi solution’s concentration… I basically had to start from scratch and stay up all week.”
“You worked hard. Now, hand it over!”
Cynthia stretched out her hand imperiously. She couldn’t afford to look weak in front of this sly man—someone this unserious and money-obsessed might stab her in the back at any time.
Enoch chuckled and turned to the shelf, retrieving a small glass vial filled with blue liquid.
“Use it like eye drops. Depending on how bad the condition is, it might take several applications. But it shouldn’t hurt, and the effects will be good.”
“Perfect! Great work.”
Cynthia reached out for the vial, pleased.
But just as her fingers were about to touch it, Enoch pulled it back.
“What?”
“Money first.”
This stingy bastard…
Cynthia narrowed her eyes and glared at him, then reached into her small bag and pulled out a paper envelope.
Enoch blew into it, checking the bills inside.
“What’s this? Only 50,000 mint? I told you the price was 600,000.”
“Enoch, listen carefully.”
Cynthia put on the most serious and thoughtful expression she could manage. Please, let this work…
“The potion you made—it actually improves vision, right? That makes it an incredible product.”
“Of course. Who do you think made it?”
“And I was the one who gave you the recipe, Enoch. Don’t forget that.”
“What are you talking about?” Enoch frowned, unimpressed.
“If we sell this eye potion that truly restores vision, think how much money we’ll make! I’m giving you the opportunity to be the one who created it!”
“…And your point is?”
“I’m selling you the recipe—for 550,000 mint.”
