The Sweet Rival (Mango Shen and Nathaniel Ye)

"What's wrong? Are you still having concerns?"

Bettany glanced at Mango and saw that she was hesitant, so she couldn't help but ask.

"Are you going to give up just because Magnolia said you can't go?"

After hearing what Bettany said, Mango's heart skipped a beat.

"It has nothing to do with Magnolia. We should forget about Barack... for now. There are just too many things we need to care of here, and Maverick is still looking after Lilian in the hospital. Hence, we are too short of hands here. If all of us set out to look for Barack, who is going to watch over the village?"

After giving it some considerable thought, Mango decided to look for Barack until Nathaniel woke up in the end.

On the other hand, Bettany did not comment further, so she returned to her room. Meanwhile, Mango couldn't tell what Bettany was thinking.

Now, she trusted no one but Nathaniel.

After all, Mango dared not to return to her room, even if she desperately wanted to. This was because she was afraid of being targeted by someone else.

Soon, time passed quickly. Mango continued on her scheduled patrol, but nothing really happened.

Finally, at the end of the day, everyone gathered for dinner. However, Maverick and Lilian were still in the hospital, and Nathaniel could not come out, plus Magnolia was still investigating Augustus' matter. Hence, there were only a handful of people at the dining table.

Throughout the meal, Bettany had been quiet. She didn't mention anything about finding Barack. Wisdom also seemed to have something on his mind, so he didn't bother to speak at all. Everyone on this table was deep in thought and couldn't enjoy their food.

After finishing her meal, Mango said she was tired, and then she hurriedly went back to her room. She also requested everyone to not disturb her if nothing important happened.

Meanwhile, Bettany was in deep thought as she watched Mango leave.

"Wisdom, is there something your mommy is hiding from us?"

Bettany glanced at Wisdom and asked unintentionally.

Wisdom shook his head and replied with a puzzled face, "What is she hiding from us?"

"What were you pondering about just now then?"

"I'm thinking about that Golden Lancehead Venom in my uncle's body. It seems to be different from the one in daddy's body. Master, if you were the one who gave daddy the venom in his body, then why wasn't the effect the same?"

After hearing Wisdom's words, Bettany paused for a brief second as her eyelids twitched, and then she hastily lowered her head and kept eating.

"I'm not sure. It's probably because that Golden Lancehead Venom Madeline gave to Augustus was better. After all, he's her first love."

"But didn't you inherit the venom from the Lord himself? Daddy must have gotten the best one then! When you healed him back then, why didn't he go into a coma like uncle did? Or is it because everyone's reaction is different?"

Wisdom continued to question Bettany nonstop. Hence, she was flabbergasted by all these questions.

"Hmm... it does sound strange now. I'll go back and browse through Hikasa Manual later."

"Alright."

Wisdom didn't speak any further and continued eating with his head down, but deep down, he was thinking about something.

Once Mango returned to her room and made sure that no one else was there, she quickly entered the secret chamber. However, she didn't realise that another figure was following her.

"Who's there?"

By the time Mango noticed this, the figure behind her had already entered the secret chamber.

"What happened to him?"

After saying this, Maverick hurried over to where Nathaniel was lying.

When Mango saw that it was Maverick, she was somewhat relieved. For some reason, she was on guard against everyone, even Bettany. However, she knew that she could trust Maverick. Perhaps it was because he was Nathaniel's only relative.

Then, Mango explained somewhat in a sad tone, "He was sent back here today through the secret passage, but he left a paper slip in his palm."

While explaining, Mango took the paper slip and showed it to Maverick.

Maverick's eyes turned serious when he heard this.

"Are you going to just let him sleep forever?"

Mango hastily replied, "No, Wisdom checked on him. Wisdom said that there was no problem with Nathan's body, and he's simply asleep. We just have to wait for Nathan to wake up." "Well... he didn't fall asleep. He's being swallowed by those parasites."

Maverick's words quickly caused Mango to panic.

"Parasites? There's just Golden Lancehead Venom in his body. Nothing else!"

After hearing this, Maverick narrowed his eyes with doubts.

"Golden Lancehead Venom? Where did this Golden Lancehead Venom come from?"

"Bettany gave it to him!"

Mango explained everything that had happened to Nathaniel to Maverick quickly.

He immediately force-opened Nathaniel's eyelids. In there hid several golden threads, and they were lying there like little worms. It was a spine-chilling view indeed!

When Mango saw this scene, she took a deep breath.

"He used to be very irritable and always went around looking for fights. That was when he drank the poison for the first time. Sometimes, the colour of his eyes turned golden when he got very agitated. But why did his eyelids end up full of these golden threads?"

Maverick's face began to turn upset when he heard this.

"This isn't caused by the Golden Lancehead Venom, or perhaps this is a modified strain. Right now, Nathaniel's body is now the perfect breeding ground for the parasites, so parasites in his body are now living off through his blood and bones. If we did not find this out in time, give it another week and those vermins will eat up his whole body inside out! So, he'll probably be asleep until the day he's dead!" Upon hearing Maverick's words, Mango's face started to look pale.

