NovelEnglishRaines stumbled back to his room, finding Lisbeth curled up in the middle of a nap on their bed. She was in the early stages of
pregnancy and needed all the rest she could get.
He took a gulp of cool water from a glass on the bedside table, but he was feeling off. A headache was creeping in. A burning
sensation gnawed at his stomach, undeterred even by the water he'd just drunk.
Clutching his abdomen, he groaned and collapsed onto the couch.
Lisbeth fluttered her eyes open at the sound. "What's wrong?" she asked, concern lacing her voice.
"I'm not feeling great." Raines curled up tighter, his face turning as pale as a sheet, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
Lisbeth sat up, her maternal instincts kicking in. "Should | take you to the hospital?"
He waved her off with a weak hand. "No need. I'll just rest a bit."
He thought a short rest would do the trick, but his condition only worsened. His body was wracked with pain, and his limbs started
to go numb, immobilizing him with fear.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt
"Call... call a doctor," he rasped.
Lisbeth dialed for an ambulance and hurried to alert the others.
Fredric and Skyler were the first to rush in.
"What the hell happened to Raines?" Fredric asked, his voice tinged with worry.
"lI don't know," Lisbeth replied, shaking her head. "He cback from outside complaining of feeling unwell and said he wanted to
lie down. Then, it got worse."
"Lethave a look," Skyler said, moving closer to Raines. "Buddy, tellwhere it hurts."
"It's my whole body... | can't... move," Raines managed to say. Thankfully, his head was still functioning normally, allowing him to
breathe and speak, or he might have been completely paralyzed, or worse.
Skyler examined him carefully.
"Did it start with a headache and stomach pain?" he asked.
"Yes," Raines nodded weakly.
"And then escalated to severe pain and limb numbness?"
"Yeah," Raines grunted, clearly in agony. "Am I... poisoned?" The thought crossed his mind that maybe Leopold and Fredric were
retaliating, slipping him a toxin of ssort.
Skyler looked incredulous. "This looks like a severe neurotoxin, synthesized from the extracts of deadly mandragora and cobra
venom. It can cause paralysis by numbing the nerves in the limbs."
Raines turned ashen. He was always the one laying traps, never the victim of such schemes. Raines had been careless this time,
too complacent.
"Someone's trying to poison and kill me?"
Fredric shook his head like a bobblehead. "That's impossible. This is Mossy Rock Retreat of the Stirling family with tight security. No
assassin could get through."
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm
Raines scoffed inwardly. Of course, it wasn't an outsider but an inside feud all over it.
Fredric and Leopold, the eldest son and the head of the Stirling family respectively, could easily orchestrate such a betrayal,
couldn't they?
"Fredric, do you and Leopold distrust me? Do you hold a grudge for that last incident, seeking revenge with poison? Is this family
banquet actually a set-up?"
Fredric seemed to have been thrown into a tornado. "Con, Raines, don't accuse us of such things. If we held any grudge, we'd
have dealt with it openly. Poisoning the heir is a cardinal sin in the Stirling family, punishable by death. Poisoning you at a family
dinner would only bring trouble upon us."
Raines clenched his jaw, fuming on the inside, wishing he could tear Fredric and Leopold apart. If only fate had been more
favorable, these two would already be history.
"If not you, then who? I've barely settled in Elysium without feuds or grudges. Who would wantdead?"
Skyler spoke up, "It might be Geoffrey's doing. He's the only one who has access to that toxin. He developed it."
A dark glint flashed in Raines' eyes. He said, "That's ridiculous. | don't even know Geoffrey. Why would he have any reason to
target me?"
Visit our social media platform to read fascinating stories every day and connect with the community!
