Chapter 653
Inside Rayna's dream, the man walked until he stood right in front of her, then stretched a hand toward her. Seeing
that she gave no response, he grabbed her and tried to drag her away.
“I'm not going with you. I won't,” she mumbled in her sleep until she woke up with a start.
Curtis was doing some work in the study when he heard a noise from the bedroom. He rushed over immediately,
taking long strides. The moment he pushed the door open, he saw Rayna sitting on the bed, drenched in a cold
sweat. Her face was deathly pale.
He hurried over to the bed and placed a hand on her forehead. However, she did not seem to be running a fever.
“What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?”
“Mm-hmm,” she murmured in response. As she reached out and held his arm, he could clearly feel the slight
tremble in her hand. It seemed she had yet to recover from her bad dream.
He stood next to the bed and hugged her, waiting until she calmed down before letting her go. “I'll get a towel to
wipe your face.”
“Okay,” Rayna answered. She loosened her grip on his arm, but she did so ever so slowly with a hint of reluctance.
Seeing that, Curtis sighed softly before scooping her up from the bed and carrying her into the bathroom.
Since she could no longer see, a chair had been prepared in the bathroom so she could sit on it while he helped her
wash up.
As she sat in the chair in front of the bathroom counter, he used a warm wet towel to dab at her face with gentle
motions.
He spoke to her tenderly while cleaning her face before moving on to her hands, wiping them carefully.
Then, he took another towel, dampened it, and began patiently wiping her back.
Being drenched in a cold sweat had left Rayna feeling a little chilly. However, after Curtis' careful ministrations with
the warm towel, her body slowly started warming up.
Thinking about how attentive he had been toward her over the past few days, she felt moved yet worried. “Curtis,
what if I never regain my eyesight—”
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt“You will,” he said, cutting her off before she could finish her sentence.
I know what she wants to say. However, even if her eyesight never gets better, it has never crossed my mind to
abandon her.
“We'll go to Shvomhid Mountain and find that traditional medicine practitioner. After pairing his treatment with Dr.
Galopin's, your eyesight will be on the mend,” he continued as he rinsed the towels and hung them up to dry. Then,
he turned and carried her out of the bathroom.
Just as he was about to lower her onto the bed, she clutched his shirt and asked, “What time is it now?”
Curtis glanced at the clock on the bedside table. It was three in the morning.
“It's still early, so you should sleep a little longer,” he replied as he put her down on the bed. He reached for the
covers and was about to tuck her in when she lifted a hand to grab his.
“You've been up all night, haven't you?” She recalled that she had been alone in bed when she awoke earlier, and
the other half of the covers had been cold.
“I'll come over later. I still have several international video conferences to attend,” he replied softly. There was
gentleness and reassurance in his tone.
Slowly, Rayna relaxed the fingers gripping his shirt and lay down on the bed. He pulled the covers over her and
said, “I'll wait until you fall asleep before leaving.”
Curtis climbed in under the covers and sat holding her until she dozed back to sleep. Then, he got up gingerly and
left the bedroom. Upon returning to his study, he turned on his computer and resumed his international video
conference.
When one of the video conference's attendees—a silver-haired man—noticed that Curtis had rejoined the meeting,
he reported, “Things have been a little tricky over here in Yartran. People from the Civil Engineering Bureau have
been coming by constantly.”
Here, a young, baby-faced man chimed in, “Evidently, someone in Yartran's inner circles is up to something. It
seems a reshuffle in the candidates for Yartran's royal family is poised to happen, so internal power struggles have
been more intense. I think it's highly likely that someone from the other party was the one who caused it.”
“That doesn't make sense. Are there still people in the Civil Engineering Bureau who oppose the current president?”
the voice of a young woman rang out in the video conference. “As far as I know, the president personally selected
those who would be in the bureau. I also heard that a month ago, the president handed the authority over the
bureau to the crown prince.”
The crown prince...
Upon hearing that, Curtis narrowed his eyes as he sat at his desk. “What's the name of Yartran's crown prince?”
“Jovan Eastbridge,” the woman replied.
“He's the current crown prince, to be exact,” added the silver-haired man.
Eastbridge... Eastbridge... As Curtis kept repeating the name inwardly, the image of the word “Bridge” Rayna had
traced on the glass window surfaced in his mind.
A cold look rose in his eyes, and he slowly clenched his fists.
“We should be able to view his photo on Yartran's official website,” the woman added. Her hand moved over her
tablet, and she quickly sent a photo to Curtis.
He tapped on the photo and frowned. “He has blue eyes.”
“That's right. Rumor has it that the current crown prince is the only one whose looks differ from the other royal
family members. Those in their family either have black or yellow eyes. None of them have ever had blue eyes,”
the woman in the video conference responded. She also sent an article on the crown prince to Curtis. “Take a look
at this article.”
He pulled up the article and gave it a cursory glance. Nonetheless, the part where it talked about the crown prince's
engagement did not escape his notice. “He's engaged? He has a fiancée?”
“Yes. The crown prince of Yartran's fiancée is the daughter of their country's secretary of state. She's also the next
secretary of state,” the woman answered. No sooner had she replied than the baby-faced man piped up, “Mr.
Faymon, do you suspect this matter has something to do with the crown prince?”
“That remains to be seen.” Curtis put away his phone, then looked up at the three people on the screen. “Continue
to follow up on this matter and report to me immediately if there are any updates.”
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm“Got it,” they answered. After that, Curtis ended the video conference. He sat in his leather chair, mulling over
everything that had happened.
He tried piecing together the information he knew to determine whether what happened to Rayna was somehow
related to Faymon Group's real estate project. However, no matter how hard he tried, he could not figure out a
connection between the two.
When he thought about the word Rayna had written on the window, he felt upset.
She's hiding something from me, and that makes me uncomfortable.
Thinking back to earlier that day when Rayna brought up how he had kept Faymon Group's foray into Yartran's real
estate industry from her, he grew even more uneasy.
Bright and early the following morning, the housekeepers at the Faymon residence were busy cleaning the
courtyard as it was littered with leaves due to the heavy downpour the night before.
When Rayna woke up, she still did not see Curtis in bed, and his side of the bed was cold.
She threw back the covers, climbed out of bed, and padded over to the sliding doors. Then, she opened the sliding
door and went out onto the balcony. Breathing in deeply, she caught a whiff of the faint smell of grass mixed with
soil.
Behind her, she heard someone open the bedroom door, and Curtis' voice rang out from inside the room, “Why are
you up so early? Don't you want to sleep a little longer?”
As he spoke, he walked over and hugged her from behind.
“What time is it now?” Rayna asked. Since losing her eyesight, she would keep asking that question from time to
time.
“It's seven in the morning,” he answered, lightly rubbing his chin over the top of her head. “Why don't you get a
little more sleep?”
“Didn't you get any sleep last night?” she asked.
“No. My meeting only just ended, and I'm feeling a little sleepy. Do you want to sleep with me for a while, hmm?” he
asked as his hand resting on her waist started wandering over her body.