“Were you also the one behind Spencer's response to me yesterday?” Nelly asked.
“No.” Alpha Kilian shook his head. He stepped forward and reached for her hand. “Nelly , I won't lie to you since I've decided to be candid with you. What happened yesterday was completely unexpected. Till now, I still regret not being able to be by your side.”
Gazing into his dark eyes that were brimming with sincerity, she said, “But I'm glad.” “What are you glad about?”
“I'm glad that you weren't there to witness what happened,” Nelly replied.
Alpha Kilian stared back at her and squeezed her hand. At that moment, he did not know what to say in response.
After pondering for a moment, she continued, “Alpha Kilian , if... something untoward happened to me, promise me that you'll take care of my grandpa.”
That had him lifting his gaze to meet her resolute eyes. It felt as if he was stabbed in the heart with a dagger.
He shook his head and said, “No, I'll do no such thing!” Nelly frowned at him.
“I can take care of him together with you, but if you want to leave the job to me alone, I won't do it,” Alpha Kilian insisted.
She still had her eyes on him. “Yes, you will.” “I will not!”
Nelly 's gaze never left him, but she ceased arguing with him. It was because she knew that, despite his forceful denial, he would watch over her grandfather if anything untoward were to befall her.
Noticing her silence, Alpha Kilian took a deep breath and looked at her intensely. “Nelly , it's not over yet. I don't want you to give up so quickly.”
“I'm not giving up,” Nelly retorted firmly, staring back at him, her gaze equally intense. “In fact, I am determined to live because of you, the three little ones, and Grandpa.”
“Then, don't make such morbid statements,” he said softly.
“I don't want to say such things either, but I've always had such bad luck. So, I must say it, Alpha Kilian ! I
know that you will take care of Grandpa even if I don't ask it of you, but my mind will only be at ease if I say it. This way, I know I'll have no regrets or unfinished business if something really were to happen to me,” she replied, her voice heavy with emotion.
There was nothing that Alpha Kilian could say. He pulled Nelly into his embrace and wrapped his arms around her tightly.
After a few minutes, he broke the silence by saying, “Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you. I won't allow it.”
“Mmh.” Nelly nodded, rubbing her head against his chin.
As a matter of fact, she knew that her request was bound to break his heart, but she owed it to herself to ask it of him. Only then could she finally be at peace.
Nevertheless, she would only say those words once because she knew how much it hurt those who loved her.
Moments later, Alpha Kilian released her from his embrace and gazed down at her, “Eat up. After this, I'll take you to Spencer.”
Nelly nodded at his plan.
Under his watchful eye, she finished her food.
“Are you happy now?” Nelly looked up at him and asked that question in her usual playful tone as if their solemn conversation earlier had not happened.
“Yes!” Alpha Kilian nodded with a satisfied smile. “Let's go then,” she urged.
With that, the two of them left the bedroom together.
Meanwhile, Spencer stood inside the laboratory and surveyed the interior. He felt at home, as though he had returned to his own laboratory.
The surroundings felt familiar to him.
Dave, who had been standing by the side, uttered, “Have a look around. Let me know if there's anything else you need.”
Spencer walked around the perimeter and swept his gaze across the room. The laboratory was well- equipped, and he could not identify anything lacking.
“How did you manage to do this?” he asked. “What do you mean?” Dave asked.
“The time constraint, “ Spencer elaborated.
“If you have money, time is not a problem!” Dave answered with a small smile.
His remark had Spencer raising his eyebrows in amusement. “The way you talk like a rich and powerful man makes you seem like a friend of Alpha Kilian .”
Dave walked into the room and looked around before saying, “It's a matter of life and death. Time is of the essence.”
Spencer cast him a deep look. Then, he nodded. “Mmh.” At that moment, a knock sounded at the door.
The two men turned at the sound. Alpha Kilian and Nelly were standing in the doorway.
When Spencer caught sight of Nelly , his gaze changed. “Nelly , you're awake?” he asked in a low voice. “Yeah,” she replied in a rather flat tone. A beat later, she walked into the laboratory and scanned the
room with her eyes. “This place is very similar to your old laboratory.”
