She's Not Our Daughter! Ch 51

You Didn't Know I Was a Genius, Did You?

Sierra deflected the hostile glares around her and smiled lazily. She needed to test whether these pharmacists deserved to become her close aides.

[Sierra] "Didn't you say earlier that everyone here comes from families serving the palace for generations, or graduated at the top of their class?"

[Celly] "Why do you ask?"

The blonde Celly sharply snapped back. Pelia, a blue-haired girl, cut in immediately.

[Pelia] "Yes, exactly! Celly here was even born in the imperial palace. We are pure-blooded pharmacists."

The title 'pure-blooded pharmacist' sounded ridiculous. However, it meant they formed a powerful faction inside the palace. They intended to intimidate her, but the news delighted Sierra.

Their backgrounds are solid. They must know every rumor inside the palace. I need to win them over as my lackeys.

Time to test their sensitive nerves. Sierra challenged them directly.

[Sierra] "Did you dedicate your lives to pharmacy?"

A subtle shift crossed their gazes. They never expected her to quote the pharmacist's oath. But the subtlety vanished instantly. Their faces soured again as they pressed Sierra.

[Pelia] "What do you mean, life? We dedicated our very souls!"

[Jenny] "Yet a cheeky insider ruins the honor of the palace pharmacy?"

[Celly] "No matter how much backing you receive from nobles, the palace pharmacy is not a place just anyone can enter!"

Sierra casually cleaned her ear with a finger and smirked at their echoing voices.

Spitting out non-stop insults, they ground their teeth and glared at her. They wanted to expel her immediately. Yet, Sierra liked her potential close aides even more.

Since the Duke and the Grand Madam recommended me, regular opportunists would flatter me to get close......

The palace pharmacy clearly relied on skill rather than political power. This made it much easier for Sierra to take control. She was a genius among geniuses, after all.

These girls will serve perfectly as my hands and feet.

Just as she prepared to smirk at the three pharmacists surrounding her—

[Jenny] "Do you think we will show mercy just because you're t-trembling like that?"

[Sierra] "I am not trembling."

Sierra spoke with absolute sincerity. She had never shaken once. Yet the atmosphere turned even stranger.

[Celly] "We won't show mercy no matter how pitiful you look."

[Pelia] "E-Exactly!"

Sierra raised her mournful, sad gaze. A stir ran through them. She knit her brow and scoffed.

[Sierra] "Right, anyway. You hate that an insignificant person like me received noble backing and suddenly joined the palace pharmacy."

[Celly] "Exactly."

[Jenny] "At least you know your place."

[Pelia] "Since you know your place, you must have passed the imperial language exam."

Sierra stared at them as they chattered like birds. The young pharmacists' arrogance and audacity actually carried a certain charm.

Relaxing, Sierra gestured smoothly and spoke.

[Sierra] "Conveniently, the Chief Pharmacist who prepares His Majesty's medicine has been away for quite some time."

Their gazes sharpened at her daring mention of the great pharmacist. Sierra shrugged, looking at the trio—Pelia, Jenny, and Celly.

[Sierra] "Then why don't you compete against me?"

Of course, I am bound to win.

[Sierra] "Aren't you curious about my skills?"

[Celly] "No, competing against a mere Academy B-grader is a complete waste of time."

They turned their backs. Sierra laughed softly and spoke to them.

[Sierra] "Are you running away out of fear?"

[Jenny] "What?"

Sierra smirked at them.

[Sierra] "What a shame."

It was a blatant provocation.

[Celly] "Let's do it."

These young pharmacists were immature enough to fall for a simple provocation.

They took the bait.

Sierra questioned them shamelessly.

[Sierra] "Hmm?"

[Celly] "We will compete with someone like you. In return……."

[Sierra] "......?"

[Celly] "If you lose, never act so arrogant again, you talentless fraud."

Possessing zero chance of losing, Sierra nodded lazily.

[Sierra] "If you lose, never look down on me again."

Locking onto each of their gazes, she curled one corner of her mouth and whispered cynically.

[Sierra] "And stop fooling around."

---

Thirty minutes later, the setup for the competition stood ready. They proudly thrust a patient's chart at Sierra as if they had prepared it in advance.

[Patient: Unidentified, Night-care Health Beverage, Ventimo Vital Prescription.]

[Sierra] "Ventimo Vital."

Pelia shrugged with an arrogant expression.

[Pelia] "Do you even know what that is, you countryside peasant? It is a restorative medicine."

[Jenny] "It ranks as one of the most difficult medicines to prepare."

The difficulty meant nothing to Sierra. She smirked and spoke to them.

[Sierra] "Sort out the patient's identity first. If the identity remains unknown, it must be a member of the imperial family. If the patient is female, the dosage needs to be weaker than for a male."

[Celly] "Yes, exactly. Her Majesty the Empress drinks this after dinner. Because she mixes it into her usual vin chaud, it must not be salty, sweet, or fragrant. The color must be a vivid blue, yet it must remain tasteless and odorless."

Even for top Academy graduates specializing in palace pharmacology, this carried extreme difficulty.

Tension filled the room as their gazes clashed.

[Sierra] "I see. Which one of you will step up?"

[Pelia] "Celly will go first. She directly handles Her Majesty's beverages."

Sierra looked at Celly. Celly whispered arrogantly.

[Celly] "I recommend you give up right now."

[Jenny] "Has a countryside peasant even prepared Ventimo Vital before?"

[Pelia] "Look at her face. You're terrified, aren't you? Raise a white flag. We will forgive you."

