Chapter 122: An Opportunity to Mock

Michael’s POV

"Nothing." I shook my head. "I am just surprised by your strong sense of smell."

Emerald’s guarded expression eased, and she let out a quiet sigh. "Even I am surprised by it sometimes."

I nodded slowly but said nothing. Alaric and I were thinking the same thing.

Emerald was showing us another side of herself that neither of us had expected. Her sense of smell was unusually sharp, far beyond what an ordinary human should possess.

And the fact that she had noticed the scent on Elias repeatedly, even when she had no reason to suspect anything unusual about him, made the matter more interesting.

I did not want to dwell on it in front of her.

Emerald picked up her glass, poured herself some water, and took a sip. I watched her set it down beside her plate.

Draxen spoke inside my head. "Didn’t I tell you? Our mate is not ordinary."

I ignored him.

Emerald reached for her fork again, but before she could pick it up, I reached across the table and took her glass.

She stared at me in surprise. Her lips parted, probably to stop me, but I had already lifted the glass to my mouth.

"That’s my glass..." she muttered.

I drank the remaining water, placed the empty glass back on the table, and flashed her a row of teeth.

"Are you not my girlfriend?"

She just stared at me as if I had lost my mind. Yes. I had. But I just hate to admit it.

Across the table, Alaric suddenly choked on his food. He began coughing violently.

I glanced at him. I knew exactly what he was doing. He was being dramatic, so I paid him no attention.

Emerald, however, immediately turned her attention toward him. "Are you okay?"

Alaric continued coughing, and Emerald quickly reached for the water jug. She poured a glass and pushed it toward him.

"Here. Drink this."

Alaric took the glass and drank, still coughing between gulps. I watched him with complete indifference.

He finally lowered the glass and took a few slow breaths. Then he looked between Emerald and me.

His expression was difficult to read, but I knew him well enough to recognise the amusement he was trying to hide.

I leaned back in my chair. "What?"

He shook his head. "Nothing."

I narrowed my eyes at him. He took another sip of water, clearly enjoying himself.

Emerald looked between us, still confused. "I don’t understand what is going on with both of you this morning."

Alaric glanced at me again. I gave him a warning look. He immediately looked away. At least he understood the warning.

He finally recovered from his dramatic choking fit and placed the glass back on the table.

Emerald was still looking at him with concern. "Are you sure you’re okay?"

"I’m fine," he assured her.

I knew better. He had choked because of what I had said, and he was enjoying every second of the situation now that he had recovered.

His eyes moved from Emerald to me. The look he gave me was unmistakable. I knew exactly what was going through his head.

For months, I had insisted that there was nothing between Emerald and me beyond the relationship between professor and student.

I had never given him a reason to believe otherwise. Now he was sitting at my table watching me behave like a man who had suddenly acquired a girlfriend.

I deliberately ignored his look.

Alaric’s mouth twitched. I finally realised he wasn’t going to let this go.

"So," he said, looking at Emerald, "Michael has really changed."

I glanced at him, but he continued before I could say anything.

"He used to live such a boring life. He hardly went anywhere, and he certainly didn’t have many girlfriends."

Emerald glanced at me, then looked back at him. "Michael has dated other women in the past?"

Alaric chuckled. "Of course! Do you know how old he—"

"Adrian!" My voice came out sharply enough to stop him.

I gave him a warning look, which he understood immediately. He had been seconds away from saying something he had no business saying.

Fortunately, he stopped in time.

Emerald turned from him to me. There was a small smile on her lips, but I could tell she was curious.

"It seems you have plenty of things to hide regarding your past relationships."

I gave her a controlled smile. "There is nothing to hide."

"Then why did you shush your friend?"

"Because whatever he was about to say was not his story to share."

Alaric nodded slowly, as though my explanation had satisfied him.

Emerald studied me for another second before letting the matter go. I was relieved.

The last thing I needed was Alaric discussing my past and accidentally revealing what we were to her.

Alaric returned his attention to breakfast, although I could still see the amusement on his face.

Emerald also resumed eating.

The conversation settled again, but my attention remained partly on her. What she had told us about Elias was still in my mind.

Her ability to detect the scent of women’s perfume on him after an entire night was unusual enough on its own. The other scent she had described concerned me even more.

She had noticed it more than once.

She couldn’t identify it, but she knew it was different from anything she normally encountered.

Draxen stirred inside my mind. "You know what this means."

I did. Her sense of smell was not normal.

She had detected something on Elias that even I had only noticed because of my supernatural senses.

She had no idea what the scent meant, yet she had been able to recognize that it did not belong to him in the ordinary sense.

That was not something I could dismiss. But I had no intention of discussing it with her. Not yet.

Emerald suddenly turned to me as if she had just recalled something. "Why were you asking me so much about Elias?"

I met her gaze. "I told you. I was curious about what kind of person he is."

Emerald seemed satisfied with my answer. "Well, Elias doesn’t really talk about his personal life. He’s friendly, and he talks to almost everyone, but I wouldn’t say we’re close enough for him to tell me everything he does."

"That’s enough." I nodded and lowered my gaze to my plate.

Alaric watched me, aware of why I had asked. I glanced at him briefly, but he remained silent.

That was probably for the best.

I turned back to my breakfast and listened to Emerald’s heartbeat as she continued eating.

There was something else I could not ignore now. Her senses were unusually sharp.

Perhaps she had always been like this and simply never questioned it. Perhaps there was another explanation.

Whatever the reason, I needed to understand it. And I needed to do that without making her aware that I was investigating her.

For now, I would leave the matter alone. There was already enough to investigate when it came to Elias Roth.

I finished my coffee and began clearing the table, taking the dishes to the kitchen batch by batch.

Emerald immediately started gathering her plate as well. "I will help you."

I shook my head. "No. Go to my study and wait for me."

"I can at least help with the dishes."

I remained adamant. "You are a guest."

She looked as though she wanted to argue, but I was already taking her plate from her.

"Go."

She sighed. "Fine." Then she picked up her phone and left the kitchen, heading toward my study.

I waited until she was out of sight before looking at Alaric. "Come here."

He stared at me. "Why?"

"You’re helping me today."

He looked toward the hallway Emerald had just disappeared through, then back at me. "I’m also a guest."

I gave him a flat look. "You’re a guest who drank half the night, forced me to take you to a club, slept through breakfast, and now wants to sit around while I clean up."

He clicked his tongue. "That doesn’t sound very welcoming."

"Your character from this moment onward will determine whether you get to have lunch here or spend lunchtime starving."

His face changed immediately. "Give me the dishes."

I raised an eyebrow.

He stood and walked over with surprising enthusiasm. "I’ll do them myself."

I shook my head as I handed him a plate. The transformation was almost impressive.

Only a few seconds earlier, he had been complaining about being treated unfairly. Now he was standing beside me, ready to work as though washing dishes had been his idea from the beginning.

I could hear Emerald’s laughter from down the hallway.

She had clearly found the exchange amusing.

I continued clearing the table while Alaric washed the dishes.

The moment Emerald was far enough away that she could no longer hear us clearly, Alaric lowered his voice.

"Since when did you and Miss Hugo start dating?"

I ignored him. And when he saw that I wasn’t giving him an answer, he decided to make matters worse.

He mimicked my earlier manner and said, "I thought you both only had a professor-student relationship?"

My lips twitched. I knew exactly what he was doing. Alaric had waited weeks for an opportunity to mock me over this.