Chapter 12: Is the healing potion red or green?

She watched her two young servants leave.

Luvia shifted her attention back to Floshi, her gaze carrying a hint of deeper meaning.

“Your Highness…?”

Floshi’s feelings were rather conflicted at this moment.

On one hand, Luvia’s attention had been drawn away by the two new servants. Finally, someone was sharing the pressure coming from her.

Yet for some reason, Luvia’s differential treatment made her feel somewhat uncomfortable.

Three months ago, from the moment Floshi stepped into the Caris family, Her Highness Luvia’s targeting had never once ceased.

It started with cold glances, then gradually escalated into verbal abuse and humiliation.

Slowly, sewing needles deliberately left by the maids began appearing on her bed.

Her clothes would be stolen while she bathed, forcing her to stay trapped in the bathroom for an entire night.

Her training knee pads were often thrown away, leaving her elbows and knees constantly scraped and bleeding.

During magic classes, her room door would mysteriously be locked from the outside, causing her to be late or even miss class entirely.

Everyone in the Caris family saw these things. Yet under pressure from Luvia, they either watched coldly or actively curried favor by joining the ranks of the perpetrators.

Faced with all this, Floshi simply endured it in silence.

After all, she was already very grateful that Her Highness Luvia was willing to give her a safe harbor.

She wanted to grow quietly here, become someone others wouldn’t dare to provoke, and eventually find the true culprit who killed her father so she could avenge him.

As for Her Highness Luvia feeling that she had stolen her spotlight,

Floshi only felt apologetic. She had her own unavoidable reasons for learning swordsmanship and studying magic. It wasn’t to compete for favor in front of the Duke.

But now,

she suddenly felt that something had changed.

It turned out Her Highness Luvia could also treat others with gentleness.

Floshi fell into deep self-doubt.

Could it be that Her Highness was only so harsh and mean because she was Floshi?

Did Her Highness simply hate her?

Only after truly getting closer to Luvia did Floshi realize that the girl in private was not as terrible as she had imagined.

Her Highness could be understanding and comforting. Although she looked fierce, she was surprisingly easy to talk to.

The only exception was herself.

Floshi lowered her head slightly.

She seemed to have figured it out. There was simply no place for her in this household.

The best choice when facing Her Highness Luvia’s difficulties was to tactfully leave.

But if she left the Duke’s protection, would she really have the ability to face her enemies alone?

Just as Floshi was lost in wild thoughts,

“What are you standing there in a daze for?”

A clear, cool voice sounded beside her ear.

“Ah? Oh…”

Floshi nodded haphazardly,

only to find that Luvia was already sitting in front of the vanity mirror, her fair little legs swinging idly in the air.

“Still brooding over how I treat you differently?”

“…Heh, look at how petty you are. It would be strange if you weren’t hated, wouldn’t it?”

“Come here and fulfill your duties as a maid.”

“Help me change my clothes…”

…

Luvia looked at the silent maid beside her and pondered for a long time.

In the end, she decided to be a little kinder to Floshi today.

There was only one reason.

One feels soft-hearted after accepting favors, and short-handed after taking gifts. Luvia had a task to entrust to Floshi.

“You mentioned before that you were an alchemy apprentice, right?” Luvia brought it up casually.

Seeing the other party nod, she continued asking,

“Why did you stop learning?”

Upon hearing this, a trace of embarrassment rose on Floshi’s face.

“Because… after my father passed away, I had no money…”

“So that really was the reason…”

Luvia’s gaze drifted.

Raising an alchemist was far more expensive than raising a mage.

Thinking of this, Luvia reached into her pocket and weighed her small gold coins.

Then…

With a clatter,

she poured all the remaining 53 gold coins onto the table.

After a moment’s thought, she quietly slipped a few coins back into her pocket without anyone noticing.

“Eh… Your Highness?”

Seeing this, Floshi’s expression turned puzzled.

“Take this money and go learn alchemy.” Luvia said indifferently.

