Mechanical Alchemist

"Poet's Honey Wine" intoxicates with an enchantment.

That sudden understanding that immerses one in the beauty of poetry makes one feel as if they're always among the clouds, floaty and eager for immortality.

It's a wonderful experience that makes one thoroughly enchanted.

Su Lun also had some honey wine in hand but never had the heart to drink it. It's a top-notch wine that aids in poetic enlightenment; to drink it just for the sake of enjoyment seemed a waste.

When someone offers a drink, one might as well drink merrily.

A familiar sense of intoxication flashed through his mind, bringing with it some wonderful memories.

But as the drunkenness gradually faded away, that delightful pleasure slipped through his fingers, eluding his grasp.

Hey... who was it that offered me a drink?

His mind instantly muddled.

Oh, the feeling of tumbling from the clouds is truly dreadful.

...

In his drunken state, his soul and body seemed slightly mismatched, and Su Lun felt as though his hand was moving through a delicate sensation—smooth and flat.

Though also wonderful, it didn't seem like the satisfying touch he was after.

Through his sleepy haze, Su Lun thought he heard someone close by lazily reminding him, "That's the back. If you want, I think you can try the other side."

The words strangely struck a familiar chord.

The scene felt like déjà vu.

But it seemed like he couldn't remember where it had happened before.

Then, following those words, Su Lun's hand instinctively took a different direction in his sleep.

The instant he touched it, there was no barrier, just a supremely smooth and bone-melting warmth.

Su Lun felt like he was in the midst of a beautiful dream, yet the beauty seemed too surreal; his fingertips pressed down, and that magnificent prominence changed considerably.

After a long while, when the effects of the wine had completely worn off and his soul had fully returned to his body, a faint fragrance wafted to his nostrils, and Su Lun woke up with a start.

As he opened his eyes, he saw lustrous, waterfall-like, stunning purple hair and extensive skin contact; he couldn't be unaware of whose delicate body he was holding in his arms.

Su Lun's expression instantly became awkward.

His mind flashed back, and several keywords emerged: Drunkenness beguiled me!

He was now on the threshold of becoming a top professional, and his vigilance was extremely high. Even when drunk, if there was even a little sense of danger, he would wake up immediately.

Yet he had slept until now.

This meant he had spent... probably a whole night in an environment where he felt completely relaxed.

The bright sunshine he could already see through the curtains undoubtedly revealed it was morning.

A casual glance at the luxurious decor in the room confirmed this was the master bedroom of the Rose Manor.

On the wall hung a wedding photo, featuring "Fik" in a wedding dress and Yekaterina also in a wedding dress.

Su Lun found himself lying on a gold-painted canopy bed, the silky bedding feeling excellent against the skin, but even silkier was the exquisite body pressed close to his side.

And, right on cue, he realized that his hand was resting rather inappropriately upon a most impressive region.

Struggling to remember what had happened, Su Lun could only helplessly discover fragments of memories hazily coming back to him.

But he couldn't distinguish whether those were scenes from his dreams or reality.

At that moment, Yekaterina beside him seemed to awaken as well and asked languidly, "Are you awake?"

After a pause, she murmured, "I thought you might sleep a bit longer."

Su Lun really felt caught off guard and didn't know how to respond, "I... "

It was like being caught in the act, not sure whether to withdraw his hand or leave it where it was.

Yekaterina turned over to face him, their eyes meeting.

Her gaze was lazy but clear.

Su Lun observed her from a close distance.

Even bare of any makeup, that face was flawlessly beautiful.

Yekaterina's beautiful purple eyes stared into Su Lun's, her long lashes fluttering, and after a moment, she reined in her gaze and said, "It seems you've forgotten..."

Her tone was remarkably calm, not a sigh but more of a statement of fact.

Unconcerned by their intimate position and the hand resting on her chest, she continued.

I forgot?

Su Lun reflected and realized that he really only remembered discussing matters about territory, then after drinking, much of his memory became muddled.

His temple twitched, "That... did we...?"

