Chapter 304: 304

Alexander had followed Michelle to the volcanic mountain, so he clearly saw when Anastasia had punched her. Both times. And it did not exactly make him happy.

After some time, he appeared behind Michelle, pulling her away from the Elemental Giant Scorpion and from Anastasia and Ivona.

“What?” Michelle glanced back at him. “What do you want?”

With her face bruised and bloodied, she looked nothing like the beautiful woman she usually was. Only her eyes remained the same. Purple, gleaming with fire that showed her will to fight at any given moment.

Alexander stared down at Michelle. “Why did you let her hit you?” He was curious about her thoughts. No matter how much time he spent with Michelle, there were still things about her he could not understand. And he wanted to understand them.

Michelle shrugged. “If I let her hit me, she would calm down faster than if I resisted. If I resisted, it would have just enraged her more.”

“You could have easily taken on her wrath.” Alexander had a slight frown on his face.

“And?” Michelle stared at Alexander like he was some kind of fool. “What would I do next? If she stayed angry?”

Alexander’s eyes narrowed a bit. “That is not the only reason, is it?” He doubted Michelle was merely scared of Anastasia’s anger. She was not the type of person to be scared.

Michelle did not like being seen through, but she knew she could not exactly hide things from Alexander. But she also did not want to explain herself to him. That was bothersome, and whatever reason she gave, he would find loopholes in it and laugh at them.

Seeing Michelle’s expression, Alexander snickered, pulling her against him. “What? Do you feel guilty for wiping her memories? So you indulge her?”

Michelle twitched a bit. Partially, it was true.

Though the biggest reason she did not fight back or defend herself was her laziness, she also felt a bit guilty.

In the Land of Exile, she had wiped Anastasia’s memories clean and left her like that for a long time. It had already been resolved since Anastasia got those memories back, but maybe somewhere deep in Michelle’s mind, it was still chipping at her consciousness.

But it really was just a bit and did not affect her decision making.

Alexander knew he would not get any more answers from Michelle. Once she made up her mind, she was more stubborn than a mule. He knew better than to waste his energy arguing with her.

But that did not mean he would leave Michelle alone. He would let her do her things, but the whole time, he would stay by her, constantly reminding her of his presence.

Michelle was already mostly used to how Alexander was, so she was able to nearly completely ignore him as she returned to helping Ivona and Anastasia gather the blue-green blood of the scorpion so they could continue tempering their bodies with it.

She wanted to see what kind of method they were using.

But when Anastasia and Ivona were about to explain things to her, Alexander got in her way.

He did not do anything big. On the outside, it looked quite innocent.

Alexander just hugged Michelle from behind and leaned his head on her shoulder.

Something like that should not have really affected her that much.

But Michelle formed an ice spike in her hand and nearly stabbed it into him.

Still, for some reason, she held herself back and let the spike melt in her hand. “What are you doing?” she glared at Alexander. She knew he was planning something. And she did not like that in the least bit.

She could not predict him, so she felt quite uncertain.

Alexander did not answer. He just smiled and lifted his hand from Michelle’s waist to her face.

He gently ran his finger over Michelle’s nose, as if checking the extent of her injuries.

But Michelle knew that was not his intention. If he wanted to check her wounds, he would have done that earlier, when he had pulled her aside.

So what was he planning?

Michelle did not have the time to think about it. Alexander gave her the answer with his actions.

He lifted his hand further, pressing his palm against her forehead.

The next moment, Michelle felt shadow essence enter her forehead. Exactly the place where the Life Stone would show up when she pushed her spirit energy there.

It was extremely uncomfortable. As if something was invading her consciousness.

Flinching a bit, Michelle let out a suppressed groan. “What… are you doing?”

In an instant, Michelle pushed her elbow back, hitting Alexander in the chest.

Alexander stepped back, pulling his hand away from Michelle’s forehead. But he did not let go of her.

Instead, his hand moved to the back of Michelle’s neck.

