Chapter 36: 36

Silently, Michelle followed after Eleanor and Joseph Hillberg as they walked through the city. She knew that if she used her Shadow Spirit Steps, she wouldn’t leave a trace for them to notice, bit she wanted them to notice her. She was wearing a disguise mask and men’s clothing, so she loomed like “Michael Grayson”.

Joseph noticed a moment earlier than Eleanor, but he didn’t react. But when Eleanor noticed, she leaned over to him and whispered into his ear. “Brother, someone’s following us.”

“I noticed…” he answered calmly. “It must be the small Emperor. He must have sent someone after us to check our intentions.”

Eleanor frowned a bit. “Brother, can I get rid of him? It’s annoying me!”

But Joseph just shook his head. “You can’t… Not now, sister… Once we find the person we are looking for, you can kill even the small Emperor… He has many siblings to replace him…”

“But, brother! I want to kill him now!” Eleanor was clearly a spoiled brat who never experienced any proper hardship, making Michelle sneer coldly.

Since she started cultivating, her senses were heightened, so she could hear Eleanor and Joseph’s conversation. Seeing how the two were, she felt no remorse for planning to cripple or even kill them.

Following the pair of siblings around the city for a whole day, a cold smile was on her lips. As the sun was setting, the two parted from their servants and entered a dark alley. One of the alleys owned by the Dark Lord, but they clearly didn’t know that.

Michelle had a fair guess as to what they wanted, so she followed them with a flash of cold amusement in her eyes.

“Come out, you sneaky bastard!” Eleanor shouted in anger.

Michelle chuckled coldly in the dark and completely concealed her gaze and aura, making it impossible for the two to feel her presence. And that shook them. “Are you hiding?! You coward!” Eleanor shouted, but deep inside her chest, some fear appeared.

A cold snicker appeared in the air. “Coward…?” Michelle altered her voice to sound like a man. “Me…?” Her voice was laced with amusement, but also power, which made the two shiver a bit. They never knew that someone with such powerful presence existed in the Land of Exile of the lower realm.

“What do you want?” Joseph somehow kept his composure and asked. “Why did you follow us the whole day, clearly letting us know?”

Another cold chuckle sounded. “Why did you come here… brats from the middle realm? Why did that bastard Thomas send his children here?” Michelle made it sound like she knew Thomas Hillberg, the two’s father.

The two froze up. “How do you know our father?” Eleanor asked in panic. “Who are you?”

Michelle chuckled coldly again and used her Shadow Spirit Steps to appear behind the two for a moment. She ran her cold fingers over the back of Eleanor’s neck and then disappeared again. “Answer my question… Why… are you here?”

Feeling Michelle’s cold fingers on her neck, Eleanor shuddered, the fear in her chest intensifying. “We are searching for a person…” she said, her voice trembling.

“Eleanor!” Joseph frowned. They weren’t supposed to tell anyone the specifics. But before he could do anything, he felt a pair of cold hands clasp over his neck from behind before disappearing.

“Go on… Who are you searching for?” Michelle asked coldly. “And why are you searching for them?”

Joseph shivered a bit as he realized that he was just a moment away from death. “A prophecy came a few months ago that someone with Spirit Blood should appear in the Capital City of the Land of Exile of the lower realm. Father ordered us to bring the person to him. Alive.”

“I see…” Michelle’s voice turned a notch colder. “Oh, Thomas… you bastard…” she chuckled before disappearing from the alley using her Shadow Spirit Steps.

Eleanor and Joseph looked at each other with clear fear in their eyes. “Joseph, should we go home and tell father?” she asked.

“No!” Joseph shook his head. “That person could kill us if he wanted, but he decided not to. But if we go inform father, how can we know it won’t enrage him? Then, he might kill us.”

“So what do we do now?” Eleanor asked. “Do we just stay here and do nothing?”

“We will search for the person with Spirit Blood! We have the description given by the prophecy, so it shouldn’t be hard!” Joseph said with some determination in his voice.

