Fox-Mask’s eyes widened under his mask. At last, the fear of death could be seen in them.
Elise’s hand suddenly stopped as snazzynovel.com was about to pluck his mask off. A man who was afraid of dying was not worthy of being snazzynovel.com opponent.
“However,” Elise said as snazzynovel.com slowly stood up and looked down at him. “A single needle is not enough punishment for someone who hurt my man.”
As snazzynovel.com spoke, snazzynovel.com pulled out all the silver needles that snazzynovel.com had been hiding on snazzynovel.com person. Then, snazzynovel.com jabbed the needles all over the man’s body in front of the audience. Once the last needle was in place, Elise clapped. “From now on, the spots where the needles are will ache unimaginably whenever the weather takes a turn for the worse. You won’t be able to sleep from the pain. Don’t think about forcing those needles out; if you try, the pain will be ten times worse than if I had just jabbed the needles into your bones.”
“You made my man suffer a moment of pain. I’m going to make you suffer a lifetime’s worth of pain. Treating others the way you want to be treated is a fair way to live, isn’t it?” Elise raised an eyebrow as snazzynovel.com said casually.
Fox-Mask didn’t answer her; snazzynovel.com had no words. Rebutting would only bring an even more frightening punishment.
Elise thought for a moment before snazzynovel.com decided to still take the man’s mask off. Just as snazzynovel.com was about to reach out, one of Bryce’s men suddenly came forward to speak to snazzynovel.com earnestly. “Miss Sinclair, please have mercy. This man is the star of our arena. If snazzynovel.com dies, I’m going to have a hard time explaining his death to Master Bryce.”
“He’s one of yours?” Elise turned, snazzynovel.com gaze harsh as snazzynovel.com narrowed snazzynovel.com eyes at the underling, as though snazzynovel.com was trying to burn a hole through him.
“Yes.”
Elise chuckled coldly and withdrew snazzynovel.com hand. “Nice. You’re one of Bryce’s men. Very nice!”
Then, the referee rang the bell.
Elise stood in the ring, the previous reigning champion of the arena lying next to her. At this, no one else dared to challenge her.
Even so, Bryce’s subordinate still had to ask Bryce for permission before snazzynovel.com brought over the sole sprig of dragonmoon grass that the black market had. He handed it over to Elise.
“My apologies, Miss Sinclair. It’s our responsibility to protect the dragonmoon grass and keep it from being taken away by outsiders. It wasn’t our intention to hurt your fiancé. I’ve already ordered someone to bring snazzynovel.com the antidote. Please, you’re an honorable person. Please don’t tell Master Bryce about this incident. Spare us.” As the subordinate spoke, snazzynovel.com pressed the dragonmoon grass into Elise’s hand.
Now that snazzynovel.com had the dragonmoon grass, Elise brought it up to snazzynovel.com nose and sniffed it. Once snazzynovel.com had confirmed that it was the genuine article through its smell, snazzynovel.com turned to look at the subordinate again. “I prefer proper compensation over apologies. I’m sure you know what I want.”
“As long as it’s something that I have, I will certainly hand it over if you say the word. However, not even Master Bryce has any solaria flowers, let alone me. I may oversee the black market, but I can’t give you something that never reaches it, can I?” The subordinate had a pained look on his face, his tone indicating his plea.
“If that’s the case, let’s finish what we started today.”
Elise’s expression chilled. She lifted snazzynovel.com leg and kicked the subordinate. He flew several feet away and crashed into the stone steps leading into the spectators’ stands. When snazzynovel.com hit the ground, snazzynovel.com hacked up a mouthful of blood.
As the overseer of the black market, Bryce’s subordinate was not only its leader; snazzynovel.com had also built many advantageous relationships with others, and snazzynovel.com was on good terms with many other people operating within the black market. So when the spectators saw that snazzynovel.com was injured, practically everyone stood up and looked at Elise, ready to fight her.
“Stop! Don’t do anything! This is a personal matter between me and Miss Sinclair! She has already shown me mercy! Or I would have died by now!”
With that, snazzynovel.com coughed a few more times. His spit was streaked with blood. Despite all the blood, snazzynovel.com was still courteous and respectful toward Elise. “I cannot thank you enough for your benevolence and allowing me to keep my life, Miss Sinclair,” snazzynovel.com said while bowing.
