Chapter 77

77 Judgmental Stranger

When Lucien whipped around, he came face-to-face with an elder lady. Although the ruthlessness of time had taken a toll on the woman’s appearance, she still looked astounding with long, curly jet-black hair and a pair of clear greenish-blue eyes.

Her voice might not be familiar, but the person herself was.

Or to be more precise, the woman looked like someone who was familiar to Lucien. She was the spitting image of Ronan Silverback.

“Mrs. Silverback?” Lucien greeted in hesitation. Ronan had never spoken about his mother during their short time together, so Lucien knew nothing about her.

“No,” the lady responded decisively.

Lucien immediately apologized, “I am sorry. I mistook you for someone else.”

The lady stifled a smile behind a silk handkerchief.

Even the smiles were similar.

Lucien could hardly believe that the lady was not Ronan’s mother. Could she be a relative of Ronan’s mother then? A twin sister, maybe?

.....

The lady in question turned her head slightly to talk to her nurse.

“Please leave us, Edith.”

The nurse must have known what brought Lucien to the hospital because she threw the lady terrified looks.

“But Ma’am,” she objected as discreetly as possible while throwing obvious looks at Lucien. Lucien might as well be a serial killer. It would not have made much difference to Edith.

“It’s fine,” the lady smoothed the blanket on her lap with a smile. “Leave us.”

Edith left reluctantly, not without throwing glances over her shoulder. Lucien was not surprised. Responsible as she was, she would most likely call for some hospital security guards to lurk around just in case Lucien decided to go on a rampage and hurt the defenseless woman...

“No need to mind Edith,” the lady said. “Will you push me around for a bit? There is a small pond over there. The air is nice and fresh. It’s a good place to talk.”

A good place to talk.

“Sure.”

Lucien moved behind the lady and wheeled her in the direction she described.

Indeed, there was a little pond just some distance away from the garden. While Lucien was wheeling the lady in the direction of the pond, he caught sight of other patients who were also enjoying the fresh air outside of their wards. When they saw Lucien, they could barely conceal the shock on their faces.

Humph.

News traveled fast, especially the scandals.

“You don’t need to worry about what people say about you. Only you know what is going on, so why do you care about other people’s opinions?” The lady asked once they arrived at the side of the pond.

Lucien smiled as he went on his knees to secure the lady’s wheelchair.

“You are wrong. I don’t really care that much.”

A soft smile adorned her visage, enhancing her beautiful features even more, but the words that she spoke carried a sharp tone. “You are lying.”

Lucien lifted his gaze in sheer amazement. Was he such a bad liar if even a stranger could tell in an instant?

The lady looked down at Lucien, scrutinizing him with Ronan’s eyes.

“I can see that you are bothered by what people think about you, and the recent incidents that happened in your life.”

Lucien could not help but laugh.

“That is quite judgmental, coming from someone who I met for the first time.”

“Indeed, quite judgmental of me, to say that to someone that I meet for the first time,” the lady agreed with a grin. “Is that not true, though?”

“I do not wish to answer,” Lucien said. He was not willing to talk about himself, even less with a complete stranger.

“I should go back to my room now. Please excuse me.”

The man rose to his feet and turned around to leave. On his way back, he almost bumped into Edith. The nurse looked terrified. She mumbled a hurried apology before she rushed to the lady’s side.

At night, Lucien waited for Ronan to arrive to ask her about some lady with a striking resemblance to him. Unfortunately, Ronan did not show up in time. Lucien was tempted to send him a message to quench his curiosity, but then he decided not to.

It was not that important.

Besides, he had more pressing matters to think about.

It turned out that Ronan did not come at all that night. He merely made a call and asked his assistant to drop off another bouquet of red carnation flowers for Lucien.

The next day, Alice again kicked Lucien out of the ward.

“The sun has done wonders to your complexion. Go take a walk again, make it an hour this time.”

It was naturally complete nonsense. Whose complexion would improve after thirty minutes of walking around in the garden?

Nevertheless, Lucien obediently went down to the garden. Just as luck had it, he just had to bump against Edith and the mysterious lady.

“...”

The lady beamed at Lucien and greeted him, “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” Lucien greeted back with a stiff nod. He then quickly distanced himself from the lady and everyone else just in case people feared him.

He found himself a comfortable spot under a large tree, so he sat beneath the tree and leaned against the trunk.

Above him, the dark green leaves were densely piled together to form a natural canopy that only let some strands of sunlight through.

Before long, his head started to feel heavy and his eyelids kept threatening to fall shut. Lucien rubbed at his eyes to stay awake, but the temptation was too great.

Maybe it was also because he had not been having the best sleep night after night, but the gentle blowing wind and the warm sunlight were mostly to blame for the sudden drowsiness. Before Lucien knew it, his eyes were already closed for good and his body slackened.

His sleep was so deep that he did not even hear the sound of a rolling wheelchair approaching.

Edith stopped wheeling the wheelchair when the lady who sat on it held her hand up.

“Edith, my shawl.”