Chapter 58: 58

One especially dark night, Garric Sloan was sitting in his office, taking care of some documents when he felt a shiver run down his side, his heartbeat quickening. He turned around to check his surroundings, but he didn’t see anyone or anything. Still, something was warning him of danger. He glanced at the open window and stood up to close it.

But the moment he stood up, a lazy voice laced with amusement. “Viscount Sloan, did you hear about the plans the new Emperor has with you?”

Garric Sloan instantly turned around to look towards the voice and froze when he saw the person. “Michael Grayson?” he frowned. “What is the Emperor’s teacher doing here?”

“Nothing much!” Michelle was leaning against the wall in her disguise, a lazy smile on her lips. Her purple eyes were gleaming with cold amusement as her long silver hair cascaded down her body. For a man, she was disguised as, her stature was small, but her aura made up for it.

Even though she was shorter than Garric and her head could barely reach his neck, he didn’t dare move rashly. It was partly because of her identity as the Emperor’s teacher, but also because of the power coming from her. “I was just curious… It seems you don’t know about the new Emperor’s plans,” she spoke.

When Michelle’s words fell, Garric’s frown deepened. “What plans?” he asked, his voice filled with suspicion and wariness. “What are you trying to say?”

Michelle let out a low whistle before she snapped her fingers with a smile. “No…” she smiled. “Nothing…” she shook her head and walked towards the open window. “You should find out yourself…” she said lazily as she placed her foot on the window frame. Then, she jumped out of the window and disappeared in the darkness of the night.

The best thing about having the dark element in her body was the ability to blend in with darkness. It was similar to Nyxaroth’s ability to hide in the darkness, but slightly different. Michelle could get coated by the darkness to hide while Nyxaroth could become a black mist unnoticeable in the darkness.

But neither ability was omnipotent. Nyxaroth could, of course, coat himself in the darkness too, since he had the dark element, but he much more preferred the state of a mist, as a hidden presence, especially if he rivaled people of his power or stronger, because they were sensitive to presences, could be easily discovered by others. But in the state of mist, he held nearly no presence, and though people could notice the mist if they approached close enough, they wouldn’t think much about it, as mist during the night or in darkness was nothing special.

But in the Land of Exile, Michelle was basically omnipotent, as she was at the peak of cultivation reachable there, and with her skills, even if someone was at the same level as her, her skills would give her a massive advantage. So, whether it was Nyxaroth’s skill to turn into mist, or her skill to coat herself in the darkness, no one could ever notice her. And if she combined it with her stealthy Shadow Spirit Steps, even some in the lower realm would have a hard time discovering her.

Garric Sloan stared out of the window, searching for Michael Grayson in the darkness, but he could only hear the grass sway in the wind. It was like Michela Grayson never existed, which was actually true, since Michael Grayson was just Michelle Grace’s male identity.

Seeing the gaping emptiness in the darkness, Garric panicked as Michelle’s words started coursing through his mind. What was the new Emperor planning with him? Was he planning to get rid of him? Or did he have evidence for his and his father’s corruption? And whose side was Michael Grayson on? Or was he completely neutral? But then, why did he appear in his office? Was that a trick of the Emperor? But how could a nine-year-old child come up with that? Or did the Prince Regent help? Or was it whole cooked up by Michael Grayson?

After Michelle left Garric’s office, she hid in the trees where Cold Flame was already waiting for her, and observed him. At first, they could clearly see panic on his face before he slowly calmed down and sat at his desk, writing down a letter. Then, he called a strange servant and gave him the letter. Without even needing to be told anything, the servant took the letter and left. Michelle nodded at Cold Flame and when he nodded back at her, she left him behind and went to follow the servant. She knew she could leave spying on Garric to Cold Flame.

Meanwhile, Kieran Ashford and the little Emperor were staring at the Emperor Emeritus’ concubine in disbelief, watching as the originally quite arrogant woman remained silent and just sorted the documents as they ordered her.

In the morning, Michelle brought the concubine out of the prison and told the two that she had brainwashed her, and indeed, the concubine acted like a puppet, only speaking when she was asked to, and finishing all the tasks they assigned her without complaining. Since the moment Michelle told her to listen to them until she returned, she was obedient and every time she finished a work, she would silently await the next order. She was like a completely different person.

“Anastasia Helens…” the little Emperor finally spoke up, and the concubine turned to look at him.

“Yes, Your Majesty?” she tilted her head a bit. “How can I help you?”

The little Emperor sighed. “Stop doing all that and go rest for now!” he ordered, no longer wanting to see her work. She was a person he used to hate, and suddenly seeing her acting all obedient and brainwashed was making him uncomfortable.

At the same time, Michelle was following Garric’s strange servant, to a mansion in the suburbs of the city. Hiding in the shadows, Michelle frowned when she saw the interior. The mansion had no windows, and only a few candles were illuminating the empty walls as the strange servant walked through the labyrinth-like hallways. He had no problem operating in the identical hallways, heading straight towards his goal. It was clear the mansion made in such a way to prevent invasions.

Michelle followed closely behind, her purple eyes narrowed into thin lines as she left a wisp of her dark element spirit energy on the walls, like a string, so she could leave once she was done.

Unaware of her presence, the servant led her to a door behind which, the mansion was normal. Michelle quickly used her Shadow Spirit Steps to get behind a pillar and watched where the servant went. Behind the door, the mansion was lit up, so her dark element was of no help to her, so she could just use her experience from being an assassin to avoid being discovered.

What surprised her, was that even though the mansion looked normal, no servants could be seen. It was like the person who lived there lived alone, but the mansion was too clean for that. It felt suspicious.

After a while, the servant disappeared behind the door. Michelle frowned a bit because she couldn’t follow him there, as if she opened the door, she would be discovered. That was another thing different about the mansion. Every hallway was separated from the rest by a heavy door, another thing used to keep spies out.

With her power, Michelle didn’t need to worry about danger, but taking care of slippery corrupt officials, she didn’t want to scare them away. But she wanted to see who the letter was meant for and what was in it.

So she decided to take a small risk and walked towards the door. She pressed her hand on the floor next to the door and closed her eyes. Then, she spread her ice element spirit energy out and let it solidify into a thin string on the floor. The ice seeped under the door and followed the servant. Sending her consciousness into it, Michelle could see what was happening behind the door.

The ice string spread over the floor and walls all over the mansion like a web and Michelle smiled. She had a full map of the mansion in her mind, and when she closed her eyes, she could see anywhere what was happening.

Deep inside the mansion, she saw a middle-aged man sitting at a desk, writing something. The man was familiar to Michelle. Malrik Sloan. So both the father and the son were involved.

The strange servant entered without knocking, and the man frowned. “What happened this time?” Malrik asked impatiently, knowing that the appearance of the servant in front of him meant that his son was in trouble.

Silently, the servant placed the letter on Malrik’s desk and stepped back a bit. Malrik took the letter and started reading it, his brows creasing into deep frown. He didn’t even know that all that was being observed by Michelle using the ice strings all over the mansion.

And she also found out something other than just where the strange servant went. Using the ice strings, she found a place similar to prison, but it wasn’t locked, and there, servants were resting. Their faces were ghastly pale like they were never in the sunlight.

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