Yekaterina arched an eyebrow, lay back on the bed, interrupting his wild thoughts, and said directly, "It's not as much as you're thinking, nor as little. We both got drunk last night..."

While speaking, she glanced at Su Lun out of the corner of her eye and continued, "What I permitted you to do, you didn't do. What I didn't permit, you did quite a bit of."

Her tone was tinged with teasing, yet completely devoid of any annoyance.

Yekaterina calmly described their ambiguous position.

There was no joy, nor any sadness.

As Su Lun listened, a flash of memory suddenly passed through his mind; it seemed Yekaterina had asked him last night if he wanted to exercise his rights as a husband, and he had refused?

Oh, so that's what she meant.

It wasn't that he found Yekaterina unattractive; on the contrary, although they hadn't known each other for long, he found her quite pleasant to be with.

He simply had no interest in pleasures that were tainted with political intentions.

If Yekaterina said that nothing happened, then nothing had happened.

Su Lun also breathed a sigh of relief.

But now, the situation seemed to have gotten more complicated.

After all, he had taken advantage of the girl, and Su Lun, feeling somewhat apologetic, said, "Sorry, I was indeed drunk. It seems I've also forgotten a lot. If I've offended you in any way..."

Yekaterina gave him a calm look, as if to say: Do I look like I'd mind?

She didn't care in the slightest, "The 'Elixir of the Poet' makes the most romantic memories ferment and settle. You aren't having a blackout, nor did I use any sort of tricks. Those memories are like the inspiration for poetry, which will sparkle suddenly at some moment."

Listening to her, Su Lun showed an expression of sudden understanding; he had not known about this potential effect of the wine.

So, it wasn't that his memory was fragmented, but that it had fermented?

But what exactly had I forgotten?

Su Lun tried hard to recall, but he couldn't remember at all.

Watching him frown slightly in an annoyed attempt to remember, Yekaterina stated in a matter-of-fact manner: "You don't have to take it too seriously, I also think this way of interacting is quite nice. There's nothing offensive about it. If you are Fyodor, then you are Yekaterina's lawful husband; if you are Mr. Su Lun, then as a friend of Katusha, she wouldn't mind either."

Su Lun, listening, felt there was some logic to her words.

The awkward feeling vanished in an instant.

There was no need for him to find reasons to explain the situation; instead, she helped him out, which made everything quite enjoyable.

At that moment, Yekaterina turned to him and asked: "So, do you want to get up now, or would you like to sleep some more?"

After waking up, Su Lun wasn't used to going back to sleep, but he asked, "What about you?"

Yekaterina replied indifferently, "If you want to lie in for a while, I can do that too."

Su Lun, realizing that she apparently didn't want to go back to sleep either, said, "Then let's not sleep anymore."

As the sentence left his mouth, he felt that he should get up now, shouldn't he?

But, it seemed like they were unclothed?

In a moment of stupor, Yekaterina pulled the rope by the bed, and a crisp bell sounded in the master bedroom.

As he looked, the door opened, and six maids walked in, all smiling.

Su Lun had seen them all yesterday; they were naturally Jessica, Martina, and the others.

They were dressed in black-and-white maid outfits, gothic-style V-neck black tops, hip-length skirts with white lace trimmings, and black stockings on their legs, looking sexy and eye-pleasing.

Early in the morning, the maids seemed to continue the amorous atmosphere from the previous night.

Su Lun remembered that they hadn't dressed quite this provocatively yesterday?

The maids of the Lans family were required to have a certain image and demeanor, as sometimes they would have to deal with distinguished guests and needed to dress appropriately demurely.

Obviously, this outfit was too provocative and not suitable for wearing outside.

The maids immediately busied themselves upon entering.

Some opened the curtains to let in the sunlight, some prepared his clothes, and some were getting hot water ready in the washroom...

One even helped lifted the covers, revealing their nakedness beneath.

Yekaterina climbed out of bed, her body bare, and the maid promptly helped her into a coffee-colored silk gown.

