Two-Faced Princess

She grabbed her shoulder, staggering. Apollonia approached to help her, and she could see wounds all over the woman’s body. Whip marks and bruises marred her skin, the faint outline of bones indicative of starvation.

When Apollonia held out the snacks and water she had put in her robe, the woman ate and drank it immediately. A wounded beauty was held captive in Mason Diamann’s secret room. Apollonia had a rough idea of what happened.

“There, please get me that bottle over there.” The woman pointed to one of the dozens of used bottles lined up in the corner. As soon as the request was fulfilled, the woman poured a few drops of liquid on her shoulder. “Sigh… I can’t make a cure because of the lack of ingredients, but I’m glad there’s a painkiller.”

From what she said, this woman seemed to have considerable pharmaceutical ability.

“What are those?” Apollonia gestured to the bottles. They were mostly empty, but some contained liquids of all colors.

The woman hesitated and looked at Apollonia with anxious eyes.

“…Mason Diamann has been stripped of his title and locked up.”

“What?” The woman’s beautiful eyes sparkled.

“He was punished for his tyranny. That’s why I can freely take a walk in the woods.”

The woman stared attentively at Apollonia’s mouth, shadowed by her hood. Then she nodded with a half-smiling, half-crying expression. “You’re not lying.”

“Please tell me everything. I can help you.”

“The empty bottles are for the drugs the viscount asked me to make, and the liquid in the others are painkillers I made with leftover ingredients. The things next to those aren’t normal stuff, so be careful,” she said bitterly. “I followed his demands because he threatened to drug me if I didn’t.”

Apollonia understood the situation instantly. There was truly no end to Mason Diamann’s misdeeds. While the woman applied a few drops of the painkillers to the rest of her wounds, Apollonia looked into each glass bottle. A small piece of paper was attached to every bottle, explaining the effects.

‘Change voice to be like a woman’s.’

‘Boost strength for a short time.’

‘Make appearance attractive.’

‘Make people old and young’

There were all sorts of drugs, all of them amazing. Most were things that Apollonia had never even heard of. Some were incredibly powerful. Even if this woman was a Bella, it was unbelievable that a single person had the ability to make all these.

“Did you really make them all?” Apollonia looked around again. There were a few things like meters and lamps that could be used to produce drugs. The woman only nodded in response.

“Don’t tell me you’ve been locked up since birth?”

The Bellas were like researchers, not powerful wizards. They studied various materials and technologies, and just implemented existing technologies by combining their meticulous calculation and impeccable senses. To make new drugs, it was necessary to analyze and reconstruct the efficacy of several existing drugs and follow the principles of magic. That process took a very long time.

If she made all those drugs, did that mean she had been locked up for about 10 years? However, the woman who listened to Apollonia only blinked as if she didn’t understand the question.

“No, I think it’s been four months. It’s hard to grasp time when I’m locked up here…”

Apollonia doubted her ears. Four months? Yet she already developed dozens of powerful drugs and sorceries that hadn’t existed before. It was impossible.

“Then, should I show you?” The woman picked up a shabby hat in the corner. When Apollonia, who didn’t want to take off her robe, refused, the woman put the hat on her head with a slight smile. The hat glistened for a moment, and the light shifted to the woman’s hair.

“What do you say?”

The woman took off the hat and shook her hair. Her silky black hair had turned into a blonde similar to Apollonia’s.

“It took me a day to make it, but the viscount wanted something else.”

Apollonia couldn’t close her mouth. That woman wasn’t joking.

It was a reasonable conclusion after witnessing the effectiveness of the hat. There was no way the viscount was willing to let go of such an amazing talent that could benefit him for a long time.

It was almost crazy, a natural talent that ordinary people could never keep up with, a prime example of God’s favoritism.

Apollonia looked at the woman’s face. Beautiful hair, a dazzling smile, a breathtaking face, a seductive scent. Heavenly beauty, but now it didn’t matter.

The genius of the century. There were no other words to describe her.

“Come out with me. Let’s report the viscount’s atrocities and help…”

“Thank you, but I can’t.”