The Scheming Alchemist (1)
A love rival.
Lilit Tistina was, without a doubt, Elisio Gremlina's rival in love.
That was the conclusion she had reached.
"W-What should I do?"
Back in her dormitory room, she pulled the duvet tightly over her head and agonized.
For the first time in her life, she had fallen in love. Yet, of all people, her rival had to be Lilit Tistina.
Lilit was the daughter of the prestigious Duke Tistina, one of the few ducal families in the empire. Blessed with breathtaking beauty and a friendly, amiable personality, she had already received countless confessions despite not even completing her first year at the academy.
As a rival, she was overwhelmingly formidable—the absolute worst opponent possible.
On the other hand, what about Elisio herself?
Granted, her background was respectable; the Gremlina family was renowned, filled with numerous distinguished scholars.
And looking at her personal traits... she certainly possessed the lovely face of a young girl and a body that exuded voluptuous femininity.
She was also deeply versed in alchemy, so much so that she had been hailed as a genius alchemist from an early age.
However, her disastrous communication skills and gloomy personality dragged her down, completely overshadowing those merits.
Even now, she couldn't help but tremble and stutter whenever she spoke to Rofel.
Furthermore, while it was true that she had a curvaceous figure with full breasts and hips, she had no idea if that was actually Rofel's preference.
If he happened to prefer slender women, the scales would tip entirely in Lilit's favor.
...
Even though Elisio was currently just a friend and not yet dating Rofel, she already felt like she was on the verge of losing him to Lilit.
Besides, based on his answers when she had asked him before, Rofel himself seemed to think quite highly of Lilit.
If Lilit were to confess to him, it would only be a matter of time before they started dating.
...What if they really did start dating?
What if Rofel and Lilit woke up in the morning and shared sweet, tender conversations?
What if they walked the streets from day to night, their fingers intimately intertwined?
What if they held each other close, sharing the same bed under the same blanket?
And what if, in the end, Rofel embraced Lilit's body, showing her a naked form and expressions he would never show Elisio for the rest of his life...?
"U-Ugh...!"
Just imagining it made Elisio's heart crumble, a wave of physical nausea washing over her.
"N-No...! Anything but that...! Absolutely not!!!!"
She clawed at her messy hair, letting out a muffled shriek.
Rofel was the first friend she had ever made, and the first man she had ever loved.
She had absolutely no intention of letting him be stolen away like this.
"I-I knew it... T-There's no other way..."
Though it felt a bit premature and crude...
No matter how much she racked her brain, Elisio believed this was the only option left.
She was at a severe disadvantage compared to Lilit when it came to winning Rofel's heart.
But what if she focused on taking his body first?
There was one area where she was undeniably superior to Lilit Tistina.
By utilizing Elisio Gremlina's outstanding alchemy, it was entirely possible.
She would use the aphrodisiacs, love potions, and sleeping drugs she had been secretly researching little by little.
Once Rofel was completely dazed and helpless, she would take his body to her heart's content, gradually staining him in her own colors until he belonged to her.
Gulp.
She swallowed hard, her throat tightening at the thought.
...Of course, this was not a morally, ethically, or rationally correct method.
But... no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't come up with anything else.
If possible, she too wanted a sweet, innocent romance—starting with proper dates, holding hands, and slowly building up their relationship in a fair and square manner.
But such a slow, uncertain approach would never allow her to beat Lilit.
Even though it hadn't been in a romantic context, she had already gone out with Rofel several times.
Of course, that didn't justify what Elisio was planning to do now.
Yet, after going around in circles, she resolved that this was the only path left to her.
Starting the next morning, Elisio frequented her laboratory whenever she didn't have classes, except for the lunch hour when she met Rofel.
The facility had been set up for her by her family after they heard about the terrorist incident that occurred when she first entered the academy.
Since her involvement in the incident was partly due to them forcing her to enroll, they had provided her with a generous budget for alchemy ingredients and facilities as a form of compensation.
