Chapter 78

Chapter 78: Chapter 78

Lysander didn’t wait for Berthanon to respond. He turned away from the room and carried Ingrid into the corridor, keeping her tucked securely against his chest as Nurse Maya hurried alongside him. The hunters they passed immediately moved out of his way, some lowering their eyes while others watched him with undisguised wariness. He could feel their gazes following him, but he gave them no attention, concentrating instead on the faint movements of Ingrid’s chest and the cold sweat covering her forehead.

But as he followed Nurse Maya toward the infirmary, his mind kept returning to the face he had seen in the examination room. Berthanon. Of all the people he could have encountered in this place, he had never expected to find that particular man among the Hunter’s Guild’s senior officials. The shock that had briefly crossed Berthanon’s face when he saw Lysander had been unmistakable, and the old man had quickly hidden it behind his usual expression of authority.

Lysander had noticed every bit of it.

He had also noticed that Berthanon hadn’t called him by name or openly acknowledged their previous encounter. At first, Lysander had assumed the man was trying to maintain his position in front of the other officials, but now that he thought about it, something about the situation felt wrong. Berthanon had looked genuinely startled, which meant he had recognized Lysander, yet he had chosen to act as though they were strangers. Had he assumed Lysander wouldn’t recognize him after all this time, or was he deliberately pretending that they had never met?

Lysander’s eyes narrowed as he continued walking. He had known Berthanon long enough to understand that the man rarely did anything without a reason, and his presence in the Hunter’s Guild raised questions that couldn’t be dismissed so easily. How had someone like him managed to rise to such a position without anyone investigating his past? More importantly, how could the Guild allow a man with his history to hold authority over its hunters?

Did that mean anyone could join the Hunter’s Guild and climb its ranks, regardless of what they had done before?

The thought made Lysander’s expression turn colder. He had heard stories about the Guild’s influence and the power its senior officials wielded, but he had never been particularly interested in their internal affairs. He had no reason to involve himself in their politics, and until today, he had considered the Guild nothing more than an organization that hunted zombies. Now, however, he had seen its officials force an injured woman into a dangerous procedure simply because they believed they had the right to do so.

And one of those officials was Berthanon.

Lysander’s arms tightened slightly around Ingrid before he caught himself and loosened his hold. She was already shivering in his arms, and the last thing he wanted was to cause her any additional discomfort.

Whatever questions he had about Berthanon would have to wait. He could investigate the matter later, but first, he needed to know whether Ingrid would recover from what had happened to her.

"Lysander, we’re here," Nurse Maya said, bringing him out of his thoughts.

He looked up to find that they had reached the infirmary. Maya hurried inside and moved toward an empty bed, pulling the curtains aside so he could lay Ingrid down without delay. Lysander followed her instructions, bending carefully as he lowered Ingrid onto the mattress. He supported her head until it rested comfortably against the pillow, then adjusted the blanket over her body while making sure that nothing pressed against her injured neck.

The moment he finished, Maya began examining her.

She placed the back of her hand against Ingrid’s forehead, and her brows immediately drew together. She checked again, this time using a thermometer, before looking at Ingrid’s face with growing concern. Ingrid’s skin was frighteningly hot, yet her body continued to tremble beneath the blanket, and beads of cold sweat had gathered along her hairline. Her lips were slightly parted, and every few seconds, her fingers twitched as though she were trying to push something away in her sleep.

"Her temperature is unusually high," Maya murmured, reaching for her medical supplies. "But she’s shivering despite the heat, and she’s sweating far more than I’d expect. We need to check her vital signs and make sure the memory search hasn’t caused any serious complications."

Lysander stood beside the bed, watching her work. "Is she going to wake up?"

Maya didn’t answer immediately. She carefully examined Ingrid’s pupils, checked her pulse, and listened to her breathing before connecting several monitoring devices to her body. One instrument measured her heartbeat while another tracked her temperature and other vital signs. She adjusted the sensors until the readings stabilized, then studied the results with a seriousness that made Lysander’s patience wear thin.

He had endured pain without complaint for most of his life, and he knew how to remain calm when faced with uncertainty. However, standing beside Ingrid while she lay unconscious and trembling was testing his control in a way few things ever had.

After several minutes, Maya finally let out a quiet breath. "Her vital signs are stable," she said, turning toward him. "That’s a good sign, and I can’t find any immediate indication that the procedure caused serious physical damage. Her body is reacting to the shock she experienced, which would explain the fever, sweating, and trembling. She needs rest, and we’ll continue monitoring her condition, but I expect her to wake up within a few hours."

Lysander’s shoulders relaxed by a fraction. "A few hours?" he repeated, his eyes returning to Ingrid.

"Yes, although I can’t promise the exact time." Maya pulled the blanket a little higher over Ingrid’s body before checking the monitor again. "The memory search may have placed considerable strain on her mind, so she needs to rest without further disturbance. If her condition changes or she develops any new symptoms, I’ll attend to her immediately."

He gave a slight nod, accepting her explanation even though he disliked the idea of waiting. At least Ingrid was stable, and the nurse hadn’t found any immediate sign of lasting damage. That was more than he had dared hope for when he first saw her strapped to the machine, her body jerking beneath the wires while the equipment broke apart around her.

Still, the image refused to leave his mind.

Seeing her reduced to that state had awakened something dark inside him, something he had barely managed to restrain in the examination room.

If Maya hadn’t called out to him when she did, he wasn’t certain Jowe would have survived and still be alive now.

"Lysander," Maya said, drawing his attention away from Ingrid. "Now that I’ve checked her, I need to examine you as well. You were supposed to remain in bed until your injuries had healed further, yet you’ve run through half the building. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve reopened some of your wounds."

"I haven’t."

"That isn’t something you can determine just by looking at yourself," Maya replied, giving him a pointed look. "You lost a considerable amount of blood, and your body was still recovering when you woke up. Sit down so I can examine you properly."

Lysander glanced at Ingrid.

He clearly had no intention of leaving her side, and Maya seemed to understand that she wasn’t going to persuade him to return to his own bed. After a moment, she pulled a stool closer and placed it beside Ingrid’s bed, allowing him to sit within arm’s reach of her. He lowered himself onto it without arguing, though his attention remained fixed on Ingrid even as the nurse began examining him.

Maya first checked the bandages around his torso, carefully removing them to inspect the wounds beneath. She had expected to find fresh bleeding or torn skin, particularly after seeing how quickly he had moved through the corridors, but what she found made her pause.

The injuries that had previously required careful treatment were already closing, and the swelling around their edges had decreased considerably. Even the deeper wounds appeared to be healing at a rate that was far beyond what she would normally expect from a Beastman in his condition.

She leaned closer, examining the skin with a frown. "That’s strange."

Lysander turned his head slightly. "What is?"

Maya didn’t answer at once. She examined another wound, then checked the area around it before comparing what she saw with the notes from his earlier treatment. The improvement was so obvious that she couldn’t dismiss it as a mistake in her earlier assessment.

"Your wounds are healing much faster than they were before," she said finally. "When you were brought here, some of them were serious enough that I expected you to need several more days of rest before they began closing properly. But look at this."

She carefully pointed to a wound along his side.

"The edges have already started joining together, and the inflammation has gone down considerably. Even the deeper injuries are recovering at an unusual rate. I’ve treated many Beastmen, and while their healing abilities are naturally stronger than those of ordinary humans, this is faster than what I’d expect under normal circumstances. It’s not normal at all."