Chapter 466: Chapter 466: When Will You Wake Up?
Just as Eli Sheridan was imparting a lesson of love (a lecture) to his younger brother around the theme of "A gentleman knows what to do and what not to do."
The villa at the back of the mountain.
"Sister-in-law, I’ll keep watch for you outside. Those guards rotate every ten minutes, so you have less than eight minutes. Let’s make it quick!" Bella Hawthorne finished speaking and, looking like a thief, pushed Ann Vaughn into the room.
She seemed to have forgotten she was a daughter of the Hawthorne Family...
Ann Vaughn, somewhat at a loss for words, glanced at Bella’s 007-style tight outfit, swallowed her complaint, and closed the door behind her.
"Mommy, it’s OK." A childish voice came through the earpiece nestled under Ann’s black hair, "The surveillance has been disrupted. Kenny has replaced the current surveillance footage with earlier clips, so they won’t see you for now."
"Thanks, darling." Ann Vaughn pressed her earpiece, walked quickly to the king-size bed in the room, her breath slightly rapid.
The man’s face before her was pale and haggard, with eyebrows sharp as if cut by a knife, eyes tightly shut, and long raven lashes casting shadows below his eyelids, slightly dispelling the dark circles under his eyes. His pale thin lips were pressed into a tight line.
Compared to his assertive and aloof demeanor when awake, now he resembled a sleeping lion. Even though his complexion was unwell, it hadn’t diminished his elegance in the least.
Although it had been less than a week since that day, Ann Vaughn felt a sense of time being long past, her chest filled with turmoil.
But this was not the time to be infatuated staring at him. Ann Vaughn took out a miniature medical kit and began to take Cyrus Hawthorne’s pulse.
The family doctor’s treatment was more aggressive, while Ann Vaughn preferred a gentle approach, like the nourishing rain in spring.
Cyrus’s current physical condition was least suitable for hasty action; it required gradual nurturing.
His prolonged coma was also related to the residual viral toxins within him, causing his blood and energy to be blocked.
As the saying goes, "The root of all ailments comes from the blood, the causes of a hundred diseases from the energy." And he, unfortunately, had both.
Muttering, Ann Vaughn inserted the Golden Needle into the acupuncture point on Cyrus’s shoulder and gently pressed—
"Oh no!"
"Bam!!"
Outside the door, Bella Hawthorne’s startled cry and a sudden opening sound occurred, causing Ann Vaughn to immediately turn her head and see Miyi Yates entering with guards.
She discreetly retrieved the medication into her miniature medical kit and then pulled the Golden Needle out of Cyrus Hawthorne before turning to look at them.
"Miss Vaughn, what does this mean?" Miyi Yates frowned, her face tense, "I know you’re skilled in medicine, but you can’t just act recklessly here."
As she finished speaking, the guards behind Miyi Yates stepped forward to restrain Ann Vaughn’s hands, preventing her from doing anything harmful to Cyrus Hawthorne.
Miyi Yates glanced at the hand signal from the guards outside the door and then said to Ann Vaughn, "Miss Vaughn, your reckless actions have led to Miss Bella being implicated, and she’ll have to suffer the consequences with you."
The Golden Needle discreetly slipped from Ann Vaughn’s fingers as she slightly pursed her red lips, "This has nothing to do with Bella, it was all my idea. If you’re unhappy, take it out on me."
"In that case, forgive us. For the safety of the Family Head, we must temporarily detain you." With that, Miyi Yates nodded to the guards, signaling them to take Ann Vaughn away.
And while Miyi Yates was polite to Ann Vaughn, those subordinates who revered Cyrus as a myth naturally wouldn’t treat her kindly, considering her someone with "malicious intent."
As Ann Vaughn was pushed out forcefully, she couldn’t help but glance back at the still-sleeping Cyrus Hawthorne with a slight sting in her eyes.
When will you wake up?
Thud.
The sound of the forbidden room’s door closing pulled Ann Vaughn’s distracted mind slightly back to reality.
She looked up at the narrow, dim space, the walls covered in tangled vines and branches, adorned with various blood-stained "instruments of torture." From their appearance, they seemed very old, which made them particularly terrifying.
Among them were some Ann Vaughn had read about, like barbed needles, which when plunged into skin then yanked out, would leave flesh and blood flying, bringing unbearable pain...
Ann Vaughn couldn’t help but shudder, hoping these people wouldn’t actually use those things on her.
"I heard this woman is well-favored by the Family Head; what if we get into trouble for dealing with her like this..."
"She tried to harm the Family Head. That accusation alone is enough to justify her death a thousand, ten thousand times over. Stop talking, get to work."
As the voices drew nearer, two guards approached Ann Vaughn, holding a blood-stained long whip, looking at her with unfriendly faces.
Daring to attempt harm to the Family Head, keeping such a woman around would inevitably lead to disaster!
Seeing the long whip in their hands, Ann Vaughn’s heart sank, her mind momentarily screaming, Isn’t this some cursed Murphy’s Law?!
Whatever you dread, comes straight at you!
As the guard on the left raised his hand, Ann Vaughn instinctively lifted her hands to shield her face.
The anticipated pain did not arrive. Ann Vaughn, nerves on edge, couldn’t help but look up at the two men, confused. Were they trying to scare her?
Yet she saw both guards with expressions of stunned disbelief, as if they’d witnessed a nuclear explosion...
"Sorry to disturb!!" The two guards snapped out of it, swiftly pocketed the long whip, and hurriedly left the forbidden room, not even bothering to lock the door behind them, vanishing in a flash.
Ann Vaughn: "..." Were these guys for real??
Meanwhile.
Miyi Yates, upon receiving the report, was incredulous, her usually measured tones slightly raised, "Are you sure you didn’t see it wrong?"
"Absolutely not mistaken, Miss Miya." The guard’s voice sounded bitter, "You didn’t warn us that woman had the other half of the Nightmare Ring?"
"...Keep a close watch on her, don’t let her cause any more trouble."
"Understood."
After hanging up the phone, Miyi Yates glanced in the direction of the banned room, her brows furrowed.
The Nightmare Ring is divided into the main ring and the secondary ring; the main is with the Family Head, symbolizing all the forces within their command are under his control.
The secondary ring... belongs solely to The Hawthorne Matriarch.
"How interesting," Miyi Yates’s face slowly broke into a radiant smile, not showing any trace of gloom.
...
After Ann Vaughn was taken away by the guards, a Little Dumpling guarding Villa No. 8 attempted to breach the security system of the forbidden room to retrieve footage concerning their mommy’s current situation.
However, this security system, whose creator was unknown, proved formidable within mere seconds of the Little Dumpling’s entry.
Luckily, just before the system counter-traced, Little Dumpling managed to extract the surveillance footage and erase tracks of the intrusion, without even triggering an alarm.