Thanks to this, she was able to secretly carry out her insidious research without anyone interfering.
And before long, she succeeded in completing them.
A drug that would drive the target's body into extreme arousal, akin to going into heat.
A drug that would instantly put the target to sleep, ensuring they would not wake up for a set period of time.
And crucially, a drug that would hazily erase the memory of what transpired during a specific timeframe.
However, she made absolutely sure that none of the three drugs would cause any side effects.
These potions were meant solely for her to take Rofel's body, not to turn him into a ruined drug addict.
It was her last shred of conscience—she wanted to avoid causing any direct harm to his body at all costs.
Of course, the moment she decided to force herself on him using potions, talking about a conscience was already meaningless.
Regardless, she had successfully brewed all three types of potions.
"H-Hehehe...! I-It's finished...! All three of them...!! There are n-no side effects, so it's p-perfect...! B-But..."
The cost had been far higher than she had anticipated.
It was the result of mixing various expensive ingredients to ensure there would be no adverse reactions.
If her family hadn't been funding her, she would have failed. Because of the high cost, the quantity of the three potions she brewed was extremely small, barely enough for a few uses.
"Ugh... W-With this amount... I can only use them about t-three times each...? N-No...! What does it m-matter how many times I can use them!
"L-Let's just focus on the fact that I actually f-finished them...!"
Though the quantity was small, the effects would be guaranteed.
She could administer the arousal drug and the sleeping drug together, then take Rofel's body as she pleased while he slept.
Or she could give him the arousal drug and the memory-erasing drug, let him ravage her, and then wipe his memory afterward.
With this, she now had multiple ways to take Rofel.
Having full confidence in her past experiments and her own alchemical skills, she was certain of success.
Now, the only thing left was to get Rofel to drink the potions.
"...! Oh, l-look at the time...!"
She had been so engrossed in her research that it was already lunchtime, the hour she had promised to meet Rofel.
Carefully tucking the three potions into her breast pocket, she dashed toward their usual meeting spot.
As usual, Elisio and Rofel sat behind a secluded building, each holding their lunchboxes.
She would stutteringly carry on the conversation, and he would sit quietly, listening intently.
It was their typical daily routine, but Elisio was secretly growing anxious.
H-How... how do I get him to drink them?
She fidgeted with the potions hidden in her pocket as she pondered.
The problem was finding a way to make Rofel ingest the drugs.
Of course, getting him to drink the potion itself wouldn't be difficult.
He trusted her and considered her a close friend, so if she mixed a little into his food or drink and offered it, he would consume it without hesitation.
But the real problem lay in the aftermath.
While the potions had no side effects, she still had to deal with the consequences.
If someone ate food given by another person, suddenly felt their body heat up, fell asleep, and then woke up with hazy memories, they would have to be a complete fool not to suspect that something had happened to them.
The memory-erasing potion merely made the memories hazy; it couldn't prevent the person who drank it from realizing that their memory had been tampered with.
In other words, she needed a plausible excuse to naturally get Rofel to ingest the potion.
"...By the way, Eli, I've been really stressed about money lately."
"U-Uh?"
"Well... I've been running around trying to help Lilit with her confession, and before I knew it, I spent all my allowance. As you know, even though I'm a noble, I'm from a minor family in the sticks... My living expenses are getting dangerously low."
"W-What are you going to do then...?"
"So, I was wondering... could you look into any part-time jobs or short-term earning opportunities in the Alchemy Department? I heard some seniors make money by volunteering for clinical trials and things like that."
"I... I guess it's a bit much to ask a friend, isn't it?"
"I-It's fine...! A-And if you need money, I-I can just give you some...!"
Wait.
This was an opportunity.
She realized.
"...C-Come to think of it, I think I have a j-job you could do...!"
"Oh! Really? What is it?"
"...A-Actually, my family brewed a few p-potions... and we need someone to check if there are any s-side effects... Would that be okay?"
Her naturally gloomy and dark face flushed with a deep, scheming pink, cast in even darker shadows.