Aiden looked at me and asked, “How are you feeling? Still itchy?” I opened my eyes, forcing a bright smile. “I’m fine; thank you, Aiden.” He froze for a moment, then narrowed his eyes. “Wait… are you jealous?” I grinned. “Jealous? Not at all, my dear Aiden.” “Raelyn, talk normally.” “My dear Aiden, I am talking normally right now.” “Raelyn!” He practically barked my name, and I instantly shut my mouth. “Fine, fine, I’ll stop.” I said the words, but irritation still bubbled in my chest; after all, he was the one attracting unnecessary attention in the first place. He must’ve picked up on my mood, because his lips curved slightly as he said, “That Malia… she’s into Andrix, not me.” “No need to explain; really, no need. I can see that for myself,” I huffed, pulling the blanket over my head. But a second later, Aiden yanked me right back out. “Are you going to listen to my explanation or not?” “Yes, yes, I’ll listen—hey, don’t tug on my shirt!” He gave me a sharp look before letting go. Why did he suddenly feel so bossy… and impossible to argue with? I rubbed my neck, running through the situation in my head. “Aiden, are you mad at me?” I asked carefully. He didn’t answer, just sat there quietly typing away on his phone, drafting an email. I tugged at his arm. “Don’t ignore me. If I’m in trouble, at least let me know why before you kill me.” A sharp, cold snort escaped him. “You know exactly why. And you know exactly how you ended up here.” Ah. So this was still about the allergic reaction earlier. But how was that my fault? It wasn’t like I’d asked to derail the entire trip. By the afternoon, most of the red blotches had faded. Feeling restless, I suggested we go outside for some fresh air. Aiden didn’t like the idea—worried it was too cold—but I wore him down, and he reluctantly agreed. We wandered through the garden together. The place was overrun with dead grass, and Aiden shot it a look of disdain. “What’s so interesting about this?” I opened my mouth to argue, but instead, a huge sneeze burst out of me. “See? Only you would be wandering around in December like this,” he said, his tone dry as ever. I ignored his cold comment—by now, I was used to it—and leaned down to inspect the garden beds. Suddenly, my eyes lit up. “Wait… this is Emberleaf!” “What’s Emberleaf?” I straightened, lowering my voice like I was sharing some grand secret. “A medicinal herb. Eat it, and it strengthens your body.” “Alright, that’s enough. You’ve been outside long enough. We’re going back.” Without giving me a chance to protest, Aiden grabbed me by the collar and hauled me back toward the building. But as we approached the room, raised voices stopped us in our tracks. One of them belonged to Malia. We froze and looked toward the commotion. Malia was in a heated argument with a male werewolf. “Patient,” she said tightly, “I need you to stay calm. You have to understand—his condition isn’t easy to treat. Even if you brought in the best doctor in the world, there’s no guarantee.” The man exploded, jabbing a finger toward her. “Do you even realize who’s in that room? And even if it’s difficult, his condition shouldn’t have deteriorated this fast!” “That has nothing to do with our methods,” Malia retorted. “His emotions are unstable; that’s what’s making things worse. Maybe you should ask yourselves if you provoked him.”The man let out a bitter laugh. “Bullshit! Even if it got worse, it shouldn’t be this bad. He was talking just fine at noon; by the afternoon, his face is completely paralyzed. Some ‘best hospital in Veloria’ this is.” I clicked my tongue under my breath. “Seriously? The so-called best hospital in Veloria? Overrated, much.” I thought I’d muttered it quietly enough, but Malia’s head snapped around, her gaze pinning me. “You don’t trust our doctors?” she snapped, pointing a sharp finger my way. “Then why don’t you let her treat him? She studied medicine; she’s not bad.” I blinked, caught off guard. What the heck, how did this suddenly become my problem? I had zero intention of getting involved. Surely the patient’s family wouldn’t be unreasonable enough to take her bait. I started to turn away—only to hear someone calling after me. “Miss! Please, wait!” The werewolf man jogged over, his posture immediately deferential. “Miss, please—we’d be grateful if you could take a look at the patient.” “I… I really can’t,” I stammered. Even if I could treat him, that didn’t mean I wanted to be dragged into some random mess. Aiden stepped closer, taking my arm. “You’re barely recovered yourself; don’t get involved.” Something in his tone made my spine stiffen. Barely recovered? Did he really just say that? If he didn’t want me to go, well… that just made me want to do the opposite. “In that case,” I said sweetly, “I’ll go.”