Sierra maintained a poker face and gestured to dismiss their words. As her expression remained rigid, they acted as if victory already belonged to them.

Looking down at the patient chart they handed her, Sierra thought to herself:

This is incredibly easy.

Sierra put on disposable sterile gloves and walked to the preparation table. Before her sat immune roots, berries, sterilized vials, pots, graduated cylinders, and pipettes.

Whispers drifted from behind her.

[Jenny] "What on earth is up with her confidence?"

[Pelia] "Look at her expression. Arrogant to the extreme."

Their whispering meant absolutely nothing to Sierra. She smirked and quickly prepared the root.

Slice, slice.

The skin of the immune root, the base for Ventimo Vital, was as rough and hard as a pineapple skin. Preparing Ventimo Vital was difficult because peeling the immune root required immense precision. A translucent skin covered the root, and the medicinal properties concentrated right beneath it. A single mistake would destroy the potency, making it an advanced task.

Peeling an immune root is child's play.

She sliced through the immune root skin with effortless grace. Her physical dexterity matched her genius. Unlike the brilliant Sierra, even Celly, the best among the trio, struggled to peel the root.

[Celly] "H-Haa."

Letting out heavy sighs, she carefully peeled the skin while her hands trembled.

Acting as the self-appointed judge, Pelia huffed as she watched Sierra and muttered.

[Pelia] "S-She handles the knife well."

[Sierra] "I excel at other things too."

Unlike Celly, who barely finished peeling, Sierra had already boiled the root to extract the juice. She poured the pure liquid into a clean reagent bottle.

Almost finished.

After adding simple berries to the extract, the final step arrived—infusing pure mana into the liquid. By this point, Celly's hands shook violently.

They initially proposed this challenge believing they could easily defeat someone like Sierra. Now, they completely lost themselves in the fierce competition. Sierra, however, remained detached.

[Sierra] "I am going to infuse mana now, so watch closely."

Thrilled to unleash her true skills after so long, she grinned down at the open reagent bottle. Waving her fingertips casually, Sierra winked at the frozen Jenny.

Too easy. Extracting mana is effortless.

A pale blue mana wave flowed from her fingertips, entering the medicine. Sierra blinked and tapped the vial as if it required zero effort. Finally, it stood complete.

[Sierra] "I am finished."

Glancing at Sierra holding the glowing blue vial, Pelia snapped back.

[Pelia] "Ha! Speed doesn't mean quality is……."

[Jenny] "Celly, l-look at that."

Staring at her own still-boiling pot, Celly's gaze locked onto the medicine in Sierra's hand. The vivid blue liquid clearly possessed flawless quality. Her eyes quivered. It was a perfect, textbook shade. Celly hiccuped.

[Celly] "Not yet. We can't judge by the c-color alone......"

[Sierra] "Then we can just use a diagnostic reagent."

Absolute shock filled their eyes as they stared at the confident Sierra.

Finally regaining her composure, the judge, Pelia, stammered.

[Pelia] "Test its effectiveness! Apply the clinical reagent!"

Fitting for the imperial palace pharmacy, they stocked plenty of expensive testing reagents to verify quality or check for poison.

Sierra curled one corner of her mouth and smirked.

[Sierra] "First...... let's perform the verification."

[Lily] "If there is an issue, bubbles will form. If it is perfect, nothing happens."

With a trembling hand, Lily dropped the diagnostic reagent from a pipette. Sierra's medicine showed zero reaction. Not a single bubble formed; it was flawless.

[Sierra] "Now that it's verified, taste it and smell it."

Accepting the vial carefully, Lily brought it near her nose. She possessed a legendary sense of smell, yet the medicine emitted zero odor.

[Lily] "It has zero s-scent."

She hurriedly searched the table, grabbed a spoon, and tasted a spoonful of the liquid.

[Lily] "......."

Crunch.

The metal spoon in her hand bent completely. Pelia muttered in a trembling voice.

[Pelia] "Your strength increased, Lily."

[Sierra] "I believe this serves as proof."

The trio stood frozen, staring at each other. Celly, who prided herself on her medicine preparation skills, faced absolute defeat. Biting their dry lips, they spoke carefully.

[Jenny] "Then......"

[Celly] "How on earth did this h-happen?"

[Pelia] "It was just l-luck!"

Yet their gazes wavered.

[Sierra] "I did exactly what you asked. You said you value skill, right?"

She smiled and capped the medicine bottle.

[Sierra] "I believe this proves it."

In the frozen silence, the elderly Chief Pharmacist entered, wearing his official robes. He scanned the three stunned pharmacists and the brightly smiling Sierra before speaking in a low voice.

[C. Pharmacist] "What is all this noise in the preparation room?"

[Jenny] "It was n-nothing major."

Caught off guard, Jenny stepped forward first

Fully aware of the situation, the old man wiped his brow and muttered.

[C. Pharmacist] "I will not tolerate conflict in my preparation room."

He turned his gaze toward Sierra and warned her.

[C. Pharmacist] "If anything happens, s-speak up."

His gaze swept over Sierra meticulously.

Hmm.......

This granted Sierra an opportunity to study his appearance closely. The moment their eyes met, she realized something was wrong.

That pharmacist looks completely strange. His eyes are unfocused, and cold sweat keeps trickling down his face.......

She stared at him and thought deeply.

What is this? The Chief Pharmacist checks the Emperor's health every single morning, so he must have just seen His Majesty.......

Glancing at the papers in his hand just in case, she confirmed it was indeed the Emperor's medical records bordered in gold.

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