Princess’s Struggle for Survival

The bottle containing the potion had a limited capacity, slightly larger than the miniature wind oil essence bottles sold in stores.

Astrid took a sip and immediately consumed half of it, leaving the rest for Lyra as a control variable.

Even so, Lyra drank it all in two small sips. She felt the slightly sweet potion slide over the tip of her tongue and flow down her throat.

At some point, a faint flush appeared on her snow-white face.

"It's good, it's delicious," Lyra replied in a low voice.

Astrid, preoccupied with the potion, didn't notice Lyra's unusual reaction.

She lowered her head, staring at the residue on the strainer, and spoke slowly.

"This is a potion that speeds up the recovery of mental power during the meditation stage. I wasn't asking about the taste."

Lyra realized her mistake, and her cheeks flushed even more. "I'm sorry, Your Highness Astrid."

Closing her eyes and attempting to enter a meditative state, Lyra's mind kept drifting back to the moment when Astrid had drunk the potion.

The image of Astrid's red lips touching the rim of the cup, her slender, pale neck slightly tilted, and the striking contrast of red and white formed a perfect composition.

In the next moment, the scene shifted to Astrid's slender legs as she concentrated on refining the potion.

'No way... I can't let my thoughts wander like this…'

As the future Knight of the Holy Light, Saviour of the Valeria Empire, and now Astrid's personal maid, Lyra struggled to stop herself from overthinking.

With excellent self-control, she finally entered a meditative state after half a minute.

A few moments later, Astrid noticed Lyra's eyelashes fluttering as she slowly opened her eyes.

"How does it feel?"

Lyra moistened her throat and replied softly, "The recovery rate of mental power is noticeably faster..."

The improvement wasn't drastic, but it was clearly perceptible.

"Your Highness Astrid, are you refining a primary mental power recovery potion?"

Lyra had recently taken an entry-level recovery pill, which the village chief had forced on her when she left.

Before rescuing Miss Lina, Lyra had taken the pill to ensure she was prepared in case the enemy returned during the night.

Although it turned out she had overthought the situation, the experience had left her with a clear memory of the effects of such medications.

Astrid's potion gave Lyra a familiar feeling, similar to what she had experienced before.

But this time, she had only drunk half the dose, so the effects shouldn't have been so immediate.

The only explanation was that Astrid had skipped the introductory stage and directly refined a primary mental power recovery potion.

"No, it's entry-level,"

"Entry-level? But the effect doesn't seem like it…"

"Doesn't seem like it? In what way?"

The recipes for the entry-level mental power recovery potion and the primary recovery potion weren't exactly the same.

The primary recovery potion included an additional ingredient, rhinoceros horn powder, which blended the herbs more effectively and enhanced magic perception.

It was more difficult to refine, and its effects were significantly different.

"There are a lot of differences…"

From dosage to efficacy, Lyra explained everything to Astrid in detail.

Eventually, Astrid roughly understood what she meant.

Both the potion she had refined and the one Lyra drank were entry-level recovery potions, but the quality differed.

If the bottle collected by the village chief was of inferior quality, then Astrid's potion was the best of the best.

"I see,"

Seeing Astrid's indifferent reaction, as if she had just learned something new, Lyra was completely stunned.

Does she even know how to make potions?

Or was it just a fluke, with her first attempt accidentally producing a potion stronger than the vast majority of others?

Isn't that outrageous?

While Lyra was busy trying to reconcile this with her worldview, Princess Astrid, whom she now considered a genius potion master, was deep in thought, though their concerns were very different.

Astrid reflected on the fact that she could only cast seven entry-level spells at a time.

Her mental power reserves were extremely limited, especially compared to other apprentices.

Before Lyra had even stepped into the realm of apprenticeship, she could already cast fifteen introductory spells in a single session, more than twice Astrid's capacity.

Combined with their noticeably different meditative states after taking the potion, Astrid's mind grew heavier.

'Did the original author really have to nerf me with a mental power debuff just to limit my abilities?'

Thinking this, Astrid unconsciously furrowed her brows.

According to Lyra, the potions Astrid refined were far superior to ordinary ones.

This indirectly proved that her control over mental power wasn't weak.

In other words, Princess Astrid's mental power was small but highly refined.

She was well-suited for delicate, precise tasks but not for prolonged combat.

Even though she had the "Elders Speech" plug-in that could've made her overpowered, there was yet another restriction.

Astrid glanced at the empty crystal bottle in Lyra's hand and sighed inwardly.

Mental power could only be improved gradually through practice; there was no shortcut. It was pointless to rush.

It would be better to spend this time studying more magic arrays, not only to teach Lyra but also to help herself advance faster in the future.

"Your Highness Astrid, may I ask you a question?"

"Yes,"

After a brief pause, Lyra hesitated before speaking.

"It's just… how much would an entry-level recovery potion like this sell for in the market?"

If the profit was good enough, Lyra was even considering specializing in potion-making. She could make money to support her family sooner and buy her parents a big house in the city.

"You want to learn alchemy?"

Astrid didn't answer Lyra's question directly, or perhaps she simply wasn't interested.

The original Princess Astrid only cared about what she wore each day and what kind of jewelry complemented her outfit.

She wasn't an apprentice or a knight, so why would she bother with the price of a recovery potion?

"Well, I just want to learn it to save some money…" Lyra replied honestly.

The moment she finished speaking, Astrid's sharp voice cut in, "Miss Lyra, do you think I'm not paying you enough?"

It wasn't that Astrid was unwilling to teach her. In fact, there was a plotline in the original book where Lyra tried her hand at potion-making, but the results were far from impressive.

It was likely that the author felt they had overpowered Lyra, and needed to tone her down a bit.

Otherwise, the story risked shifting from a strong female lead to a full-blown Mary Sue.

So, despite her high magical and combat abilities, Lyra wasn't given any notable life skills.

When it came to forging or alchemy, Lyra was a complete novice. No matter how hard she studied, her efforts would likely be in vain.

Confronted by Astrid's cold question, Lyra immediately realized her mistake.

Her primary job was to serve as Astrid's maid, yet here she was, talking about picking up a side hustle.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness Astrid. I didn't mean it like that…"

"No, it's fine," Astrid replied, her voice calm but distant. "If I have time to work part-time, then I expect Miss Lyra to have time to rest properly."

Her eyes darkened slightly, and her tone grew low and steady.

"A year from now, you can do whatever you like. But during this time, as my personal maid, I expect Miss Lyra to be a bit more dedicated."