[V5C13] A Woman's Intuition

——Let’s rewind a bit.

Having left the hall with the chestnut-haired young man holding her waist, Melissa entered a private room. Then, she promptly shoved a homemade candy into the man’s mouth.

“Aw, I wish you would feed me the candy mouth-to-mouth,” said the man as he brought his face closer, and Melissa replied with a smile.

“Oh my, I apologize for being so inconsiderate. Unfortunately…”

The next moment, the man who ate the candy collapsed to the ground. The sleep-inducing effect added to the rose candy had taken effect.

Melissa looked down at the unconscious man, ran her fingers through her messy red hair, and continued, “I’m not a fan of impatient men.”

After confirming that the man on the floor had completely lost consciousness, Melissa checked the number of candies she had on hand.

Members of the Roseberg family could temporarily impart powerful magical effects to roses or rose-derived items. These included sleep, aphrodisiac, paralysis, detoxification, etc.

The candy she had given to Monica had a detoxification effect. By consuming that candy, one could neutralize the effects of aphrodisiac potions.

“…Guess I should make a few more detoxification candies.”

Melissa touched the candy with her finger and quickly chanted a spell.

House Roseberg’s temporary imbuement magic could instantly provide a powerful effect. That was their greatest strength.

However, temporary imbuement was just that——temporary. The duration varied somewhat depending on the amount of mana infused, but the effects generally lasted around thirty minutes to an hour. After that, the candy would revert to being just candy.

Moreover, magical substance intake naturally carried the risk of mana poisoning. Even when taking great care in mana imbuement, it was still advisable to avoid consuming more than five candies at a time.

(…In other words, I have to settle this quickly.)

Melissa opened the door and gestured to Theodore, who had been hiding around the corner of the corridor, watching the situation.

“Come here, Wimpy.”

“It’s not Wimpy, it’s Theodore.”

“Wimpy or Sissy is good enough for you. Hurry up and take me to Throth’s room.”

“Okay…”

Theodore lowered his head in resignation and started walking.

The building had three floors: the first floor was a large hall, the second floor consisted of guest rooms, and the third floor housed the staff. Melissa and Theodore were currently on the second floor.

The interior of the building was actually quite intricate. Without someone guiding her, reaching the third floor could be quite challenging.

Upon finally reaching the third floor, Theodore glanced at Melissa a few times before speaking.

“Hey, um, is there any point in collecting the magic potions? Once the potions are scattered all over the place, there’s no way to get them all, right?”

“Wrong. The magic potions aren’t what I’m here to collect.”

“…?”

Most of the potions circulating the market were made using permanent imbuement magic. However, since permanent imbuement magic was strictly regulated by law, those potions couldn’t provide very powerful effects.

On the other hand, House Roseberg’s secret potions were created using the unrestricted temporary imbuement magic. These potions could provide powerful magical effects even with temporary imbuement, something only House Roseberg could create.

However, this meant that they were temporary. Their power would wear off within an hour after mana imbuement.

Therefore, the Witch’s Love Potion was stored in special bottles.

“My crafted potions are stored in special magical containers. They may seem like ordinary bottles at first glance, but they’ll maintain their magical effects as long as they are kept within those bottles.”

Typical temporary imbuement can’t impart significant effects, so there’s usually no need for someone to bother sustaining the effects.

These magical bottles were crucial to House Roseberg precisely because of their powerful temporary imbuement.

Of course, House Roseberg didn’t disclose the identity of these bottles to their customers.

Customers were merely told, “Use the love potion within thirty minutes of opening the lid, or else the components will evaporate,” and once it’s used, they come back to collect the empty bottles.

In other words, this entire situation was a result of Melissa’s negligence in collecting the bottles after selling her potions everywhere.

Naturally, Melissa wasn’t the type to be plagued by self-blame. Instead, she nonchalantly justified herself by claiming, “Those who misuse the Witch’s Love Potion are at fault.”

“Without the bottles, they have no way to maintain the potions. In other words, once I recover or destroy those bottles, Throth is doomed. A third-rate magician like him will regret challenging a top-notch family.”

Upon hearing Melissa’s wicked laughter, Theodore muttered quietly to himself.

“If you were truly top-notch, would this situation have happened in the first place…”

“Silence.”

Melissa thrust her hands into Theodore’s face. Her crimson-dyed nails ruthlessly dug into Theodore’s skin.

“Gyah, ow, ow, ow. You’re scarier than a female dragon in heat!”

“Shut up already. Don’t scream so loud.”

