Chapter 13: Charm potion and the power of Destiny
"Okay, mom, but first please bring your ears here; I have something to say."
As I agreed to my mother's eviction order that she gave me, I first gestured for her to bow down to my level with the excuse of telling her something important in her ears, and then quietly I gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Muah!, hehehe... bye bye!"
And before she could react, I instantly turned around and started walking away, towards an empty seat located slightly away from my mother's position.
"You kid...!"
However, before I could even walk a few steps, I was instantly grabbed by my mother, who then gave me a few return kisses before allowing me to leave.
And only then, I started walking again as I took my cheese-meat balls' plate from the table with me when some conversation between Stacey and my mother fell on my ears.
"He really loves you."
"Of course, he's my son after all."
"Gosh! If only Selina could be as obedient and talented as your son, even 10% of him would have made my life much easier."
Heh!
Stacey Greenberg, Are you jealous now that even after you dote on your daughter so much, she doesn't even give you the respect you deserve in front of others and hardly obeys your orders?
first jealous of my mother, and now jealous of me?
Huh! Do you think I don't know your inner thoughts?
I sneered disdainfully in my mind and continued to walk as their voice soon stopped coming when I reached the empty seat where I sat down.
Needless to say, I wasn't alone, as Selina, who was following me, also came and sat down on the empty chair on my left side while thoughtfully looking at me when I once again started eating those cheese balls.
As soon as she leaned towards me, a sweet, milky fragrance unique to small girls with a touch of lavender wafted through my nose, making me glance at her with my peripheral vision.
I had to say that this b*tch really does look cute.
But I don't know when or how, but mysteriously, somehow a drink appeared in Selina's hand, with which she kept fiddling and twirling.
"Do you like these?" She pointed at my food and asked, acting innocently while supporting her chin with her hands on the table.
"Hmm."
But I didn't even look at her and just gave a customary hum to show my affirmation, resulting in Selina getting dissatisfied with my disregard towards her.
In an instant, all of the minuscule amount of goodwill that Selina had in her heart towards me after seeing my cool and handsome face and realising that my popularity was due to my strength and status vanished from Selina's eyes as if it had never been there in the first place.
Instead, there was now a flash of displeasure in her eyes, but it only appeared for a second before vanishing.
After which she tried to talk to me about various things, such as what I like, what I do, how I study, my favourite toys, my favourite clothes shop, etc. All types of kids topics, which made me extremely bored.
Even so, I replied appropriately to every question she asked, not showing any carelessness at all.
My voice, however, was devoid of any enthusiasm; it was utterly monotone, and my responses sounded as if I were merely trying to stifle the voice of this annoying insect that was nagging me.
Because of such an attitude of mine, Selina was infuriated almost immediately; however, when she recalled her mother's advice to not act rashly on emotions and when she thought about how significant this endeavour was, Selina did something she had never done before in her life: she suppressed her anger.
"Waiter!"
But you could still hear it leaking in her voice when she yelled at a waiter to stop him, who was walking by with drinks on a tray, and from whom she then took a drink that was exactly the same as the one she had with her in her hand at the time.
And if I hadn't been paying attention to her, I wouldn't have known that she subtly switched hands while she was picking up the drink, then put the drink that she carried with her on the table to give it to me as if she just took it from the waiter, while actually taking the drink that she took from the waiter for herself.
If I hadn't been paying attention to her, I really wouldn't have known that she did that.
Even if someone were secretly watching her, they wouldn't be able to see the exchange unless they were sitting close to Selina and were directly observing her movements. This is because her sleight of hand was so quick, and her technique was so precise and clean.
When I saw Selina's amazing work, I couldn't help but wonder whether or not she had been a thief in her previous life or whether she had been trained to do this her whole life.
Because before judging, one must remember that she is just a small girl of almost seven years of age who hasn't even started using aura.
To expect such a performance from a girl of her age was unimaginable in my previous life.
And this fact once again made me remember to always be cautious, because this was a fantasy world where even a child couldn't be underestimated.
"Here, you might be thirsty. Take this." Selina motioned for me to take the drink off the table.
Her tone was authoritative and full of self-confidence, giving me the impression that she was giving me an order to follow and that it was natural for me to do what she asked.
Looking at her like that truly made me want to smash the glass on this b*tch's face.
truly, not knowing the height of the heavens, the depth of the earth, or the distance between them.
a true idiot with limitless vanity!
It was understandable, though, because no matter what, at the end, she was indeed just a dumb, spoiled, seven year old girl with delusional narcissistic princess syndrome.
I don't even know if something like that exists, but if it does, then she was the best example of it.