She seemed to guess Su Lun's puzzlement and turned to say, "They haven't worn this before. After all, there's no need to dress like this when serving me. But I thought you might like it, so I had them try it on. If you don't like it, they'll change back."

Upon her words, the six maids smiled bashfully, their hands remaining busy.

Su Lun listened with a slightly odd look on his face, thinking, they dressed this way just for me?

He didn't know quite how to respond and laughed dryly, "Pretty good."

Yekaterina had truly considered every detail, which made him feel incredibly at ease.

At that time, a blonde maid approached the bed and, bowing respectfully, asked, "Sir, may I assist you in getting up?"

Su Lun remembered her name was Leonna.

Having witnessed the opulent lifestyle of high nobility the previous day, and hearing her query, there was no reason for him to refuse.

It seemed that overnight, he felt a newfound sense of closeness with these maids.

Being familiar was one aspect, but Su Lun felt it was more because he and Yekaterina were getting up together, right?

Seeing Su Lun nod, the maids buzzed into action.

Dressing, grooming, washing...

Even when he went to the restroom, a maid would assist him.

He didn't need to lift a finger throughout.

Su Lun had heard of the extravagance of nobility before, but actually experiencing it firsthand left him with much to ponder.

...

Su Lun was the first to finish washing and grooming, and as he had no plans to go out, he dressed in casual home attire.

The study was on the second floor, where Yekaterina had the habit of having breakfast.

By the time Su Lun arrived, the dining table was already set with an array of exquisite pastries. He wasn't in a hurry and decided to wait for Yekaterina to come down to eat breakfast together. With nothing else to do, he started flipping through some books in the study.

Today the sun was shining brightly, the estate was lush with greenery, and the fresh air permeated the entire study.

Su Lun had originally planned to fulfill the agreement and leave today.

From now on, the identity of "Fick" would no longer be needed.

But now that he knew that the prominent young William had hired the "Undead Demon Monk" Raspoutine, one of the "Top Ten Legendary Bounty Hunters", to assassinate him, he was in no rush to leave.

Yekaterina controlled the military intelligence, and she had detailed information about the assassin.

The two of them discussed and decided to wait for an opportunity to completely eliminate this hidden danger.

The bookshelves were packed with various books, most of which were literary works such as poems and novels.

After flipping through a few pages, Su Lun noticed many books contained the elegant annotations of Yekaterina.

He browsed through a few and found them quite interesting.

As he flipped, he came across a book of poetry with a very juvenile handwriting on the title page: "Luying Calendar 982, read. Katyusha's dream is to become a wandering poet ^_^".

Su Lun did the math—wasn't that when Yekaterina was about four or five years old?

Looking at the handwriting, he seemed to see a little princess with pigtails lying on a table, scribbling this line with a quill pen.

A smile crept onto his face as the image formed in Su Lun's mind.

Just then, footsteps could be heard from outside the room.

A maid opened the door, and Yekaterina walked in.

Seeing Su Lun flipping through the books, she smiled and said, "What are you looking at? I'm curious what book could make you smile."

Su Lun showed her the cover and replied, "I was reading a collection of poems you read when you were a child."

Yekaterina looked at it and suddenly exclaimed, "The Spring Wind and the Birds? I remember that's a serious travel poetry collection. Why would it make you smile?"

Su Lun shrugged and gestured, "I saw the reading notes you left."

Yekaterina seemed to recall something as well and chuckled, "Oh~".

After a pause, she called out, "Mr. Su Lun, come join me for breakfast."

"Hmm."

Su Lun put the book back on the shelf, walked over, and sat opposite her.

Yekaterina had her hair elegantly tied up, having switched to a married woman's attire. Although she had lost the youthful purity from before, she gained a noble elegance, still dazzlingly beautiful.

...

The two sat opposite each other. Even at a meal in a great noble's house, there was service by maids.

But Su Lun was not quite accustomed to the manner of being spoon-fed, so Yekaterina had the maid leave.

The table also had today's newspaper on it.

