“There are books they’d discard?” Adam thought that was implausible.

“Give me a minute.” Mr. Ywain went to the inner room and came back out with a bag. He opened it up and revealed a few ancient, half-burned tomes.

“What are these?”

“The books I stole,” said Mr. Ywain. “Robert didn’t like these books, since they contain subpar recipes. He thinks keeping them around would be a menace to society, so he tried to destroy it, but I stole a few of them when he wasn’t looking. Fortunately, the things I learned gave me enough to make a living.”

Adam smiled. “Reminds me of the time I stole Waylon’s Vampire Dust.”

“What?” Mr. Ywain asked, “How’d you do it?”

“I saw his computer. He was sorting out some recipes, and he said he would delete some of the more insidious recipes. I was wondering what kind of recipes he wanted to keep a secret, so I distracted him and went through the Recycle Bin. That’s where I found the recipe, so I took a picture of it.”

“That’s… impressive,” said Mr. Ywain. “But Vampire Dust is evil, so to speak.”

“May I skim through these?”

“Of course,” said Mr. Ywain. “But not like you can do much with it. Without any knowledge about medicine, most people can’t master anything written in these books.”

Adam took the topmost book. The pages were brittle, so he didn’t flip it over. The best he could manage was to turn to the first page, and he saw something called ‘Deathly Desire.’ “Deathly Desire? What’s this?”

“Oh, that one.” Mr. Ywain said smugly, “Anyone who takes that poison will experience a pain worse than death, unless they do not feel any arousal.”

“So arousal is torture to them?”

“That’s right.” Mr. Ywain grinned. “Evil, isn’t it?”

“It is.”

“It’d be a pity if Robert destroyed these recipes. They’re one of a kind.”

“So you preserved them to ruin someone’s life?”

“Oh, no.” Mr. Ywain laughed. “Just think it’d be a waste if these recipes were to be ruined.”

“I see. Can you make this, then?” Adam asked.

“Why do you ask?” Mr. Ywain smiled at Adam. “Is there someone you wish to use this on?”

“No.” Adam smiled as well. “Just asking.” He handed the book back to Mr. Ywain.

The old man packed it up and placed it in the inner room before he came back.

A tearful Evelkyn asked, “Doctor, can you heal me?”

“Um…” Mr. Ywain pinched his beard. “You’ll need the attacker to do that. I can’t unravel an Adelmar tactic.”

Evelyn almost fainted. He can’t help me? So I’ll have to live my whole life on a bed? “No!” She cried. “I can’t live! Not like this!”

“Calm down,” said Alana. “You can always ask Emmeline to help you out, didn’t you hear? It’s better than living your whole life on a bed.”

“You should do that, really,” said Adam. “If she can help you out, then all my suspicions will be confirmed.”

Evelyn sniffled. “Why me? I shouldn’t have gone after that woman.”

Alana sneered. “So now you know how I feel.”