Chapter 404: 404

Slowly, Michelle developed the full antidote for the elders.

She could make it very simply, but she didn’t feel like being kind to them.

So, when she finished the antidote, she made sure that the expulsion of the poison out of the elders’ systems would be slow and painful.

While Michelle was doing all that (it was occupying most of her time), Vincent had to make sure the spies and elders didn’t start doubting that Tobias was the culprit.

Michelle had to put her attention away from that, so it was only natural that Vincent took over.

Back when Michelle was still taking care of that, Vincent was paying attention to make sure the suspicion didn’t fall upon him or anyone else.

Because, in the end, all the elders who were being targeted were from the family head’s faction, so it wouldn’t be hard to suspect someone from Vincent’s faction.

When Michelle finally had the antidote, she warned the elders it would be a long and painful process.

And, naturally, they didn’t like to hear that.

Some, who were especially egocentric and fearful for themselves, even said they wouldn’t take such an antidote and actually wanted Michelle (as Michael Grayson) to take the poison herself and then use the antidote, so they could see if it was safe.

That quite angered Michelle, and she let it be seen.

She reminded those specific elders that it was thanks to her that they were enjoying the comfort of subsided poison, and that she could leave whenever she liked.

And she did that by not giving them the supply of the temporary antidote for a day, letting the pain of the poison return to them.

To not get in trouble, she also told Jonathan (the family head) about things, and told him the elders weren’t in danger.

She was just angry at them.

Jonathan (being a coward who didn’t want to end up the same) naturally agreed to let Michelle do as she liked, even saying that if the elders continued being troublesome, he would increase the reward Michelle would be given after healing everyone.

Just the next day, Michelle gave the unprotesting elders a dose of the final antidote.

After that, she went to check in with the originally protesting elders to see what they thought.

Having been without the initial, incomplete antidote for just something over 24 hours, they were in terrible states, and no longer cared about the pain Michelle promised would come with the final antidote.

They wanted anything as long as it would ease the choking and suffering.

So, Michelle gave them the antidote, hiding the happiness she was feeling that she could mess with the foggies.

Michelle wasn’t a sadist or anything like that, but when things came to her enemies, or to enemies of her allies and friends, she quite enjoyed making them suffer.

That was why she loved poisons so much and had a perfect arsenal of them.

Also, because most of the poisons she had (and used) were ones she had tested on herself, she knew just how painful and torturous they could be.

The antidote took three days to force the poison out of the elders’ bodies, and by the time it was done, they had all suffered more than they had ever imagined.

Because of the pain, most of them were also bedridden during the three days and thus couldn’t take care of their responsibilities.

Michelle liked that.

She made sure the antidote was even more painful than the poison.

She tested it on herself, and it felt like her bones were being brinded into dust one against the other and her veins were set on fire.

Also, the antidote got rid of the poison by pushing it out of the body’s pores, and Michelle also made sure that burned.

So, the elders were going through the hell she made for them.

By the end of the third day, though no longer in pain, most of the elders were still unable to get out of their beds, basically traumatized by the experience.

The only one who forced himself to function was the family head.

He had to pay Michelle back for healing them like he had promised.

Truthfully, he also thought about trying to poach her, because of the capabilities she showed, but remembering the pain, he wasn’t even sure if he wanted that.

Also, much more than a Pill Master and Healer (like Michelle said she was), she looked like a Poison Master when making the antidote.

For a family as big as the Ostrich family, having a personal Poison Master would be greatly beneficial, but that person would have to be tied to the family, ideally related.

Michelle wasn’t.

The most they could do to tie her down was pay her enough.

But that also meant that once someone paid her more, she could betray.

With that paranoia, Jonathan didn’t even suggest that Michelle remain in the family.

And he was just more set on not asking her to stay when he found out that Michelle was quite set on getting a big reward.

He wasn’t planning on paying her sparsely — that would taint the family name.

But just from her gaze when she stepped to talk with him, he knew the Ostrich family would lose quite a lot.

Of course Michelle wasn’t able to rob them clean, even though she would very much like that.

The Ostrich family was big, with long history, so even though what she received as a payment was a lot, compared to what was in their treasuries, it was a drop in the ocean.

Though the family head winced at the thought of giving her so much, it didn’t harm the family the least bit.

That made Michelle a bit unhappy, but at the same time, she knew it was better.

She had no plans of ruining the Ostrich family.

Because although she wouldn’t be involved in Vincent’s further plans, she knew about them, and ruining the family would be the equivalent of ruining his plans.

Vincent wanted to take over control of the family, placing his brother in the position of the family head, so the corrupt elders could be weeded out.

But if the family was ruined, there would be no family to be the head of.

So, Michelle withheld her desire for destruction and prepared herself for the very last stage of the plan where she would be present:

The utter destruction of Tobias Ostrich and his followers.

After receiving her payment, Michelle left the Ostrich family residence as Michael Grayson, but secretly returned with her real identity.

Like that, she stopped by Vincent to talk for a moment before sneaking to where the spies were holding Tobias.

And, similarly to how it was done with Andrew Ostrich, Michelle made it so Tobias could escape.

The only difference was that Tobias she didn’t drive crazy.

A bastard like that deserved to be fully conscious while his punishment was decided and then carried out.

He would have to go through every agonizing step of it.

So, in the dungeon, Michelle just messed with Tobias’ memories a bit, so he believed that if he didn’t run away right away, he would meet a fate worse than death.

That had him running the moment he found out the cell was unlocked, disregarding that coincidentally, Andrew Ostrich had escaped the exact same way.

With Tobias on the run, all that was left to do was wake up the spies and elders.

But before that, Vincent had to leave behind more traces of Tobias’ activities (all framing).

One of those actions was that Vincent secretly poisoned the family head again, but with a smaller dose.

Also, Michelle’s antidote made it so if the poison got into the elders’ systems ever again, it would start acting within fifteen minutes, not like before, when it took over a day to show symptoms.

So, Jonathan soon woke up choking and panicking, thinking that Michael Grayson had tricked them all.

At the same time, Vincent was already in Benjamin’s (the Ancestor’s) courtyard, breaking things silently.

Finally, Vincent left behind traces all over the residence, leading toward the forest.

Because both Michelle and Vincent knew Tobias would flee the residence through there.

Partially, he decided to go there because it was the least secured area by guards.

But most of that decision was because Michelle had manipulated his memories to think in that way.

The plan had to be foolproof, and Tobias couldn’t flee anywhere else.

Michelle and Vincent wouldn’t let something like that foil their plans.

Soon, most elders were already awake, by Jonathan’s side.

When Jonathan found out he was the only one who was poisoned again, he quickly had the spies check where Tobias was.

And when he found out Tobias was on the run, he was certain Tobias had poisoned him out of spite before fleeing.

So, the spies went to hunt Tobias down, while an elder went to the pharmacy to get the antidote that Michelle (as Michael Grayson) had left behind for them.

Jonathan had actually specifically asked for that because of his paranoia.

And that exact paranoia was why Michelle could enjoy poisoning him all over again.

She loved the last stage of the plan.

Actually, it wasn’t even all that necessary.

With how things were, Tobias’ end was certain.

But Michelle and Vincent wanted to push for it a bit more, so it had a more tragic end for the guy.

Just imagining it was nice.

By escaping, Tobias got the hope to see the light of the day again, only for it to be extinguished and more accusations to fall on him, sealing his fate.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep