Chapter 169: Sister?!
Chapter 169
...She opened her mouth and asked in a flat voice.
"Doris... Did you and Alex in any way sleep with each other?"
Doris’s beautiful eyes almost widen to the size of saucers as soon as she heard what Jade just said. Her lips even began parting as her jaws dropped wide open in complete and utter shock. How did Jade know about that huge secret of hers?
"Wait! How... How the hell did you know?!" Doris blurted out, with her voice squeaking, just a bit as she stared at Jade as if her friend had suddenly transformed into an all knowing ghost. But what if it’s Alex, that scum, who told her? No Alex couldn’t do this, right?
Nyx, who had been maintaining her usual cool and calculating pose near her grand mahogany desk with tiny little gold design at the sides, looked visibly stunned by what she had also just heard.
She flickered her sharp, enchantingly beautiful amber eyes from Jade to Doris, and then directly toward the source of everything, Alex.
"What?" Nyx uttered softly as a rare, visible crack began appearing in her usually impenetrable composure as her brilliant mind quickly processed the sudden, and very absurd implications behind Jade’s direct question.
As for him, at that moment, Alex felt an overwhelming, fiery wave of heat rushing straight to his face. If anyone was seeing him right now, they would most definitely notice the way his cheeks burned a bright, deep red, and he wished more than anything in the world now, was for the ground beneath his feet to split wide open and swallow him whole right there, and then.
Just having the exact, highly specific and embarrassing method responsible for helping him get stronger, exposed in front of all these three beautiful women was by far one of the most uncomfortable situations he had ever found himself in since coming back to this life...
...Scratch that, there were even worse moments like having a guy’s hand in his chest and the likes, but this one was still in the top five. He stood frozen with his mouth opening slightly before closing again, completely unable to utter a single word of defense.
Jade kept her delicate face completely flat, her tone remaining as calm and composed as she pushed the line of questioning further without taking her eyes off Doris.
"Doris, did at any point after getting intimate with him, did you break through not too long later that day?"
Doris blinked rapidly, as her mind frantically began racing back through the chaotic events of that crazy night in the mansion that lasted till the next day.
"Now that I think about it... yes! Right after we..." She suddenly paused mid sentence, nervously shooting a quick look toward Nyx before continuing in a much lower voice. "You know.... after we did the thing, I broke through to the Vanguard Realm not too long after. Maybe two or three hours?"
"At first, I didn’t really think much about it because I was happy about moving from Early Realm to Vanguard Realm..."
As everything became clear as day, and the full undeniable realization settled over the quiet room, Nyx’s eyes turned increasingly icy with each passing second.
Then a thick tension descended upon the entire study, making the surrounding air around them feel just a bit suffocating.
Nyx slowly turned her attention back toward Jade, her tone dropping into a low, but deadly whisper that chilled everyone to the bones.
"So you mean to tell me... that the exact way he can copy Awakened abilities, and boost their realm is by sleeping with them?"
Jade bent her head low, avoiding Nyx’s piercing and terrifying gaze entirely as she murmured softly.
"Yes. At least that is what I think."
Doris also didn’t even dare to lift her head, with her eyes fixed firmly on her shoes as she stood in complete silence. She looked exactly like a child who had just been caught red handed doing something terrible.
Nyx’s cold voice then cut through the quiet room like a frozen katana slicing through the air. It was completely cold, flat, and devoid of any warmth whatsoever.
"How long as this been going on?"
Doris stammered, making her fingers fidget nervously at her sides as she tried to assemble a coherent explanation before letting out a defeated, shaky sigh.
"It... Sigh. It was only once, I swear! I really didn’t know what came over me that day. One moment we were just sitting down on the couch and watching TV together, and the next moment..."
She quickly cut herself off when she noticed the look in Nyx’s eyes. It was that terrifying, distant and completely unreadable stare Nyx gave whenever she was genuinely pissed off at someone.
Nyx slowly lifted her icy gaze over to Jade, who was still standing quietly beside her friend. "And you?"
