The Heir's Secret Bride

On the other side of the glass, Byron lowered his head and fed the medicine into Maeve's mouth.

One sip was not enough, so he offered another.

Only when the syringe was empty did Byron stop, gently brushing his lips against Maeve's pale ones, a soft murmur escaping him.

"I'm sorry for being late."

But of course, Maeve could not hear him. The medicine that she did not swallow trickled from her lips, and Byron tenderly wiped it away with careful movements.

It seemed Byron had forgotten that Maeve was currently a walking virus source and that being near her carried a 90% chance of infection.

But Byron did not care at all.

He was like a madman who, despite knowing that the precious treasure was coated in poison, could not help but cradle it in his hands to prevent it from dropping. Jaylen placed his hands on the research table. There was a look of astonishment in his eyes.

He seemed to understand why Maeve still fell in love with this man after four years.

No matter how irrational Byron's actions seemed to outsiders at that moment, Jaylen couldn't help but acknowledge that Byron was a real man.

Jaylen thought, 'But this will mean that my plans...

Will and Theo were equally shocked, as air contact posed only a 50% risk of infection, while close contact guaranteed a 100% chance.

For the two children, their mother was very important, but their father was equally important.

Losing anyone would be painful and unacceptable.

At that moment, Jaylen said to the children, "You two need to leave for a bit. I need to draw blood for testing."

Theo wanted to stay and help, but he was pulled away by Will.

Will could tell that Jaylen had sent them away on purpose. Jaylen probably had something to discuss with Byron.

Jaylen went in and drew blood from Byron. He said with a mocking tone, "You certainly know how to pile on the work for me, Mr. Mcdaniel. Are your employees aware of how reckless you are?"

Byron's expression remained indifferent. "Rather than place all my hopes in you, it's better for me to take control."

"What do you mean by that?" Jaylen asked.

"Currently, there's only one confirmed case of the mutant variant of Xasia, which is Maeve. Once the antidote is developed, who do you plan to use for testing?" Instead of answering Jaylen's question, Byron countered with a question. Jaylen frowned and did not answer Byron's question.

Byron's gaze lingered on Jaylen's gloved hands, and he let out a disdainful snort. "I take it you're planning to infect yourself and test the antidote on yourself?"

The densely packed needle marks on the back of Jaylen's hand were the best proof.

Developing an antidote was fundamentally tied to human experimentation.

This meant that Jaylen must have tested it on himself multiple times, resulting in such shocking marks.

Jaylen instinctively lowered his hands and replied flatly, "Maeve is my fiancée, and it's my responsibility to handle this. What's your purpose in meddling, Mr. Mcdaniel?"

Byron casually looked up, and a sharp glint flickered in his eyes, too intense to gaze upon.

Byron said, "I'm responsible for my woman. Your only job is to stay alive and produce the antidote.

"I will remember this debt to the Chatterly family, and once you have passed on, I will repay it in full."

Jaylen was speechless. 'Fuck him,' he thought.

He was seething with anger.

After he was done drawing blood, Jaylen left the room with a cold expression and walked over to the research table to analyze the blood sample.

He was shocked to find that Byron's blood type was the same as Maeve's.

Rh-negative blood was rare, to begin with, let alone type AB Rh-negative blood.

Jaylen pursed his lips. Just this alone made Byron's advantage in drug testing far superior to his.

"This is probably why Byron is willing to be infected, Jaylen thought.

Jaylen's guess was right. Once Byron learned that Maeve was infected with the mutant variant of Xasia, he had already made up his mind. It was not a decision made on impulse. Since Maeve was the only person infected with this, they would undoubtedly need to look for another infected individual for testing.

In that case, Byron, who had the same blood type as Maeve, was the most suitable candidate.

The two children brought over dinner and Jaylen delivered it into the isolation room.

"Daddy... Will stood on tiptoe by the glass window, glancing inside at Byron, struggling to find the right words. "How are you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine for now," Byron replied calmly. He glanced at Theo, who was eagerly peering in from beside Will, before quickly turning his gaze away after just two seconds.

Theo was stunned. 'Am I imagining things? Daddy seems to have a bit of aversion toward me, he thought.

"Where's Mommy? How is she now?" Will asked again.

"She's much better now that she's taken the medicine. She's sleeping very soundly now," Byron replied.

Will heaved a small sigh of relief. He realized that Theo was in a daze beside him and gently touched him. "Theo, what are you daydreaming about?"

Theo came back to his senses and shook his head. "Nothing..."

Theo could not help but look at Byron again, who was calmly eating his dinner and did not look over.

Theo stroked his chin, thinking that he must have misinterpreted things. 'I am adored by everyone. How can I possibly be hated by anyone?' he thought. 'If someone detests me, it means that they have poor taste!' Theo was exceptionally confident, completely lacking in sensitivity, and failed to notice Will's odd behavior.

Even Will had noticed Byron's coldness toward Theo.

'It wasn't like this in the past. Even though Daddy always calls Theo fat, there is a hint of affection in his eyes, Will thought. 'But earlier... Daddy was sizing Theo up coldly.

Will furrowed his brows. 'Am I overthinking this or is Daddy in a bad mood because of Mommy's matter, resulting in him projecting those feelings onto Theo?' he thought. 'Hopefully, that is the case.' The next day, Eric arrived at First Hospital with his team.

Maeve and Byron were quarantined separately and subjected to various examinations and physical monitoring.

With Byron's order and Jaylen being the person with the most research experience on the mutant variant of Xasia, it was only natural for Jaylen to take over the leadership position in Eric's team.

In just half a day, Eric went from begrudgingly accepting his loss of leadership to being in complete awe of Jaylen.

Upon learning that Jaylen had only begun researching Xasia six months ago and had only been working with the mutant variant for less than a week, Eric was almost ready to kneel before Jaylen in reverence.

Jaylen could be considered one of the top geniuses in the research institute. Eric could not believe that he previously felt that Jaylen was not worthy of leading this team. Eric realized that he had been a little too full of himself. The experiment went smoothly on this side. On the other side, Maeve slowly woke up to the smell of disinfectant.

Maeve felt as if she had just been pulled out of the water. Her clothes clung to her body, and her long hair was half-damp and draped over her shoulders, causing discomfort around her neck.

Maeve endured the pain coursing through her and sat up. She looked around, her eyes filled with confusion.

'Why am I in the hospital? Did Jaylen send me here?' she wondered. 'It's better this way. If I stay at his house, I'm worried that I'll accidentally transmit the virus to him or Daryl. Maeve rubbed her aching temples and turned to pick up the phone on the table.

She had many missed calls and messages.

But when Maeve checked through her calls and texts, the anticipation she had felt quickly vanished, leaving her heart feeling heavy.