After looking after Francis for an entire day, Harper started feeling a bit sleepy. She ended up falling asleep by the bed. A few
minutes after Harper dozed off, Francis woke up and opened his eyes. It seemed that he knew Harper by his side all the time,
but he gently turned to her and watched her sleeping. All of a sudden, he hit her sleeping acupoint.
"Only when you're asleep, will you let your guard down," he whispered under his breath. He then sat up and looked at Harper's
sleeping face. Even he himself had no idea why he would do something like this.
A gentle smile crept onto Francis' pale face as he stared at Harper's pretty face. Unable to resist the urge, he gently caressed
her face, then moved her into the bed. As he held her in his arms, he felt a sense of contentment and fell asleep again.
Fred had been waiting outside the whole time. Now that it was already getting late, he thought that it was about time for him to
escort Harper back to Prince Matthew's mansion. After all, she could just come to visit Francis again tomorrow. However, he
never would have expected that he would be attacked in Prince Francis' mansion. Someone released a poisonous gas. It was so
sudden that he didn't even have much time to react. At that moment, he wanted to set off a flare to send out a message asking
for help, but someone seemed to have guessed what he was planning to do and managed to quickly stop him. In the end, Fred
lost consciousness and fell to the ground without being able to do anything.
Checking on Fred who had lost consciousness, Owen wiped off the beads of cold sweat on his forehead. If Fred had managed to
set off the flare successfully, Francis would definitely punish him for screwing up his plan. With that, he immediately ordered
someone to carry Fred away. He sighed, "I can't allow you to ruin my master's plan."
Matthew was currently in the army, busy dealing with the military affairs. There were fierce fights taking place in the Great Jade
Kingdom. In order to prevent another country from swooping in while they were fighting, the Great Jade Kingdom had deployed
troops to the border in case of an external enemy invasion. But as far as Matthew was concerned, Rolando should have already
taken control of the whole situation in his country by now, so sending out troops to the border might be for a completely different
matter.
"Your Highness, it's getting late. Would you like to rest in the military camp?" Barry politely asked.
"What time is it now?"
"Your Highness, it's about one fifteen. It's already late. Lady Harper must have gone to bed by now." Taking a look at the
processed military file, Barry thought that Matthew still had a lot of work to do. Some of them probably had something to do with
the Great Jade Kingdom. Otherwise, Matthew wouldn't have been working so hard.
"Must have?"
"Yes, she should have gone to bed by now."
"Should have?" Matthew asked, with his eyebrows deeply knit. Looking at Barry, he then went on and added, "What do you
mean by 'should have'?"
"We can't really say for sure because no one sent any messages from the mansion today. However, Lord Zack's manservant has
sent a message to us during the daytime. It was said that His Majesty summoned him to the palace to discuss something. If he
couldn't make it back in time to pick up Lady Harper, Your Highness might have to pick her up yourself. But no one sent any
messages after that. For that reason, I assumed that Lady Harper might have gone back by herself."
Matthew's guts were telling him that something was quite amiss, so he asked, "You mean, you don't know whether Harper has
made it back or not?"
"I'm afraid, I do not know."
Upon hearing Barry's response, Matthew immediately stood up and walked out of the camp. Seeing this, Barry hurriedly went
after him.
Matthew went straight to the Phoenix House to look for Harper as soon as he got back to the mansion, only to find that she
wasn't home yet. Feeling so furious, he sneered, "How dare you, Francis! You're trying to take Harper away like this!"
Francis awoke from a sound sleep all of a sudden. Then, he opened his eyes and looked at the woman lying next to him. Harper
seemed to be fast asleep, so he didn't want to disturb her, but he had to. Carrying her in his arms, he put her down by the bed,
trying to make it look like she just fell asleep. After that, he immediately lay down on the bed and continued feigning his illness.
Just then, Matthew broke straight into Francis' mansion, disturbing Owen along with some other secret guards. Seeing the
murderous look on Matthew's face, Owen asked in surprise, "Your Highness, is there something wrong?"
"Where is my wife?" Matthew asked in a cold tone.
"Prince Francis' condition is very severe, so Lady Harper has come to take care of him. It's already late. I'm afraid that she might
be asleep," Owen politely replied.' "Shall I go ahead and wake Lady Harper up now?" Owen suggested cautiously.
"No need. I'll do it myself," Matthew flatly said.
That wasn't the first time he had been to Francis' mansion, so he knew where Francis lived. Noticing that someone was coming,
Francis quickly hit and released Harper's acupuncture points.
Bang! The door was swung open. The loud noise was enough to wake Harper up, and her eyes were half open. Upon seeing
him, she felt so relieved and said, "Matthew, are you here to pick me up?"
Matthew was fuming with rage when he got there, but as soon as he heard Harper's gentle voice, he tried his best to hold back
and simply replied, "Yes, I'm here to pick you up."
Still half asleep, Harper lazily stretched her neck, unwilling to move. Then, she reached out her hands and said, "Hug me."
Seeing this, Matthew couldn't help laughing. Then, he walked closer toward Harper and carried her into his arms. Completely
disregarding everyone else, he walked out of the room with his wife quickly. It all happened so fast that none of them was able to
see how they actually got out of the room.
They seemed to have vanished without a trace. Looking at Francis who was lying on the bed, Owen said, "Your Highness..."
"You may take your leave."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Caressing the spot where Harper had lain down, Francis felt that it was still warm. A lovely scent was left on the pillow. It had the
smell of lotus. He had always thought that Harper had a sweet smell. Now, he finally came to know what she smelled like. The
smell of lotus was so fresh and elegant.