Once Michelle felt Alexander push his shadow essence there, she understood what was going on. But she could no longer pull away. “Shadow Pact again?” she frowned.

Alexander knew she could break it within a matter of seconds, so why was he making one with her?

Alexander did not listen to Michelle’s complaints and continued pouring his shadow essence into her neck until he felt the Shadow Pact form. Then, he pulled his hand back.

“What was that for?” Michelle turned around to look at Alexander.

Alexander leaned down, putting his face right next to Michelle’s ear. “How could I help it? The thought of having any kind of bond with you is just way too tempting.”

His warm breath washed over Michelle’s neck, his voice a seductive whisper.

Michelle’s neck itched a bit from Alexander’s warm breath, making her frown. “I am breaking it!” she said without any hesitation, summoning her spirit energy and slowly pushing it to her neck.

Instantly, Alexander pulled Michelle to him and once again put his hand over the back of her neck. Flooding it with his shadow essence, he prevented any of Michelle’s spirit energy from reaching there. “Do not do that…” his voice went a bit lower than usual, tinged with amusement.

He had clearly been expecting such a reaction.

Michelle grabbed Alexander by his wrist, a frown on her face. “What exactly do you want?” she clearly was not the least bit happy with how Alexander was acting.

But he did not mind that she was angry, that the gaze directed at him was dripping with venom and threats.

“I already said it…” He rested his head on Michelle’s shoulder, his face leaning into her neck. “I would never reject having any kind of bond with you.”

Michelle furrowed her brows ever so slightly. “Pervert…” With the expression she put on, it could not be said whether she meant that for real or was just messing with Alexander.

Alexander chuckled. “Well, this pervert has now latched onto you and will make sure to never let go.” He pulled back to look into Michelle’s face, his eyes gleaming with amusement. “Like a leech.”

For some reason, Michelle found Alexander’s expression funny. But she suppressed the laugh deep in her chest and pushed him away from her. “You know, leeches are sensitive to cold!” She smiled widely. “They can easily die in it.”

Alexander nodded. “That is the case with most leeches. Not all.” He remembered that he had once encountered a leech like that. “For example, the turtle leech can survive temperatures far beyond the point of freezing.”

Michelle frowned. “That parasite?” She remembered it could swim around in liquid nitrogen, which was at most the temperature of minus 196 degrees Celsius.

That was in a world without cultivation and spirit energy. Then, in a world of cultivation and spirit energy, they could most probably use their spirit energy to survive even more extreme temperatures.

“Are you comparing yourself to a parasite?” she asked with a frown, clear disgust in her eyes. Once again, it could not exactly be said whether she was making fun of Alexander or meaning it for real.

Alexander shrugged. “I could be your parasite. Some parasites protect their hosts.”

Michelle laughed out loud.

At the same time, she summoned her ice element spirit energy and pushed it out of her body in the form of snowflakes and small ice shards, forming a haze around herself. “Want to test your parasitic characteristics?” she asked with a grin, her voice carrying from the mist and haze of the snow.

Alexander could not see Michelle through the ice and snow flowing around her, but just from her voice, he could hear she was smiling. That made him imagine her smiling face.

With blood dripping from her nose, it definitely looked funny. At least in Alexander’s imagination.

But there was also something extremely tempting about that image in Alexander’s mind.

“Sure!” he snickered. “Let’s try it!” He was sure he could bear being in some ice and snow. With his power, the temperature around him did not exactly affect him. It was completely irrelevant.

Michelle moved the snow and ice around her to in front of her before shooting it all at Alexander.

It wrapped around him like a snake before completely enveloping him.

Wrapped in the snow, Alexander once again could not see Michelle or her expression.

Her bloodstained grin and heterochromic eyes, one purple and one red. The purple eye was the same as always, showing a bit of glassiness and monotony. The red eye was dancing with the fire of mischief. She was clearly planning to force Alexander to stay in the snow until his lips turned blue from the cold.

With his power, that much cold would not harm him.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep