A Spoonful of Sugar: Don't Beg for Love

Hesper raised her gaze. "There's no need for you to hide it from me. The effects of the anesthetic wore off a little faster than you anticipated, so I heard what you and Julian talked about here last night."

Professor Miles was at a loss for words. He cleared his throat, finding it a little difficult to put the matter into words. Finally, he explained vaguely, "The most important thing now is for you to take good care of your body so that things can return to the way they used to be."

"Don't hide it from me. It'll only cause me to overthink." Hesper chuckled lightly and deliberately tried to keep the atmosphere from getting too heavy. "Could it be that the first event I'll be attending after I fully recover is Rickard's funeral?"

Professor Miles quickly denied it. "It's not that serious. The poison is indeed a pain in the *ss, but as long as Rickard stays in bed and doesn't move too much, the poison will spread very slowly, leaving me with more time to develop the antidote."

Hesper breathed a sigh of relief at that. When Professor Miles came over, he found that her hands were trembling.

"If it weren't for me, Julian wouldn't have gone to such an extent," Hesper said with a tremble in her voice.

Professor Miles sighed and patted Hesper reassuringly. "It's not your fault. It's Julian's own stubbornness that's brought everyone here. There's nothing wrong with loving someone and being loved in return." Hesper understood this, but her self-blame was still greater than everything else.

'If Rickard loses his life because of me, I'll feel guilty about his death for the rest of my life. Even if he's the one who owes me a debt for these legs in the first place.'

Professor Miles knew what Hesper was thinking with a single glance. He sighed. "Actually, onlookers see most of the game. Julian's told me a lot about what happened in the past. I believe that Rickard must have been a jerk in the past, and he must've treated you really badly. But what about now? Do you really not plan to accept him?"

Hesper lowered her gaze and could not help but smile when she heard those words. Her beautiful almond eyes finally narrowed as she smiled, but there was not even a hint of hilarity in her eyes. "It's really difficult to live with someone that doesn't love you. I've tried it once, and I don't want to try it ever again."

"Weren't you already thinking about forgiving Rickard before? Could it be that I've misunderstood things?" Professor Miles sighed. "What a pity."

Seeing Professor Miles's expression, Hesper lowered her gaze.

'I've already given him a chance. I also tried to verify whether Rickard really changed, but in fact, he hasn't changed at all. He'll always be the aloof man he is, while I'll always be the price that he's willing to pay in exchange for any kind of interest.'

Thinking about this, Hesper said, "Is the poison that difficult to deal with? Then what if I went to Julian? Do you think I could get my hands on the antidote?"

"About that..."

Professor Miles frowned for a short while. "Since you heard what we talked about last night, I guess I'll just give you the truth. Although Julian might not have developed an antidote, poisons aren't as exaggerated as the legend say. As long as we can learn its formula, it's very easy to create an antidote from it."

"So, would the method I suggested work?" Hesper asked.

As she spoke, she struggled to sit up in the bed, but Professor Miles grabbed her arm and shoved it back into the quilt. "Don't worry about it for now. Even if you go to Julian now, what makes you think that he'l come out to meet you and hand you the antidote? Do you really think that he's still the Julian Zink that you know?"

Hearing this, Hesper paused.

'I'm only doing this because I don't want to owe Rickard anymore. Continuing to get involved with him will only turn me into a joke.'

"Your priority right now is to take good care of your leg injury." Professor Miles nodded helplessly. "Now that I think about it, when Rickard broke into Daybreak to save us, Julian and Riley must've already agreed to do something to harm Rickard."

"Wait a minute," Hesper said, interrupting Professor Miles. "Rickard broke into Daybreak... In order to save you?"

Looking at Hesper's expression, Professor Miles knew that Rickard must have kept that incident from her. With a sigh, he said, "Julian and I were kidnapped and locked away by Daybreak. If Rickard hadn't threatened Daybreak, they wouldn't have let us out so easily."