The room fell silent.
Elara stood beside the bed, the syringe in her hand catching the light.
Adrian leaned against the headboard, sweat beading at his temples.
A moment ago, he had accepted the risk without hesitation.
Now that the treatment was about to begin, even he could not pretend the stakes were trivial.
“We’re starting.”
Elara’s voice was quiet and steady.
Adrian lifted his eyes and looked at her.
“Do it.”
The next second, the needle slipped into his vein, and the medicine was pushed in slowly.
At first, nothing happened.
But just a few seconds later, Adrian’s whole body snapped tight.
“Mm…”
A low, muffled groan escaped him as he fought to suppress the pain.
His fingers twisted into the bedsheet, the veins in his hand standing out.
Elara watched him closely.
“Pain?”
Adrian gritted his teeth.
“I’m fine.”
He said he was fine, but his face had gone alarmingly pale.
This was far beyond ordinary pain.
Once high-purity Nexo-7 entered the body, the first step was to use an antidote to suppress the drug’s own toxicity.
Only after that could the medicine slowly start working on the already-mutated nerve fibers.
That was the most dangerous stage of the treatment.
Elara kept her eyes locked on the monitor.
“Hold on.
We still can’t use Nexo-7 yet.”
Adrian shut his eyes, but his body had already begun to shake.
Pain tore through his nerves in relentless waves, each one sharper and more punishing than the last.
“Ah—”
His eyes flew open, his pupils constricting with pain.
A second later, he tore free of the loosened restraints and stumbled off the bed.
“Adrian!”
Elara’s expression sharpened.
He staggered toward the wall.
The pain had overwhelmed his reason completely.
By then, only one thought remained in his mind—
It had to stop.
Even if ending it meant ending everything.
Bang!
Just before his head struck the wall, Elara lunged forward without hesitation.
She wrapped both arms around him and pulled him back.
“Don’t!”
His whole body jolted.
Elara tightened her grip around his waist.
She was much smaller than he was, but she braced herself and kept him upright.
“Adrian, look at me!”
His breathing was ragged, his forehead pressed against her shoulder.
Wave after wave of pain blurred his awareness, and he struggled on pure instinct.
“Let go…”
“I can’t.”
Elara gritted her teeth and tightened her hold.
“The detox isn’t finished yet.
If you quit now, everything we did before will be for nothing.”
Another wave of pain tore through Adrian, leaving him barely able to control his body.
Instinctively, he caught hold of Elara and pulled her against him.
His arms closed tightly around her, holding her against him as if he had no other anchor.
Elara stiffened briefly.
It was the first time they had been this physically close.
She could feel the heat radiating from his body and hear his ragged breathing beside her ear growing faster and rougher.
“Hang in there.”
She did not pull away.
Instead, she steadied him with one hand against his back.
“It’s almost over.”
Adrian said nothing.
His face rested against her shoulder as his awareness drifted in and out through the pain.
Her calm voice gave him something to focus on, keeping him anchored as the pain threatened to overwhelm him.
After what felt like an eternity, the readings on the monitor finally began to change.
Elara lowered her gaze to the screen.
At last, relief softened her expression, and the faintest hint of a smile appeared.
“It worked.”
The antidote had started kicking in.
Adrian’s body, rigid only moments earlier, gradually began to loosen as the pain finally receded.
Only then did Elara let go.
But the man still didn’t release her right away.
For several long seconds, neither of them moved or spoke, still locked in the same position.
Elara lifted her head.
“Adrian?”
Adrian finally seemed to register where he was.
He let her go, his expression impossible to read.
“Continue.”
“Okay.”
Elara picked up the Nexo-7.
The real treatment was only starting now.
…
Time passed slowly.
After the medicine entered his body, there wasn’t another violent reaction like before.
Instead, the medication began working through Adrian’s nervous system without another violent reaction.
Elara kept her attention fixed on the monitor, unwilling to relax until the readings were truly stable.
Half an hour later, the erratic readings finally began to stabilize.
“It’s done.” Elara put the syringe away.
Adrian slowly opened his eyes and immediately noticed the silence.
The pain that had tormented him for so long had eased.
Even the light, usually unbearable, no longer felt painfully bright.
He lifted his head and looked at the thin strand of sunlight slipping through the gap in the curtains.
For once, he didn’t shut his eyes right away.
He just stared at it quietly for a long while.
Edmund stood in the doorway, his eyes suddenly wet.
All these years, they had never seen Adrian look at sunlight this calmly.
“Grandpa.”
Adrian’s voice was still a little hoarse.
Edmund hurried over.
“How do you feel?”
“Much better.”
Those two words eased some of the tension in the room.
The specialists exchanged stunned looks.
After years without meaningful progress, a young woman had managed to bring his symptoms under control.
Elara had already packed up her things.
“That’s all we can do for today.
After this, he still needs close observation.”
Edmund nodded immediately.