Melissa clicked her tongue and released Theodore’s face. It wasn’t out of mercy. Theodore’s noisy complaints were simply annoying her.

While sniffling, Theodore used his fingers to trace the claw marks Melissa left on his face.

“Ow, ow, you’re terrible… a little blood is coming out.”

“It’s your fault for annoying me. Anyway, you’re just a third-rate, unsuccessful, loser biologist or something, right?”

“…Eh, whoa. How did you know I’m a biologist?”

Although she had just guessed on a whim, it turned out to be correct.

Praising her own intuition, Melissa concocted a suitable-sounding reason.

“When you addressed Moni-Moni, it sounded like you were talking to a little animal. So, I immediately knew you were some guy who likes talking to animals.”

“Yeah, true. Moni-Moni does look like a squirrel or rabbit. As for you, you’re like a red dragon in heat.”

“Are you asking to be strangled?”

Theodore turned pale and vigorously shook his head, and Melissa scoffed.

“Okay, let’s cut the chit-chat. That door over there looks suspicious. Is it Throth’s room?”

Melissa pointed her chin at the particularly magnificent door in front of them, and Theodore nodded vigorously, saying, “Yes, yes.”

Melissa’s impression that the door looked like it belonged to the leader of a crime syndicate seemed to be accurate.

“All right, let’s storm in. Come along, Wimpy.”

“D-Do I really need to go too…?”

“But of course. You have a very important role.”

Grabbing Theodore, who looked like he might run away at any moment, Melissa smiled and continued.

“As a meatshield.”

“Waaah…!”

With Theodore making such a fuss, sneaking around was rather pointless. Melissa decided to kick down the door while dragging Theodore by the collar.

“Now, raise your hands and get on your knees! If you resist, there’ll be a bloodbath!”

Melissa barged into the room, shouting like a robber, but there was no one inside.

It felt rather foolish to have announced herself so boldly to an empty room. Melissa cleared her throat to cover up the awkward silence, then scanned her surroundings.

It appeared to be a decent-sized reception room. If one were to summarize it in a single word, perhaps “vulgar” would fit.

Cheap and expensive furnishings were mixed haphazardly, giving it a terribly mismatched impression. That might be acceptable if they were blended with a sense of unity, but that wasn’t the case here.

The idea was to create an air of luxury by placing expensive items conspicuously in a room filled with cheap furnishings.

“Feels like the room of a former pauper who acquired a taste for gold.”

“Well, that’s harsh,” said a voice coming from Melissa’s left.

Simultaneously, a faint noise could be heard from the right, and Melissa instinctively raised her shield with her right hand.

Melissa’s intuition ended up being correct. One of the chairs in the room flew towards her, as if it had a will of its own.

The chair struck the shield──Theodore’s face──and shattered into pieces.

“Pgyah!”

Theodore screamed pitifully and fell over, spraying blood from his nose.

Melissa released the dazed Theodore, plucked the rose ornament from her hair, and began to chant.

Without waiting for her chant to finish, additional chairs and even a desk rattled into the air and flew at Melissa.

Once Melissa completed the chant and raised her rose, the rose’s vines extended immediately, entwining around all of the furniture attacking her.

“The heck is this? Enchanted chairs and desks?”

“Yeah, furniture that moves according to their master’s will. I made them myself. Pretty well done, no?”

Melissa looked to the left, and the wall slowly slid open, revealing a man from within the hidden passage.

He was in his mid-thirties, with tousled brown hair. He wore flashy patterned clothes and adorned himself with accessories all over his body.

Despite his flamboyant appearance, his face displayed an inherent meagerness that could not be hidden.

Melissa sneered at the man, seemingly a living embodiment of the room, and kicked away the vine-entwined desk.

“Seriously? Enchanted furniture? Sounds like a magical tool that’s only useful for redecorating. If you’re boasting about something like this, House Throth really is third-rate. I can see why you’ve fallen so far.”

“Hahaha, as expected from the prestigious House Roseberg… Such arrogance.”

This man knew Melissa’s true identity.

And yet, he retained his nonchalant attitude. Was this false confidence, or…?

“…That arrogance has left you wide open, former Sage.”

Sensing a chill in the air behind her, Melissa moved the entwined desk to shield her back.

Immediately, the desk was cracked open. She had been attacked from behind, and the faint magical aura lingering was that of ice magic.

Turning around, Melissa saw a woman with light blonde hair and a fur coat standing behind her. The woman held two handguns.

(Those are magical tools too!)

“Take her down, Veronica!”

Melissa clicked her tongue as Veronica silently aimed the guns at her and pulled the triggers.

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