A helpless Brent answered, "Mr. Miller, it's me."Ethan reached out to touch him. "Where's Liv?""It must be a dream again?""A dream?" Ethan frowned.The dream felt too real for him. It was so real that he could feel Olivia's skin and temperature. He thought he could still hear her voice ringing in his ears."Yeah. I'm afraid Mrs. Miller is still somewhere far away from here. Why would she appear here?"Ethan's heart sunk to the pit of his stomach.It wasn't easy for him to finally look for her, and yet it turned out to be a dream.He lowered his head, letting out a bitter smile. "You're right. Why would I be able to see her?"Olivia's icy voice spoke. "You're awake. Eat something."Only then did he realize that Brent wasn't alone. The doctor was present, too.He wondered if he had said something while sleeping. "Was she here the whole time?"Brent quickly replied, "No. Vanessa was outside the whole time. She entered the room with me a while ago. What's the matter?""
Brent explained, "She's a famous doctor, not a country bumpkin. You're not wearing a mask, so it's not weird that she recognizes you, Mr. Miller."Ethan's brows slightly creased. "Is that so?""Yeah. It could be because famous doctors have a certain ego. But she did her best to detox you," Kelvin added.Ethan couldn't put a finger on it. He kept feeling that the doctor treated him differently from others.Perhaps he was overthinking it.Noticing that he was still alive, Krystal threw herself at him with reddened eyes. "Sova, I was worried sick about you."Ethan trusted his guts and shifted to the other side, dodging her hug. "I'm fine. Sorry for keeping you waiting. I still have to stay for treatment. You should go back home."She gaped in surprise. She jumped through hoops to get there. Yet, the first thing he said was a request for her to leave. "Sova, I wanna look after you. You can't see. I've applied for a leave. Don't worry about it.""It's fine. I have Kelvin and Bre
Olivia's cold gaze swept across everyone. "I don't care who you are. But since you're in the village, you gotta abide by the rules here. Otherwise, get out of here.""Stop it, brat! This is not Aldenvine. Besides, didn't you say that you wanna save Sova? "Are you going to offend the only doctor that can save him?" Joel managed to keep Krystal's temper under control.The reluctant Krystal approached Wendy unwillingly for Ethan's sake. "Madam Wendy, it was all my fault. I was on edge these days because Sova was poisoned. I hope you can forgive me."Wendy was an old woman in her 80s. She wouldn't take a young brat's words to heart at all.She merely shot a cold glance at Krystal. "Know your place."Olivia held Wendy and left without sparing the others a glance.Krystal glared at the back of Olivia's head, touching her red cheeks.No one had ever done that to her before!The glint in her eyes scared Joel. Krystal was no ordinary person, after all.They brought her along this
Resting against the edge of the spring, Olivia caressed Willow's head and flashed a warm smile. "Good girl. I'll be sleeping for a moment."Willow nodded before pecking her mother's cheek.Some butterflies danced around them. If they had a camera, it would have been a scene enchanting enough to be commemorated with a picture.Olivia was so tired because she had spent several white nights, so she fell asleep by the spring. Her tress was left flowing over her shoulders. Without the mask covering her face, her skin appeared crystal clear. She became prettier than before.As the good girl she was, Willow didn't disturb Olivia. Willow was harvesting herbs nearby.The little animals seemed to like her very much. Even the little dear, who often visited the place, would sit before her to let her brush it.The day seemed simple and wonderful.Ethan was weak to begin with. The worst thing was that his eyesight had yet to recover. It rendered it difficult to stay in a foreign place
Everything in Krystal's life went well, bar one—love.The moment Ethan saved her, she swore to herself that she must marry him when she grew up.She didn't have a rough childhood growing up. Everyone paid respect to her. Even if she wished for a star or the moon, there would be someone getting them for her.Yet, she was slapped by another woman! Krystal thought, "So what if she's a doctor? She's so ugly. She's not even as pretty as my toes."She ran to the river, looking at her reflection. Judging from how Olivia didn't hold herself back, Krystal bet that her cheeks were swollen.Today, Krystal vowed to make Olivia pay back in multiple folds.She was so immersed in her reflection that she didn't sense the impending danger.Kelvin suddenly pulled her backward. "Be careful!"Before she could register the situation, she saw a snake jumping out of the water. It revealed its sharp teeth, trying to bite her leg.She was so surprised that words couldn't come out of her. Had it
The number of snakes surrounding them increased. Kelvin threw Krystal off his back. Before she could react to that, he pressed her head onto the ground abruptly.She was livid. "What are you—""Shut up!" He hushed her before pleading, "Please stop blowing the flute. She knows that she's wrong. She will not do it again. Stop those snakes from coming at us!"He lowered his voice, threatening Krystal, "If you don't wanna die, beg for mercy right now! Otherwise, we won't be able to get out of this village."The sound of snakes hissing echoed in the woods. Krystal had never witnessed such a sight before. She wasn't even wearing protective gear.The snakes didn't stop in their tracks. Kelvin grabbed her ponytail to press her head onto the ground again. "I am so sorry, miss. Please show us mercy. If your mother finds out about this, she won't be happy, will she?"As he had expected, the sound of the flute stopped as soon as he said that. The snakes ceased, too.Still, it gave t
"She did, but that was on the condition that Krystal didn't apologize. Krystal did apologize to Madam Wendy."Brent shook his head. "Do you think that it was a sincere apology?""I don't think so. If it really is Krystal's fault, what should we do?"Brent sighed. "She should take the responsibility herself. Tell her to apologize to Madam Wendy sincerely."He entered the room where the weak Ethan was resting. Ethan didn't know what happened out there.Brent greeted him as always when he entered the room, "Mr. Miller, it's me.""I know." Ethan could recognize the duo's footsteps. He wasn't as weak as Brent thought."How are you feeling today?" Ethan closed his eyes, frowning. "Bad. The headache is killing me."The marks on his face became lighter. He should be getting better because most of the poison was disposed of. Brent wondered, "Why is Mr. Miller's complexion looking bad?""Hold on. I'll call the doctor over.""Okay."Brent couldn't care less about Krystal's incident as he ran to
Ethan recalled the details of the dream involving Olivia. An idea flashed across his mind; if that wasn't a dream, it meant it happened in real life.In other words, the woman before him was Olivia!That sheer thought excited him.Meanwhile, Olivia was listening to his heartbeat with a stethoscope.She frowned while murmuring, "Why is his heartbeat so fast?"She covered the blanket over him and sat on the chair. Then, she took one of his arms. "Breathe normally. I'm going to feel your pulse."She had no clue that Ethan was in ecstasy.He began connecting all of the clues about why this famous doctor was able to rescue him in time unconditionally.She even sacrificed three night's sleep to give him medicine.The shriek he heard when he caught her was clearly Olivia's voice. He didn't mishear it!Then, why did he have such a dream?Perhaps she resorted to that method to check his body because he refused to let her check.The blurry image of a little girl seeped into his m