Chapter 87: You really are thoughtful
Lucas made his way back to Henrietta’s chamber, the vials safely secured in the inner folds of his robe. When he entered, Henrietta was seated at her desk, going through scrolls filled with war dispatches and surveillance notes. She looked up the moment he came in, her expression sharpening as she saw the look in his eyes.
Lucas reached into his robe and retrieved the two vials, placing them gently on the polished obsidian table beside her. The liquid inside shimmered faintly, glowing with a hue that seemed almost alive. Henrietta leaned forward, examining them closely. She turned one over in her hand, watching the light ripple through it like the surface of a disturbed pond. Her brows furrowed.
"What is this?" she asked, her voice low, skeptical. "These little things... are supposed to restore a man’s crippled cultivation?"
Lucas didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he took the vial back from her hand, holding it with care, reverence even, as though it were a sacred artifact rather than a simple potion.
"Don’t call it ’little,’" he said, his tone firm, almost offended. "These are not just mixtures of herbs and Qi. They are the result of knowledge sacred to this world... the kind of knowledge men would kill for. This..." he held the vial up to the light, "....does wonders."
Henrietta studied his face for a moment, then sat back slowly in her chair. Her skeptical expression softened into something else....curiosity, perhaps even awe.
"If you truly pull this off," she said quietly, "if this works on him... then you will have done something that will make the entire realm turn its eyes toward you. Not just nobles. Not just cultivators. The sects, the courts, even the hidden clans....they will all want you."
Lucas gave a faint smile, the weight of her words not lost on him.
"Then let them come," he replied. "I’m not hiding anymore."
"Hmmm... you’re growing bold," Henrietta said with a subtle smirk, her gaze sharp and approving. "I like that."