Without waiting for his response, I rattled off my list. "I need a vial of nightshade essence, five dried thorns from the bloodthorn bush, three drops of venom from a shadow asp, a pinch of crushed bone from a wraith's finger, and a sprig of netherbloom petals."

Mekhael's frown deepened, and his eyes narrowed. "Who are you, really?" he asked, his voice low and cautious.

I hesitated. "Just someone who needs these ingredients," I replied, trying to keep my voice steady.

His expression hardened, and he slammed a hand on the counter. "Half of these ingredients are banned in the empire! What kind of trouble are you trying to get me into, kid?"

I swallowed hard. Damn it! Had I overstepped my bounds? I hadn't the faintest idea that they were prohibited. Damn it, Lotte, what had she entangled me in?

"I didn't mean to cause any trouble, I just—" I began to explain.

"Get out!" he bellowed, his face reddening with fury.

I needed to rectify this. I stood my ground and slowly removed my scarf. The angry expression on old Mekhael's face dissolved, replaced by surprise, and then his eyes widened in recognition.

He glanced left and right along the street before opening the counter and pulling me in by force. I yelped as he dragged me inside; his grip was rougher than I had expected.

"Jade! Why are you hiding behind a scarf? I almost called the guards on you!" Old Mekhael hissed, his voice a blend of anger and a little less anger.

Guards? This was turning into a much larger debacle than I had anticipated. What was it about those ingredients that had provoked such a reaction?

"And your face! How—" he began, his tone sharp before softening with concern, "Who did this to you?"

They knew. They all knew. Yet, there was no justice for me. That was why I wore the scarf. I shifted uncomfortably. "I—I don't want my father to know."

I knew what would happen if he found out. At the start of the school year, they had nearly killed me in the name of a prank, throwing me into a pit full of creeping ferrowthorns. I had screamed, writhed, and cried before finally losing consciousness. The person they pulled out was almost a corpse.

When I woke up, I saw my father's rage. He had threatened the school, but it was part of a larger academy system. My father had been powerless. All he could do was demand a trial and angrily stomp around the school grounds, making empty threats.

In the end, there was insufficient evidence to prove Elise and her gang guilty. And that was it. I had spoken out, and the result was more relentless bullying.

I didn't break out in tears as I had expected. It was just for a year. It would get better.

Perhaps Old Mekhael understood, too, as he sighed and plopped down in his seat, rubbing his eyes.

I stayed silent, feeling small and exposed now that my scarf was off. Those burn marks were so bright, so visible, so… ugly. I wanted them gone before my father returned. Otherwise, he would waste his anger and time on something futile. In a school that taught the magic of illusion, the path of the White Salamander, a magicless cripple like me didn't belong. There would be no evidence. I would rather spare him the headache and worry if possible.

"Understood," said Mekhael. I knew he didn't. No one ever did. Except Lotte.

"But, I still don't approve of what you're attempting here, Jade."

I frowned. What did he think I was trying to do with those ingredients?

He responded to my unspoken question. "As much as you despise them, resorting to such a dangerous poison is not the solution."

Oh. Ohhh! So these were the makings of a deadly poison. Blast it, Lotte! A heads-up would have been jolly decent!

"I-I didn't realize they were ingredients for a poison," I stuttered.

Mekhael's brow furrowed. "Of course they are, lass. These are the components of Mourning Shade's Elixir. A single drop induces hallucinations so vivid, it can drive a person or beast stark raving mad in minutes. In larger quantities, it paralyzes the body while leaving the mind fully conscious, a fate worse than death for most. That's why the empire banned it, just too many noble disputes ended in unspeakable torment."

Blimey. That was rather ghastly. I couldn't fathom why Lotte would want me to concoct such a potion, but I really needed to salvage this. Before Old Mekhael pegged me as a vengeful miscreant.

"I swear, I had no idea those ingredients were poisonous! Come on, Mekhael, do you honestly believe that the person before you is capable of such a dastardly act? You've known me since I was a kid!"

That made him think. I just needed to give him one final push.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"I swear, they were purely for academic purposes, nothing more."

