"I'm sorry. Leaving you here alone was thoughtless of me," Floyd said, his voice filled with regret.
"But don't worry, I’ll make sure your legs are treated!"
He was about to reach out to hold her, but just then, Tracie let out a sharp gasp from behind him.
"Oh no!" Before anyone could react, Tracie wobbled and began to fall.
Instinctively, Floyd pushed Lumina aside and rushed to catch Tracie, his eyes filled with guilt and concern.
“Trace, are you alright?”
“I’m fine, just my leg still hurts a little.”
“I told you not to come with us until your leg was healed.”
“But I was worried about Lumina...” Tracie’s eyes immediately welled up with tears. “After all, with Lumina in this condition, I feel responsible too.”
Lumina had been shoved into the thick grass and her elbow had been scraped, a deep cut tearing open and sending sharp pain through her body.
Yet, Floyd didn’t even spare her a glance. He simply scooped Tracie up and hurried off toward the edge of the forest.
Fortunately, one of the young members of the rescue team carried Lumina to the nearest hospital.
It seemed Floyd had been too confident, too soon.
After a full evaluation of Lumina’s injuries, the doctor gently suggested that her legs might never heal properly.
Even worse, her organs were showing signs of failure. Her digestive system, deprived of nourishment for so long, had severely atrophied and she faced the risk of having three-quarters of her stomach removed.
Hearing this, Floyd nearly overturned the doctor’s desk in frustration.
“What do you mean ‘it can’t be treated’? How is that even possible? Her legs are just a bit fractured! How can you say she’ll never walk again?”
Tracie quickly stepped in to calm him down. “It’s okay. If the hospital here can’t help, we’ll take her to the city. If that doesn’t work, we can send her abroad. There’s always a solution.”
“Don’t you remember? My brother is a renowned surgeon,” she added.
Floyd’s brow remained furrowed, but his expression softened slightly. Whether he was truly listening to Tracie or just trying to reassure himself, he muttered, “Right. There’s always a way. There has to be a way.”
Lumina was rushed to the best hospital in the city overnight.
Tracie’s brother, Sean, personally took over her case and delivered a diagnosis that completely contradicted the previous one.
“Lumina’s legs aren’t a big deal; just a couple of days of rest and she’ll be fine.
“As for organ failure, that’s nonsense. The textbooks clearly state that someone who doesn’t eat can survive at least five weeks.
“I think Lumina’s just been acting a little too fragile, which led the previous doctor to misdiagnose her.”
The way they spoke, it was clear they were portraying Lumina as a complete liar.
Perhaps because the diagnoses were so drastically different, Floyd’s expression grew more complicated. He hesitated before asking, “Really?”
“Of course, really!”
Tracie smoothly looped her arm through his, her voice soft yet tinged with playful reproach. “Don’t you trust my brother?”
“That’s right!” Sean added, his tone serious. “Meanwhile, look at my sister Trace—her leg’s still giving her trouble after a whole month.
“If I’d known being around you would put her in danger, I never would’ve let her go with you!”
At that, Floyd finally believed, his gaze toward Lumina filled with nothing but disappointment and anger.
However, Tracie gently tugged at her brother’s sleeve and spoke up, “Lumina may have pushed me, but I’m sure it wasn’t intentional.
“She just loves Floydie so much that she made a rash decision. I don’t blame her at all.”
No wonder they were siblings—both Tracie and Sean were masters at twisting the truth.
Their words might seem like they were defending someone, but in reality, they were just dumping all the blame onto the other person.
It was just like a month ago, at Mount Gravenwood, when Tracie had whispered in Lumina’s ear, “Your parents must’ve done something terrible to end up dying in this mountain, don’t you think?
“I heard their bodies were devoured by wild animals. It must’ve been a gruesome death. Who knows what wicked things they did?”
Before Lumina could even react, Tracie had already fallen. Her right leg was a mangled, bloody mess.
In that moment, Floyd slapped Lumina across the face with fury and left her behind in Mount Gravenwood. “You crazy woman! If anything happens to Trace, you’ll stay here for the rest of your life!”
Lumina cried out, begging him not to leave her like this.
The truth was, her parents had died on a wilderness expedition. Ever since then, she had been terrified of the outdoors, of animals and especially of dark, eerie forests like this one. Had it not been for the desire to always be near Floyd, she would have never come on this trip.
Now, Floyd was about to leave her here to fend for herself.
Lumina sobbed, her body trembling, her thumb pressing desperately against the side of her middle finger. Her voice cracked as she pleaded, “Please don’t do this to me! I swear, I won’t do it again, I’ll never dare again!
“I won’t follow you anymore, I’ll stay far away from you, just please don’t leave me here!”
It was unclear which of her words triggered him, but Floyd’s anger only intensified. “Alright, Lumina! You really are something!”
The rescue team abandoned Lumina. They left her with nothing but a small package of food.
As her thoughts gathered, Lumina realized she had bitten her lips so hard they were bleeding and the sharp pain spread throughout her body, like needles piercing her skin.
