Chapter 132
[ 1,016 words ]
Vikron’s Point of View
“You did what?”
The words tore from my throat. I bolted upright on the mattress, completely ignoring the pain that slashed through my chest as I grabbed Deyani’s wrists with crushing force.
My eyes blazed with a terrifying fear as I stared at her.
“Vikron, I am so sorry!” Deyani apologized profusely, her shoulders shaking as she tried to pull away from my grip, her head lowering in shame. “You were dying right before my eyes! Your heart rate was collapsing! To me, your health and your survival came before anything else in this world!”
“My health does not matter, Deyani!” I corrected her. I released her wrists, throwing my hands out, I tried to restrain my anger. “The mission comes first! Our entire men spilled their blood just to secure the device, and you handed it over to the physician for ten thousand gold pieces?”
I fell back against the pillows, my breath rattling against my ribs as I forced my mind to analyze the disaster. I had heard the rumors of this top master healer. I knew from our central intelligence logs that physician Lin’s medical skills were extraordinary, but I never anticipated my own sister would hand the box straight to his ledger.
Yet, as I looked at her tear-stained face and the raw, bleeding wound on her shoulder, the fierce warrior heat inside my veins slowly began to cool, replaced by an ache of gratitude. Although I was deeply worried about the whereabouts of the iron box, I was infinitely more grateful for the physician’s life-saving grace that kept my sister from standing over a corpse.
I let out a long, ragged sigh and reached out, lightly placing my hand over her trembling shoulder. “I do not blame you, Deyani.”
Deyani looked up instantly, her eyes widening as she looked completely shocked by my sudden regression.
“You… you don’t?” She stammered in shock.
“You chose to save your brother and go completely against the mission because you care for my life more than a piece of iron,” I said smoothly, a faint smile touching my lips. “I can’t be mad at you for that, Deyani.”
“I couldn’t let you die, Vikron,” Deyani said hoarsely, wiping her cheeks with the back of her palm as she leaned against the bedpost. “I don’t know how my life would ever be without you by my side. The kingdom means nothing if I am left completely alone in the dark.”
“I understand, sister,” I replied. I rubbed my jaw, my mind instantly mapping a new path through the wreckage. “But this physician Lin… he is truly something else. To cleanly excise necrotic man’s wolf-bites and stabilize a prince’s core in a short while proves his talent is legendary. Once we recover our footing, I plan to recruit Lin to our kingdom to serve as our top royal physician in the future. A doctor who can ransom a nation’s secrets is a doctor we must own.”
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Ivy’s Point of View
I stood guard over the iron box, keeping my body completely concealed beneath my bulky male physician robes, my hand resting flat over the caked canvas wrapping.
The iron side gate suddenly clicked open, and Dominic quietly slipped back into the compound his broad shoulders relaxed as he abandoned his crippled disguise.
“Dominic!” I called, stepping quickly down the stone steps to meet him before the handmaids could cross the yard. “Get in here right now. The iron box has been successfully obtained!”
Dominic froze, his eyes widening in surprise as I pulled back the canvas, revealing the unmistakable ten-number silver patina lock.
“A sister brought her brother in for emergency treatment and used this as collateral. While we manage this crisis, I highly suggest that we address each other strictly as brothers in front of them to keep our identity protected, especially mine.”
Dominic didn’t waste a single second. He checked the box meticulously, his fingers tracing the engravings to verify it.
“Heavens above, Ivy,” Dominic whispered sharply, a victorious smirk touching his lips as he looked up with amazement. “It is completely genuine. The alignment marks are untouched. This is the real device.”
“The sister told me their names are Nadia and Kairo,” I informed him. “That’s what Nadia told them when she begged for help. They are hiding their true pack lines.”
Dominic let out a low chuckle. “Kairo and Nadia… lies, of course. The moment they fell into the lake during the mountain skirmish, I opened the backpack I tore off the dead farmer on the peak and discovered that the iron box in my hand was a completely fake double. They created a fake setup on purpose to confuse us and make us lose the trail.”
“So you lost the trail?” I asked.
“I immediately sent my men straight to the lake to look for their bodies,” Dominic explained. “But after searching the deep waters for a long time, they did not find a single scrap of clothing. The snow currents swallowed their path.”
He turned his gaze back onto the silver disc, a profound look of pride and amusement flaring in his eyes. “Unexpectedly, the real iron box fell directly into your hands anyway, which makes me feel that you’re truly, exceptionally powerful. The heavens are mocking the Bloodmoon spies tonight.” He paused, his expression turning serious. “I need to see them immediately.”
“They are hyper-vigilant, Dominic,” I warned him, adjusting my doctor’s mask. “If you march in there looking like the Silvermoon commander from the peak, they will bolt through the window.”
“Then we adapt,” Dominic countered flatly.
Dominic put on a thick, black warrior mask to obscure his prominent features and tucked his broadswords beneath his mantle. He walked behind me as we entered the sickroom, his high Alpha aura suppressed to mimic an ordinary mercenary.
“Nadia, Kairo,” I spoke out smoothly in my deep, masculine Lin disguise, gesturing toward Dominic as the siblings snapped their heads toward the door in sudden panic. “This is my older brother.”
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