“All these bottles and tubes are the same everywhere. They're nothing special,” he said. Nelly nodded. “So, what do I need to do?”
Spencer glanced at her. “I need to perform a full body checkup on you and also take a blood sample.” “Blood sample? Why?”
Nelly fell into a daze, only regaining her senses a few moments later.
As she stared at Spencer, she asked, “When did I get poisoned? Why don't I know anything?”
While performing the checkup on her, he replied casually, “How would I know if you don't? Think back carefully if anything special happened.”
At that, she narrowed her eyes.
“Could this occur when I was at Midnight fang pack ...” Nelly mused. But there wasn't anyone near me at that time.
Spencer merely continued doing his work in silence.
“Is there a possibility that I got poisoned because I was hurt by blades when fighting with others?” She lifted her gaze to look at him.
Her countenance was unusually calm. It was as if she was analyzing another person's poisoning case.
Nonetheless, seemingly having grown used to her composed demeanor, Spencer replied, “If the blade was poisoned, it might be one of the possibilities.”
Nelly ruminated on it, then muttered, “But that's not possible too. At that time, General Will tossed me into the southern camp to slowly torture me to death, so he couldn't have done something as unnecessary as this!”
Right after those words fell from her lips, Spencer shifted his gaze onto her. “What did you say? The southern camp?”
She looked up. “What's the matter?”
“Do you know what kind of place the southern camp is?” he questioned.
“Isn't that just a messy, chaotic place filled with men where the strong bullies the weak?” she uttered nonchalantly.
Spencer was rendered speechless.
He did not know how to respond to her description.
After a brief pause of silence, he corrected her. “The southern camp is a place for monsters. Do you know why? That's because the southern camp is Midnight fang pack 's death camp. Every person there is inhumane, and no one, regardless of their gender, ever made it out of there alive.”
Hearing his elaboration, Nelly knitted her brows and retorted, “The situation there wasn't as exaggerated as you mentioned!”
“How am I exaggerating? Did you really go there?” “Yes!”
Spencer could not help but look at her doubtfully. Still, he knew her very well. She was a taciturn woman
and thus would never care to boast about something that did not happen.
“I've never heard of anyone escaping the southern camp alive. How did you do that?” he asked. Blinking, Nelly replied indifferently, “By killing others.”
Spencer stared at her in a momentary daze, regarding her with a dubious look.
“Nelly , I'm not looking down on you, but there's no way you could've done that alone at that huge southern camp,” he said.
“If that's the case, the Nelly standing before you right now would be a ghost,” she retorted.
Spencer was stumped for words, so he asked, “How did you make your way out by killing others, then?” “Actually, I have you to thank for that.”
“Me?”
She nodded before hinting at him. “Your needle.”
After a slight pause, he responded, “Do you mean the needle I gifted to you previously?” Nelly bobbed her head in agreement.
“I gave you that needle so that you could treat yourself when you suffer a relapse from your wrist condition,” he remarked.
“Evidently, the needle did more than that. It saved my life,” she stated.
He bored his eyes into her for a long while before he piped up, “If I hadn't known you and understood your personality, I would undoubtedly think you're lying now.”
Nelly remained silent.
“Did you truly kill those people and flee from the camp using a needle?” he then inquired.
“They came at me one by one. Maybe because they underestimated me, I had the advantage of taking them by surprise.”
Her sudden humble remark prompted Spencer to praise her. “Even if the initial enemies you fought underestimated you, what about the ones you faced afterward? You shouldn't credit your success solely on the element of surprise. Those people were all brawn and no brains. They had the strength but
lacked the strategies. Hence, what you relied on were your capabilities and intelligence!”
Nelly did not feel like denying it.
At times, receiving compliments from others worked wonders in brightening one's mood.
Looking at her, Spencer seemed to have suddenly recalled something. “How many people did you kill?”
Nelly furrowed her brows as she tried hard to recollect. “I can't remember clearly. Perhaps there was only one person left? Or did I murder every one of them? I was too exhausted to pay attention to the numbers.”