Chapter 20: Got the Formula!

The next evening.

After finishing her day’s work, Chloe returned to her room to rest.

Lying on her small bed, she stared blankly at the ceiling.

She’d been searching for days but found no trace of the transformation potion.

By now, her expectations had dwindled.

Could the princess have remembered wrong?

Recalling Silia’s confident tone when mentioning the potion, Chloe dismissed the thought.

Silia’s response had been clear, and it wasn’t something easily misremembered. Besides, with the princess’s personality, she wouldn’t lie about it.

So, the library must have information on the transformation potion.

The potion was the hardest part.

Escaping? That, Chloe wasn’t worried about.

As a member of the royal maid corps, she often handled tasks like procurement, which required leaving the palace.

All she’d need was to sign out at the gate, and she could leave freely.

‘Opportunities favor the prepared!’

At her current pace, she’d flip through all the alchemy books in a week!

‘Keep going, Chloe! Just a bit more!’

Cheering herself on, she pushed open her door and headed upstairs to the library, as she had for days.

As usual, she dragged a ladder to the towering bookshelf, climbing up.

“Let’s see, I got to book 143 yesterday, so today’s 144…”

Muttering, Chloe scanned the books one by one.

“144, 144… There it is.”

She reached out and pulled the thick tome from the shelf.

Time passed, and after flipping through several books, drowsiness crept in.

Still, she found nothing.

But she was used to it. This had happened over 140 times in recent days. For Chloe, it was now a mechanical task of scanning for keywords.

Feeling sleepy, she slapped her cheeks, forcing herself to focus.

“Transformation… transformation…”

Her pale hand turned pages, then froze.

“…Transformation potion?”

Chloe stared at the small text.

“Transformation potion?!”

Snapping back, she gripped the book’s edges in delight. Overjoyed, she stood up on the ladder, nearly falling again.

Steadying herself against the shelf, she took a deep breath and focused on the detailed description below.

[Transformation Potion]

[Properties: A cloudy, slightly whitish pale yellow potion with a foul taste, difficult to swallow.]

[Ingredients: Ten-year valerian, seven-leaf wisteria, fourth-tier magical blood, broccoli extract, bell pepper extract, bitter melon extract, garlic extract, adult royal hair.]

[Effect: Allows a vampire untrained in magic to assume a human form, equivalent to a fifth-tier mimicry spell. Lasts up to one week, comparable to a fifth-tier mage’s mimicry magic. Can be undone at the user’s will.]

[Details: Developed by vampire alchemists for covert infiltration during wars with humans, allowing soldiers below fifth-tier magic to blend in. Requires imperial approval, hence the need for adult royal hair to activate. Effective only on vampires.]

From the description, this was definitely the transformation potion she was after!

But… this recipe… why’s it full of stuff she hated?

Broccoli, bell peppers, bitter melon, garlic…

Chloe grimaced.

After a moment, she shook her head.

‘Whatever, compared to becoming human again, this is nothing!’

She noted the page number, closed the book, and checked the spine: number 146.

A wave of relief hit her.

‘So close. Good thing I didn’t give up.’

Hugging the heavy tome, she climbed down the ladder. Then, pulling out her small notebook, she knelt on the floor and began copying.

The library’s books were precious and couldn’t be taken out. Even Chloe had to copy the information into her smuggled notebook.

Though, she figured if Larvia wanted to take a book, no one could stop her.

She was the queen, after all, and Chloe was just a lowly maid.

After what felt like forever, with her wrist aching, Chloe finished copying everything about the potion.

Unsure what was essential or potentially useful, she copied it all.

Heart pounding with nervous excitement, she left the library.

She barely dared to breathe on the way back, terrified someone would discover her secret.

Back in her room, she locked the door, still in her clothes, and jumped onto the bed with her notebook.

“Hehehe~ Ehehehe~ Ahahaha~”

Roll, roll~ Sssha, sssha~ Roll, roll~ Sssha, sssha~

Clutching the notebook, Chloe rolled around on the bed, letting out weird giggles.

‘Yes! I found it!’

‘Larvia, you’re gonna get it!’

As the clock ticked, her excitement didn’t fade until midnight. Still, she wasn’t sleepy.

‘Might as well study the potion.’

Flopping onto her stomach, her white-stockinged feet swinging in the air, she dove into the notes.

“It’s only a week… kinda short, but it’ll do.”

Where to get the ingredients?

Ten-year valerian and seven-leaf wisteria weren’t common but not rare either. The alchemy storeroom likely had them. The extracts—broccoli, bell pepper, bitter melon, garlic—were in the kitchen. She knew those well.

The fourth-tier magical blood was trickier.

It required blood from a fourth-tier magical beast, processed into a secondary alchemical material.

For humans, fourth-tier beast blood was a priceless top-tier ingredient. Even among vampires, it was rare.

Chloe frowned.

‘Does the alchemy storeroom have it? Even if they do, can someone like me get it?’

But then she realized.

If a kid like Silia could get these materials five years ago, why couldn’t she?

‘But what’s this adult royal hair thing?’