Nancy 2

Nancy said nothing. She sheathed her cross sword and slowly slid it into the scabbard at her waist. "I only disagree with the way you handled things. This matter ends here." Her expression remained calm as she turned and left.

Anglie stood amid the crowd, watching Nancy walk toward him.

"You." Nancy pointed at Anglie. "Come treat my injuries." She gave the order coldly, as though it were only natural.

Anglie froze amid the crowd. "Me?" He pointed at himself and asked doubtfully.

At that moment, Eli suddenly groaned and spat out a mouthful of blood. His face immediately turned pale. It seemed his internal organs had been jolted.

Only then did Anglie understand Nancy's strength. Though he was displeased with her tone, he still stepped forward for Mentor Adolf's sake.

Villet and the others around them were not surprised. When they had boarded the ship earlier, they had all seen Anglie and Nancy speaking. They knew the two were acquainted.

Nancy walked into the cabin on her own. Left with no choice, Anglie followed. Servants were not allowed aboard the ship, so everything had to be handled personally. Nancy and Anglie knew each other through Adolf, and that was likely why she had sought him out.

The moment he entered the cabin, he saw Nancy, descending the stairs in the darkness ahead, suddenly stagger and pitch forward. Anglie quickly grabbed her uninjured shoulder, preventing her from tumbling down the stairs.

"Help me to my room." Nancy gritted her teeth, her face pale. "His dagger was poisoned."

Only then did Anglie understand. Nancy had been forcing herself to endure it all along, merely so Eli would not see her weakness. He no longer cared about the woman's arrogant manner and helped her down the stairs. By the time they reached the quarters on the first level, sweat had begun to bead across Nancy's pale face. She fumbled out a key, opened the door, and let Anglie help her into a high-backed chair.

"You may leave now," Nancy said flatly.

Anglie frowned slightly and sniffed. A faint fishy stench slowly wafted from Nancy's left shoulder, carrying a subtle spicy bite. "You were poisoned by Snake-root Flower venom. If it isn't handled properly, it won't kill you, but your whole body will be paralyzed for several days. You'll be at anyone's mercy."

Nancy's expression shifted slightly. She quickly pulled a small leather pouch from the desk drawer and took out a small yellow paper packet. Carefully opening it, she revealed a small amount of pale yellow powder.

The moment Anglie saw the powder, he recalled a certain piece of information and abruptly stepped forward. "You..." Before he could finish, his head suddenly spun.

Ssh!

When he came to, a silver cross sword was held steadily against his throat. Nancy stared at him with icy eyes. A thin line of blood slowly seeped out beneath the blade.

Every hair on Anglie's body stood on end as a faint pain slowly spread from his neck. With his Peak Knight Level strength and physical ability at least equal to a mid-tier knight's, he had actually been stunned in that instant. Clearly, it had been the power of one of her Magical Items. In a single moment, he had been rendered utterly unable to resist. With such suddenness, even the Chip's warning had been useless.

"Oh, right. There also seems to be a poison called Bolan Grass venom in your wound. If the toxins aren't cleared within five hours, your entire left arm will rot and die. I'm only giving you a reminder, so don't get so worked up." Anglie slowly raised a hand and pushed the blade away from his throat. "Though Lord Black Robe doesn't permit deaths aboard the ship, losing an arm probably isn't much of a problem for a Wizard."

Nancy let him push away the cross sword, then slid it back into its scabbard with a swish. She continued staring at him coldly, entirely unmoved, then picked up the powder and prepared to pour it into her mouth.

"A standard antidote powder? Even a high-grade antidote powder, with Jueluo Tree root in it, can only delay the mixed poison of those two venoms." A faint smile appeared on Anglie's face. "You'll still have to cut off your left arm."

Nancy's face changed slightly. She swallowed the powder in one gulp, picked up the waterskin beside her, and took a drink. "You have a way? Heal me immediately. For Mentor Adolf's sake, I can let your earlier disrespect pass." Her voice was cold.

A faint smile remained on Anglie's face. "Why should I heal you?"

"Your father, Baron Kyle Leo, is currently at Maruya Port. You also have an aunt settled in the port." Nancy spoke with a calm expression. "Is that enough?"

"Threatening me?" Anglie narrowed his eyes. "I may not be able to beat you, but I can choose not to treat you." Staring into Nancy's eyes, he said word by word, "No one can threaten me!"

The two stared at each other for a moment. Anglie snorted coldly, turned, and prepared to open the door. "Waiting to lose your arm? Oh, and full-body paralysis for around three days. You might even bleed to death." He threw down those cold words.

"Wait!!" Nancy's voice sounded behind him. "What do you need to heal me?"

Anglie turned around and looked at Nancy again. "Beg me." He looked at her teasingly.

"You're courting death!!" Nancy's eyes hardened, and her right hand gripped the sword hilt again.

Anglie clearly felt a thread of coldness nail itself to his forehead. His expression immediately sobered, and he hurriedly said, "It was only a joke. But I really dislike your tone. I am not your servant."

Only then did the coldness slowly fade.

"Fine. I apologize for what I said earlier. Tell me, what do you need?" The paper packet of medicine in Nancy's hand had been crushed into a ball, showing that she was struggling to suppress the anger in her heart. "Don't make any excessive demands. If it comes to it, I'll seek out Lord Black Robe."