Floyd suddenly grabbed her hand. “Apologize to Trace now!”
His grip was so tight that it tore open the wound on her elbow again. Blood dripped down her arm, staining the white sheets like the open maw of a beast.
Memories of Mount Gravenwood rushed back and Lumina instinctively flinched, but Floyd pinned her down.
Following the trail of blood, he was shocked to discover a deep, ten-centimeter gash on her elbow, the flesh torn and spilling blood.
“You said you already checked her thoroughly,” Floyd snapped, his eyes glaring at Sean as if he were ready to tear him apart. “How on earth that huge wound appear on Lumina's hand?”
“I… I…” Sean stammered, unable to say a word.
In reality, he hadn’t done any kind of check-up on Lumina. Throughout the entire ordeal, he had simply locked her in the examination room and occasionally shot her a look of disgust.
“I had planned to give you a full body check-up,” he said, his words dripping with a slimy emphasis that made Lumina feel nauseous. “But looking at you now, not quite human, not quite a ghost, I couldn’t be bothered to touch you.”
Seeing the situation turning against her, Tracie quickly shifted the blame back to Lumina.
“Lumina, how did that wound suddenly appear on your hand? Did you do this on purpose to avoid the wedding delay?”
As Tracie spoke, she shot a subtle, knowing glance at Sean, who quickly understood.
“Yeah, during the check-up, there was no wound. You must’ve secretly grabbed my scalpel when I wasn’t looking and cut yourself!”
“Always lying! You’re beyond help!” Floyd's voice shook with rage.
"Lumina, I’m telling you, whether you want to postpone the wedding or not, it’s going to be postponed!"
Throughout the whole exchange, Lumina only made one brief attempt to defend herself at the beginning. "I didn’t."
But after being interrupted by Floyd’s reprimand, she fell silent and simply watched, as if she no longer cared. When she heard the final words, she even lowered her head and softly replied, "Okay."
After leaving the hospital room, Floyd was still fuming with anger. Tracie tried to calm him down while suggesting, "I think Lumina's temper is not something that will change overnight. If she’s willing to harm herself today, who knows what kind of tantrum she’ll throw tomorrow!"
Floyd clearly took the point to heart, his eyes turning as dark as a storm cloud.
Seeing this, Tracie upped the ante. "I think she wouldn’t even be afraid to use the wedding delay as leverage. So, why not just cancel the engagement with her?"
"Absolutely not!" Without a second thought, Floyd rejected the suggestion.
"But Why? With Lumina’s temperament, if she finds out I’m canceling the engagement—"
As if recalling Lumina's potential reaction, a faint, almost affectionate smile tugged at the corner of Floyd’s lips.
Without thinking, he twisted the engagement ring on his finger. "Wouldn’t she throw a fit?"
"She's definitely reckless and unruly, but our engagement was arranged a long time ago. There's no way it can be called off. Didn't you say yourself? The only way to fix her rebellious nature is by being tough on her."
"I want to teach her a lesson." The image of Lumina’s gaunt, pale face, her legs in a pitiful state and the bone-deep wounds on her arms made a wave of sympathy stir in Floyd’s heart. "But she’s already learned enough lessons."
"But..."
"Enough," Floyd interrupted Tracie sharply, his tone leaving no room for argument. "I know what I’m doing."
As he spoke, the look in his eyes shifted, making Tracie quickly change her approach. "Floydie is right, I’ve been overthinking. Ouch—"
Before she could finish, a pained expression spread across her face.
"Is it your leg again?"
Floyd immediately put aside everything else, his concern growing as he carefully lifted her in his arms. "Where’s the doctor? Get the doctor here, quickly!"
Lumina had spent two days recovering in the hospital.
The nurse would apply medicine to her leg on time, but it was always some antiseptic powder.
The wound hadn’t even formed a scab yet and she was being smeared with these substances, often causing her pain so intense it felt like she was dying. As a result, the steady flow of medications and supplements fed into Lumina’s mouth, the nutrient solution dripping into her day and night, yet she only became thinner.
She was so fragile, she seemed like she might shatter if you pinched her.
When Floyd entered, he saw her drenched in sweat, her teeth clenched tightly on her lower lip, barely holding back a scream.
Clearly, however, the Lumina from before had been so delicate, even the slightest prick of a needle would make her cry out in distress, needing him to soothe her for a long time before she’d calm down.
How had she changed so much in just a month?
His heart tightened painfully.
“Do you even know how to apply medicine properly?”
Floyd snatched the medicine from the nurse’s hand, his tone chilling enough to send a shiver down her spine.
The nurse apologized profusely. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Stuart, I didn’t mean to…”
The medicine box fell to the ground with a loud clatter, startling Lumina. Seizing the opportunity, the nurse quickly fled the room.
Floyd held up the medicine bottle, his eyes swirling with complicated emotions, before finally letting out a sigh. “Don’t you know how to cry out when it hurts?”
"Wasn't it you who…”
