Suspicions and the Rescue of a Great Personage

The Ghost Doctor’s left cheek was covered by a half-mask of iron—literally embedded into his flesh, the edge jammed right at the bridge of his nose, splitting it into two. The muscles on his right cheek were completely wasted away; except for one eye, the rest looked shriveled and dried like an old orange peel, all puckered and twisted.

No matter how many times she saw him, Princess Royal Helena couldn’t help but turn her face away from that grotesque sight. The Ghost Doctor didn’t care at all; he strode up and asked indifferently, “May I ask why Your Highness has summoned me?”

His voice carried a touch of arrogance, and he had every reason to be proud. Princess Royal Helena didn’t dare offend him, so she kept things polite: “I want to know when the gu parasite in my son will stabilize. I don’t want any more accidents.”

“Just give me another two or three days, Your Highness.” Even the Ghost Doctor was frustrated when it came to the gu in Evan’s body—this was the first time he’d ever run into such a tough case.

It’s been over a month, and the gu still hasn’t settled in the host’s body. Honestly, it’s almost unbelievable.

“I hope you won’t let me down again.” Princess Royal Helena forced herself to hide her dislike, her beautiful eyes landing on the Ghost Doctor. “The new doctor I brought in is seriously skilled—my son’s condition has gotten much better under her care. I expect you to beat her.”

The Ghost Doctor was fiercely competitive; he couldn’t stand anyone whose medical skills surpassed his own. He ended up with this monstrous face after losing a medical duel years ago—neither quite human, nor ghost.

“Understood, Your Highness.” A cold, sinister glint flashed in the Ghost Doctor’s eyes. It had been ages since anyone actually made him want to compete.

He was actually curious—what kind of doctor could take a kid born weak and sickly, and nurse him into someone healthier than most?

Evan’s constant cries of pain were because his own immune system was fighting the gu parasite, refusing to let it invade his body.

Normally, the gu would settle into a person’s body in half an hour. But Evan had been raised by Serena with the best medicines since he was little. He might look fragile, but his resistance to poison is hundreds of times stronger than most people.

If not for that, Evan would’ve died from the poison ages ago—he never would’ve made it for Serena to save him.

The Eighteen Riders weren’t suffering in jail; these past few days, Serena hadn’t stepped outside, and she had zero plans to visit Holden Cui or Crown Prince Titus.

She came to Lyndaria for one reason: to take care of Evan. As long as nobody messed with her, she’d stick close to Evan and the kid, wait for Dr. Marcus Guile to show up and pull the gu out of Evan, then take him back to Eastlyn.

If Princess Royal Helena could hurt Evan once, she could do it again. Serena would never let the child she’d worked so hard to protect get treated like that.

Serena couldn’t extract gu herself, but she knew enough about them. With her careful nursing, Evan’s color had gotten a lot better these past two days; he could eat without throwing up, and didn’t whimper in pain anymore.

Maybe he still felt sick, but Evan had gotten super clingy to Serena lately—just like a little kid, always hanging onto her, even insisting on sleeping in her arms at night.

Luckily, neither kid cried or made a fuss, and with the Snow Wolf helping out, Serena wasn’t too worn out. Her own arm had healed up these days, and she’d even found some herbs to try gently nursing the ruined tendons in the kid’s arms.

Serena kept hoping for a miracle. The odds were tiny, but she wouldn’t let go of even the smallest shred of hope. Losing both arms is cruel for anyone—let alone a kid this young.

“We’ve figured out who Little Dumpling really is.” Little Dumpling was the kid curled up in Serena’s arms. He wouldn’t talk, so nobody knew his name; he always kept himself balled up, pressed close to Serena. The first time Evan saw him, he made a circle with his arms and called him ‘Little Dumpling,’ so everyone followed suit.

Aaron Zuo was lightning-fast this time—just five days, and he’d dug through every missing-person report in the Lyndaria capital, busted a few kidnapping gangs, and rescued a bunch of stolen kids.

“Whose kid is he?” Serena set Little Dumpling down on the little couch, letting him play with Evan and the Snow Wolf.

Aaron glanced at Little Dumpling and said, “He’s Prince Duan’s Manor’s young heir—the only son Prince Duan has.”

“Prince Duan? The only royal prince in Lyndaria who actually holds military power?” Prince Duan and the current emperor were brothers, so Little Dumpling and Crown Prince Titus were cousins.

They weren’t born of the same mother, but Prince Duan and the emperor were tight. The emperor owed his throne to Prince Duan’s help.

Aaron nodded. “Yep, that Prince Duan. Little Dumpling’s his only son, made heir the moment he was born. Rumor has it the emperor’s crazy about him and even thought about making him Crown Prince, but Prince Duan refused.”

“So if something happened to the Crown Prince, Little Dumpling would be next in line?” Which made him the biggest obstacle to Evan’s succession. No wonder Princess Royal Helena would want him gone...

Aaron nodded. “If anything happened to Little Dumpling, the one who’d gain the most wouldn’t be Crown Prince Titus—it’d be...” Princess Royal Helena.

He didn’t say the last three words, but everyone got it. Serena’s eyes flashed with worry. “Does Prince Duan know yet?” she asked. One wrong step, and they’d end up enemies of both sides.

She hadn’t planned to get mixed up in Lyndaria’s power games, but here she was, dragged straight into the succession mess. Who’d have thought saving a random kid would land her in the middle of this?

“Prince Duan’s Manor has been searching in secret. The kidnappers asked for a sky-high ransom, but Prince Duan’s a battle-hardened warlord—he refused to pay.” The kidnappers claimed to be ordinary crooks, but Prince Duan clearly didn’t buy it.

“Way too obvious. No matter how gutsy, no normal kidnapper would dare mess with a prince’s heir. Prince Duan would have to be an idiot to believe it.” By the logic of biggest benefit equals biggest suspicion, Princess Royal Helena was the top suspect.

Otherwise, why would Little Dumpling vanish right after Evan came back?

Of course, maybe someone was framing Princess Royal Helena, trying to set her against Prince Duan.

Either way, Aaron and Serena didn’t need to worry about the politics. Their job was to tell Prince Duan and let him come get his kid—and make it clear that whatever the Princess Royal did, it had nothing to do with Evan or them.

“Let’s hope Prince Duan’s the type to know right from wrong, and doesn’t take it out on us.” Otherwise, getting on the bad side of both Princess Royal Helena and Prince Duan in Lyndaria would make surviving, let alone leaving, almost impossible.

“We can only hope...” Aaron wasn’t holding his breath. If he were Little Dumpling’s dad and saw his only son come back crippled, he wouldn’t care about guilt or innocence—he’d go after everyone involved.

Evan and Little Dumpling had no clue what the grown-ups were stressing about. Evan played happily, smiling so wide his eyes turned into tiny slits, while a faint blush crept onto Little Dumpling’s pale cheeks. The emptiness in his eyes started to show the first glimmers of light...