Chapter 377: 377

Alexander let Michelle cover his eyes, but that didn’t stop him from plotting what to do next.

“Since you said I would be the one to lust over you before you lusted over me, how about I make your wish come true?” he asked after a moment.

“Wish?” Michelle raised a brow.

She didn’t even have time to think about what Alexander said when he already acted.

His hands flew out and grabbed her.

Then, with a single twist of his body, he had Michelle pinned beneath him on the bed.

“Because so it seems you do want me to lust over you,” he smiled down at her.

The smile was even darker than his smile earlier, when he was thinking about killing and torturing those who ever dared to mess with Michelle.

“Now what are you planning now?” seeing that dark smile of Alexander’s, Michelle also showed somewhat of a dark smile.

Alexander lowered himself above Michelle.

“I think I made it quite clear. I’m fulfilling your wish.”

Michelle let out a chuckle, letting Alexander move his hands over her body.

And Alexander quite liked that she was letting him.

“That disguise mask is annoying me…” he muttered, but though he could, he didn’t move his hands to take it off Michelle’s face.

That was a bit confusing for Michelle.

She was expecting Alexander to pull it off like he did before.

“You miss my face?” she lifted a brow.

“It isn’t that long since you had last seen it.”

Alexander lowered himself even closer to Michelle so he could press his forehead against hers.

“Even if I got to stare at your face for hours every day, I would miss seeing it the moment something obstructed my view,” his voice was a cold rumble that made Michelle’s hairs stand on their ends.

“Well, then you will have to bear with it until everything in the Ostrich Academy has been dealt with,” Michelle lifted her hand to touch Alexander’s chest.

“It’s the same like I have to nearly all the time hold back from touching your chest!” as she spoke, she showed a sweet smile that didn’t suit the words.

Alexander let out a singular laugh at that.

“What’s stopping you from always touching my chest?”

Michelle looked at him like there was no need for the question.

And it was true, since the answer was obvious.

“If I was constantly glued to your chest, I wouldn’t be able to do anything else, would I?”

Alexander’s smile widened at that.

“That doesn’t sound all that bad. If you gave me all your attention, I would be greatly pleased.”

“You are even more crazy than I am, are you not?” Michelle flexed her fingers on Alexander’s chest, feeling the muscle.

“Depends on what area you are thinking about.”

Alexander was feeling quite satisfied.

But, still, the constant presence of the disguise mask Michelle had on was annoying him, so his smile was getting darker and darker the more he looked at Michelle’s disguised face.

The woman he loved was Michelle Grace, not Ana Ostrich, whom she was stepping in as, so that face was a thorn in his side.

The more he stared at the stranger’s face, the more he felt like destroying something.

Or someone.

Michelle could see the darkness brewing in Alexander’s eyes, and it just further confused her.

It once again gave her the question, that if he disliked the disguise mask so much, why not just take it off?

But she didn’t even get to ask the question, because Alexander decided to finally do something.

With that increasingly dark smile, he moved his hands to open Michelle’s clothes.

He had already seen her naked body quite a few times, because he never bothered to turn away when she was changing clothes, but at the moment, with the darkness in his gaze and mind, it felt different.

How he felt like engraving his name into the pale skin, cold from the ice element surging in the veins just beneath.

Michelle felt her skin tingle a bit under Alexander’s touch.

The difference in their body heat was quite big.

But that could easily be solved.

Michelle still had her Everfrost Mantle on in its invisible state, and after Alexander had fixed it, he gave it a single new function.

Michelle could merge it into her skin.

That would make her skin under the touch of others warmer, and to her, the touches of others would be colder.

She liked the feature quite a bit, and was planning to observe it, so she could come up with a skill like that for herself in the future.

She definitely didn’t want to forever rely on the mantle, especially since she already knew how easily it could be broken and made unusable.

That vulnerability of the artifact was something even the best Armament Masters couldn’t fix.

Not even Alexander.

Michelle actually liked that, because it forced her to come up with a new skill.

If the mantle could last forever, and the vulnerability could be removed, she could gain the bad habit of putting too much trust in it and similar artifacts.

And that would eventually attract and spell her own doom.

Michelle wouldn’t set out on that path.

But Michelle wouldn’t let her mind wander when she was with Alexander.

Especially when he was above her.

Not wanting to have anyone or anything bother them, Alexander let his shadow essence flicker around him for a moment.

That alone was enough to create a nearly transparent, dark barrier around the room.

No one would be able to get in, or even see inside, if he didn’t allow it.

Michelle noticed the barrier—Alexander wasn’t hiding it—and it made her stomach tighten.

Probably with anticipation?

It didn’t matter that it was still day.

The two in the room were not planning to come out for quite a while.

A long while.

In the meantime, outside the room, seeing the barrier, Noctis and Unlucien knew they were free to take a break and go do anything they wanted.

“I’ll be in the city nearby,” Noctis said as he jumped off the tree, taking on his monster form, three‑eyed black wolf, the eyes red.

Unlucien also landed on the ground.

“The nearest city is quite far from here.”

That sentence was the equivalent to asking why bother going there.

Noctis had a slight frown on his face.

“There’s something I want to find out.”

“What about?” Unlucien was a bit surprised, because Noctis wasn’t one of those shadow guards who would proactively find things out without anyone ordering it.

“There was some strange activity in the city reported by the facility there. As you know, that one is under my care, so I should check it out.” Noctis answered truthfully.

Unlucien didn’t ask anything further.

He knew that with how Noctis was, he didn’t find out anything yet, planning to investigate when he got to the facility.

There, he had people who would answer his questions and tell him what had happened.

So, the three‑eyed black wolf ran through the forest at speed that eyes couldn’t catch, while Unlucien disappeared into the forest.

They both had their own things to do, and no one could stop them.

It was rare that Alexander didn’t need them, so they would use the time fully.

So their responsibilities were stacking.

Though, Unlucien had it easier than Noctis.

He was one rank higher in the Dark Palace, so he wasn’t in charge of any facility in the upper realm.

Most shadow guards of his rank had facilities up in the heavenly realm, but Unlucien’s responsibility was being Alexander’s right hand.

When Alexander was in a realm other than the heavenly realm, he was also expected to go there along with him.

Of course, there were some things he had as a responsibility up in the heavenly realm, but since it was up there, he didn’t need to worry about it in the upper realm.

So all he needed to do was focus on inter‑realm problems that he could also take care of and investigate while in the upper realm.

One of those things was investigation into a new‑emerging force that had appeared in all four realms, causing chaos all around.

The Dark Palace had high and valid suspicions the leaders of the chaos were supposedly dead old shadow guards, or enemies of the Dark Palace.

But they didn’t have it confirmed, so Unlucien and one more shadow guard were tasked with investigating it in the upper realm.

Every realm had two shadow guards assigned to investigate, their rank in the palace depending on the realm.

Unlucien was a bit of a deviation since he had the highest rank amongst shadow guards, but since he was already in the upper realm, he was assigned to investigate there.

So, Unlucien moved deadly silently through the forest around the academy, knowing nearby were reported traces of the emerging force.

Some could say it was quite the coincidence that the force had traces near the academy, but such traces were actually all over the upper realm, and the one in the forest was just one of many.

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