The headlines of all the major newspapers featured reports of the wedding from the day before, with all sorts of photos of the two being printed in various sections.

They ate breakfast while browsing the newspapers.

It seemed there was no awkwardness at all, even after spending the night together.

Su Lun also noticed that besides the newspapers, Yekaterina had a parchment bag by her side.

After scanning through a few articles, she opened it, not concealing it from Su Lun, and took out a few pages of obviously encrypted gibberish, explaining, "This is an intelligence bulletin from military intelligence. Though processed, it is delivered here every day."

Su Lun nodded with a smile, showing no interest in prying into the secrets of military intelligence, and continued reading the newspaper on his own.
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But at that moment, Yekaterina seemed to notice something and let out a small exclamation, "Oh..."

Su Lun looked over and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I've found a piece of interesting intelligence."

Yekaterina responded then elaborated, "Remember yesterday we found out that William had posted a bounty at the Bounty Hunters' Guild? I specifically asked for detailed intelligence on the 'Undead Demon Monk' Raspoutine, and I found something curious."

Hearing this, Su Lun showed a curious expression, awaiting the revelation, "Oh?"

Yekaterina glanced at the document and went ahead and shared the explosive secret that would cause a huge upheaval in Lyndon, "This is classified top-level information, currently known only to two people in military intelligence. The report says, Raspoutine has been involved with many of Lyndon's top ladies, including the wives of princes."

Su Lun was not surprised to hear this; the monk's reputation was already bad, and it wouldn't be strange if the rumors were true.

But it was the next statement that struck him like thunder.

Yekaterina continued, "Of course, what's most important is that ten years ago, he secretly met with Charlotte Tracey, who was then the queen of Bonaparte IX. And intelligence suggests that recently, the monk seems to be secretly entering and exiting Frederick Palace."

Su Lun's thoughts stalled for a moment before he matched the name to the actual person.

Wasn't that... the current name of the Queen of Ruin?

The monk was the queen's lover?

This was a colossal scandal!

No wonder he had offended so many nobles yet survived; it turns out he had such a towering connection.

Although the circles of Lyndon's high society were chaotic, Su Lun had never expected to witness scandal involving the queen herself.

But as entertaining as the gossip was, Su Lun quickly thought of the implications behind the revelation.

Now, the Queen of Ruin was clearly allied with the Giants' Hidden Society. Was it just a coincidence that the monk had accepted William's contract to assassinate him?

Su Lun's thoughts connected seamlessly as he frowned and said, "Are you suggesting... that there could be royal involvement behind William's contract to murder me?"

Yekaterina nodded and said, "It's very likely. However, the royal family will not come forward publicly at this time, so it is impossible for the court chaplains to participate. We need to be on guard against any troublesome sealed artifacts that the monk might get his hands on. His abilities are also very special, adept in voodoo curses..."

Su Lun looked thoughtful upon hearing the information, which was indeed a cause for concern.

Yet curses and such didn't pose a great threat to him at this point. Although Curse Magic was peculiar in its casting, it also had significant limitations. With the "Rune Black Umbrella" in his possession, and being an expert in the laws of death, it would likely take an eighth-tier professional to risk their life to "curse kill" him.

Furthermore, he had Yekaterina by his side, a fellow wielder of the mysterious arts, who was not so easy to kill.

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What's more, that demon monk probably still doesn't know that his intelligence has been completely grasped by someone else.

At this time, Yekaterina added, "Also, this intelligence report says that the news of our honeymoon trip in three days has been leaked. William and that demon monk will probably choose to make their move then. I have an idea..."

Su Lun listened to her plan, nodding in agreement from time to time.

Apart from the juicy gossip about the queen, the other pieces of intelligence didn't really surprise the two of them.

This affair was targeting not only Su Lun but also Yekaterina.

The death of William would benefit them both.

Su Lun thought it was not bad to have someone help deal with the trouble.

What's more, with the support of the military intelligence reports, the threat of assassination had been reduced by ninety percent!

After discussing the plan, they returned to their respective tasks.

...