In any case, if it were the original Luke, maybe he would have been intimidated by her, behaved like her licking dog, and immediately imbibed the drink.
Unfortunately for her, I wasn't that fool, Luke, so with my eyes narrowed and my pupils advancing upward, I looked at her with my chin down, as the shadow of my hair fell on my face, giving the sharp glint in my eyes an ominous vibe.
Couple it with my secret activation of the Ruler of Darkness, and it just increased the level of omniousness and intimidation in my voice and eyes countless times, so when Selina heard me asking in an indifferent tone,
"Are you ordering me?"
A sense of oppression instantly shrouded Selina, who couldn't help but swallow her saliva in panic.
making her instantly shake her head in denial, as if she had even forgotten how to speak.
But knowing that for my plans, I can't push her too hard, I shifted my gaze back to my food and, after giving her a disdainful snort, I deactivated my title.
Leading Selina to take a sigh of relief and wipe the cold sweat dripping down her forehead,
'To think a count's daughter would dare order me.'
However, Selin was Selina, because as soon as she got her bearings back, she instantly got outraged by my actions and her own act of cowardice.
'Hehehe, good. Get more angry, you b*tch.'
The level of her anger this time was certainly higher than before. But it was still a lot less than what I wanted.
Anyway, looking at my plan working so flawlessly, I couldn't help but have an optimistic laugh in my heart.
'Trying to trick me? Dream on, b*tch, you're still wet under the pants.'
Inwardly, I found myself chuckling and snickering, but on the surface, I displayed an expression of complete indifference.
My eyes had a piercing sparkle, but my face was smiling in a cute and goofy way.
Because I am the birthday boy and the centre of attention at this party, I am well aware that a great number of people were looking my way, in both an open and a covert manner, for some reason or another, trying to find out more about me or scoop up some interesting news.
My every move, expression, and behaviour were in someone's eyes, especially after the bomb I dropped. The number of people trying to find out about me had increased exponentially.
That's why, tonight, no matter what my thoughts were, I was making sure to never let them surface on my face and let them effect my judgement and actions.
About this fact, I was clearly aware, but unfortunately for Selina, no one told her about these things, and for a spoiled brat like her, it was all the more impossible to think about these things on her own.
And even if someone had told her, she may have ignored them due to her attitude.
Well, it would have worked out for her with the original Luke, who would have obeyed her unconditionally, but with me, who didn't even react to her words as if she didn't exist, making her expressions more distorted, her actions tonight were going to be the worst decisions she had made.
She was making a very unhappy face right now, and she wasn't even trying to hide how angry or hostile she was.
Sadly for her, she was unaware of the gazes that were being cast upon her from all directions.
Nevertheless, I ignored her because her resentment was a little low at the moment.
But even so, I had to say that today I really saw the power of destiny and the world's will that helped the main character and the heroines correct the plot.
Because even with these many gazes focused on us, I was sure that none of them even noticed that Selina changed the glasses.
It is possible that the reason could be anything at all, including the fact that she did it in such a stealthy and skillful manner, the fact that the number of eyes that were on her was significantly lower, both in terms of quantity and scrutiny, than the number of eyes that were on me, the fact that people weren't looking at her when she did that, or the fact that she was accidentally covered by a person who was walking by at the precise moment.
But no matter what the reason, one thing was certain: the influence of destiny behind the scenes was the greatest, making me really curse at this seemingly cheat type mysterious phenomenon.
Having learned about it through the system and the novels back on earth and then witnessing it firsthand were indeed two extremely different experiences.
Anyway, my mind didn't get much time to think or get lost in my own thoughts because I suddenly saw that, after not getting any response from me, Selina took her drink and instantly gulped down the whole glass of drink in one big sip.
"Ahh! This drink is really good." She wiped her lips as she acted and smiled with satisfaction.
However, her acting was not even in the same dimension as Stacey's; it was that low, and her hidden contempt and trickery were easily seen through by me.
After that, Selina leaned back in her seat lazily, this time without saying a word or being too insistent that I drink, as if she had forgotten about our earlier conversation and was simply waiting for me to drink on my own.
Was she genuinely so confident that I would really get thirsty and drink it?
In a normal situation, nothing was wrong with this kind of planning because a person would certainly feel thirsty during the meal, but now that I knew her plan, it was purely a waste of time.
Still, I couldn't help but notice that this kid was incredibly smart, and I was impressed by her sound judgement given her young age.
Nevertheless, she was still too naive and short tempered.
Well, I didn't waste any of the time that she gave, as I took this opportunity to request the system in my mind.
'System, scan the drink and find what's mixed in it.'
