A Replacement Bride

Chapter 52
Keith felt a cool sensation on his face as soon as the ointment got into contact with his skin. There was a mild refreshing scent
that was comfortable to him and the stinging pain he felt prior to this disappeared too.
"Kathy, this medication is great. I no longer feel the pain on my face. Where did you get this?"
He reapplied the medication to his face and excitedly lifted his head to look at Katherine.
She lifted her eyes to glance at him and noticed the swollen part on his face had dissipated significantly. He would very likely
recover completely after applying the ointment a couple more times.
"Don't forget to apply it twice a day and just use it for three days," Katherine instructed him before starting to berate him for his
past misdeeds. "Now, tell me exactly what happened while you were at Maze?"
Since she had already looked at the security footage, she already knew what happened and merely wanted to verify things from
Keith's point of view. It was especially so for the events that occurred at the detention center.
There was not any security footage available over there, so Katherine had no way of finding out what her brother had to go
through there. Moreover, Keith was skilled at martial arts in the first place, so he would not have ended up being beaten up so
badly while he was detained. There must be something I don't know...
Keith's expression took a turn for the worse and he avoided Katherine's eyes unnaturally. He replied with a guilty look in his
eyes, "I had to maintain my image, you know? Each time when I'm back, I would usually have to party with my friends at the bar,
but I didn't expect that I would run into trouble this time."
"Hmm?" Katherine lifted her brows and continued to stare at him.
Keith felt as if his secrets were fully exposed in front of Katherine, so he lifted his hand to scratch his head and purposely acted
dumb. "It's honestly nothing much. Several people attacked me at the same time in the detention center and I didn't know why
they—"
"Keith, I'm not stupid. I can investigate it myself even if you're not honest with me. However, what I got is different from what
you've mentioned. So, don't play dumb with me." Katherine was quite angry.

To her, she did not need Keith to help her with anything and all her hard efforts were to protect her family members from being
bullied. However, she could not believe that she had actually failed to keep her brother safe under her watchful eyes.
As soon as she recalled the moment Keith lay unconscious in front of her, she took the blame upon herself, but even more so,
she was filled with fury.
Lisa is definitely not the only one involved in this matter. There is someone else behind all this.
Clearly, Lisa was not brave enough to commit attempted murder. Furthermore, Katherine had investigated the illicit drugs found
on Keith. It was a new type of drug that was highly harmful, and even a slight amount ingested would be grave to the human
nervous system. It was considered to be an extensively banned substance in every country worldwide.
Katherine had encountered this substance initially when she was in Fontan, but she did not expect that it would appear within
Cechirus too.
She had a strong suspicion that Keith must have offended someone while he was in Kyoland, so someone had framed him
intentionally.
"Kathy, I-I'm fine. Honestly! You..." Keith lowered his head and did not dare to meet Katherine's eyes.
At this point, her patience was running thin as she lifted a hand to look at the time before expressing coldly, "You've got five
minutes to either tell me the truth on your own accord, or I'll talk to your supervisor. I promised Mom that I would watch over you
and keep you safe, but you've nearly lost your life. Keith, I'm warning you. Don't challenge my patience."
Suddenly, he panicked as he could tell that Katherine was truly angry, so he dared not hide things from her. He confessed hastily,
"Kathy, I'm fine. I'm well and alive right here in front of you, aren't I? That person comes from a very important family and he's
influential in Kyoland; you're no match for him. I promise you that I'll watch out in the future and I won't let the same thing happen
again. Just trust me this once?"
Katherine pursed her lips and stared coldly at Keith, but she did not utter a word to brush the matter off.
"It-It's the Tillmans. The Kyoland Tillmans." Finally, Keith gave in and lowered his head while revealing the mastermind who
intended to seek his life.
After he said that, he instinctively clenched his fist and was clearly harboring hatred within him. He could not help thinking, If only
I was skillful enough, then I would be able to protect myself. However, he failed to protect himself right now, so how was he able
to protect Katherine? This powerless feeling he felt devastated him and he looked down on himself as well.

Tillmans, huh? Katherine squinted slightly as she took note of the family.
She was unable to go to Kyoland for the time being, but with Aberama's connections, it should not be an issue for her to
investigate everything.
Anyone who dared to lay hands on someone under her care would have to be fully prepared to pay the price in that case.
"Get some rest here and keep the ointment in a safe place." Katherine stood up and flicked the hem of her shirt before turning
around to leave with a cold look.
Meanwhile, Keith looked at her with doe eyes. After noticing that she had arrived at the entrance, he finally spoke up, slightly
aggrieved, "Kathy."
"Wake up. If you're gonna act like a spoiled brat, then behave like one. You're an absolute failure if you keep this up." Katherine
paused in her tracks and walked out of the door coldly after saying those dampening words.
Suffering a huge blow, he clutched his chest with an unhappy expression. Kathy's right. I am useless and I seriously need to
work harder and grow up.
Meanwhile, Ben was eagerly waiting for Katherine's arrival when she finally walked out of the room. "Uhm... Miss Cornell? Can I
talk to you for a moment if you don't mind?"
"I do mind." Katherine recognized Ben and she knew that he worked for Joaquin, so she did not bother to interact much with him,
let alone revealing things about herself.
Taken aback by her direct reply, Ben glanced at Katherine with a hurt look in his eyes. "Ah, you're breaking my heart. We met
just yesterday."
"So?" She lifted her brows and glanced at him with a perplexed look.
"Well, the thing is that I noticed that your surgical techniques are astounding. So, do you have the intention to—"
"No." Katherine did not even wait for Ben to finish his sentence when she interrupted him. Subsequently, she turned around and
left the clinic without casting another glance behind.
Her retreating figure looked ruthless.

He watched her back with a stunned expression and he recalled that she behaved rather differently than the last encounters.
Soon, he quickly considered her reaction to be justifiable seeing that her brother had just retreated his foot from hell's gate.
After comforting himself for a moment, he rushed inside to check on Keith.
Ben reckoned that he should perhaps try to get his way by targeting her brother instead since she was a tough nut to crack.
However, as soon as he entered the room and saw Keith's face, he was completely stunned as he stared at the boy. "Your face
—"
"Although I've been badly beaten up on the face, I'm still way more good-looking than most young male celebrities. Don't talk to
me because I don't want to entertain you." Keith lifted a hand to cover his face and he was determined to uphold his usual image
as a spoiled brat.
Yup. There is no doubt at all that these two are related to each other, Ben thought.
"How did the bruises on your face recover so soon?" He ignored Keith's words and inched closer to check out the originally
swollen face, which had improved tremendously. However, the incredulous look on Ben's face remained.
Based on the level of injury and the extent of soft tissue damage that Keith had sustained, it should have taken at least ten to
fifteen days to recover to its current state.
However, Keith's face had appeared to be swollen in the morning when Ben had popped over, but in such a short time, the
injuries had improved significantly. Am I hallucinating?
"Obviously, I'm born with good looks. I've been so blessed that even the angels cannot bear to see my face—"
"Enough." At that point, Ben felt a looming headache and he no longer wished to hear Keith speak.
He considered the situation and realized that Katherine was the crucial piece to the puzzle. He found it hard to believe that not
only was she great in surgery, she was also skilled at concocting medications too. As such, he had an epiphany. If we could
mass produce the ointment that Keith's using...