All the while Michelle and Alexander talked, the tavern guests were observing them, and the old tavern lady kept bringing drinks to them.
Since the day Alexander had returned to the tavern, they had to be on their tiptoes. Alexander’s twisted smile was horrifying, and no one dared to annoy him, so even when he went to the room on the top floor of the tavern, they just talked quietly so the noise wouldn’t bother him.
Every single one of the guests knew who Alexander was and what he was capable of, and not a single one wanted to face his wrath.
Luckily, for a whole two days, he didn’t co down and just stayed in the room, giving them so space to breathe, but the mont he ca down after Michelle entered the tavern, dread overca the guests once again. The only thing that soothed their nerves at least a little was that Alexander’s smile was no longer twisted.
But just the fact that he was smiling was enough to make them tremble in their boots. They had never seen him like that before, so it horrified them.
And that wasn’t the only horrifying thing.
Since the mont Michelle had first entered the tavern, most of them had thought she was just a naive little girl. The smarter ones just thought she was a young lady from a big family who had so brains but was arrogant, so she easily let her guard down. But after seeing the cold and dangerous smile Michelle directed at Alexander, their blood ran cold once again.
Who could have thought that soone who was smiling so sweetly just a mont before could suddenly show such a fear-inducing expression?
The only ones who weren’t surprised by Michelle’s expression were the old tavern lady and the scarred man Michelle had spoken with the first day she had co to the tavern. Both of them knew that Michelle wasn’t as naive as she portrayed herself to be.
The scarred man knew it because he had the chance to talk to Michelle, and she revealed sothing of herself to him. But as for why the old lady wasn’t surprised, even Michelle wasn’t sure herself.
She was guessing that it was because the old lady knew Alexander, and since Michelle went to the basent with Alexander before, the old lady was able to guess that Michelle was far from normal.
Both Michelle and Alexander’s presence in the tavern led to the atmosphere being suffocatingly stiff. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of the old tavern lady’s footsteps and the sound of people picking up and putting down their glasses as they drank. No one dared to make a sound, but they also didn’t dare to listen to Michelle and Alexander’s conversation. No one would dare listen to the private conversation of their boss, especially if the boss was the more cruel of the Dark Lord duo.
What made the tavern guests sigh in relief was that Alexander set up an invisible soundproofing barrier, so they couldn’t hear a single thing he and Michelle said. They could just see the expressions of the two. And Alexander’s smile kept them on pins and needles.
Within the barrier, Michelle leaned on the bar, listening to Alexander explain to her the price she had to pay for using the soul energy under the seeming threshold of her soul energy.
Alexander still had his playful and sly smile on as he spoke: "The price is actually quite simple. For a few days, up to a week at most, you will be severely weakened and also unable to sense your soul energy, so you will be an easy target for your enemies."
His eyes narrowed into a carefree smile. "Naturally, you don’t have to worry about it since you can still use your spirit energy!" he added.
But Michelle knew sothing about his words was amiss.
And just as she had guessed, before she could even say anything, Alexander continued: "Oh, I forgot! You can’t use your spirit energy because of your bloodline, or those who covet or want to destroy you for it will co rushing at you! So you are completely vulnerable right now!"
Alexander’s words made Michelle rember the discussion she had a long ti ago with her father, Philip Grace. He had told her that since her spirit energy and her blood, Spirit Blood, mixed together in her veins, she attained Spirit Soul Blood, which gave her many benefits but also so disadvantages. One being that if she used her spirit energy, since it was mixed with her blood in her body, powerful people could sense the kind of blood she had. And that would be dangerous for her.
Back in the Land of Exile, Michelle could use her spirit energy freely, as the people there were far too weak to recognize or even know about the existence of Spirit Soul Blood, so unless soone ca directly looking for her from the higher realms, she was safe. But at the mont, she was in the lower realm, where people already knew about the Spirit Soul Blood, and the more powerful ones would already be able to sense it from her spirit energy.
Rembering that, Michelle suddenly felt dumb. How could she have forgotten sothing so important? And she had even used her spirit energy quite a lot since crossing the barrier of Heavenly Law.
Luckily, she was still at the border of the two lands, so the strong cultivators didn’t dwell there and she was safe, but to make such an amateur mistake was a major hit to the na of a forr assassin such as Michelle.
"How could I be so dumb...?" Michelle muttered as she rested her head in both her hands, pressing her face into her palms.
"Don’t worry!" Alexander felt like laughing when he saw how Michelle was acting. "No one found out about your blood," he reassured. Or so could be said.
Well—It couldn’t be said.
Though he patted Michelle’s back and said that no one noticed her blood, he had a grin from ear to ear on his face, basically laughing Michelle in her face.
Without even needing to glance at Alexander, Michelle could imagine the grin on his face, and she felt like cussing him out and beating him up for it. But she knew she had no chance to win a fight, and it was also he who made her rember that she shouldn’t use her spirit energy. If he hadn’t teased her, she would have never rembered the discussion she had with Philip Grace, and she would have gotten herself killed or abducted by the powerhouses, with her death being the more possible outco.
"You won’t thank for basically saving your life?" Alexander used the mont when Michelle wasn’t looking at him and once again wrapped his arms around her. Easily, he lifted her from her seat and used his leg to pull her chair closer to him. Then, he placed her back on the chair. But he kept his arms around her waist.
"I’ve saved your life before, too..." Michelle said through gritted teeth, her eyes swirling red. She was angry. At Alexander. And at herself. Specifically at her forgetfulness and carelessness.
"But you said I shouldn’t think about it as you saving my life since it was easy and beneficial for you," Alexander continued as he lifted his hand and placed his palm over Michelle’s eyes, hiding the red color from the eyes of the tavern guests.
Even if they were his subordinates, he didn’t have infinite trust in them. He wasn’t the one who accepted them as his subordinates, so he wouldn’t put any trust into them until he checked them out a bit.
"This was also easy for you. Even easier than pulling the void out of you for ." Michelle’s voice was nearly a low growl. But she didn’t slap Alexander’s hand away from her face. She knew that her eyes were red at the mont, and that itself could show to others that she had Spirit Soul Blood, and she wouldn’t risk that again. It didn’t matter that she was close to the borders of the Land of Exile. She wouldn’t make the sa mistake twice.
Alexander’s smile widened when he saw that Michelle didn’t slap his hand away or pull away from him. So he just rested his chin on top of her head. "Then, let’s say we are even..." he said carelessly as he moved his hand away from Michelle’s eyes, down to her neck. Her eyes were already back to being purple, proving just how good Michelle was at controlling her emotions if needed.
Feeling Alexander’s hand on her neck, Michelle didn’t like it, but she didn’t move. She knew it would be pointless. Though she didn’t know what, she noticed that Alexander seed to realize sothing back in the cave, and after that, he beca more touchy. But he never did anything extre, so Michelle let him be, knowing she had no chance of getting rid of him. If he didn’t want it, she wouldn’t be able to push him away, even if she used all her skills.
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