[Scanning is in process...]
[Ding! Scan Completed]
[The red fruit blast is mixed with charm potion.]
'Charm potion? Show me the details.'
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[Charm potion]
Anyone who drinks the potion is attracted to the person whose blood is added to it, eventually developing an extreme obsession for the person.
[Points to remember: 1. The blood loses its effectiveness after half an hour, after which it's required to be added again.
2. The potion is only effective on people below Swordman rank, and even in the sword apprentice rank, the higher the minor rank, the more times one had to drink it for the potion to fully take effect.]
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Nodding my head inwardly at that seemingly simple explanation, I asked the system what I was curious about.
'So how many times does an early stage sword apprentice have to drink this potion for it to take effect?'
[3–4 times within the next six months.]
'Hoo! So the Greenbergs would make me drink it at least 2 more times. System, what about a normal person?'
[1-2 times within an year, depending on the mental tolerance and the initial feeling of the person towards the user of the potion.]
'So is the effect permanent? I mean, what about afterwards, when a person grows stronger?'
[Reply to the host: The effect is permanent; once the person is completely fallen, it cannot be reverted back to normal naturally, and only with something that counters the use of charm potion do they have any chance of converting back.]
[Caution: It only removes the effect of the potion, and the affection generated naturally during the period of time the potion was in effect is unchangeable.]
'I guess the Luke in the novel was already fascinated by Selina because of the plot, and with the effect of this potion, he fell head over heels for her. Straight down in the abyss.'
Tsk Tsk Tsk! Poor Luke.
Hearing the details from the system about this charm potion makes things much more clear to me because I have always been curious about how someone could be so stupid. I mean, some are like that in real life.
But as far as I understood, the novel's Luke wasn't one of them—especially after having such doting parents, why would he even try to find love somewhere else?
Which has also always made me wonder how Destiny could affect someone's thinking to the extent that they wouldn't care about left or right, family or friends, life or death, etc., and that too just for a green tea b*tch who doesn't even care about them and is clearly taking their advantage.
Unexpectedly, now I understand that destiny and luck themselves can't affect one's thinking to such an extent, and there's always a reason behind everything that happens.
But what destiny, luck, and the world's will can do, how they do it, and how much they are allowed to influence someone or something, is still a mystery to me.
Nonetheless, I wasn't worried about it, because I knew that sooner or later, as long as I continued to get stronger and kill more Children of Destiny, I would eventually come to know all about them.
Actually, although not as detailed as the system, which can even tell about the charm potion in such great detail, I also know something about this charm potion.
In these last few years, I have learned a great deal about various things in this world in detail, from history to magic to auras, from biographies of famous aura users and wizards to even different artefacts, potions, etc. No matter the present time or ancient times,
That's why, now that the system has mentioned it in such detail to me, I remember having read about this thing in a book back when I was reading about potions in the library.
And if my memory serves me right, this charm potion is an ancient potion that was created hundreds of years ago.
But the use of this charm potion was frowned upon among wizards due to the fact that it was so effective and was thought to be a hazardous product for the children of aristocratic families as well as common people.
So when later on, after quite a few instances of people misusing it came to light, the wizard tower eventually decided to ban this thing.
That too was ages ago, and from what I can recall, even the recipe for it was lost in the great river of history.
But now the presence of this thing really makes me wonder about the source of this product and the mastermind of this plan, because it's impossible for a mere count family to have such an ancient formula.
At first, I thought it was the Southern Duke of the Red Storm, under whose jurisdiction the Greenberg family comes.
However, the presence of this charm potion makes me really think twice about my speculation, because as far as I know, the Duke of the Red Storm doesn't have that friendly connections with the Magic Kingdom, and the chances of this thing coming from his side were substantially low.
So, is it the Magic Kingdom?
But if it is indeed them, then why did they do so, and what would they achieve by targeting our Steeline family?
As far as I know, the Magic Kingdom is a neutral kingdom where people from all over the continent come to learn magic, and even the council of archwizards that rules the Magic Kingdom consists of people from different nations.
And above all, why would those eccentric bastards, who only have magic, magic, and magic going on in their heads, waste their time plotting against my Steeline family?
What would they gain?
Now this really gives me a headache just thinking about it.
Phew~!
Since even one wrong assumption could lead me in a totally different direction, and I don't have many clues to guide me in the right direction, there was no point in delving into this matter for the moment.
So I put these thoughts aside for the moment.
Coming back to the real world from my thoughts, this time I picked up the glass of drink.
And looking at this red drink in my hand, an insidious plan suddenly took form in my mind, and I couldn't help but have a lovely smile on my face like a spring breeze.