Jade swallowed hard, and her usual stoic and aloof pose completely melting away under the intense pressure radiating from the woman before her.
She replied softly, her voice barely audible, "Same as hers, it was only once. And I can tell you for a fact... It was a mistake."
After she finished speaking, Nyx stood quietly for a few seconds longer, her beautiful face an unreadable mask of cold authority and quiet disappointment. She let out a slow exhale before speaking in a low, sharp voice that left no room for debate or argument.
"Both of you, leave us. Right now."
Neither Jade nor Doris dared to argue or offer another word of explanation. Without saying a single thing, both women quickly backed out of the study, bowing their heads slightly as they pulled the heavy door tightly shut behind them.
The quiet clicking sound of the latch sounded unusually loud in the silent room, leaving him entirely alone with the quiet storm brewing directly in front of him.
Once the door was fully closed, Nyx turned her full, undivided attention back to Alex. He had remained completely quiet throughout the whole confrontation, standing there like a statue near the center of the room.
She stared at him, her beautiful amber eyes colder than anything he had ever seen, yet within them he could faintly see what looked like disappointment, and a slight pain that she was trying her hardest to suppress. The sight made his damn heart ache violently.
"Even though I understand why you needed to do it," Nyx said calmly. "I still can’t accept that you of all people have actually slept with both my loyal bodyguard... and my cherished little sister."
The moment he heard the cherished little sister part, Alex’s forest green eyes widened in genuine, unfeigned surprise. His brain momentarily stalled as her words continued to echo in his ears.
He had always held this tiny, faint hunch that Jade shared a special, deeper bond with Nyx beyond anything, perhaps even being a distant relative, her cousin, or an adopted family member given how closely they both interact with each other.
But hearing Nyx explicitly confirm that Jade was actually her younger sister out loud from her own mouth was still deeply surprising to him.
After all, who wouldn’t be surprised when finding out that the school ice goddess is actually the little sister of one of the three underworld rulers of the city? Definitely no one.
However, that shock only lasted for a couple of seconds before the crushing weight of reality hit him again. He remembered that regardless of all that stuffs, he was currently in deep trouble with one of the women he truly cared about in this world.
Alex let out a long, heavy sigh, with his forest green eyes filled with pure and sincere apology as he looked directly into her cold eyes that held no warmth in them.
"I’m sorry Nyx, but I had to do it to grow stronger and protect you and the others...."
Before he could even finish his sentence, Alex’s sharp and upgraded eyes caught a small detail that made his breath catch right in his throat.
Down at Nyx’s side, red droplets of fresh blood were still slowly seeping from her delicate palm, falling silently onto the ground below. It was from earlier in the courtyard, during the height of the chaotic crises when she had clenched her fist so tightly while facing Chairman Kade’s aggressive financial attacks that her own nails had cut deep into her skin.
She had been bleeding quietly this entire time without uttering a single complaint or showing a hint of being in pain. Now, seeing her bleeding like that made a sharp, sudden pang shoot straight through his chest
Forgetting about the whole darn talks and awkward secrets for a brief moment, Alex took a slow and gentle step forward, instinctively reaching out toward her.
"Nyx, your hand...."
But sadly, the very next instant he took that single step forward, Nyx also took a step backward, placing distance between them before he could get anywhere near her.
Though he hated to admit it, that single and small movement hit Alex harder than any punch he had ever taken in combat. It felt as if his heart had just been squeezed ruthlessly, leaving him feeling a bit hollow inside.
Knowing he couldn’t get any closer without pushing her even further away, Alex stopped dead in his tracks. He pointed gently at her injured, blood stained hands, his voice dropping into a soft, concerned tone.
"You are injured... How about I help heal you? I don’t want to see you lose too much blood, it’s bad for your health."
Nyx looked down at her own palm for a few seconds, her expression remaining completely cold and detached as slowly pulled her hand back, tucking it behind her, out of his line of sight.
"No need," Nyx said softly, with her voice completely devoid of its usual warmth as she looked away from him. "I will just treat it myself."