Lilly yawned as she sat up in her bed. It had been three days since the night she met the princess. The following day it had felt almost like a dream, as if it hadn’t happened. She’d had to convince herself into believing it. Somehow she had managed to befriend the princess, the girl whose parents she had murdered in cold blood.

Putting on a simple tunic she went downstairs to her laboratory. She hadn’t taken any more assassination requests, so instead she focused on her day job making potions. She gathered the required herbs for a simple Healing Potion. Grinding some into paste or powder and boiling others she prepared enough for roughly a hundred potions. Putting all the ingredients in the various beakers to heat or boil before mixing.

Chemistry, or potion making, was a precision craft and any mistake could have horrible results. One drop too much of a certain ingredient and it could cause all kinds of effects. Simply turning the concoction into waste was actually uncommon. Making it poisonous was more common but having it blow up was the most common. And the explosions, despite it being called chemistry, were usually not chemical. They were magical. They could range from puffs of acidic smoke to lightning storms or, most commonly, explosions of any and all colors and temperatures.

People who actually studied these unintentional results had noted that, more often than not, the warmer the color of the explosion, the colder and more freezing it was. And vice versa. Most had simply accepted that uncontrolled magic was weird, and stayed far far away from it.

Lilly wasn’t researching or making some incomparably complex potion. She was making Healing Potion, so she left the chemistry station to its thing and went to the kitchen. Knowing exactly how much time she had, she leisurely made breakfast and ate it before returning to her task. Pouring the finished ingredients into a big container and stirring a little she was finally done. She filled the liquid into smaller bottles and put corks in them.

Her work finished Lilly went upstairs to her bedroom and put on a more practical and decent outfit. That done she she put the potions in a bag, locked the door behind her and headed off to the commercial district. As usual the streets were bustling with life and various merchants lined the roads. Not everyone could afford a permanent shop in the capital after all.

Some streets later she arrived at Barts shop, Four Leaf Potions and entered.

“Nice of ya to actually show up.” (Bart)

“I still deliver my potions though.” (Lilly)

“Yeah but without you here to please the customers eyes, sales have dropped. (Bart)

“Then why don’t you just hire some other girl?” (Lilly)

“I have a reputation yaknow!” (Bart)

“Ah, yes, nobody wants to work for you because you can’t keep your fingers to yourself.” (Lilly)

“It aint my fault I was raised in a fuckin church. The fuckers wouldn’t even let me look!” (Bart)

“How does that matter?” (Lilly)

“Distance makes the heart grow fonder, right?” (Bart)

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“…Well you could try to change. One day some angry husband’s gonna kill you.” (Lilly)

“Well at least I’ll die happily!” (Bart)

”I could always sell to some other shop I suppose.” (Lilly)

“Come now Lilly, I’ve never done anything to you. If I do end up dying an honorable death you’ve gotta take over my shop. You’d probably be better at it than me anyway.” (Bart)

“You’ve never done anything because the first time you tried, I broke your nose.” (Lilly)

“I recall no…”

Bart was cut off by the door being slammed open by some burly man in armor.

“Ah heard this place sold good potions!” (Customer)

“Why yes it does, what are you looking for good sir?” (Bart)

“I’ll take my leave then.” (Lilly)

Having already unpacked her potions and received payment, Lilly didn’t stick around to hear Barts butter sweet “customer voice”. Since there was still a few hours to kill before dusk, she went to the bar.

•••

Those few hours later, Lilly was drunk even though she tried to limit the alcohol. Wobbling her way through the now empty streets she arrived home to put on her armor and gear. She wasn’t so drunk she’d randomly faceplant or forget to use her spells to stay hidden, so she figured she’d be fine.

Once done, she wobbled her way out again and headed to the castle. On the way she cast [Overlook) and tested her agility just to be sure. Staring up at the walls, she waited for the guards to pass before casting [Spiders Thread] towards the top. Climbing up and over the walls, she didn’t feel like jumping, she realized Evelyn hadn’t told her where her room was.

Sticking with her previous logic she walked to the back of the castle and started searching the windows. She looked through the bottom row first, unsuccessfully. To search the next row however she had to climb. Making liberal use of [Spiders Thread) she concluded that the princess either wasn’t in the back of the castle or on the third floor.

To reach the third floor she had to first climb to the second and then use [Spiders Thread] again to continue climbing. Looking into two windows she finally found something. A huge, lavishly decorated bedroom inhabited by two people sleeping on a bed so big it looked impractical. The king and queen.

Feeling rather optimistic and slightly nervous Lilly clambered over to the next window and peered in. It was a similar bedroom and in a chair in the corner sat Evelyn.

Deciding to get some petty revenge, she located the darkest corner of the window. She cast [Spiders Thread] on the glass. Weaving another spell [cut] she traced a circle on the glass around [Spiders Thread] and released the spell. Without a sound the glass was cut and she pulled it outward. Casting [Mute] on the glass disk she threw it away behind her. It shattered on the ground without a sound.

Squeezing through the hole she had made. She lowered herself to the floor, not knowing if it was old and creaky. Finally on the ground again she snuck over to the big cozy chair and stood behind it.

Lilly unsheathed her dagger and brought it in front of Evelyns throat. She really wanted revenge for how annoying the princess had been. But then her slightly drunk mind remembered that it would probably be a good idea to soundproof the room first. Retracting her dagger she did just that and cast [Isolate].

Done, she put her dagger back to Evelyns throat and this time applied pressure.

“Do you have any idea how fucking annoying looking for your room was?” (Lilly)

Evelyn jerked, screamed in fear and surprise and somehow managed to throw the book she was reading right in Lillys face.

Not expecting something like that, Lilly jerked her head backwards in surprise and her dagger left Evelyns throat. The girl took the only chance she got and dashed towards the door.