"You don't seem like you're lying."

I huffed. What did he take me for? Of course, I wasn't lying. No matter how much I despised Elise, I wasn't a monster. I didn't want to kill her, even though I occasionally dreamt of paying her back in kind. Those thoughts were swiftly dismissed as intrusive.

"Still, as I've mentioned, these ingredients are prohibited."

"Of course, you've told me countless times," I grinned, "But never once have you said you don't have them."

"Confounded youngsters these days, are you sure you don't have any serpent-kin blood in you?"

"Nope!" I beamed.

He continued to mutter under his breath as he shuffled around his shop, gathering various items. When he was done, he handed me a box.

I stared at it.

He thrust it into my hands. It was heavier than I'd anticipated.

"Just one drop in their food."

I frowned. "Excuse me?"

"The materials you've brought are sufficient for an entire jug. I distinctly said no more than a drop in their food."

Perhaps my mind was a bit sluggish, but it took me a moment to grasp his implication. Oh. Ohhhhh! He was hinting that if I were to poison my tormentors, this was the quantity I should use.

I blushed and then whispered, "I've already told you these are for academic purposes."

He raised an eyebrow and gave me a long, scrutinizing look. "Academic purposes, indeed, hohoho. Just be careful, lass. This isn't something to muck about with."

"I know, Mekhael. I promise," I said.

He sighed. "Alright then. Off you go. And remember, no more than a drop."

He really ought to stop this.

"How much?" I inquired about the price.

"None for these. It's just me clearing out rubbish that didn't belong in this shop anymore." In other words, I couldn't afford them, and he was giving them to me for free. I glanced at old Mekhael's face—nothing, just a jolly old man. Older folks were so much harder to read than people my own age.

I stepped out of the shop onto the cobblestone street, my healing potion ingredients nestled alongside a rather dangerous bag of banned elixir components.

Blast it, Lotte! She nearly got me thrown into a dungeon!

***

As the clock's minute hand moseyed its way to the seven, I promptly extinguished the fire rune and deftly snatched up the vial of bubbling moonshadow extract with a pair of grippers.

Into the cauldron went two dollops of Sunbarm root paste, followed by a trio of ounces of a liquid as golden as the finest lager but as fragrant as a dodgy loo—holy water, my arse. I gave it a quick stir, switched off the flames, and allowed the root paste to marinate in the, erm, 'holy water'.

Standing over it, I carefully poured the vial of white Salamander's breath over the now-cooled concoction. The once-urine-hued potion erupted into a tempestuous boil, resembling an irate volcano, as I stirred it with an absurdly long glass rod, adding even more of the Salamander's breath. I soon left the boiling tempest to its own devices.

I wasn't making a garden-variety healing potion. Nope, it was a salve of the same ilk, beloved by noble ladies for keeping their skin as smooth and unblemished as a baby's bottom. Even some well-heeled adventurers splurged on it.

It was priced at twice the amount of a healing potion! A daylight robbery, I say!

Who in their right mind would fork out 4 silvers for a mediocre healing potion, and another 8 for a salve made from the same ruddy ingredients? Yet, many did—those poor, alchemically-ignorant souls.

As the boiling brew settled into a pure, viscous white, I introduced the bubbling Moonshadow extract. The reaction was rather tame, but the violet tint gradually seeped into the white, producing not a lilac, but a gloriously golden salve.

Ah yes, It was a sight to behold, perhaps explaining its exorbitant price tag.

I grabbed a nearby glass bottle and filled it to the brim with the healing salve. Behold! Nearly worth 16 silver! And the ingredients barely cost a single silver. Perhaps this alchemical career wasn't so bad after all. Yet, my heart was set on a different path—I would be an enchantress. Alchemy was all well and good, but it lacked the sparkle of true magic. Enchanting, on the other hand, meant creating magical tools, and even indirectly, I would be working magic.

It was almost 6 in the evening. Father would be home in about four hours, give or take, depending on work. I should be fully healed by then.

In the meantime, I could have a hearty chat with Lotte about her rather dubious suggestion. Poison ingredients banned throughout the empire? Oh, she had this talk coming!