"You're awake!"
Meiko felt a surge of validation; Claire hadn't disappointed her.
She knew someone with Claire's extensive medical background would have
conditioned her own body against sedatives.
The knockout drops barely stood a chance.
It was a good thing she had doubled the dose, or she might never have managed to drag Claire out of there.
She also had the dim, flickering lights of the public restroom to thank; otherwise, Claire would have easily spotted her move in the dark.
Without those factors, Meiko knew her plan would have failed completely.
"Melanie," Claire began, her tone laced with deliberate accusation. "I agreed to help you restore your health, and I even promised to treat your mentor. And your repayment is kidnapping me? Isn't that biting the hand that feeds you?"
Claire pressed the issue, intentionally testing her.
Meiko's usual gentle, polite facade vanished.
"Claire, I was forced into this," she replied defensively.
"My mentor is a pillar of our nation, and his research is at a critical juncture."
"But his health deteriorates by the day. The top specialists back in Sundara have entirely run out of options."
"Finally finding a doctor as gifted as you... I simply couldn't let this opportunity slip away."
"I invited you to Sundara before. My mentor offered you an astronomical salary. Why were you so stubbornly unmoved?"
"If you had just agreed, we wouldn't have had to resort to violence."
Unbelievable, Claire thought. She's actually blaming me for this.
These people truly lacked any sense of self-awareness.
Claire fixed her with an icy stare. "Melanie, you realize you're from Sundara and I'm from Solenia, right? We've been standing on opposite sides since the day we were born."
"I'm all for global unity and treating foreign guests with respect, but I reserve the right to withhold that courtesy."
"Agreeing to treat your personal condition was already the pinnacle of my goodwill."
"But you got greedy. You wanted to drag me to Sundara to heal your mentor."
"Let's be real. If the best minds in all of Sundara can't cure him, what makes you think I can?"
"Yet you still insist on abducting me across borders. How is that anything but a betrayal?"
Claire gave Meiko a loaded look. "Your mentor stepped onto Solenian soil but doesn't even have the guts to use his real name."
"Is he some kind of wanted fugitive here?"
"I don't know how tight your bond is, but I can guarantee you one thing: he's using you."
"Melanie, didn't you ever stop to wonder why your mentor sought out a young girl like me instead of
established experts in traditional medicine
"Sure, I have skills, but compared to those legendary doctors, I'm practically a nobody."
It only took a few sentences from Claire to plunge Meiko into deep hesitation.
It was true. Why did her mentor insist on Claire specifically?
Furthermore, she hadn't forgotten the true nature of her mission in Solenia. What kind of history actually existed between Claire and her mentor?
"What, you don't know either?" Claire mocked.
Claire was fishing in the dark, but she already had a few solid theories.
Meiko opened her mouth, then snapped it shut.
Outside the door, a figure in a wheelchair was being pushed into the room— Frederick Foster, who had overheard the entire exchange.
"There's no need to test Melanie, and no need to try and drive a wedge between us."
"I raised her myself. Her loyalty lies entirely with me."
Claire silently cursed the old fox.
However, Frederick looked significantly better now than he had during their late- night encounter at The Royal Grand.
It immediately clicked for Claire: while the old man was undeniably suffering from Severe radiation exposure, he wasn't at death's door just yet.
A pulse reading didn't always reveal the full extent of a patient's
underlying trauma, especially since she hadn't bothered to give him a thorough examination at the time.