Truth Potion

"No, no, I had no reason to do this. It was totally irrelevant. Maybe I wanted to earn your trust, but this reason doesn't solely justify it. Why did I do this?", Juli was murmuring. She had never thought about it.

"It is not a normal reaction, Juli. You had shared your secret with me, and you don't know the reason. Did you fall for me?", Flavia's tone was humorous. She was behaving the same as Juli. Her tone was similar as well.

"Tell me what you did with me.", Juli inquired.

"Now, you are thinking. It is quite like you.", Flavia answered while laughing.

"What have you done?", Juli asked again.

"We gave you truth serum. It is a potion, used for high-profile criminals only. Because it is very expensive. But we spent a good fortune of four thousand golden coins to give it to you three times.", Flavia explained.

"You spent how much? You spent four thousand golden coins. Are you in your right mind? You could have given me one hundred golden coins only and I would have spit everything.", Juli regretted,

"We were not aware that you could be a greedy soul. We have wasted our twenty-nine hundred coins.", Flavia answered pretending to be sad.

"Twenty-nine hundred? What about the rest of the one thousand coins?", Juli asked.

"We are going to have another guest in our house as well. But our new guest is not uninvited. We have already arranged everything.", Flavia answered.

"So, one bottle of truth serum is equal to the one thousand golden coins. Why are they so expensive?", Juli questioned calculating the price of the potion.

"Because it affects the souls directly.", Flavia responded.

"But why three bottles for me?", Juli asked.

"You are expensive, dear. After all, you are in Livia's body.", Flavia answered.

"Wait a minute, the liquid Domitia had drank from the goblet was the truth potion.", Juli shouted.

"Stop shouting! Are you a kid? Yes, that was the truth potion.", Flavia told her.

"Sorry! But you siblings are so cunning. What are the effects of this potion?", Juli inquired.

"This potion is used to play with the minds of the criminals mostly. So, it makes the consumer emotional, and it becomes easy to control the person. It is a white tasteless liquid, and you can easily mix it with any food. It doesn't change the taste and effects of the potion and the food.", Flavia explained to her.

"White again?? Why is everything white here?", Juli was tired. She couldn't control her mind and she was tired because she had walked a lot today.

"White is the symbol of purity and innocence.", Flavia told her.

"What an irony! Purity and innocence.", Juli mocked Flavia.

"Not everyone is like me here. There are lots of people like Livia and Domitia, who believe in what they see.", Flavia said.

Juli didn't want to continue this conversation anymore. Domitia also joined them later. She had changed her clothes and told them that her clothes had blood on them during the sacrificial ceremony.

They walked back to the home. Juli came to her room and fell asleep. She had never walked this much in her life. "We went to Curia Sulla then to the temple and then home. But this is not my home. Whatever, I want to sleep now.", Juli murmured in her sleep. It was already evening.

She woke up at midnight. She tried to fall asleep again but her all efforts were vain. Juli accepted her defeat. She got up and started to write her diary again.

Juli was turning the pages, but she heard a loud sound from her stomach. She was feeling hungry. She wandered into the house in search of the kitchen. During her search, she noticed that there were no guards in the house.

"There were no guards in the Curia Sulla and temple either. Then who will guide me to the kitchen.", Juli murmured.

It was cold during the night. She had a warm toga draped around her. Juli heard some noises. She followed those sounds for the food. But she witnessed a melodrama.

Lucius and Domitia were standing there. "Why am I witnessing this again? What did I do to witness this?", Juli thought.

"Hey, I can control my tongue now. Wow, I can talk to myself now. That is great.", Juli thought again.

The scene Juli was witnessing piqued her interest. When she smelled something delicious. Lucius had bought something to eat for Domitia.

"I've baked this for you.", Lucius was practically bragging about this.

"I don't need it. Domina Flavia has been very attentive to my needs. I feel so supported thanks to her care.", Domitia was bragging about Flavia.

Juli was enjoying this scene. One was bragging about his love and the other was bragging about his lover's soon-to-be ex-fiancé.

The drama was perfect until Lucius came closer to kiss Domitia. Juli tried to hide herself and hit her head with the tree. Fortunately, she was hiding behind the tree this time.

Lucius got attentive and Domitia pushed him away. She requested him to leave. Lucius left. Domitia was standing there alone with the baked cake.

"Oh, who is there?", Juli came while rubbing her eyes. She looked at Domitia and said, "I came here to check after hearing a noise. But Domita what are you doing here?"

Domita apologized and said, "I'm sorry. I was taking a mid-night stroll. I didn't mean to wake you up."

Juli acted again, "Domitia, what's in your hands?" She said grabbing the basket from her. "It is a cake. Is this a midnight snack? Can I eat it?", Juli asked while pretending to be an innocent kid.

"Please say yes. Please say yes. If you will not say yes then you must face unseen consequences.", Juli was thinking.

"Yeah, Sure you can.", Domitia replied.

"How can you say N..", Juli misheard because she was hungry.

"Thank you so much. I was so hungry.", Juli told her the truth.

Domitia smiled. Juli didn't ask her any questions about the whereabouts of the cake. Domitia also remained silent.

"Savor every bite of this cake. It's simply delicious!", Juli complimented. She was jealous of Lucius's amazing cooking skills. If I had half of his cooking skills, then nobody would have made fun of me on the camp trip. Juli thought recalling her past life.

"Thanks. I didn't make it.", Domitia told her.

"So what? Whoever had made this deserves praise.", Juli declared.

After eating the cake, Juli said to Domitia, "Hey, your name is long. Can I call you Tia? It is easy and friendly as well. After all, we are friends now."

Domitia had tears in her eyes. Juli was confused. "Are you angry because I ate your cake or did you not like the nickname?"

Domitia nodded her head and said, "No"