"We were preparing to move first, right? Eric had set up traps for us and we were going to proceed with Wilson's plan. Eric was deliberately trying to figure out our forces as well. But before the two sides could move, there was a sudden gunshot. That was Kayden.
"Afterwards, she even wounded several capable men beside Eric, causing a lack of personnel protecting him. Eric had to change the tactical formation he'd just sit, with his first priority to protect himself. That gave us an opening, so our people went with the plan to move against Eric's people, trying to get in there and extract Emilia.
"There were a lot of traps inside the factory, but Kayden told us about several, then destroyed several more, so our side didn't sustain serious injuries. Finally, Kayden rescued Emilia, and I chose to trust her... you know about what happened later on. You brought Emilia and Kayden to the hospital, and we stayed behind and continued to fight Eric's men. A cornered animal is at its most dangerous, but Eric is just too devious of a person. I wanted to deal with him and have him disappear from this world.
"He's not to be underestimated, though. He managed to escape with his bodyguards escorting him. We can be sure that we've devastated his elite forces, though. Even if he does want to come to us for revenge, it'll take a year or so."
Georgia didn't know whether to rejoice at that or not. With Eric's personality, so long as he had a bit of strength left, he'd come back to make trouble for them.
They were at a do or die scenario now.
Eric was sick himself, and he just wanted to take Robert and use his body to research medication for his own body.
Unless Eric agreed to cooperate in research, the feud wasn't going to stop.
They'd already tried it today, though, and it was impossible to negotiate with Eric.
Georgia ended up talking about Kayden's injury and surgery. Since Kayden hadn't woken up at all, they still had no way of knowing why Kayden was helping them.
As for Emilia, it seemed like she'd only sustained external injuries, but her facial injuries still required professional help to try and heal.
It was also possible that she'd been injected with drugs to harm her body, and it all rested on the report tomorrow.
That night, Emilia's parents arrived.
As they went to Emilia's room to check on her, they ran into Ivan.
Ivan went on his knee before the pair.
"Mr. and Mrs. Powell, I've known Emilia since several years ago. I like her and I'm willing to take care of her for the rest of her life. No matter what her condition is when she wakes up, I won't hide on like a coward, and I'll court her bravely."
Emilia's parents were a bit taken aback, but the two of them were more worried about Emilia's current wounds.
There were clear injuries on her face and body, and the parents didn't look happy.
They weren't even halfway interested in Ivan's talk of love.
"My daughter is a free spirit. If she wants to be with you after waking up, I won't refuse, but if she doesn't, she's free to do so as well. Thank you for caring for her and protecting her, Ivan, but even with her in such a state, the Powell family can still let her live on without worry. She doesn't need your pity. It might be wrong of me to say so, but even though Emilia looks seriously injured, it's not for us to interfere with her wishes."
Margie said to Ivan.
Ivan hurriedly explained.
"I didn't speak clearly about it, sir, ma'am. I just wanted to have a chance at courting Emilia. As for Emilia's wounds on her body and face, I know some experts in the field, and I can take them over to help her."
"Thank you for that."
Oscar nodded at Ivan.
"We want to stay in our daughter's room for a while. Could you leave for a moment?"
Margie said that, and Ivan could only leave helplessly.
As he went out, he just so happened to see Georgia and Robert waiting out there.
"Georgia, Robert. How's Kayden doing?"
"The bullets are out of her, but she might not wake until tomorrow."
Georgia said that, and Ivan nodded as he brought something else up with the pair.
"Have I bothered you with how immature I've been?"
Ivan's face looked a bit sorrowful.
"Don't be so sad, Ivan. She's back safely already, and she just has to go through treatment. Haven't you already bucked up the courage to court her?"
"I just feel like I've never known her well."
Ivan turned to Robert and said that.
"I've always thought that if a man and a woman got together, they were supposed to fall in love, then get married and have children, raising the child and going on for the rest of their lives. I might be wrong. That might not be what Emilia wants, and she might not be prepared for it.
"It's enough for me to stay by her side and protect her. Spending the rest of our lives together, getting married, engaged, proposing – she might not like that at all. I might have gone about it the wrong way before. Maybe I didn't understand back then. She's not like the other girls. She's a free spirit. If she wants to be with me, I need to respect her. If she wants to go out and travel, I'll stay with her if she wants to, and if she doesn't, I'll just think of some way to keep her safe.
"I'm just sad that I only seemed to understand that today."
As Ivan said that, he left. His silhouette seemed lonely and down.
He probably felt that he'd wasted a lot of time.
Georgia and Robert stood out there, looking at each other and sighing.
"Ivan's growing up. He's never been mature about feelings, but he's finally seemed to wise up this time and learn to respect the other. But we still don't know what Emilia's going to be like if she wakes up."
"Compared to the physical injuries and the chemical damage, I'm more worried about something else. Eric clearly likes torturing people mentally. We don't know what Emilia's gone through. I'm afraid her psyche might be damaged, and that's what's bothering me the most right now."
"We'll just have to see what condition Emilia is in when she wakes up."
Robert and Georgia waited on for three hours, but the first to wake wasn't Emilia, but Kayden.
Kayden let Georgia and Robert meet her straight away, but refused to let Aston stay in the room.
Aston stood by his lonesome outside the bedroom when Georgia and Robert walked over.
As husband and wife walked in, Aston closed the door actively.
Not long afterwards, he spoke outside.
"I'll keep my distance. I won't eavesdrop."
At that, the footsteps grew fainter and fainter outside, and Kayden's face turned complicated.
Georgia didn't know what words the two had exchanged. She sat in the room with Robert, then turned to Kayden and spoke.
"I have a lot of questions and so does Robert, but whatever you want to say, you can say it yourself. We'll hold off on the questions. Anything you want to say, just say it. If you need our help, you can ask for it.