Chapter 51 The Holy Medicine "I knew you weren't trustworthy, so I kept it..."
Xavier wasn't in a state of rioting, and his physical and mental strength were both depleted before his mark was removed, so he woke up much faster than Tarasco.
After two rounds of day and night, he opened his eyes.
Xavier slowly rolled his eyes, clearly not fully awake yet.
He heard footsteps nearby, and then Catherine's face appeared in his eyes.
Catherine stepped onto the stairs, looking down at Xavier with a rare expression. This novel experience brought a smile to her face: "How does it feel?"
Xavier was slowly regaining consciousness, and at the same time, his intuition told him that Catherine's current reaction was very strange.
He narrowed his eyes: "What did you do?"
Catherine raised an eyebrow: "What are you talking about? Why would someone as honest as me do anything to you?"
If her voice didn't sound so cheerful, it might be even more convincing.
Xavier checked his body; it was much the same as before he lost consciousness. Apart from the disappearance of the mark, there seemed to be nothing unusual. Deep down, he still felt something was vaguely wrong, but the current appearance of everything being normal misled him.
Once Xavier swam down the boulder and confirmed that he could move freely without any hindrance, the beast bared its fangs.
He unilaterally broke off their cooperation and turned to leave.
Watching Xavier's departing figure, Catherine kindly reminded him, "You said before that you would cooperate with us to fight against the manipulator behind the scenes."
Xavier chuckled, his tone mocking: "The mark is gone. What do you think can threaten me now?"
He looked down at Catherine, hissing as he flicked his snake tongue: "I've taught you a lesson—don't trust others so easily when you don't have any leverage over them."
However, as soon as he finished speaking, Xavier looked at Catherine's expression and felt a sudden tremor in his heart.
Something's not right! Something's really not right! After she finished saying those words, Catherine's expression remained completely normal, as if she had completely anticipated his actions, and therefore showed not a trace of surprise.
Xavier glanced around cautiously.
This action may seem a bit neurotic, but it actually comes from his vague sense that danger is gradually approaching, yet he doesn't know where it is coming from.
At this moment, Catherine suddenly smiled and said, "Then I really have to thank you for teaching me this lesson..."
Her voice heightened his sense of crisis to the extreme.
Xavier's bright yellow beastly eyes reflected the shadow of Catherine's raised hand. Then, he watched her snap her fingers.
Before Xavier could even process what the action meant, the intense pain in his body had already reached his cerebral cortex.
The thick, tall, silver python, several meters long, instantly curled up into a ball, writhing and thrashing on the ground in agony... Yet, there were no visible wounds on its surface, as if it were all an illusion.
Catherine stood by, quietly watching Xavier struggle on the ground.
It thrashed and screamed, and then, due to exhaustion, it slowly stopped struggling, only occasionally twitching a few times due to extreme pain.
After a long while, the excruciating pain gradually subsided. Xavier collapsed to the ground, breathing very softly, as if he no longer had the strength to breathe.
At this moment, Catherine walked to his side, squatted down, and poked his body with her finger: "I knew you couldn't be trusted, so I kept a backup plan."
Xavier chuckled, panting, "Heh heh... Actually, you... just tell me... If I had known, I definitely wouldn't have left..."
Catherine reacted quickly, pulling her fingers away and narrowly avoiding his biting teeth.
That's normal. After being suddenly tricked like that and suffering for so long, it's no wonder he gets a little irritable. In fact, Catherine was quite surprised that Xavier could still smile and talk.
She laughed and shook her head: "Hmm, no~ that's not fun at all."
-
Upon seeing Catherine emerge from inside, Tarasco, who had been waiting outside, immediately picked her up.
Like a dog, he buried his head in Catherine's neck, sniffing around as if to make sure she didn't have any of his unpleasant smells on her.
Catherine patted his head, finally stopping him from sniffing incessantly.
The witch watched for a while, clearly very interested. Only after they stopped did she speak with a grin, "Hehe, is the one inside all appeased?"
Catherine: ? This sounds a bit strange.
Catherine raised her hand to smooth her messy hair back: "More or less, he's agreed to work with me."
The witch snorted: "I told you there was no problem, but you didn't believe me and insisted on checking it yourself."
Catherine's lips curled into a smile: "How could I not believe you? I just want to see him up close when the spell is in effect."
She remembered her two previous encounters with Xavier. In truth, she hadn't gone easy on him.
