The Peculiar Alchemist

14 || Lucille Abbott

The weather was just right. It wasn't too windy nor was it too cold, it was the perfect afternoon to be sitting outside and enjoy a few warm drinks coupled with sweet desserts. Cornelia loved her desserts, but she also found herself distracted by her unexpected guest.

It wasn't that Lucille came over unannounced to make Cornelia think of her as unexpected, it was the fact that their families never crossed paths until now for them to meet up like this. Something about this so-called meeting was more intimate and casual than the others she had, and it was what Lucille had very politely requested. She didn't want anything grand, just an afternoon chat that made it feel like they were longtime friends.

Giving the woman in front of her a quick glance, Cornelia couldn't help but have her breath taken away.

Everything about Lucille was simple.

Nothing about her was what Cornelia expected from a woman who was married into the Abbott family. Somehow she gave the impression that she was in a class of her own, above silly families and their social standings. Usually rich women would flaunt their status and wealth in nearly every aspect of their lives, but really, everything was simple about Lucille.

Tan skin, lovely dark waves, and red lips that made her simply stunning.

She had that sort of magnetic beauty and charm that would make gazes gravitate towards her and refuse to leave, and she also had confidence that amplified how attractive she was whenever she spoke. Cornelia was terrified at the idea of meeting someone so big, someone so important, but the way Lucille spoke to her made her feel at ease as she relaxed entirely into their conversation.

She was so sweet, charmingly so.

"Your flowers are just lovely. I really fell in love with your garden." The way she sighed when she said that as she looked around made it feel so genuine, so sincere. It made Cornelia feel flattered as she shyly giggled not knowing how to react to these compliments.

"You're welcome here any time." Cornelia told her making Lucille look at her and give her a warm smile, the necklace she wore dangled around her neck and it was made out of a, without any shred of doubt, very precious stone. It was green like emerald, but Cornelia didn't think it was actually made out of emerald. It looked flawless on her. "Speaking of flowers..."

Cornelia tore her eyes away from the lovely green stone, and Lucille perked up in her seat as if she just remembered why she was there in the first place.

"Right, yes! The flowers." She laughed at how silly she was for forgetting it before she smiled at Cornelia to probably show her that there was no malice or accusations in her next words. "I did mention in my letter that they were stolen. I am here to figure out who stole them."

"Uhm," Cornelia bit the bottom of her lip as she tried her best to recall the details, but she couldn't really remember anything. "They were sold to me by a woman. That's really all I can tell you."

Lucille looked at her curiously. "What did she look like?"

"Ah, I am not so good at describing appearances, let's see...She was a little bit short, had brown hair, and she seemed a little bit odd."

Slightly disappointed with the knowledge that Briar had white hair, Lucille nodded her head, stopping herself from showing the disappointment in her manner. She still didn't know if the white-haired Briar was a man or a woman, but she knew one obvious thing.

Briar had a reason to place the blue flowers here.

"Odd in what way?" She asked, already knowing what to predict, but she wanted to make sure of every detail. There was no harm in confirming what she already knew.

Who knows, maybe an interesting detail would pop up.

Clueless to everything, Cornelia tried to recall every detail about the woman who sold her the flowers.

"The woman herself wasn't odd per se, but she looked a little bit – how should I put this – haggard. It was as if she was sick with something..." She trailed off not knowing what else to add, but Lucille seemed to be reading her mind with her next words.

"Did she seem like she was withering away?"

"Yes!" Cornelia's eyes widened as she looked at her in astonishment. "How did you know?"

"Oh, that thief stole one of my husband's, er, cursed objects. She was probably feeling its effects." Lucille waved her hand dismissively, wishing her lie had gone a little bit smoother than that. She knew there was no cursed item stolen, the thieves didn't dare go inside the manor itself, it was only a few of the flowers that went missing.

The purpose of the lie was to prevent Cornelia from suspecting anything else other than a simple curse. The less people who knew about the necromancers running around, the better. It was best to let people forget that necromancy existed to begin with. Lucille hated people who practiced necromancy, it was horribly ghoulish.

Thankfully, Cornelia seemed to accept her lie without question.

"Regardless of that, I wouldn't mind returning the stolen flowers-"

"Oh, no, no, no!" Lucille cut her off quickly as she laughed. "That won't be necessary, they're just flowers. I actually believe it was just someone's malicious prank."

Cornelia's lips thinned in disapproval. "I wonder why anybody would do that..."

"Who knows? People are strange sometimes." Lucille told her thoughtfully before she studied the woman in front of her. "Tell me, though. Do you perhaps have something special? Something someone would be after?"

Frowning, Cornelia shook her head. "No, why would you think that?"

"Because it is strange to me how you were targeted by that thief, is all."

"It is strange, yes." Cornelia agreed oblivious to the way Lucille studied her.

There was nothing unique about Cornelia that she could find. Not that the woman wasn't gorgeous in her own way – Lucille thought that she was delightful and she rarely tolerates people – but there was nothing which was remarkable enough to make someone go after her.

The flowers in Lucille's garden were connected to the dead.

They were beautifully eternal, undying until a cursed being touches it, and the blue petals would blacken as they shrivel up and die once they fall off. Something about these flowers made the dead enjoy being near it, and the dead lingering around a place would mean that a necromancer was keeping watch.

Seems like a whole cult is keeping watch on the Whitlocks, but the reason eluded her.

There was something she didn't know, but at least the cult was still inexperienced in matters concerning necromancy since they were dropping blatant hints like this about their motives. It couldn't have been done deliberately, they wouldn't want a family like the Abbotts to be after them, would they?

No, they wouldn't.

Lucille was perhaps giving them too much credit for her to think that they intentionally brought attention to themselves.

And whether they meant it or not, the attention is on them now.

If only she had the ability to speak to the spirits roaming around Cornelia's garden, maybe then she could get closer to the answers she's looking for.