CHAPTER 276: 276

Alexander and Michelle talked for a while about whether Michelle should or shouldn’t treat Alexander, Noctis, and Unlucien. If she didn’t, they would have to find someone different. Otherwise they would die to the poison.

For the first time in a while, Alexander’s thoughts were a mess. He couldn’t exactly make sense of them.

On one hand, the fact that Michelle was bickering and bargaining with him was amusing him, but on the other hand, he felt somewhat bitter. The fact that she didn’t care whether he died or lived left sourness in his chest.

In reality, Michelle wasn’t all that indifferent. If it was someone else, she wouldn’t care about their life and death, but, even though she didn’t know when, Alexander had already occupied a place in her heart.

It wasn’t necessarily in a positive way. She still didn’t exactly like him, but she wouldn’t let him die on her watch. Especially if she knew the cure of the poison.

The only time she would let him die in front of her would be if she were the one to poison him. And then, she would watch the process like a spectacle.

But her thoughts and the twistedness of her mind were still concealed. No matter how good Alexander was at reading her, he couldn’t see that deep into her.

And that was for a simple reason.

Michelle had shown a different side of her twistedness to him a few times, so it was natural for him to not think that still hiding deep within her there was anything as twisted as what she was already showing.

Michelle had the intention of curing Alexander. Of course, she would treat Noctis and Unlucien too.

But before that, she wanted to first further understand her feelings towards Alexander. And bickering with him seemed to show her more. When she reflected on the arguments, she could see deeper into herself.

After a long time of bickering, Michelle agreed to create an antidote for the poison. Sitting down, she took out her small cauldron and glanced at Noctis and Unlucien. "Tell me! What did it look like when the person who poisoned you exploded?"

She clearly didn’t want the answer from Alexander. Otherwise she wouldn’t have looked at his two shadow guards.

Noctis was the one to respond. Even he found the scene a bit gruesome, and he had seen many things.

Still, it couldn’t rival the worst he had seen.

In his eyes, it was only a bit, just slightly, gruesome.

Michelle listened to him.

So, while they were taking care of things, the man suddenly rushed into the room, clawing at his own face. His body was bloated, and his skin stretched to its limits. That caused tears to appear every here and there.

Also, his body temperature was suspiciously high. It could be seen from how flushed his skin was. It wasn’t just pink. It was crimson red.

But the worst thing about it all were the man’s wails. He no longer sounded human.

Veins started popping under that stretched skin. Even they couldn’t stay together and started bursting.

First the small ones, then the bigger ones.

Even if someone gave him the antidote at that moment, there was no salvaging him. He lost too much blood, and his body was way too deformed. There was no way his bones could handle the new structure of his body.

Wailing and clawing at his face, the man ran around without a destination. He just wanted someone to save him from the pain.

But he never got it. As he ran towards Alexander, his body could no longer bear the tension.

With blood splattering everywhere, the man’s body got torn in half. And what was even worse about it was that the torn halves kept getting torn too.

The tearings happened so fast, and so quickly following one after the other, that it looked like a brilliant red explosion.

Listening to how Noctis described it, Michelle formed an image in her head.

It must have looked like a beautiful firework set off at the midnight of New Year.

While Noctis described what he saw, Michelle was already preparing herbs for making the antidote.

The poisons Mavreth had given her before were much more complex and she had mastered them. She didn’t get to experiment with that many of them, but it was enough to make the poison inflicting Alexander look like a child’s play.

Within the next few hours, Michelle had already whipped up the antidote. So she put it in three bottles.

She threw one at Alexander, one at Noctis, and one at Unlucien. There was no need to explain how they should take it. The three men took their antidotes and swallowed them.

They were already starting to feel the effects of the poison. Their body temperature had risen and they looked a bit feverish.

The next stage would be collapsing from the fever. Only after that would their bodies start bloating up and heating up more rapidly.

After taking the antidote, Alexander stared at Michelle. "This probably means I owe you one now." He had that annoying smile on his face.

Michelle frowned a bit. "You won’t owe me anything as long as you hold up your end of the deal."

Before creating the antidote, she had made a deal with Alexander.

She would cure him and his shadow guards, and, in exchange, he would get her the poison they were poisoned with. She wanted to study it, but she doubted she could get it in the middle realm, since Alexander was poisoned by it in the heavenly realm.

Alexander suddenly got behind Michelle and pulled her against him, resting his chin on top of her head. "But you saved three lives today. I can’t make up for it with a single poison."

Michelle frowned. Why did Alexander want to owe her something so much?

It bothered her, but she didn’t want to find out. She could bet her life on the line that she would just be disgusted if she found out.

"Your life’s not worth all that much," she glanced up at Alexander.

Michelle knew Alexander didn’t mean it, that he was just acting, and he also knew she would see through him, but he showed a hurt expression. "Do I mean so little to you?"

"Yes!" Michelle didn’t hesitate for a single moment. She didn’t even consider her own feelings. She didn’t know what Alexander meant to her, but since he wanted to act hurt, she could give him an even bigger reason to do so.

But Alexander didn’t want to give up. "Then, what about Noctis and Unlucien? That’s two human lives."

Michelle arched a brow. "The two of them aren’t humans, are they?"

Her answer didn’t mean she was disregarding their life. She didn’t like the idea of Alexander leaving out or twisting even the smallest details.

Alexander wasn’t all that surprised that Michelle knew that Unlucien and Noctis were monsters with a human form. And her nitpicking about details made him smile.

Not like usually. The smile didn’t carry amusement. That was probably the first ordinary smile Alexander had shown to Michelle. And he wasn’t even aware of it himself.

Seeing that smile when glancing up, Michelle frowned. "That expression doesn’t suit you!"

Alexander wasn’t a gentle person. His calculating, amused smile was what suited him the most. Even though Michelle hated that one.

Alexander hadn’t even realized how he was smiling. But when Michelle pointed it out, his smile froze.

He was well aware of his feelings for Michelle. He had just never really thought about how much they affected him.

Finally, he understood they also affected his subconsciousness.

But he didn’t mind.

Alexander’s smile returned to normal, but Michelle could feel that something was off. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but it was still able to make her skin crawl.

Alexander moved his head from resting it on top of Michelle’s head to her shoulder. His face was right next to hers.

"What’s this for?" Michelle frowned at him.

"Am I bothering you?" Alexander turned his head a bit to look at Michelle.

Because of that, his chin uncomfortably dug into Michelle’s shoulder, making her frown deepen.

"Yes!" her voice went cold.

Even with Michelle’s cold treatment, Alexander had no plans to retreat. "Well, I’m sorry for that."

Michelle gritted her teeth. The longer she stayed with Alexander, the more insufferable he became. It was getting on her nerves.

She knew that no matter what she said, Alexander wouldn’t leave her alone. But she could at least make him bother her less.

"Since I’ve already mastered the Liquid Shadow, will you now teach me the Living Shadow?" she asked.

Michelle didn’t try to conceal her intentions, so Alexander could easily see through her. But he didn’t mind. "I’ve promised to teach you, so of course I will."

Since Michelle had already not only mastered the Liquid Shadow, but even accidentally explored the starting ranks of the Living Shadow, it should be easy for her to master the Living Shadow.

Of course, it would take some time, but not too much.