Chapter 72: 72

For a long time, both Michelle and the Archduke were silent in the office. The Archduke just observed Michelle’s expression, trying to guess what she was thinking, while she just stared at the ceiling above her. She clearly didn’t like the thought of her soul energy breaking free. No one would like that. Dying or losing the ability to cultivate wasn’t something to be taken lightly.

After some time, still staring at the ceiling, Michelle spoke again: “Father, you said that I would have to try hard to discover what my soul leash was and for it to appear, do why did it appear on its own? I wasn’t even thinking about it when it appeared.”

Hearing that, the Archduke raised a brow. “And what were you thinking about?” he asked curiously.

“About the mark that appeared on my and my contracted beasts’ foreheads when we formed contracts. I was thinking about why it was the shape of a snake coiled around a rose with the rose’s thorns piercing into the snake’s flesh.” Michelle answered truthfully.

When her words fell, the Archduke raised a brow and went silent for a moment before finally speaking: “I know now why the binding chains appeared on their own…” He sighed as he spoke. “You know, most people have simple contract marks which just show their elements, so yours should be in the shape of a snowflake or something black to represent your ice and dark elements, but instead, your contract mark has a meaning. It’s not unheard of, but it’s rare and people with such marks aren’t really liked by people, especially by those from the upper and heavenly realm.”

“Why is that?” Michelle tilted her head in confusion. “And what does that have to do with my soul leash, the binding chains?”

A slight frown formed on the Archduke’s brows. “Up until now, every single person who had a meaningful contract mark was strange and somehow different. People with those marks brought up unheard-of ideas and achieved great heights. It was like the mark was predetermining their fate so they would become someone big. And the great powers didn’t like that. They believe that only lineage, talent or hard work can bring someone to power, but the people with the marks didn’t have that much talent, and no one really cared how hard they worked.”

Michelle raised a brow. “So the people just don’t like the people with meaningful contract mark because they seem so lucky to them, that they gain power for free?” she asked with a scoff, her lips upturning a bit. “Father, what about the relation between the soul leash and contract mark?” she glanced at the Archduke.

“That’s a bit complicated,” the Archduke admitted. “It was proven that all the people with meaningful contract marks have rare kinds of soul leash and that they appear on their own just after the person thinks about it for a short while, but that’s all that’s really known. Then, there are also some speculations.”

He continued: “The last thing I know from the upper realm is that one of the Elders in the Academy was trying to prove that contract marks were formed by soul leash, spirit energy and the whole soul combined, and that’s why the people with different trail of thoughts had different contract marks. Because their souls were somehow special too, and they could think differently from others.”

Michelle raised a brow as she listened to that. The Archduke’s words intrigued her, and made her wonder about new possibilities. “Father, what do you think about the meaningful contract marks?” she asked.

“Truthfully, I never really bothered to think anything about it, but now that you are in front of me with a mark like that, an idea came to my mind,” he spoke, his voice showing a bit of curiosity and intrigue about what he was just thinking about. It was clear that his trail of thoughts still wasn’t finished, and he had yet to come to a conclusion in his mind.

Michelle remained patiently silent, so he continued: “The people with meaningful contract marks in the past were known for having strange ideas and different mind sets than others, and that seems similar to your case. What if, just like you, they were from your world or some completely different worlds, and thus they also had different souls, which caused their contract marks to be different? Wouldn’t that make perfect sense if we think about the Academy Elder’s theory?”

Hearing that, Michelle raised a brow. If the Elder’s study proved the contract marks to be related to souls, then the Archduke’s theory would have a high probability of being true. And if that was the case, that would mean that others from different worlds entered the world and Michelle could find their traces to learn new things.

“Father, how can I control the binding chains, so I can properly use my soul energy?” she asked after a while of thinking.

When her question fell, the Archduke was fairly surprised. “You want to learn to use them? Even with the dangers it carries?” he looked at her skeptically. Since he had first talked with her, he had thought she was smart, maybe even a genius, so he didn’t understand why she ignored the dangers of the binding chains and wanted to learn to use them.

But Michelle just nodded. “Yes, father,” she smiled a bit. “Though it might carry danger, but I don’t plan to recklessly use it to get myself killed. A hundred uses might not sound like much, but these hundred uses can be a hundred times that I could same my life with it. Why would I throw that away?”

Her words relieved the Archduke a bit, but he still didn’t really like the idea of her knowing how to use something that could endanger her, but knowing her for the past half a year, he knew that once she had decided on something, there was no way he could ever talk her out of it. So, he agreed to teach her: “For today, rest, since your soul leash just appeared, and tomorrow, I’ll start teaching you how to use it!”

“Thank you, father!” Michelle smiled. “Today, I was thinking of going to the Beltrez mansion to talk with Ivona about going to the lower realm.”

That made the Archduke raise a brow in slight surprise. “You want to take her with you?” he asked, and Michelle nodded. But he frowned: “I don’t think she can cultivate… As long as one’s cultivation isn’t at the threshold of breaking into the Spirit rank, they can’t leave the Land of Exile. How do you plan on taking her with you?”

Michelle chuckled a bit. “Father, from what do you know that she can’t cultivate?” she asked with a slight smile. She seemed to know that the Archduke wasn’t aware of.

He narrowed his eyes a bit, thinking about it for a while. He understood what Michelle was implying, but he didn’t know about anything that showed that Ivona Beltrez could cultivate. She was just a neglected daughter of the Beltrez family. Then, one word struck him. “Neglected…?” he frowned deeply. “Are you trying to say that she’s hiding her capabilities from her family?” he glanced at Michelle.

“Think about it…” Michelle leaned back in her seat as she turned her head to stare out of the big window directed at the fountain in the beautiful garden. “She’s smart and cab wear masks and hide her intentions, but her family neglects her, thinking she’s useless, maybe even abuses her, while the servants disregard her. So how come she was able to survive in such a living environment? It couldn’t have been solely because of her intelligence.”

The Archduke nodded. Living with a family who hates and neglects, or even abuses you and servants who never bother to help you, just surviving would be hard, but developing intelligence would be impossible. For one to become so intelligent if he didn’t need the care of others, but for one to not need to be fed when young, just a baby, or to be taught when growing, the only way was having spirit energy since being born, so the needs of the human body would be lessened.

“How high do you think her cultivation is?” the Archduke asked. Since Michelle was able to guess so much, she must have checked her cultivation level already.

But he had clearly underestimated the laziness of his daughter. “I have no clue,” she shrugged her shoulders.

Hearing that, the Archduke could feel three black like forming on the side of his head as his eyebrow twitched in disbelief. “Are you aware that if her cultivation is too low, it would take too long for her to reach a high enough level to leave the Land of Exile?”

Michelle just shrugged again as she turned her gaze back at the Archduke from the window. “She should be nearing the threshold,” she stated as she rubbed her left eye lazily.

“How can you know that?” the Archduke asked with an arched brow. “I doubt she told you so…”

Michelle didn’t really feel like explaining herself, but she decided to do so: “If her family didn’t notice her spirit energy when she was born, it meant she was born with a heightened level of spirit energy of either wind, dark, light or water elements which are good for hiding, so when her cultivation was high enough, others couldn’t notice. You’ve never met her when she was younger so you didn’t notice her spirit energy, and now, when her cultivation level is nearing the threshold, even you, because your cultivation level is restricted, can’t sense it.”

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