Leaving the dark alley, Michelle hummed lazily as she rushed through the city like a gust of wind. “Prophecy…” she snickered. “So the moment I took over this body, the middle realm knew about me…” she thought as she stopped in front of the illegal auction house. The old building looked even more dready as the sun was setting behind it.

Michelle entered with lazy strides and a beautiful lady approached her. “Wellcome to the auction house! Did you come here to buy or sell something?” the beautiful lady asked.

But Michelle shook her head. “I have a message for the owner,” she said with a lazy smile.

“I’m afraid the owner isn’t here…” the beautiful lady was clearly troubled.

“I don’t want to see him, so don’t worry. Just make sure he gets this once he gets here…” she placed a small paper in the beautiful lady’s hand before leaving.

Then, she returned to the Archduchy and went sparring with the knight’s commander. It was a long time since she had last sparred with him, so the spar lasted until the sun completely set behind the horizon and a bit longer. When darkness overtook the mansion, Michelle went to her room to sleep. She wanted to have good rest for what was about to come the next day.

In the morning, she woke up before dawn and went to see the Archduke. He knew beforehand that her plan would start early, so he was already up, waiting for her. “Father…” Michelle spoke as she sat opposite him on a couch. “They know about me.”

Her words shocked the Archduke. “That’s impossible!”

“Father.” Michelle sighed. “I interrogated them yesterday. They said that a few months ago, a prophecy was told which said that a person with Spirit Blood will appear in the capital city of the Land of Exile of the lower realm. They don’t know it’s me, but they are already searching for me.”

The Archduke frowned. “A prophecy…” he muttered, worry clear on his face. “Did they tell you everything about the prophecy?” he asked after a while of silence.

Michelle shrugged. “Most probably no! Definitely no…” she sneered. “They aren’t stupid.”

“So, what will you do now?” the Archduke looked at her worriedly. “You shouldn’t try to approach them for a while.”

But Michelle shook her head. “No, father. I’ll approach them again and again, until I find out the whole content of the prophecy. Then, I’ll cripple them using the thing we wanted to use at the harvest festival banquet.”

Clearly seeing that he couldn’t make Michelle change her mind, the Archduke sighed. “Be careful…”

“Yes, father! I’ll make sure nothing goes wrong.” Michelle smiled as she stood up. “And father, after I take care of the two, can I go to the Academy?”

The Archduke raised a brow. “Why would you want to go into the Academy? Your cultivation method is something no one else can use, and the knowledge there can be found on a single floor of our library.”

Michelle shrugged. “Lately, I’ve been feeling like I should go there, like I will lose something if I don’t go…” she frowned a bit as she thought about it. The last few days, basically since the day she started cultivating, she felt like something important was waiting for her at the Academy.

“Fine, then. But only after the Hillberg brats are gone! Otherwise, you can’t go.” The Archduke stated.

“Than you, father!” Michelle smiled a bit. “I’ll get going now. I need to start early if I want to traumatize them…” she said as she put on the disguise mask to transform into “Michael Grayson”, a handsome young man with long silver hair and purple eyes, carrying the air of nonchalance, but danger. She was already wearing men’s clothes so she could leave.

She took Mare and Snow with her, so they could learn how to traumatize someone without even needing to touch them. The two were still young, so they were quite innocent when it came to that. Well… Michelle couldn’t be so sure about Mare since she remembered the gaze full of hatred she had when Michelle saw her in the auction house. It was clear that though young, Mare had already experienced a fair share of gruesome things.

Mare and Snow already knew how to use Shadow Spirit Steps, so they had no trouble keeping up with Michelle as she rushed towards the inn where Eleanor and Joseph Hillberg lived. Silently, they sneaked into Eleanor’s room and Snow and Mare hid outside the window and Michelle lazily leaned against the wall, waiting for Eleanor to wake up. A cold sneer appeared on Michelle’s lips as she watched Eleanor sleep peacefully.

“Really no survival skills…” she muttered when she saw that Eleanor wasn’t waking up when Michelle didn’t even bother to hide her presence.

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