"Do you think that's possible? Some time ago, apprentices on the upper floors fought privately and severely injured two people—one lost a foot, the other an arm. They begged him bitterly, yet he did not intervene. Do you think he'll make an exception for you?" Anglie exposed her hope outright.

Nancy's expression changed. "Stop testing my patience."

"One Magical Item."

"No!"

"Then wait to become crippled." Anglie made as if to turn away.

"You're courting death!!" A chill condensed around Anglie's neck again.

Nancy's gaze was icy as she slowly drew her cross sword. "Either you heal me and I reward you, or you die here and I become crippled."

"You have two Magical Items on you. What's the harm in giving me one?" Anglie forced out a smile. He could feel that the woman before him had definitely seen blood and killed people. She meant every word she said. He had merely sensed two Magical Items on her and wanted to take the opportunity to see whether he could obtain one. He had not expected Nancy's response to be so resolute.

"Impossible!" Nancy said without hesitation. "Those two items were seized only after my Lineage sacrificed countless people. I cannot give them to you. And even if I did, at your current level, you couldn't use them. They might even be stolen by someone else."

Anglie felt somewhat stifled. This woman would not yield to soft or hard tactics and had the air of someone who wanted money but not life. She was truly difficult to deal with. "Then what reward can you offer me?"

"Ten glazed gemstones. Worth ten thousand gold coins," Nancy answered at once.

"One more thing. I want to take a close look at your Magical Items. Right here in this room. If I try to snatch them, you can stop me at any time anyway, can't you?" Anglie added.

Nancy stared at him for a long while before slowly nodding. "Fine."

"Then it's a deal." Anglie lightly clapped his hands, a faint smile appearing on his face. "We'll start treating your injury now. It'll be troublesome if we wait any longer. Pay first."

Nancy nodded. From the leather pouch, she counted out ten small purple gemstones. Then, rather than taking off the ring on her hand, she pulled a silver necklace from her trouser pocket and placed both items in her palm, holding them out to Anglie.

"Also, you must swear that you will never betray the principles of this transaction or take revenge on me afterward," Anglie said as he accepted the gemstones.

"You must also swear that you will heal my injuries completely and leave no hidden tricks behind," Nancy said coldly.

"No problem."

After the two swore by their full names, they finally lowered their guard against each other slightly. By Wizard custom, anyone who swore by their true name and failed to honor it would be despised by everyone else. For Wizards and nobles alike, that was a stain that could never be tolerated. Of course, Anglie had little faith in such unspoken rules. But Nancy's personality clearly belonged to the extremely principled sort—someone who would draw her sword and fight over a single sentence—so her oath was fairly credible. Besides, he had not touched her major interests. He only wanted to look at the Magical Items, not take them as part of the deal. Though ten gemstones worth ten thousand gold coins was a little much, to the daughter of a grand duke, it was certainly nothing significant.

Nancy was not like him, the son of a small lord whose territory held only a few thousand people. The Andes Alliance was far larger than the lands of Rudin Kingdom. A grand duke's territory was enough to equal more than half of Rudin Kingdom. Calling her a princess would not be too far-fetched. In terms of the entire region, ten thousand gold coins was neither a large nor small sum to her. It could make her heart ache, but it would not break her bones.

Next came the treatment. Anglie was so confident because, when he had once experimented with eating all kinds of plants, he had also eaten these two plants. Through the vast amount of accumulated data, the Chip had provided an extraordinarily simple and effective detoxification method. That was the true source of his confidence. During his time on the Anse Grasslands, he had tested thousands of materials, including plants, animals, and insects, building an enormous database. For methods of handling highly toxic substances, the Chip could directly offer multiple solutions. A Chip capable of analyzing minute components was simply extraordinarily powerful in this regard.

However, because of her exceptionally rude tone and behavior, Anglie decided to choose the method that would make her the most uncomfortable.

"Now, lie on the bed. Face down. That way, I can handle the wound," Anglie said flatly.

Because the wound had been slashed backward by the dagger, it was toward the rear of her shoulder.

Nancy gave him a cold glance, then obediently lay face down on the bed. Her unaffected right hand still gripped the hilt of her cross sword, her posture exceptionally vigilant.

Only after she had lain down did Anglie notice that the young lady's pert buttocks were wrapped in close-fitting, polished white trousers, facing directly toward him. Her long, rounded legs were pressed tightly together without the slightest gap.

Standing beside the bed, he felt those slender, beautiful legs were within reach, and a certain desire in his heart was faintly stirred. He truly wanted to see what reaction the ever-unyielding Nancy would have if he actually gave those long legs and pert buttocks a hard grope. But seeing her right hand tightly gripping the sword hilt, he decisively abandoned that improper thought.

"Hurry up," Nancy urged.

Anglie stopped looking and swiftly treated her wound. The method was simple: he spat out a mouthful of saliva, scraped some wood shavings from the corner of the wooden table beside him, and sprinkled them over it. It was a very simple and effective method, but also one that made Nancy extremely uncomfortable.

"If you fail to cure the poison, I'll kill you." She sat upright and stared at Anglie, her face covered in frost.

"Wait and see." Anglie smiled, tossed the silver necklace in his hand back to her, then turned and opened the room door. "Rest for a while, then bandage it yourself."