Chapter 128: Visiting Alchemy Team (Part 2)
The first person to come up was an old man with gray hair. He smiled enthusiastically and announced, "Look at this potion I recently created! It steadies your arms, so you can shoot your basic spell more accurately. I have conducted numerous tests and it increases a person's accuracy by an average of 10%! That's one more hit of your target for every ten shots! That is crucial in a life and death moment like the battlefield!"
I frowned slightly. A 10% increase in accuracy is definitely a positive, but it wasn't the level of inovation I was looking for. I quickly waved the old man away, "ok, I will keep this potion in mind. Now let's see the next person's invention."
Another two person pitched their potions to me, but they were similarly incremental improvements in current abilities. There was still many people left to go, so I tried to be hopeful that there would be a needle in a haystack.
While I was waiting for the next person up to start their speech, I noticed that there was a woman sitting in the corner not paying any attention to us. She was wearing the same white coat that all the other alchemists were wearing, so I had to assume she was an alchemist too. I was curious why she didn't want to show her work to me like everyone else.
With my curiosity peaked, I turned to the side and my eyes met with Becca's. I quickly looked from her to the woman in the corner and without speaking a word, Becca nodded and walked over to the woman. It seemed like she understood my intentions, so I continued to listen to the group of alchemists presenting their potions.
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[Becca's POV]
I had noticed the woman in the corner much earlier than Nick, but I don't want to leave while the alchemists were presenting their potions, so at the time, I decided to go speak to the woman in the corner once all the alchemists were finished.
Unfortunately, it became obvious after a couple presenters that all of the potions presented today would be unimpressive. Nick still tried to stay enthusiastic as he went on, but I quickly lost hope in the old fashion alchemists we employed who only focused on improving battle power.
There was so much good that alchemy could do, but they only focused on improving their ability to kill and hurt others. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since that was the original Nicolas' personality to a tee.
Luckily, it seemed that even Nick's mind started to wonder off after a few unimpressive presentations, so he took a look around the room and saw the woman sitting alone in the corner for the first time.
After taking a moment to process, he looked at me and gave me a signal to investigate. If it was near the beginning of our relationship, I would have been jealous when I saw Nick look at a good looking woman who was near our age.
However, I now trust Nick a lot more and also better understand how his mind works. It was obvious from his quick eye movements and instantly look over to me, that he was excited because he thought this mysterious woman might have an impressive potion that she was hiding and he trusted me to get to the bottom of it while he continued to be a responsible Duke by listening to his workers diligently.
I was pumped up because I was ready to do something interesting instead of listening to these inconsequential presentations. I also wanted to do a good job so Nick's trust in me would not be unwarranted.
When I approached the girl, she was writing in a notebook quickly and every so often mumbling to herself and crossing out what she had written. She wore circle rimmed glasses and had her dark black hair in a messy ponytail.
Once I was in ear shot of her, I coughed to get her attention. "Hello, I am Duchess Harrison."
The woman did not look up from her notebook, but replied flatly, "Hello."
I was surprised for a moment, usually people would call me by my title and bow when first meeting me. Luckily, I don't care much about titles like my Father. If it was a prideful noble instead, this woman could have gotten into a lot of trouble for her lack of respect.
As I grew even more currious about this woman, I asked, "how come you haven't lined up to present your work? Do you not want to take a chance and present?"
The woman scoffed, "what's the point? They will see the great potion I created and steal my recipe while taking all the credit. It's best for me to lay low and mind my own business."
I shook my head frantically, "my Husband isn't like that! He will make sure you are compensated fairly and given the credit you deserve as the original creator."
The woman smirked, "oh ya? Just like how he accepted the first alchemist he met as the inventor of the paternity test potion without doing any investigation himself? Instantly accepting the words of someone who could be easily lying to him."
I couldn't hold back my shock, "what?!"
The woman rolled her eyes, "I think I have been clear enough."
"Then please show me proof that you are the original creator of the paternity test potion and I'll make sure that my husband knows about it! We will punish the alchemist that lied and make sure you get your deserved rewards."
The woman shook her head, "you want proof? Just go look at him in the back room try to make the potion now. It's as plain as the eye can see. But I know how much you nobles like to turn a blind eye to anything that might inconvenience you, so please just leave me alone. I rather just work on my current project without people bothering me."
It was hard to refuse her when it looked like Nick and I might have made a big mistake by accepting the first alchemist's claims without any scrutiny.
I quickly bowed to the woman before promising, "I'll get to the bottom of this."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Andrew_3058
Andrew_3058 Sorry for the lack of updates. I’ve been swamped with work. I’ll still try to release one chapter a week if I can.
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