CHAPTER 261: 261

Feeling the shadow essence in her body slowly calming down, Michelle closed her eyes.

Noticing it, Alexander raised a brow. "I doubt you trust me enough to sleep with my hand on your neck." He wanted to know what she was thinking.

Michelle opened her eyes. "Whether I sleep or not, in the state I’m in, if you wanted to harm me, I wouldn’t really be able to protect myself..."

Alexander smiled when he heard that.

It sounded a bit like Michelle had given up. But he knew her enough to know that wasn’t the case.

If he really tried to hurt her, though she wouldn’t exactly be able to protect herself, she would still wake up and strike back at him. He would suffer too. Especially if she used her poisons. He was sure she had an arsenal of them.

About that, Alexander was a bit wrong.

Michelle had a few poisons, but those were made before Mavreth had taught her to make poisons that bypass others’ ranks. So her arsenal of poison was useless against Alexander.

As for those that she had made after she learned the method, they couldn’t exactly be used quickly.

But poison wasn’t the only thing she could use to make Alexander suffer.

For example, she could use the Nonexistent Hymn on Alexander. It wouldn’t kill him because Michelle didn’t have enough soul energy for that, but it would still be strong enough to leave some permanent marks on him.

Some skills could transcend the power of their wielder, but at great prices. The Nonexistent Hymn was just like that.

To activate it to a scale enough to hurt Alexander, Michelle would greatly hurt herself.

So against those stronger than her, she had to consider whether hurting herself was worth it.

Alexander watched Michelle fall asleep, his eyes narrowing. He had yet to completely subdue the shadow essence within her. She was supposed to be in too much pain to even consider sleeping. But she was really sleeping.

Every time he was with Michelle, she showed him surprises. And that just made him more fascinated with her.

Sometimes he even felt like abandoning his business in the heavenly realm to stay around the brat lying in his arms. He could afford to do it.

But he didn’t.

That would feel like giving in to the old fogies who wanted to overtake his Dark Palace. That would just be disgusting.

So Alexander started thinking of ways to get rid of those old fogies without having to go up there himself.

The best way would be to have Unlucien kill them all, but then he would have to personally go deal with the aftermath.

During the last few times he had gone up there, he had suppressed the old fogies, making them remember his brutality. That could make them shut up for a few years, but then they would start acting up again.

Alexander wanted to solve it finally.

When Michelle woke up, the pain was gone, but she could still feel Alexander’s hand on her neck.

Disregarding his presence, Michelle sat up and got off the bed. She was going to finish the blinding poison.

Alexander kept his gaze on Michelle as she moved around.

She cleaned the cauldron first, because she didn’t have the time to do so the day before. Then, she once again started preparing the poison.

First try was a total failure. It was uneven, and the color gradient within the pill was extremely distinct.

The second try ended better. Michelle was able to control her soul and spirit energy more properly, so the gradient was less visible.

With each try, she got a bit better.

She ended up doing it about five or six times until she got a pill that didn’t show a gradient after being cut and ground.

That made Michelle quite happy.

Without giving it much thought, she picked up a knife and cut the inner side of her lips. Then, she smeared the ground poison over the wound.

Watching that, Alexander raised a brow. He didn’t like something about seeing that.

But he just squirmed a bit and kept watching.

Michelle’s bloodied lips widened into a smile when her gaze started to blur. It wasn’t completely gone, but she had succeeded at least partially.

Also, sometimes, making a person partially blind could be more useful than having them completely lose their sight. It would be good to remember exactly how she made the pill.

So she quickly noted down the whole process in detail, including how much spirit and soul energy to use, and when to add it. She didn’t forget to write down the intensity and heat of the flame used.

Doing all that while her gaze was blurred was a bit of a challenge, but Michelle took it. If she wanted, she could cure herself in a moment, but she didn’t want to. She wanted to see for how long her gaze would stay damaged.

But she was a bit disappointed. Because of her extreme healing abilities, her sight got fixed within the next hour.

So she turned her gaze to Alexander. "Let me test my poison on you."

Alexander sat up. "Why should I?"

Michelle smiled. "So I don’t have to hurt myself!"

"You think I will agree to something without any benefits in it for me?" Alexander tilted his head a bit.

Michelle shrugged. "I never said there’s nothing in it for you."

"Then, what’s in it for me?" Alexander walked over, taking a pill between his fingers.

Michelle put the cauldron away. "I’ll never again infect you with Void Plague as long as you let me test this poison on you until I perfect it."

Alexander arched a brow. At first, it could sound like a good deal. He would never again have to deal with the Void Plague, but he was sure Michelle had other ways of afflicting him with it without having to act herself.

"Don’t make promises with so many loopholes!" He leaned down to Michelle’s level as he spoke. "Instead, how about you grant me a wish in return?" His eyes narrowed as he showed his usual, teasing smile.

Michelle’s eyes darkened. "If I can’t make promises with loopholes, you shouldn’t make requests with loopholes."

Alexander chuckled. "What if I promise that I won’t ask for anything extreme?"

Michelle shook her head. "Extremity is subjective. I can find extreme something you think is perfectly normal."

It wasn’t hard to guess that Alexander was planning something. And Michelle wouldn’t fall for it.

Alexander stared down at Michelle, his smile widening. "What if I say the wish now?"

Michelle’s eyes narrowed. She wasn’t really curious about what Alexander wanted from her, but she wanted to test the poison on him.

But she had the feeling that once she heard the wish, something would go terribly wrong. She could see it from Alexander’s face.

He was planning something.

Still, Michelle wasn’t the type of person to avoid threats. "Sure! Tell me!" she finally agreed.

Alexander’s already black eyes darkened. He lifted his hand up and pressed his finger to the side of Michelle’s neck, right under her jaw. "Do you know what is here?"

Michelle frowned. He wasn’t asking about anatomy. "What?"

Alexander pressed the finger into Michelle’s neck harder. "What do you think would happen if I sent shadow essence in there?"

Michelle gave it a momentary thought. Just a while ago, Alexander had poured his shadow essence into the back of her neck, but he didn’t make it such a big deal. So was that spot on her neck special?

She thought about what could be there.

Muscles, arteries, and veins.

And maybe the center for sensing energies?

No. That one was lower and at the back.

"What would happen?" she was getting a bit curious.

Alexander didn’t answer. "I’ll let you test your poisons on me all you want as long as you let me put my shadow essence there."

Michelle stared at the handsome face in front of her before slapping his hand away. "Explain what it would do to me first!"

Alexander didn’t answer. "How about I give you a few days to figure it out on your own?"

Michelle’s eyes ignited with anger. But it was still mild so the color of her eyes remained normal.

She had no plans on researching a random spot on her neck. But she also wouldn’t just fulfill Alexander’s wish. With a man like that, she could never be sure what he was planning.

She really wanted to test the poison, but Alexander wouldn’t let her without agreeing to his wish. She didn’t have the time to research.

Of course, she could ask Mavreth, but she had the feeling she shouldn’t. Something about it all felt off.

With a frown, Michelle finally decided. "Give me three days!" That was enough time for her to research it if she constantly stayed in the library. If she didn’t find out anything by then, she wouldn’t agree.

Alexander stared at Michelle. "Let me add something to the request."

Michelle frowned. "What?" She was already quite annoyed.

Alexander showed a wicked smile. "If you can’t find anything after three days, you will fulfill my wish!"