Alvin's hands trembled, and he no longer knew what to do. His "stock" was empty of elixir bottles, and his coin balance was too low to buy even a common-tier elixir.
He nearly pulled his hair out like Elena often did, overwhelmed by the mental pressure. Suddenly, a faint golden light radiated from Meril's body.
Elena felt a surge of fear and screamed while shaking the frozen Alvin: "What's happening?!"
Alvin stared at the light for a moment, struggling to keep steady as his body swayed violently from side to side. Once he understood what was happening, he gently removed Elena's hands from him and said in a calm tone, "Her planet is healing her."
Elena pondered that for a moment, and once it sank in, her body relaxed just as Alvin's had. He looked at Meryl's healing body with regret. "Why didn't it heal her before I spent all those coins on elixir bottles?"
Elena smacked him angrily on the shoulder and shouted in frustration, "Do you think that matters right now?!"
"It matters to me!" Alvin said bitterly, lamenting his lost coins. "You don't know how many times I begged my planet to donate those coins to me."
Elena glared at him before saying, "Then beg it again. What do you have to lose?"
– "Of course it wouldn't make a difference to you. It's not your dignity being dragged across the floor!"
"You're exaggerating!" Elena snapped emotionally. Alvin sighed, then turned his gaze to Meryl, observing the progress of her healing. Elena ignored him as well, settling into a more relaxed position, her eyes fixed on her friend.
After a few minutes of silent watching, and once her nerves had calmed, Elena said, "Good thing Tulip didn't wake up from your yelling."
Alvin's head shot up in disbelief. Did she just say you were yelling? She was the one screaming like it was the end of the world! And now that everything had quieted down, she was blaming him for it?
The Elena Alvin knew didn't act like this. When had her morals and behavior changed so drastically?
Elena lifted her head and her eyes locked with Alvin's blue ones. They stared at each other for a moment—Alvin, filled with anger at everyone who had caused this shift in Elena, and Elena, scrambling for a way to accuse him of causing the chaos, just to cover up her embarrassment from all the yelling.
In the end, both of them remained silent, keeping their thoughts to themselves. Meryl was now fully healed, sleeping in a pool of blood.
Alvin pointed at the body lying on the carpet and said, "You might want to give her a bath."
He was right—Meryl was in a pitiful state, so covered in blood that every part of her was stained. Elena could hardly recognize her with all that blood smeared across her face.
She carried Meryl in her arms and silently walked out of the house toward the outer room to bathe her. As for Alvin, he glanced over at Tulip to make sure he was still asleep, then crawled back to his previous spot behind the table.
He picked up a piece of bread, the top of which was so soaked in blood that he could no longer see the butter and garlic, and took a big bite. He grabbed the bowl of soup—now mixed with blood—and drank directly from it.
As he ate, his eyes fell on the pool of blood. After swallowing what was in his mouth, he said, "Cloud, clean up the place."
Suddenly, a harsh slap landed on Alvin's head, followed by a scream from behind: "How dare you give me orders?!"
At first, Alvin was angry—but the moment he processed that someone had spoken to him, he stood up and began looking around. "I'm here!" the voice came again, this time from his left.
Alvin quickly turned and found in front of him a young girl with long golden hair, pale skin, and golden eyes that looked like pure gold. She was incredibly beautiful, but Alvin couldn't care less. "Who are you?" he asked cautiously.
The young woman ran her hand through her golden strands before confidently saying, "Miss Cloud."
– "You're the one who slapped me earlier?"
– "Yes!"
Alvin's expression darkened. He drew his sword from his 'inventory' and pointed its sharp tip at Cloud, then said in a bloodthirsty tone, "Prepare to die!"
Cloud looked at him with a wrinkled expression, clearly annoyed by his childish behavior. "You… idiot! You can't kill me. I'm not a living creature. Unlike you, I can blow your body to pieces any time I want."
Alvin was slightly confused. What did she mean by not a living creature? He lowered his weapon, question marks practically floating above his head. "What do you mean by that?"
"I'm a mass of energy, formed in this shape," she said confidently, entirely unbothered by not being a living being—unlike Alvin, who stood there in shock.
"How is that even… I mean, is that possible?" he asked, bewildered.
"Yes. It's quite common among planets. They create servants from their own energy—loyal and devoted ones."
Alvin nodded, understanding. It sounded like an important piece of information, but he wasn't particularly interested. "So… you're made from Meryl's planet's energy?"
"That's right. Master Elyor created me a very long time ago. Then he gave me this house to live in, as a reward for my loyalty."
Suddenly, Cloud's expression darkened as she realized she had said something she shouldn't have. She quickly warned Alvin, "Don't mention my master's name anywhere—so the other planets won't recognize him."
"Don't worry, I won't mention his name, not even to myself. I'm not interested." Alvin was being completely honest; he truly didn't care about the name of that planet or mentioning it to anyone.
"Anyway, clean the place up and prepare us some food—" Alvin stepped aside mid-sentence as a vase flew toward him.
"How dare you give me orders?!" Cloud shouted angrily, this time picking up a knife and preparing to throw it as well.
"Calm down, Tulip will wake up!" Alvin whispered.
"Don't worry, I placed a barrier around him that blocks out all sound." That's why he hadn't heard Elena's screaming earlier. Alvin turned his gaze back to Cloud, who was now spinning the knife around her finger, and said, "I'm sorry, okay? Now, could you clean the place?"
Cloud shook her head and said, "I can still sense the command in your tone. You need to be more polite."
Alvin sighed in defeat. He really wanted this situation to end, so he said in a softer tone, "Miss Cloud, would you please clean the place?"
Now, Cloud nodded with a wide, satisfied smile and said, "Alright!"
"And I want some food too. I'll wake Tulip up, and this food is no longer edible." Although Alvin said that calmly, his words made Cloud's expression twist with anger.
She grabbed him by the collar and started shaking him while shouting emotionally, "Why can't you show some manners? Why are you so insensitive?"
Alvin felt his head spinning from all the violent shaking, and the words he wanted to say scattered. Meanwhile, Cloud continued speaking, saying, "I'm really exhausted from cooking for all of you!"
"It's not my fault—Meril threw a blood party and ruined the food! If you want to blame someone, blame her!" Alvin said as he tried to regain his balance.
"I don't care about any of that!" Cloud spoke in irritation as she walked away from Alvin. He, feeling a bit dizzy, sat on the couch to steady himself. "I won't cook anything else until you finish what's already on the table."
Alvin wanted to curse Meril in his mind, but knowing it had been beyond her control made him hold back. Instead, he decided to go through with his usual plan…