"Not even a little," Leonardo replied.
"How cruel... You make it sound as if I don’t have a heart at all," Margaret said.
"These days, no one truly believes in love," Leonardo answered. "It’s not that it doesn’t exist—but it isn’t enough to prevent betrayal."
"True..." Margaret surprisingly agreed.
"But that doesn’t an people reject it. As long as it’s preserved well, it can bring limitless happiness."
"Preserving it isn’t enough," Leonardo replied. "It needs to be restrained."
Margaret rolled her eyes.
"You’d better not think about using Phantom Veil Orchid on . It won’t work."
"Isn’t that an illegal plant that can make soone obey commands? Why are you talking about that?" Leonardo pretended to be confused. In truth, he was genuinely puzzled—Margaret spoke as if it had no effect on her.
Margaret narrowed her eyes again.
"I have to admit, Leonardo, your acting is always convincing. But I’ll tell you this—I have more than one class. One of them is a Demon Class, which gives protection against all kinds of malicious poisons."
"Does that an Dragon Blood Wine won’t affect you either?" Leonardo asked.
"Yeah, you could say that... I’ve decided to be honest this ti." She flicked her ponytail lightly.
"Hm, but you were the one who backed out," Leonardo mocked her caution.
Soon after, they arrived at the school.
It was still quiet.
Only a few students were present—those who had co early because they were assigned to sweep the schoolyard.
Leonardo closed all the car windows before driving into the parking area.
"You’re not going to follow around the school too, are you?" Leonardo asked.
"Why? Are you afraid you’ll gain more enemies because they’re jealous?" Margaret replied.
"That won’t happen. If our relationship becos known, more people will actually stop bothering you. Besides, most of the ones angry at you are my people."
"It’s easier to deal with angry dogs than jealous ones," Leonardo replied.
He looked around carefully to make sure no one was watching before stepping out of the car.
Margaret followed.
"We’re in the sa class, so there’s no choice," she said.
"I’m going to the library," Leonardo replied, walking quickly.
"Not allowed. I need to make sure you don’t disappear."
She followed just as quickly.
Even though only a few students were present, her presence imdiately attracted attention.
After all, seeing Margaret—the queen of the school—walking beside Leonardo was shocking.
So students even rubbed their eyes, thinking they were seeing things.
"What the hell is this?"
"Did Anderson give up and start working for her?"
"Maybe... He probably couldn’t handle being the Harvey Family’s enemy anymore."
"No, this is strange. He doesn’t look like a follower... They’re walking side by side. Shouldn’t a follower walk behind the boss?"
"Then what’s going on?"
"No idea."
"..."
The school library was quite large for a high school.
Only half of it was filled with physical books. The other half consisted of high-spec computers connected to servers containing digital versions of the books.
Of course, those powerful computers were used for things other than reading far more often.
Even at this early hour, a few students were already inside—but they were playing gas.
Leonardo even saw Emma.
Unlike the others, she was genuinely reading.
She looked extrely shocked when she saw Leonardo entering together with Margaret.
As soon as she noticed Margaret, Emma imdiately stood up and walked over.
"Miss..." she greeted respectfully.
Even though they attended the sa school, Emma made no effort to hide that she was essentially Margaret’s subordinate.
Being close enough to call her by na—even just her last na—was far beyond Emma.
"Emma, you can continue reading. I have sothing to discuss with Leonardo," Margaret said.
Emma looked even more surprised.
Leonardo, on the other hand, was too lazy to greet her.
He simply walked forward, with Margaret following closely behind.
They headed to a table beside the window overlooking the school garden.
Two computers sat on the table, positioned back-to-back.
Leonardo sat down, and Margaret took the seat opposite him.
"What are you planning to read here?" she asked.
"Nothing important," Leonardo replied.
He activated a special function on the computer and put on the virtual glasses provided. With them, only he could see the screen.
Libraries might seem outdated, but in so cases they were actually better than the internet when it ca to information.
Many pieces of knowledge were never posted online—but libraries still had them.
The school’s library was one such place.
Its administrators constantly added information about the Monster World, collected from alumni—many of whom were Awakeners.
Leonardo was fairly sure the information he wanted could be found here.
He didn’t need instructions on how to grow Phantom Veil Orchid or Aethercore Fruit on Earth—he could simply cultivate them in the Monster World.
What he wanted was information about accelerating their growth or, even better, making their growth sustainable.
Information like that was almost impossible to find online unless he paid huge sums to professional information brokers.
After typing about cultivating Monster World plants on Earth, Leonardo quickly found a book written by an alumnus with the Healer class.
The first thing it explained was that Mana Liquid from a Healer could nourish plants from the Monster World on Earth—and if the quality was high enough, it could even accelerate their growth.
However, Mana Liquid was similar to blood.
Extracting it directly from the body had consequences far more serious than losing blood.
The most imdiate effect was a permanent reduction in Mana Points.
Most Healers would never agree to provide it unless they were paid an enormous price.
Without consent, such an act was illegal.
No wonder there was no information about it on the internet.
It could easily lead to the forced exploitation of Healers.
Since Healers weren’t strong in combat, they were naturally easy targets for oppression.
Leonardo glanced at Margaret.
He now knew she had committed another cri.
Who knew how many people had already beco her victims.
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