Having just married the previous day, numerous reporters staked out the manor, waiting for them to leave the house to capture some romantic snapshots of the prince and princess.

But Su Lun and Yekaterina were people who could stay idle, so they spent their time in the study, seriously attending to their respective matters.

Since they planned to join hands with Yekaterina, Su Lun was not in a hurry to leave. He planned to stay in the manor for a few more days.

According to Yekaterina, the more "blissful" their life seemed, the greater the likelihood that William, driven mad with anger, would take action.

The morning sunlight was golden, gradually tilting westward, shining into the study.

Time seemed to slow down.

Su Lun was pondering some insights about "domains" he had had the day before when suddenly, he thought of something.

He looked up and saw the pretty, hardworking face in front of the desk.

Yekaterina seemed to sense his gaze, looked up at him, and asked with a smile, "What's up?"

Su Lun replied, "Right, last night you let me see your domain, and I thought of something."

Yekaterina's elegant brows raised, "Oh?"

Su Lun took out a book that was exuding black energy and said, "I once encountered a predecessor in Mountain Hermit, whom you might know—the great writer 'Fujiwara Hayato.' Then he wrote a book about his experience in the Netherworld. I found that your starry domain has many similarities with the world described in his writings..."

Naturally, this book was "The Fatal Novel: Netherworld." Since getting his hands on it, he had not understood it and let it gather dust in the storage.

But after recalling Yekaterina's domain that created a starry sky yesterday, he couldn't help but find the similarities, which reminded him of the book.

Moreover, there are many similarities between the path of poetry and that of novelists. Su Lun could not understand the book, but he thought it might be of help to Yekaterina.

More coincidentally, Su Lun remembered encountering Yekaterina's great-grandmother on the ship to Mountain Hermit.

It seems… that elderly lady was an old acquaintance of Fujiwara Hayato?

Yekaterina, looking at the novel, also had a gleam in her crystal clear eyes, evidently seeing something beyond what Su Lun could.

However, she didn't display any eagerness, instead, she politely asked, "May I take a look?"

After all, it was a treasured item.

Su Lun nodded, "Of course. If it can offer you some help, that would be even better. But be careful, the curse within this notebook is quite special..."

Having received many favors, it would be good to make full use of this object.

Hearing these words, Yekaterina smiled and nodded her head before taking the notebook.

She opened the first page and began to read with focus. The words seemed to have a magical power, penetrating her mind, as she murmured in wonder, "So Mr. Gustav wrote his story with great-grandma into the novel..."

Su Lun had visited the Netherworld described in the book and had seen the contents within.

But being of too low a realm, he hadn't understood most of it.

Now watching Yekaterina become immersed in it so quickly, he knew that the book must be of great use to her.

It was morning when she opened the book, and evening by the time she closed it.

All the while, Su Lun quietly continued with his own work.

Just occasionally glancing at the absorbed Yekaterina. Her aura kept changing, sometimes high, sometimes low, sometimes ethereal, sometimes dangerous...

In those increasingly profound eyes of hers, Su Lun saw a sky full of dazzling stars.

Finally, as the evening lights began to glow, Yekaterina closed the book.

Her eyes shone with a brilliant gleam. An air of looking down upon the world suddenly arose as she declared, "I finally understand!"

...

For the next two days, Su Lun also stayed in the Rose Manor.

Mostly staying indoors, occasionally, they would stroll in the garden with Yekaterina, giving the reporters from the newspapers a little material to sneakily photograph.

Their mutual understanding improved as well, truly resembling a respectfully courteous newly married couple.

Yekaterina was open and forthright, and Su Lun was candid and unreserved.

During the day, they read books together, shared insights into alchemy, and at night, they could even bathe together without any reservation, sharing the same big bed...

They were very close but never overstepped boundaries.

And there was the charming and attentive maidservant who took great care of all aspects of clothing, food, housing, and transportation,

The days passed quite comfortably.

Until this day, when they left on their honeymoon as planned.

The various forces focusing on Rose Manor finally began to make their moves.

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