Chapter 113: The Sketchbook

In the bright living room, Priest with his blond hair poured tea into an exquisite white porcelain teacup and pushed it towards the girl, asking, "Would you like some sugar?"

"I'll do it myself, thank you," Elara replied as she sat on the sofa and took the teacup. She wasn't used to being taken care of and sat there a little stiffly.

Priest didn't say anything more, placed the sugar bowl next to her, and turned back to the room to look for something.

Elara propped her face up with her hand and stirred the tea with a spoon, looking around. This was her second time at Joshua's house. She couldn't help but feel embarrassed when she thought about her last visit. She had fainted and didn't even know how Noyce had taken her back. She hadn't thanked him properly when she left.

Today, she came again and realized that Joshua's room was actually on the first floor. The girl's room upstairs must belong to Alicia.

During this period, she had almost lived in the library. Priest's college classes were completely abandoned and turned into one-on-one tutoring with Joshua.

Joshua might not be as strong as Noyce in terms of combat ability, but he was much better as a teacher. He carefully planned a detailed study schedule for her, selected suitable textbooks, and designed targeted exercises. He used the time when he went to the library to study papers every day to give her guidance.

Nina would sometimes go to watch and, with her amazing reading volume, help Joshua find materials and learn some life-saving skills from him.

Under the high-intensity training, the days passed quickly. Gradually, Elara also began to grasp some of the principles and started to have a sense of integration.

A cat's meow interrupted her thoughts. She didn't know when a long-haired white cat had jumped onto the table in front of her. Its gem-like purple eyes stared at her unfriendly, like staring at an intruder. It scratched with its paw and knocked the white porcelain sugar bowl in front of her off the table.

Elara quickly lunged forward and caught the bowl before it hit the ground. When she looked up, she saw the cat was about to reach for her teacup.

Just as the teacup was about to suffer the same fate, the blond Priest appeared in time, grabbed the cat by the scruff of its neck, and threw it out lightly. "Sorry, Lucy has a bad temper and a strong sense of territory. She treats everyone this way."

"Is that cat named Lucy?" The girl put the bowl back on the table with a lingering sense of fear.

"I picked her up a few years ago. After Alicia got injured, she often came here to recuperate. At that time, seeing that the cat's eye color was quite similar to hers, I thought of picking her up to cheer her up, but..."

"It probably ended up in a fight..." Thinking of her temper, Elara made a face as if she couldn't bear to watch.

"At least... it's not boring anymore..." Joshua let out a bitter smile. Alicia liked to fill the table with various small decorations, and this cat was keen on knocking everything off the table. She had a rivalry with this cat. Every time it broke her things, she would buy more when she came next time.

The two of them waged a small-scale war on this tiny territory, and countless exquisite handicrafts became casualties under the cat's paws. If he hadn't stopped her, the hot-tempered Witch might have already stewed the cat and eaten it.

"Let's not talk about this." He took out a beautifully bound sketchbook and spread it on the table.

"You need to memorize the content in here."

Elara looked over. There were several very detailed human anatomy drawings, with the distribution of internal organs, muscles, nerves, and bones all clearly marked in the drawings, and there were small annotations on the side, which were made extremely detailed.

"The foundation of medical skills is the understanding of the human body. Clarifying the internal structure of the human body can not only make the healing spell more effective but also make the attack more targeted. Depending on different needs, you can attack different parts to achieve the best effect," Joshua explained to her seriously.

The girl's fingers gently touched the drawings, and she was a little dazed for a moment. The picture in front of her overlapped with something in her mind, and an inexplicable emotion welled up in her heart, making her suddenly restless.

"Elara? Are you okay?" Priest noticed that her expression was off and stopped. "Does this picture make you feel uncomfortable?" Although most girls might not like something that looks a little bloody, it might take some time to accept it. But Elara had also been through the Monster pile in Ros City, and she shouldn't be scared by a few pictures.

"Ah, I'm fine," Elara quickly gathered her wits. "I just feel like... I've seen this picture somewhere before."

"Seen it?" Joshua frowned. "That's impossible. These kinds of pictures that don't comply with the doctrine are prohibited. There shouldn't be such pictures circulating outside."

"I don't know," the girl murmured. "I've clearly seen this picture for the first time, but the content feels somewhat familiar."

"Familiar..." Priest stroked his chin thoughtfully. According to the doctrine, dissecting corpses is strictly forbidden. The reason he could get these pictures was that he had a necrophiliac beside him.

The people she killed were basically impossible to count the corpses. He secretly took one or two relatively intact ones, studied them, and then quietly disposed of them without alarming anyone.

Other people don't have this condition. Some maniacs who want to find corpses to dissect probably can only rob graves in the cemetery.

"Those who are familiar with this kind of thing are unlikely to be honest people," he said with a hint of amusement as he looked at the Witch. "Dissecting corpses privately and collecting prohibited items are not allowed by the Church. If others see it, there will be big trouble, which is why I called you to my home to learn. But if you have seen this... it's possible that we are of the same kind."

Elara frowned thoughtfully. He did give her a subtle sense of familiarity in many aspects, like an old friend. But when she tried to grasp this feeling, this vague impression disappeared again, just like her memory dissipated in the chaos.

She still couldn't remember anything and felt a bit discouraged as she touched the drawings. Joshua knew that it would be troublesome if these drawings were seen by others, but he still taught her, which seemed to be truly unreserved.

"Joshua, you must really like Alicia, right?" Like her so much that you would do anything for her.

Joshua didn't expect the topic to suddenly turn to himself and was slightly stunned. Then he smiled calmly and said, "Yes."

"That's so nice..." Elara murmured enviously. She could see that Alicia also liked him. It must be very happy to have the person you like also like you. How nice it would be if the person she liked could also like her...

This thought flashed through her mind and was immediately suppressed. She was just an item of Noyce, possessed by him. Noyce had long said that he would not like anyone.