Chapter 20

The night was dead silent, and the whole Bennett estate had fallen into sleep. On the bedroom windowsill, the incense in the candleholder had burned out, the last wisp of smoke quietly scattered by a soft breeze. Cassian leaned back in a reclining chair, his eyes cool and distant. His long legs rested casually on a footstool, and the glow of the lamp made his sharp features all the more striking. Beside him, the young doctor, James, wore thick rubber gloves and used tweezers to carefully pull out a hair-thin needle from Cassian's leg. Under the light, a cold glint flashed off the metal-chilling. With a soft clink, James dropped it into a glass vial and sealed it tight. He pulled off his gloves, glanced at Cassian, and said, "Good thing you called me ahead of time. If that thing had been left unchecked, you'd have been paralyzed till sunrise." Cassian sat in silence for a bit before the feeling slowly returned to his leg. That numb sensation across his body also began to fade. He rubbed