Chapter 353: 353

After Alexander agreed to the bet, Michelle had the net start shrinking around them again, her head lifted to stare up at Alexander.

Obviously, he wasn’t enjoying the pain of the threads cutting into him, but he didn’t even flinch.

He just watched Michelle’s face, waiting for the moment when the threads would either snap or dig into her bones.

Alexander had no way to tell or see how deep the threads were cutting Michelle, so he could only try and guess it from her expression.

But knowing he would try to guess it like that, Michelle decided to keep him oblivious and kept her expression unchanging, just keeping the smile that she had on when they talked about the bet.

So, with a careless smile on her face, Michelle felt the threads digging deeper and deeper through her flesh until they reached the back of her ribcage and her spine.

Those were the bones closest under the skin, so the threads got to them the fastest.

While Michelle was already feeling the threads strain against her bones, Alexander was oblivious.

He couldn’t tell anything from Michelle’s expression.

But, as the threads strained against Michelle’s bones, they tightened a bit.

That meant the whole net tightened.

And Alexander could feel that.

The threads cutting into his back and sides got rigid.

“So it has already reached your bones?”

Michelle snickered. “So it seems you are about to lose!”

And she was right.

In the first place, the bet was unfair, and both she and Alexander knew about it.

Being the one to create it, it was only natural for Michelle to know whether the threads would snap or not.

It was her own creation, so of course she knew how it worked and how much it could bear.

Slowly, Michelle could feel the threads biting into her bones and pushing into them.

It was a slow process because of how hardened the bones were, but if Michelle left it to go on, the threads would reach her bone marrow.

So, before that could happen, Michelle stopped the net’s moving and started retracting it.

At the same time, since the net was still suspended a bit, Michelle had it descend the few centimeters it was above ground.

A few moments later, Michelle and Alexander were standing on the ground, the net nowhere to be seen.

But traces were left behind.

Like the cuts all over Michelle and Alexander in the shape of the net.

“I won!” Michelle smiled. “It didn’t snap!”

Alexander knew Michelle was right, but he still decided to check.

Stepping around her, he looked at her back.

Through the cuts on her clothes the net had created, he could see the wounds clearly.

Even the white of bones deep in them.

And the fact that it could still be seen even though Michelle’s healing abilities were already working showed that when the net was still there, the cuts were deeper into her bones.

Not all that much, the healing abilities worked slower on bones, but slightly deeper.

Not more than a millimeter.

But in damage to the bone, a millimeter was quite a bit.

Seeing that, Alexander’s eyes narrowed.

“You won…” his voice was a bit gruff, but not because he wanted to win.

Naturally, he wanted to win, but from the start, he knew he wouldn’t.

So that wasn’t what was annoying him.

He was just ticked off by seeing Michelle hurt like that.

Seeing her exposed bones greatly unsettled him.

It was a highly unnatural thing to happen.

As the Dark Lord, Alexander had seen all kinds of gore and massacre.

He was no stranger to seeing severed limbs, open fractures, and even straight up exposed bones because of skinning or massive wounds.

And never had he been unsettled by it.

But seeing even a hint of Michelle’s bones made him shift uncomfortably.

Michelle noticed Alexander’s discomfort and reached into her space, taking out a new set of clothes.

Then, summoning a cloud of black mist around her, she changed her clothes.

Alexander stared at Michelle with a slight frown.

He could still see the blood seeping through her clothes.

But, rationally knowing she wasn’t seriously hurt, he decided to ignore it.

“So what is the wish I should fulfill for you?” he asked with a tilt of his head.

He really wanted to know what Michelle would think of.

Staring back at Alexander, Michelle shrugged.

“I didn’t think about it yet,” she admitted carelessly.

When she was proposing the bet, the reason she asked for a wish was because she could ask for that later, not right away.

Because, at the moment, there wasn’t anything she would need from Alexander all that much.

Alexander lifted a brow. “So you want to put it off until you think of something?”

Michelle nodded.

She was about to say something more when she felt some movement in her space.

Reaching in, she took out the communication spirit stone from Vincent.

“Father?” she inserted her spirit energy into the stone.

Vincent’s voice came out.

“Ana, where are you? Francis told me you disappeared from the academy. What’s going on?” he was clearly distressed.

Michelle lifted a brow.

“Did something happen in the academy? Otherwise, why would they be concerned about me disappearing for a while? It’s not even been that long…” she was confused, since she didn’t know about what had happened at her dorm.

Hearing Michelle’s confusion, Vincent was relieved.

“So, you left on your own?” he asked.

Michelle went silent for a moment. Vincent didn’t know about Alexander, so she couldn’t exactly tell him he took her away.

“Sorry, father, something came up and I had to leave quickly. I’m nearly done with it.” That was partially true.

Vincent knew that though Michelle was pretending to be Ana, she wasn’t his daughter and had her own life.

Naturally, there could happen cases when she had to suddenly return to her own life and take care of things.

“Maybe don’t return right away,” he said as he recounted what happened at the dorm.

“What do you mean, father?” Michelle was confused.

So, Vincent read the letter he got from Francis, explaining what had happened in her dorm.

Finally, Vincent finished by saying that if Michelle suddenly returned, it would raise suspicion about her identity.

Michelle nodded in understanding when she heard that.

She indeed couldn’t return on her own.

But right next to her was Alexander whom she could use.

Of course, there were ways she could return without using Alexander, but he owed her a wish, and using him could get very interesting.

So Michelle wouldn’t pass up such an opportunity.

“Father, what if….”

Michelle explained her new plan to Vincent, who was fairly surprised.

He didn’t know that by Michelle’s side was a powerful figure.

Michelle didn’t specify that Alexander was the Dark Lord, but she did say that he was powerful enough to fulfill the role she wanted him to.

Still, Vincent was skeptical. “But will such a powerful person listen to you?”

“Don’t worry, father. He will listen!” Michelle reassured.

Vincent knew not to question Michelle too much.

He barely knew anything about her, but he could be sure that she had connections he couldn’t even dream of.

That did raise within him the question as to why she agreed to impersonate his daughter, but since that had already happened, he wouldn’t question it.

He could be sure that Michelle wouldn’t harm him, so he decided not to be too suspicious about her.

That would just lead to paranoia which, in turn, would lead to a bad ending.

So, finally, Vincent agreed to the plan, saying he would be at the academy the day Michelle returned.

Truthfully, Michelle found that a bit hard to believe, since she was planning to return the next day, but considering that Vincent would be traveling alone, maybe he would use a transportation method usable only for one person.

When the communication spirit stone went silent, Michelle tossed it back into her space and lifted her gaze to Alexander, only to see him staring at her with a lifted brow.

“That’s a nice plan you thought of, but what if I don’t want to participate?” he asked with a smile.

And Michelle smiled back: “You have to since you owe me a wish.”

With that said, Alexander could just chuckle.

“You really are the only person who would decide to use a wish for something like this…” It really was an unusual wish, and even seemed a bit pointless.

Like Michelle was just wasting her wish.

Michelle shook her head. “Don’t think it’s pointless…” her smile turned wicked.

There was obviously something more to the plan that Alexander didn’t know.

He had never been all that interested in the Ostrich Academy, so it was only natural he didn’t know all their rules.

That meant he also didn’t know what implications carrying out Michelle’s plans had for him.

Those implications were what made Vincent so hesitant when listening to Michelle’s plan.

He knew about them, and doubted someone powerful would accept them if they knew.

And Vincent didn’t want someone powerful to get angry at the academy because Michelle tricked them.

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