Nadine was instantly stunned and stood rooted to the spot.‘Drugged?’Her mouth hung open as she stared at the bowl of soup. After a while, she picked it up and stirred it with a spoon before turning around to say, “Adrian, you’re not pulling my leg, are you? Why would Mother want to drug you?“Are you only saying this because you don’t want to drink it?“Fine! I’ll drink it if you don’t want to!”After saying this, Nadine opened her mouth and put in a piece of chicken when Adrian said, “I hope you don’t regret that.”Nadine was once again stunned speechless and her face stiffened, the piece of chicken still in her mouth. She could not find the courage to swallow it.She asked, “How can you be so sure? Mother wouldn’t harm me. That’s impossible.”“Logically, you’d be right, but maybe she’s doing this for someone else’s benefit.”“What do you mean?”Nadine stared at Adrian and continued, “How can you tell it’s been drugged? I refuse to believe you managed to discern that with
Adrian continued, “When I saw your father’s photo and compared it against War Legate Achelous’ statue, I thought they looked similar. With everything said, I suddenly feel that behind your mother’s mask lies a temperament befitting a legate’s wife, plus this veteran I’m talking about has been by her side this whole time. Only this time, she was the one who called him over.”“What’s Mother planning to do?” Nadine asked.“It’s simple, really. If I’m correct, your mother already knows who I am but is putting on an act.”“What?” Nadine was so shocked her legs gave way. “Are you saying that she knows you’re War Legate Draco? Why would she play along with our act then?”Adrian smiled, “There’s only one answer, and that is because your father was War Legate Achelous and she’s his wife. On top of that, she knows why we’re here and is keeping a close eye on us.”“No, no… No… You can’t be right.” Nadine waved her hands desperately. “What’s the big idea with this drugged chicken soup then?”
At twelve midnight, Nadine, who was deep inside her Dreamland while in her own room and on her own bed, was lying half on top of Adrian.Suddenly, a melodious ringtone came from her bedside. Adrian was woken by the ringtone and reached out to grab his cell phone.Nadine rubbed her eyes and moaned, “Shut up…”She then grabbed Adrian’s phone and tried hurling it toward the floor, but Adrian managed to quickly grab it.He then pushed Nadine off of him and said, “Get off of me. Why are you on top of me? Are you trying to smother me to death?”Nadine opened her eyes while Adrian turned on the bedroom lights. Blinded by the glaring lights, she shut her eyes and sat up straight. It took her a while before her eyes were able to adjust.“What are you doing?” she asked, still sounding half asleep.Adrian ignored her and answered his phone call.From the other end of the line, Daniel said, “Sir, Mya and I are ready and waiting for you to give us the green light.”Adrian glanced at the di
The main control room of the Gardner residence was in chaos as everyone on duty scrambled to shut down the virus. This was not something that could be resolved within minutes.Meanwhile, the lights in the courtyard dimmed, leaving behind only lights powered by solar panels. As Adrian and Nadine headed for the rear court, Daniel’s voice came from Adrian’s communicator.“Sir, their surveillance systems are down. But we can’t keep this up for too long, or Internal Affairs might catch on to us. You have half an hour before we have to make a full retreat and erase all our traces.”“Got it.”Adrian took off his communicator and turned toward Nadine. She shot him a glare and said, “Well done, *sshole. You managed to plant a virus in my home all the way from Azure Creek. Wyvern Peak will be held fully responsible if you’re caught.”“You talk too much,” Adrian said, causing Nadine to grunt at him.“There will be guards at the rear court, so how are you planning on getting in?”“I’ll bust
Nadine covered her mouth, feeling a tingle on her scalp and cold sweat trickling down her back.Perhaps the coffin had shocked her nerves with its tremendous impact that her legs trembled profusely and gave way.Under the light, the glass coffin was revealed to contain a corpse, one that was drying up.“What’s a coffin doing in here?” Adrian frowned and snapped a photo of it.Nadine, who stood next to him, was stunned. The floor beneath her, including her high heels, was already drenched.Adrian turned around and looked at the floor in confusion. “Did you just wet yourself out of shock?”Nadine was in tears and red in the face. “I-I… I tend to… Wh-When I get too nervous…”Adrian heaved a sigh and picked Nadine off the floor.‘Her muscles are all tensed up. Looks like she really is nervous.’Adrian then patted her body and helped move her limbs around. “You shouldn’t have come here. Anyway, it’s just a corpse. You’ve got me here, don’t you?”Finally, Nadine relaxed a little, b
Nadine pointed upstairs, and Adrian brought her with him to the old man’s study without a second thought.When he opened the door and shone his flashlight inside, he suddenly saw a man sitting before the desk. This man’s presence was enough to cause Nadine’s scalp to tingle and her legs to tremble once more.Adrian held her by the waist and stood outside the door as he looked at the man.The man was wearing a coat, with his elbows against the desk and his palms against his head. The man had completely decomposed, leaving behind a layer of darkened skin that had freckles all over it.His nails were long and blackish-purple in color.“Grandfather?” Nadine immediately said when she took a good look.“This is your grandfather?” Adrian asked.Nadine nodded profusely as she replied, “That’s him, but isn’t he buried? I was there when they buried his coffin. What’s he doing here?”She was stunned, wondering how a man who should have been buried was doing in his own study as a corpse.
A dense musty and humid smell came out from within.The secret room was not big, to begin with. In fact, it could not even fit a single person inside. However, there was a rectangular little table with a book sitting on it, covered by a piece of tarpaulin.Adrian took a deep breath and reached out to pick up the book, while Nadine seemed filled with shock and anxiously wanted to open it up.After flipping through a couple of pages, Adrian said, “This is a copy written in pen by your grandfather. I believe it’s Heroes of Wyvern Peak that was auctioned off at Fowler House.”Nadine became even more eager when she heard this. “Hurry up and take a look at what’s inside.”Adrian nodded and was just about to take a better look at its contents when he suddenly heard a voice say, “What’s going on here?! What the f*ck are you guys doing on the floor?! Are you all dozing off?!“Get up! Get up right now!”Adrian immediately turned his flashlight off when he heard the voice. The next shift o
“Just one kiss.” Nadine held up a finger.Feeling helpless, Adrian held the back of Nadine’s head and kissed her on the forehead. After that, he let go of her and disappeared into the night without a trace, leaving Nadine standing there in a daze, touching the part of her forehead he had kissed.After a long time, Nadine looked in the direction he had disappeared and said, “I really, really, really want to have you, but I know you’re not mine… If only we met each other a little sooner…”She then heaved a sigh of relief and smiled. “But it’s okay. You may not belong to me, but I belong to you. I’ll be your woman for the rest of my life.”At the same time, Carlene was standing on the balcony upstairs, silently watching her daughter with an extremely pained expression on her face.Nadine had no idea her mother was watching her and soon returned to her room.***Adrian left the Gardner family residence at two in the morning and arrived at a nearby square, where a car had been parked