Author's note: this is from Seraphina's point of view

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~ Italy, Genoa ~

Since morning, I'm stuck in the study, going through Aldus's files he left behind.

He told me to conceal his current state, and if I'm going to do that, then I need to ensure no one knows about his absence.

I came up with a plan that for the ones who seek him, I will say that he is busy with research, and I will swap that with the story of how he went on a trip to investigate something.

Non-important meetings will be declined or postponed, and I will handle personally everything else.

This shouldn't be difficult because Aldus was known for his eccentric behavior and for disappearing unexpectedly. I believe that I can keep this charade going on for years, and I should come up with something more solid until then, or maybe I manage to wake him up. Hopefully.

Yes, I was absolutely determined to find a cure for the eternal sleep and get Aldus back, but I also had to be realistic. For centuries, no one has found a way to bring back a person from eternal sleep, and it won't be realistic to say that I can accomplish that quickly.

That's why I needed a good coverup story for Aldus's absence.

Aldus was a loner who did his own thing, and I was confident that I can deceive everyone, except for maybe Calista.

Calista is Aldus's willful sister, and I had no way to predict how she will react if she finds out that Aldus fell into eternal sleep. Aldus and Calista always bickered, and they didn't spend a lot of time together, but their connection exists and it's obvious that they care for each other. For the short-term, I will tell Calista that Aldus is busy, but for the long-term, it would be a problem. Another issue is that Calista seems to have a built-in lie detector and can easily see through me.

To be honest, I feared Calista's reaction.

Will she blame me? Will she punish me? Will she hate me? Or will she burst into tears and mourn for the loss of her brother? I don't know which one of these would hurt me more.

Yes, he is not dead, and I can use that as a reason to lessen the blow. But no one ever woke up from eternal sleep, so for vampires, that's the same as dead. Trying to comfort Calista by saying how I will find a cure, would be the same as saying that I can bring back the dead or re-grow limbs. Hopeless.

I couldn't allow myself to succumb to negativity. There was too much to do and I needed to focus.

I decided to leave thinking about Calista for later.

Another troublesome couple would be Aldus's parents. I've never met them, but I had an impression that if they take care of their own, and if they find out the truth, they will look for the culprit to appease their anger, and at this point, that would include Duke and me. What went in my favor was that Aldus rarely communicated with his parents, so maybe they don't call for another decade or so and until then I will figure out something. But what if Calista finds out sooner and tells them about it? Ah, I was back to Calista.

Aldus wanted to keep his condition a secret in order to protect me, from his enemies and from his family.

I'm aware that if others get a hint Aldus is unable to act, many creatures will descend on this place in order to get their hands on things that Aldus owns, snatch things he created, or maybe just to end him.

I will not allow that to happen.

Aldus protected me in many ways, and it's my turn to do the same.

I thought how it's ironic. Aldus Mezzanotte, managed to make me feel all kinds of grateful in only three years, while I feel completely detached from two people who raised me for the last two decades.

Aldus's unconditional support and encouragement did that, and this is my time to show that his efforts were not in vain.

The first thing I did was to redirect his emails and phone calls and I needed to address those before I dove into his file system.

I saw an email from Lazarus that addressed the previous time when Aldus went to assist him with the rogues. Right. Rogues and Lazarus. That is another thing I will need to do in Aldus's absence. I can only hope that Lazarus's call for help will come later. As late as possible.

The other emails were mostly about Notte Pharmaceuticals which I handled with ease. Father made sure I am involved in this, and I'm familiar with all directors.

There was one email from Bolek and one from councilman Elias.

I had no idea what to do with the creature hunters, as no one likes them. Aldus didn't like the guy either.

As for the councilman Elias, this didn't seem urgent so I decided to ignore it, and for later... maybe I can ask councilwoman Elena for help. She was trying to curry favor with my father, so if I make it sound that Aldus is away temporarily, and he will appreciate her help. Yes. That might work.

I will also see if councilwoman Elena can give some advice on the creature hunters.

It took me several hours to finish sweeping through emails. Based on the dates, my father didn't touch them in the last three days. I have no idea how Aldus managed to deal with all these, and find time for tinkering in the lab.

Once I finished communicating with the outside world in Aldus's name, I looked at Aldus's files that were addressing his research.

Aldus documented everything and anything on paper and in electronic form, and his disorganized notes reflect his state of mind. It will take me some time to sort this out.

I reminded myself to stay focused and not do this halfheartedly. Aldus left me his everything to take care of until he is back, and I will do a good job and find a way to wake him up, and then he will be proud of me, and maybe, just maybe, he forgives me for my foolish behavior.

Luckily, for the last three years, Aldus was introducing me to his world and, in some areas, I acted as his assistant, so I already had a solid knowledge base.

Alchemic recipes, research, theories, contacts, bank account numbers… it was all in random places, that I was sure made absolute sense for Aldus.

I exhaled a breath of relief when I saw the list of his customers for things that came out of his alchemic furnace. Everyone knows that Aldus was the supplier of many exotic pills and potions and if those stop coming, people will get suspicious. And these people are the ones I should deceive the longest.

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