“Alright, alright.”
He had just opened his mouth to thank her, but Elara had already turned and walked toward the door.
“Ms.
Weston,” Edmund called after her, “thank you.”
Her steps paused for half a beat.
“It’s my job.”
Then she left.
The room fell quiet again.
Adrian kept staring at the doorway.
A few seconds later, he suddenly asked, “Where is she?”
Edmund blinked.
“Who?”
Adrian frowned slightly, his voice still a little hoarse.
“The young doctor.”
Edmund said nothing.
Edmund studied his grandson, and a knowing smile tugged at his mouth.
“You mean Ms.
Weston?”
“Mm.”
“She’s already gone.”
Adrian fell silent.
Edmund studied him.
“Want me to send someone after her?”
“No need.”
Adrian leaned back against the headboard, the faintest hint of a smile at his mouth.
“I’ll see her again.”
Edmund narrowed his eyes.
Was his grandson actually interested in the young doctor?
Edmund decided not to ask.
Adrian could handle his own affairs.
Meanwhile—
Elara had already left the Whitmore residence.
She had no idea Adrian was still thinking about her.
In his mind, she had already become—
his doctor.
…
Night had fallen.
The night market in the capital was still busy.
Warm lights lined both sides of the street, and vendors called out to passing customers over the steady hum of the crowd.
Elara slipped through the crowd and soon stopped in front of a small, unremarkable stall.
“Elara?”
A warm, familiar voice called to her.
When Elara saw the elderly woman, her expression softened.
“Mrs.
Tedford.”
Mrs.
Tedford smiled and caught her by the hand.
“There you are.
It’s been ages since you came to see me.”
“I’ve been a bit busy lately.”
“Busy is busy, but you still need to eat.”
The words sounded like a scolding, but she was already pressing a freshly grilled skewer into Elara’s hand.
Elara took it, the corner of her lips lifting a little.
Mrs.
Tedford had been Elara’s first real teacher in medicine.
When Elara was a child, Mrs.
Tedford had taught her how to identify medicinal herbs and take a pulse.
Even now, despite her age, Mrs.
Tedford still ran a small stall at the night market.
She was not there for the money.
She treated people who could not afford medical care and never charged them.
Elara stayed to help.
“Dr.
Tedford, my leg’s been hurting nonstop lately.”
“Sit down first.”
“Mrs.
Tedford, my chest feels tight too…”
A line quickly formed in front of the stall.
After more than an hour, a plainly dressed middle-aged woman approached in tears.
“Dr.
Tedford, please save me.
I don’t want to die.”
Mrs.
Tedford reached out to steady her.
“Take your time.
Tell me what happened.”
The woman wiped her tears with the back of her hand, her voice trembling.
“Vanguard Medical Center said I have malignant lymphoma.
The doctor said I need surgery immediately and that it’ll cost at least a million.”
“A million?”
A shocked murmur ran through the crowd.
The woman broke down again, her shoulders shaking.
“How could my family possibly come up with that kind of money…”
Mrs.
Tedford frowned.
“Did you bring the report?”
The woman nodded quickly, as though afraid she would not be believed, and pulled out a thick stack of test results.
“I did.
I brought everything.”
Mrs.
Tedford skimmed several pages, and her expression grew more serious with every page she read.
Elara had been standing to one side, content to let Mrs.
Tedford handle the consultation.
Then she caught sight of the numbers in the report and frowned.
“Let me see.”
The woman immediately handed the papers over.
Elara took the papers and began reviewing them one by one.
She turned one page, then another, and by the third her expression had grown steadily colder.
“This report…”
Mrs.
Tedford turned to look at her.
“What is it?”
Elara didn’t answer right away.
She lifted her hand and gently pressed the swollen lymph node at the side of the woman’s neck, then asked a few more questions about her symptoms.
Only after that did she pick up the report again.
“You do not have malignant lymphoma.”
The woman froze.
“What?”
Elara’s tone was firm.
“This is inflammatory swelling of the lymph nodes, not malignant lymphoma.
You do not need a million-dollar surgery.”
“How is that possible?” The woman’s voice shook on the last word.
“But the doctor at Vanguard Medical Center said…”
Elara looked down at the report, and her expression gradually cooled as she read.
“Your body won’t lie to you.
But this report…”
Her fingertip tapped lightly against the paper.
“It might.”
Mrs.
Tedford’s expression changed.
“Elara, are you saying…?”
Elara said nothing.
She just lowered her eyes and read through the report one more time.
The test data contained obvious inconsistencies.
A simple misdiagnosis would have been serious enough.
But if someone had deliberately diagnosed a patient with a malignancy she did not have, this was no longer a medical mistake—it was someone profiting from a patient’s fear and desperation.
Elara slowly lifted her gaze.
Her eyes landed on the name printed at the very top of the report.
Vanguard Medical Center.
She committed the name to memory.