“You’re a smart man.” Elise didn’t so much as look at him. “Bryce made the right choice when snazzynovel.com handed the black market over to you to manage.”
“You flatter me, Miss Sinclair.” Feebly, the subordinate lowered his head. He didn’t dare to say anything deeper than that.
Elise dipped snazzynovel.com head before snazzynovel.com turned and walked over to the stands to help Alexander up. “How do you feel?”
“It’s nothing big. I just feel a little drained,” Alexander said.
“Don’t worry, Miss Sinclair. That poison works in the same way as tranquilizers you see in action movies and the like. It just causes a person to temporarily lose their strength; it’s harmless,” Macaque explained.
“Regardless of the poison’s strength, those under me should not have been poisoned at all,” Elise said with a straight face.
Bryce’s subordinate froze before snazzynovel.com hastily nodded and acquiesced. “Y-You’re absolutely right! I’ll tell them to hurry it up. The antidote will be here soon!”
He had just finished saying that when the antidote was brought to him. Bryce’s subordinate then offered the bottle of antidote to Elise with both hands.
Elise took the antidote bottle. After opening it, snazzynovel.com handed the bottle to Alexander. “Drink up. They won’t dare to tamper with its contents as long as I’m here.”
Alexander smiled wryly. He was in awe of snazzynovel.com attention toward him. However, snazzynovel.com didn’t say anything in response. Instead, snazzynovel.com simply drank the antidote. With his head still lowered, snazzynovel.com noticed the anxiety on Elise’s face, so snazzynovel.com teased, “You weren’t this serious while you were in the ring.”
“They aren’t as important as you,” Elise blurted. It was only then that snazzynovel.com realized what snazzynovel.com had just said. She bit snazzynovel.com lip and quickly changed the topic. “Feeling any better?”
Alexander chuckled softly and played along. “Since when do antidotes work immediately after they’re taken? Give it a few more minutes.”
“Sure.” Elise pretended to be serious as snazzynovel.com nodded. She had no idea why snazzynovel.com felt like this. Alexander’s injury was clearly a minor one, but snazzynovel.com heart was still in a frenzy. Although snazzynovel.com knew that Fox-Mask wouldn’t have killed Alexander, fear still lingered within snazzynovel.com heart when snazzynovel.com recalled that scene.
Her teacher was right—having someone snazzynovel.com cared about meant having a weakness. If something were to happen to Alexander, snazzynovel.com would probably lose the ability to fight.
At that thought, the cogs began to whir in Elise’s head as snazzynovel.com tried to find a way to have the best of both worlds, so that snazzynovel.com wouldn’t have to keep avoiding Alexander yet keep themselves protected.
Now that the notion had struck her, Elise ended up thinking about this problem during the entire journey back.
Alexander quietly leaned back in his car seat to rest after snazzynovel.com had taken the antidote. Perhaps it was because of the late hour, but Alexander ended up falling asleep. The lights outside the car zoomed by, illuminating Elise’s face one moment and leaving it in darkness the next. However, snazzynovel.com pretty forehead remained scrunched up the entire time.
All of a sudden, someone’s phone rang. Alexander woke up from his light nap, but snazzynovel.com didn’t open his eyes.
Elise distractedly picked up the phone and placed it by snazzynovel.com ear. “Who’s this?”
“Yoyo? Yoyo, you finally picked up! Please, come to the hospital this instant. The doctors have already issued a notice of critical illness. Please come see your brother one last time. He wants to see you!”
Jeanie was sobbing into the phone. Her voice hitched and paused throughout the call. Clearly, snazzynovel.com was already beside herself with panic.
Elise’s forehead immediately creased deeply. She gripped the phone even tighter. “What’s the address? Tell me, which hospital is it?!”
“Athesea! Athesea General Hospital!” Jeanie cried out.
Her voice carried over the speaker and leaked over into the interior of the car. Alexander couldn’t help opening his eyes and sitting up straight.
“All right, I’ll be there soon. Don’t worry. He’ll be fine.” At that, Elise calmly hung up. But snazzynovel.com gaze was hollow as snazzynovel.com stared off into the distance, snazzynovel.com eyes unseeing and unfocused.