Chapter 8: Agate Monroe La Croix

After a very uncomfortable moment in the dining area, I finished my coffee. I had to give it to the woman, she could make a good cup of coffee. 

Alexa or rather, also known as Rosewood or Rose for short was what one would call… a mad scientist. 

She dabbed in chemicals, biology, chemistry, machinery, and medicine. With great proficiency in all these fields, she could also produce a DNA sequence that made changes to this body.

The mutation he was having was due to this. The gene transplanted or injected into him one way or another blended well with his DNA sequence adjusting certain characteristics of which she wished for.

I understood long ago that I had superhuman powers. The sensitivity of my ears could catch her pulse. Her steady heartbeat proved she was alive.

I stared at the woman for a while. 

I knew the former host deserved to be avenged, but she could be spared. She did all this because she was going crazy, literary.

A fallen noble who paid the price in the blood of her brother.

Her real name…

Agate Monroe La Croix

When turned away from everyone else, she buried her brother with her own hands and mourned for him all alone too.

Her name was buried with him.

She found her resolve and coincidentally joined a group who were the rebels of the church which was the main religion. 

She saw no hope in the current church, they did nothing to help her innocence and much more pressured her brother too. They would only move in the face of enough money. 

This organization of rebels was something like a cult. They believed that if the gods that existed didn't answer them, then they would create one. 

As such, with her talent and hard work research, she found a suitable candidate who fulfilled all the conditions. 

He stood out, he was young and had no ties to the world. Having no ties to the world meant that no one would come looking for him. As it turned out, the former host was the perfect candidate. 

She wasn't so brutal as to cut up a child and open their insides and whatnot. All she did was administer a dosage every so often and record the changes. She was great at this. 

However, I knew that the people who went into the lad area didn't care so much about the child as she thought they would. They were careless and even forgot to feed him at times. They didn't put so much effort into timing the injections and just pushed it into wherever they saw fit. 

They got away with everything since the one in charge didn't as much as patrol the test subject or do any personal inspections.

This the former host suffered more than it would have been if she ever cared enough.

Maybe she was guilty.

Alexa had only one goal, to get revenge on her enemies and not let her brother's death be in vain. As such, she would try to gain a noble title despite the difficulty of earning one as a woman and as a fallen noble.

The road ahead looked bleak.

However, the reason I planned to spare her wasn't really because she had a tragic story to boot.

She was useful.

So far she had three identities.

Alexa the mad scientist, Rosewood, her normal life identity, and her true name, Agate Monroe La Croix, the fallen noble lady.

Come to think of it she was a noble lady, an older woman, and a doctor of the sought…

Wasn't I being too informal in my addressing her?

I mean, I had a child's body, I should act like a child, right?

Having come so far, it didn't feel right, but if I was going to use her properly, I would need to show her the bare minimum of respect.

"Madam…" Ugh... sounded so cringe but, this was the era where such an address was most appropriate to older women with higher social class.

I looked to face her and saw her petrified.

"....."

'You're almost thirty, Woman!'

I was angry at her reaction.

I mean, I have been asking myself this for a while now, but I haven't gotten anywhere with it.

Am I that scary???

"Madam, I would like to ask for all the information about the research before destroying it. I want to know what you made me."

It was obvious. 

Since the former died as a failure, I never got to read the outcome in the book, but 'I' was alive and well and I had to figure things out about myself as fast as possible. 

"What would you like to know? Everything or simply the summary of components?" Alexa answered naturally as this was her strong suit. She was confident with what she doing. Even her voice stopped shaking as her dark eyes regained some life and focus. 

"What would entail everything?"

"Research data, the numbers, the reactions, the amount administered each dosage, and the variety of things used in it. Like what types of blood, which essence, DNA extract, and all the rest. There is a lot to cover including…"

I stopped listening somewhere in the middle of the narration.

As she spoke of her research she became serious and more confident listing it down without stammering or anything like that. She even kept eye contact with me. It was quite phenomenal how passionate about this she was while I was the guinea pig of it…

It was weird I wasn't getting angry. I felt it was somewhat assuring that she took great detail in this.

Subconsciously, a smile found my lips.

"Please, give me the summary now and we will carry the rest. I can go through it later, Madam."

Oh, would you look at that?

I was now effortlessly being respectful to the older woman. 

In truth, Alexa wasn't so old. I would doubt she was beyond her mid-twenties but she also held a mature charm that indicated she was older but her appearance said otherwise.

She was like fine wine. More exquisite with age and the more beautiful.

Thinking this, my gaze strayed to her well-fed rabbits not hidden from just waking her up or giving her time to change. 

Maybe due to having an immature body, my reaction to her wasn't arousal, but simply astonishment and disturbing fascination.

Curse this!

"I will get it done, Vlad."

"Don't be so formal, it doesn't suit you."

"Sure, Vlad."

She too had finished her coffee and stood up to walk upstairs.

"Don't leave any information behind and don't go to the top floor~~"

Alexa paused for a moment but then kept on walking as if I hadn't said a thing. I could feel her frantic heartbeat from where I was. It calmed down soon after like nothing ever happened and she kept steady steps to the seventh room.

I hadn't gone there yet. Since I found a living soul, I ignored it and moved to the main objective, leaving this place.

She would know what was most relevant. 

While she was up there I rested my head on the high table slightly taller than the chairs which I don't know how I managed to climb.

It had been no less of a tiring day. I didn't get enough moments of death's peace to have any more energy than this and the thinking had me worn out.

Drowsiness drew me in closely like a sweet lullaby.

Yawn!

My heavy eyelids couldn't help but take long blinks and finally, I fell slowly into the dream realm.