"What? How could this happen? There was poison in his body, but Bettany told us the Golden Lancehead Venom is capable of eliminating all of these toxins!"

"Hmm... it does appear to look somewhat similar to the Golden Lancehead Venom, but it must have been fed with some other vermins laced by somebody else. Hence, the vermin started to mutate."

Well, Maverick did seem to have a point. After all, he had been experimenting with the vermins for the past few years, and he even used his own body to test the poison. Thus, Mango had no doubts about his theories.

"So what should we do now?"

At this moment, Mango was most suspicious of Bettany, but what more could they do even if they apprehended Bettany, anyways?

This could be a waste of time, and they could even put the others in a worse mood. At this point, if she continue to doubt her subordinates, no one knew what the consequences would be.

But now, Maverick was Mango's last hope.

"Maverick, I'm sure that you have a way to save him, right?"

"I'll give it a try, and I think my blood can help him. But well have to wake Nathaniel up first. As long as he's conscious, everything should be fine."

After saying this, Maverick cut his finger with a dagger and squeezed his blood out.

Meanwhile, Mango found a cup and collected it.

After feeding Nathaniel with Maverick's blood, they could only wait.

Meanwhile, Mango tried to put on a calm facade as much as she could.

After all, she and Nathaniel had been through countless predicaments. Hence, she truly believed that they would overcome this one too.

Then, she held Nathaniel's hand and didn't say anything, but she knew that Nathaniel could sense her deep anxieties.

He definitely would wake up!

Meanwhile, Mango's expressions reminded Maverick about that stubborn woman from the hospital.

In fact, Lilian woke up just before Maverick left.

After all, Maverick was a cautious man, and he didn't want to expose his beloved to the public. This was why he asked for someone to escort Lilian back to a safe place when after Mango and Bettany left. He looked at Mango and lowered his voice to say, "Is Bettany from Longford County?"

"Yeah... Which is why I can't understand why she would poison Nathan."

Mango frowned as she said this.

Maverick kept his voice low while saying, "Perhaps she never had bad intentions in the beginning, but she changed her mind because of the environment that she was placed in through all these years. I don't know about Bettany, but she does look suspicious. After all, Nathaniel would not easily let any ordinary person get close to him, and these parasites grow quickly as well. However, if we look at the timing of these events, Nathaniel probably wouldn't end up like this now. If the culprit really was Bettany, he should be dead by now."

After hearing this, Mango was somewhat bewildered.

"So, it's not Bettany then?"

"I'm not saying that we should completely trust her, but she could be innocent. But, if it wasn't Bettany, who else could poison Nathaniel without anyone noticing? This is what I can't understand!" While talking, Maverick's brows furrowed.

He was watching Nathaniel, who was lying unconscious, with a worried expression.

"I told my workers to take control of some of Augustus' finance and businesses. Even if they can't find out his identity, as long as I take his businesses, his people will have to pay a visit by my doorstep. By that time, I might not be able to stick with you guys, so I'll call you once I get some intel."

In fact, Maverick came here to say this, but he didn't expect this to happen to Nathaniel.

"I thought I could just come by and leave, but it seems that's not possible now. Unless I can find out who is the spy amongst us, I will be dead if I ever try to fight against Augustus. I'm scared of death, but I'd like to die for a good reason."

Maverick spoke with cold eyes.

Meanwhile, Mango never expected that there was a traitor lurking among her subordinates.

So she whispered, "I'm going to find out who the traitor is, even at the cost of my life."

"It's about time. Let me check on Nathaniel's status."

After saying this, Maverick got up and went near Nathaniel before opening the latter's eyelids. He saw that although the golden threads had dimmed in color, they were still there.

Then, te took out an acupuncture kit from his waist that contained a lot of silver needles.

Meanwhile, Mango looked at him quietly, but her heart tightened.

One by one, Maverick pierced each needle into the pressure points around Nathaniel's eyes accordingly, and then he filled these pressure points with his blood. As Nathaniel's face turned black and purple, something started to move in his eyelids.

Then, Maverick removed the silver needle. The needle tip had turned black, and the golden threads that wrapped around it wriggled just like worms did. This made Mango feel very uncomfortable, so she started getting goosebumps.

"Is this a pupa?"

"Nah, it's a larva."

Maverick described quietly, but his eyes remain stuck on Nathaniel's face. He continued, "I need more than an hour to wipe out these little larvae."

"Do they exist elsewhere other than inside these eyelids?"

Mango began to worry as she asked.

Maverick replied in a low voice, "I don't know, but they should only appear in the eyes. We'll have to see once we finish cleaning up the eye region first. We can't be disturbed at this time, so make sure no one comes in."

"Okay, got it. I'll go and watch the door, so no one will disturb us."

Just as she spoke and before she could leave, she heard loud knocks on the door.

"Are you in there, ma'am? I have something to discuss with you."

Bettany was calling out to her.

Hence, Mango decided to get out of here fast to avoid any suspicion. However, she didn't manage to open the door in time, so someone else opened it from the outside.