"I don't know if you've put the hospital on checking me, but I know my body has an issue.
"I worked for Eric because his subordinate research team developed a drug that causes dependency. It's addictive, like a narcotic. It's not the sort of narcotic that you'd see on the market, but he'd developed it with his own team. Other than having him provide the drug to slow the dependency, other medications won't work at all. Eric's controlled a great deal of people this way. Even the best soldiers and mercenaries who'd seen battle couldn't resist it.
"It takes a month of injecting the drug into one's body to cause addiction. I couldn't fight it, either, so I wanted to ask you for your help."
"What is it? Just say it."
Robert said that steadily. Kayden sighed, her eyes sad.
"I don't want to become an unrecognizable madwoman before Aston. I can't imagine how my psyche will end up without the drug provided by Eric, and how my body's going to end up. I've seen how horribly the people who're punished to go without the drug end up. Some of them even wanted to kill themselves. I'd like you to put me in a secure location.
"I don't expect you to cure me. I just want you to tie me up so I won't hurt myself, and that I won't be captured by the enemy when I'm going mad. Especially Eric's men. After all, I helped you on this. It shouldn't be too much to ask for this in return."
"I understand. I'll arrange it."
Robert agreed, and he made another promise.
"I'll put a team into researching the drug in your system and try to cure you. If we can't, I'll have them at least try to control it and regain your normal senses."
Kayden smiled.
"Thank you. Now you can ask me anything you like."
"Why did you get close to Aston? And why did you attack my mother? I hope you'll be able to speak honestly about your intentions."
"A year ago, I was still working for Mr. Knight. You know about this, Ms. Lane, and we've seen it back then.
"Back then when Mr. Knight threatened Robert to come save you, too much happened that day on that island. Mr. Knight passed away, and I fled, injured. After I woke up, I found myself shut in Eric's underground lab, injected with drugs. I just wanted to be loyal to Mr. Knight alone, so I didn't want to work for Eric. He did all that against me, after all.
"I thought I could resist the drug, but I failed. So I obeyed. The first mission Eric gave me was to infiltrate the Ace Group's hematology project and steal all the data. I chose to stay by Aston's side and spy on the group from that angle. I felt like he was easier to approach. He looked cold, but he's a gentle, straightforward man.
"I acted all along beside him. The project was taking almost half a year, and to stay longer beside him and to move more freely out there, I had a romance with him so that Eric would think that it was going well on my end and needed more time. After all, their own project wasn't over yet, so Eric didn't suspect me. Just one year later, I'd already stolen the project's data, and I should have come back to Eric's side for other missions already. But I didn't want to go back, so I found an excuse with Eric and said I wanted to take revenge for Mr. Knight, hoping that Eric would give me a chance.
"Robert just so happened to end up in Eric's sights, so he had me continue to stay by Aston's side and try to approach Robert and you, Georgia. Eric still didn't have a clear grasp of Robert's condition back then, and he only treated him as a person of interest. I never got anywhere, and I might have let something slip, leading Eric to think I was possibly betraying him. So I used my excuse back then to attack your mother.
"I treated your mother as the person behind Mr. Knight's death all along. If your mother hadn't come over and introduced more chaos, Mr. Knight might not have died. To be honest, Miss Lane, I did hold a grudge against your mother. I thought about having her die along with Mr. Knight, because he'd always wanted that woman by his side. Those were truly what I thought. No one told me to think that way, and I wasn't forced to attack your mother."
"You deliberately went easy when you attacked, though, didn't you?"
Georgia turned to Kayden and asked. Kayden dipped her head and smiled a wan smile.
"I thought I wouldn't be moved. I thought that Aston and I were just in a fake relationship. But he was just so good to me, you know? He's the only person I've ever seen so pure and so passionate. He might be cold to outsiders, but he devoted everything he had to me in the purest love he had. I couldn't do anything to hurt him, and I couldn't hurt your mother either. I couldn't bear to have him look at me with only hatred from that point on. I couldn't do it.
"You just so happened to arrive, so I found myself an excuse and felt that I couldn't move because you were here. But I truly had been planning to move on your mother in the beginning, and I won't deny it."
"You saved Emilia today, and we're even for you hurting my mother. I won't get hung up on that for you any longer."
Georgia said that, then turned to Kayden again.
"As for what you requested, I'll agree to it along with Robert. How often does your condition act up? You know about Robert's condition, and you even warned me before. I'm grateful to you on that as well. I'd like to research your condition as well. Is that all right?"
Kayden dipped her head and chuckled.
"Who are you going to get to research me? Or are you going to get involved yourself? I have nothing against it. I even want you to cure me. I don't want to become an uncontrollable person. That's terrifying to me. As for my condition, I get an attack every half a month, but that's because I had the drugs half a month ago. If I don't take the drug in half a month, it'll slowly get to one attack every week, then every two days, then every single day.
"Finally, it'll even get to the point where every moment is agonizing suffering, until one loses the strength to hold on and kills themselves. I've seen it happen to someone else. If you really can't get me under control, you can also end it for me right there, or leave me a weapon so I can put an end to myself."
"What about Aston? Don't you want to say something to him before you leave just like that? I can tell that he still hasn't taken you off his mind. Even with all that's happened, he's willing to forgive you."
"Love is good for nothing. So much has happened between us, and I had bad intentions from the beginning. With my condition, I can't promise that I'll survive. Why would I get back together with him? Just to hurt him again when something happens to me? I'm not willing to do that, Miss Lane.
"If I really heal up, maybe I'll see if there's anything left between us, but at least not now. Please promise me this. When I get to that safe place, if he still wants to concern himself over me, you can tell him, but I don't want him to see me in my horrid state. You're a woman. You should understand. Losing my mind before someone I love is not something I can accept."
Georgia finally agreed and arranged a trip that very night, taking Kayden to a safe place and putting a team on her body, thinking of a way to cure her.
Meanwhile, Robert had his people knock Aston out.
They didn't want Aston to stop Kayden from leaving.
The following morning, Emilia finally woke, but she wasn't doing well.
She treated everyone around her as a threat and the people who'd tormented her. Even her parents, even Aston and Georgia, Emilia was in too much pain to have them stay. Nobody could approach her.
From what the psychiatrists could make of in their preliminary diagnosis, Emilia had been through serious mental trauma, and was seeing the entire world as her enemy.
By noon, Emilia's body check reports came out.