In truth, she wasn’t sure if it was enough. If it wasn’t, she could only ask her Duke father to reimburse the difference.

As if remembering something, Luvia added, “Practice less swordsmanship and learn less of that useless magic.”

With that, she secretly glanced sideways at Floshi beside her, observing her reaction.

The latter had already frozen completely.

“Wh-what?”

Her expression was hard to tell whether it was surprise or confusion.

“Don’t think this is free.”

Luvia tapped the table and said, “First, you must pass my assessment.”

But before she could finish,

Floshi’s eyes had already turned into two spinning poached eggs.

“Uuu… Your Highness…!”

“…”

This girl’s reaction was even bigger than expected.

Luvia pushed away Floshi, who was trying to rub her snot and tears onto her,

then took out last night’s healing potion formula from the drawer.

“Follow this formula and refine a few bottles of magic potion for me to see.”

“No problem!”

Floshi solemnly accepted the scroll with full confidence.

…

However, several hours later…

“Y-Your Highness…”

Floshi walked over somewhat timidly, holding two bottles of blood-red magic potion in her hands.

“Is the formula you gave me… really for a healing potion?”

“Why isn’t it green?”

The moment Luvia saw the red liquid in her hands…

“That’s the one!”

Luvia said with absolute certainty.

Life potions are indeed supposed to be red.

When she had seen the slave merchant’s healing potion earlier, Luvia had already felt doubtful. The healing potions sold in the game store were clearly blood-red and usually meant to be taken orally.

Yet the slave merchant had used a green potion to wet a towel and apply it to the wound.

“Floshi, what do you think of this formula?”

“Of course I have thoughts!”

Floshi nodded immediately.

“First, many of the materials in the formula can’t even be called herbs. There are even strange things like orange peels added.”

Mm, this confirmed what Shona had said.

“Second, the formula uses many purification methods I’ve never seen before. It took me a long time just to replicate the process.”

“And finally…”

Floshi rolled up her sleeve and extended her fair wrist. At some point, a long, narrow cut had appeared on it.

“According to my experiments, the healing effect is a bit poor.”

As Floshi spoke, her voice grew smaller and smaller, as if afraid Luvia would be disappointed.

But contrary to her expectations, Luvia’s attention wasn’t on the potion at all.

“You cut yourself just to test this bottle of potion?” Luvia’s tone carried some surprise.

In the next second, she grabbed Floshi’s arm and carefully examined the wound.

“Eh…?”

The sudden concern seemed to leave Floshi at a loss.

She smiled awkwardly and scratched her cheek, her gaze drifting to the ceiling.

Her Highness was really strange.

In the past, when she was bullied by Her Highness, she would always end up covered in bruises and grimacing in pain.

But now, Her Highness was so concerned about a tiny cut on her body.

Her Highness…

was as changeable as the weather on the sea, while she was the unlucky sailor who could never predict when it would rain or shine.

Honestly, Floshi’s curiosity had been stirred.

She wanted to understand Her Highness more. She wanted to know what she was really thinking.

But immediately after, the light in Floshi’s eyes dimmed again.

She realized she couldn’t ignore the struggle in her heart.

Had Her Highness… really changed?

“…”

“The correct way to use this potion is to drink it. How could it work if you apply it to the wound?” With that, Luvia took the potion from Floshi’s hand.

“Drink it??”

Floshi’s face once again showed astonishment.

“I’ve never heard of that… Your Highness, this is common sense. Drinking healing potions is poisonous!”

Hearing this, Luvia simply took a small sip herself, then handed the rest to her.

“I… understand…”

Seeing this, Floshi said no more and simply drank the potion in one gulp.

Immediately after, the wound on her arm began to heal at a visible speed.

Floshi had seen too many strange things today,

so even witnessing the wound healing at such a ridiculous speed didn’t shock her as much as it should have.

“Refine a few more bottles of this healing potion within today. I have great use for them.”

Luvia twirled a lock of hair around her finger as a plan slowly took shape in her mind.

…