Chapter 46: Not What You Expect

"Thank you for grooming me, Ms. Caretaker."

"Y…Yes? N…no, thank you."

"Why are you thanking me, Ms. Caretaker?"

"N…no! Nothing, nothing!"

"Hm. I will go to the meeting now, Ms. Caretaker."

"O… okay. Care take—I mean, take care."

"Thank you, Ms. Caretaker."

The sound of Lucian closing the door whispered in the air and straight through Hannah's ears. Hannah couldn't hear it, however, as the only thing that seemed to be entering her ears was a sort of silent whistle that rang endlessly, causing her to just stand there completely still; scissors in hand.

But after a good while, the scissors just dropped to the floor as Hannah covered her mouth and half of her face; her face, which was slowly turning as red a strawberry. She already expected Lucian to look decent under all of his disheveled long hair, glasses, and extremely patchy beard…

…but she wasn't expecting something like that to come out.

"Hannah…" Hannah whispered to herself while very lightly slapping her cheeks several times, "...You're just a caretaker. Stop this… stop this."

***

In a large office, Charlotte's eyes were moving from left to right as she watched her father walk back and forth around his office for more than an hour now. Each of his steps, carrying his anxiousness.

Elder Quinn's hair was already completely gray, and like most Elders of an Alchemy sect, his beard was long and almost touching his chest — even with this, however, it was obvious that Elder Quinn cleaned up after himself as no strands were tweaking to the side at all.

"Dad, can you relax?" Charlotte, who was sitting on the sofa, could not help but just let out a loud sigh while shaking her head, "You're an Elder of the sect, act like one."

"You have no idea," Elder Quinn finally stopped walking around as he pointed at Charlotte, "You have no idea what sort of grandmaster we are meeting right now."

"I've been with him for weeks, I think I have a pretty good idea," Charlotte sighed, "I'm honestly surprised not a lot of people recognize him — even in the Academy, the alchemists there don't know who he is."

"They made sure to erase his existence properly and effectively — only his true fans will remember him," Elder Quinn scoffed as he brushed his beard, "And of course, I am the number one fan."

"...Can you please don't say that?" Charlotte looked away, slightly embarrassed, "Who even are you right now?"

"W—"

"Elder Quinn, Master Lucian has arrived." And before the two could continue their conversation, one of their servants knocked on the door.

"Dad, please act prop—" Charlotte turned to look at her father to warn him, only to see him already sitting on the sofa with a serious and stern expression on his face.

"Let him in," Elder Quinn said; his voice filled with the dignity and confidence befitting an Elder.

Charlotte squinted her eyes a bit as she stared at her father before standing up and welcoming Lucian at the door.

"Dr. Lucian, you are quite ear—who are you?"

"Lucian Zhang."

"W…" It was as if Charlotte was struck by lightning as soon as she saw Lucian standing right in front of her. She even forgot to breathe, and only remembered so when she almost choked on her own saliva, "You…

…fix up pretty well."

That was an understatement. Without Lucian's patchy beard, his sharp jawline was now completely visible — his hair was still long, but now that more of his face was being shown, his blue eyes stood out even more; his eyebags did not help at all in trying to hide them, emphasizing them even more.

In short, Lucian was a handsome man, incredibly so.

"The caretaker shaved my beard and trimmed my hair," Lucian nodded, "Does it look weird, Ms. Hall Master?"

"N…no, no. Not at all," Charlotte gulped and cleared her throat before gesturing to Lucian to sit on the sofa, "Please."

"Mr. Elder," Lucian bowed his head at Elder Quinn, who had been quiet the entire time and only gestured to Lucian to just sit down, "I was told you wanted to discuss something?"

"Yes," Elder Quinn's voice was completely serious, "I want you to know that I am forever grateful to you. I have been practicing alchemy for more than 40 years, and none of my creations and knowledge come close to what you have achieved."

Charlotte could not help but smile as she heard that; nodding her head several times as she glanced at Lucian.

"You do not need to thank me, Mr. Elder," Lucian shook his head, "We all have things that we are good at."

"Please, just call me Quinn," Elder Quinn raised his palm, "As to why I called you here…

…I want you to marry my daughter."

"Dad!?" Charlotte could not help but just jump up from the sofa as soon as she heard that, "What are you—"

"Please, hear me out first," Elder Quinn raised a finger as he gestured to Charlotte to calm down, "Sit. I know this comes as a shock to you, Dr. Lucian — but you will only gain benefits upon doing so."

"Dad…?" Charlotte whispered loudly as she gestured to her father to stop. Elder Quinn, however, was not looking at her at all.

"It will give you a proper identity," Elder Quinn sighed, "And with the pills you created under my name, it is only a matter of time before I become the Grand Elder — but that is not what I am hoping for. I plan to become the Lotus Pharma Sect's Sect Master."

"When… have you even been planning that?" Charlotte lowered her eyebrows.

"And once I am…" Elder Quinn looked Lucian in the eyes, "...I plan to pass the position on to you. The things you can accomplish, it will completely revolutionize and change our—"

"Dad!" Charlotte once again stood up; this time, her voice caused the entire office to shake and tremble. She quickly calmed down, however, as she grabbed Lucian and gently pulled him away from Elder Quinn,

"I'm very sorry about this, Dr. Lucian. I… I swear, I didn't know any of this."

"Hm," Lucian just blinked and looked to the side.

"Please, go home for now…" Charlotte winced, "...I'll talk to my father first and clear out this misunderstanding. I'll…

…come visit you later."

***

"You're so lucky, Lady Malenia. Your husband, he's… he's like… a walking green flag. And he's… he's so handsome. Oh my god, what am I saying…"

Hannah was currently giving Malenia a bath; very gently wiping her back with the sponge. She could not, however, concentrate too much as her mind seemed to be drifting to Lucian's face.

"No… no wonder you fell in love with him," Hannah let out a sigh before shaking her head off of all the inappropriate thoughts she was having. And fortunately for her, she was still able to finish cleaning up Malenia even with all of her daydreaming,

"There. All done."

Hannah once again let out a sigh as she finished dressing up Malenia.

"I'll see you aga—!?" Hannah was about to leave, but before she could do so, all of the monitors started beeping wildly, "M… Malenia!?"

Hannah quickly rushed to Malenia to see what was happening, but as soon as she got closer to her, the beeping just stopped. The only thing Hannah could really do was stare at Malenia, but as soon as she saw her chest move, Hannah quickly let out a very long and deep sigh of relief.

"I'll go and find Master Lucian," Hannah breathed out, "Please just—Lady Malenia?"

Hannah was about to turn around… when Malenia suddenly grabbed her wrist.

"Lady Malenia!?" Hannah's eyes turned wide as she looked at her hand, "Are you… you're awake!? Wait, I'm going to come and get your husband!"

"No…" And there, Hannah heard the mos haunting and raspiest voice she had ever heard escape from Malenia's lips.

"I'm… I'm not going to be gone for long, okay? I'm just going to get your husband and—"

"Don't… know"

"But—"

"Don't…" Malenia gasped,

"…I don't know him… He's not my husband."