As the witch and Catherine were talking, a slight rustling sound of leaves breaking came from afar. Catherine turned around sharply—since her body underwent a strange transformation, her senses had become increasingly acute.
The morning mist was initially still, without even a breath of wind. But a few minutes later, Lucas slowly emerged from the bushes.
Catherine glanced behind him, confirming that Lucas had come alone. She asked, puzzled, "Didn't you go back?"
Catherine naturally saw him looking back every few steps as he left, and at that time she guessed that Lucas would most likely not come back after going back.
The witch sitting on the vine glanced in that direction only, then chuckled softly, "Hehe, he's here to beg me~"
Catherine paused for a moment, but then immediately guessed what was going on...
After being exposed, Lucas's face turned bright red with shame, but he still walked up to the witch and forced himself to speak: "Witch, please... can you help us?"
The witch turned her head away and refused to look at him.
Lucas ran over to the other side again: "Please! I'll do anything you ask, as long as it's within my power."
The witch turned her head to the other side again.
Lucas ran over again: "We really have no other choice... The only thing we can think of is to beg you. Only you can help us."
The witch finally glanced at him sideways: "You really want to get rid of the plague?"
Lucas, who had already given up hope and whose head hung low in despair, looking quite pitiful, immediately raised his head upon hearing the witch's words and nodded with great joy.
The witch grinned, revealing a dense array of teeth like those of a sea shark: "Hehehe~ What you asked for isn't difficult to achieve."
Before Lucas's eyes could even light up, the witch rolled her eyes and spoke again, as if bewitching him: "But this thing is very hard to obtain... Are you sure you can pay such a terrible price just to save people who have nothing to do with you?"
Lucas's family and close friends had all migrated to Devil's Forest together. No matter how severe the plague outside, it wouldn't spread there in the short term.
Together they struggled to survive in the Devil's Forest, yet they still thought of their homeland, which was no longer connected to them, and the people in the neighboring towns. The witch tilted her head, looking at him, seemingly unable to comprehend this strange way of thinking among humans.
She watched as Lucas frowned, troubled by her words, but then, as if struck by a thought, his expression softened, and he spoke again with unwavering resolve.
"No matter the cost, I want to drive away the plague... That's where I was born and raised. Someday in the future, I hope I can go back..."
The witch seemed pleased with his answer. She bent down closer to Lucas, grinning as she pointed the way: "It's actually quite simple. The holy medicine to cure the plague is kept within the Holy See. Once you find it, the plague will be easily eradicated. But—"
"Hehehe~ Can you find it?"
Lucas left in silence. Catherine looked up at the witch, who had already shifted her attention elsewhere.
"Does the Vatican truly possess a holy medicine?"
The witch raised an eyebrow, her tone certain: "Of course."
Catherine took a deep breath; it seemed that Lucas would have to make the choice himself.
-
After that day, Xavier stayed in the neighborhood.
He originally wanted to return to his cave, and Catherine did not object, only saying that she hoped he would not be late when she called him.
Xavier: ...
He considered the distance from his cave to here, and in order not to die of pain on the way after Catherine triggered the spell, he decided to just find a place to live nearby and move in.
However, Tarasco was clearly not very satisfied with this.
Who wants an annoying creature living next to their cave, constantly eyeing their belongings covetously?!
He endured it for two days, but finally couldn't hold back any longer. Holding Catherine in the cave, he asked, "Can you get rid of that disgusting snake?"
His head was buried in her neck. His voice came through her skin, and it seemed to carry a hint of grievance.
Catherine found it quite novel to see Tarasco acting so coquettishly. She leaned back slightly, creating some distance between herself and him, and then pulled her hands away from Tarasco's tight embrace.
Catherine raised her hand, cradled Tarasco's head, and then leaned in to kiss him on the corner of his mouth.
Seeing his eyes light up so adorably in an instant, Catherine couldn't help but chuckle.
"No, you can't!"
But she firmly rejected Tarasco's request.
Tarasco frowned. He pulled away from Catherine's hand and buried his head back down.
Catherine was amused by Tarasco's childish behavior, but before she could even open her mouth, a sharp pain shot through her shoulder, instantly turning her laughter into a soft hiss.
It's clear that Tarasco is very angry.
But he couldn't do anything to Catherine. If he did, she probably wouldn't be able to withstand a blow from him.
So all he could do was bite Catherine's shoulder in frustration. He also had to control his strength because "humans are very fragile."
In the end, Catherine only had a small red mark on her shoulder from being bitten.
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