As soon as the fish was done, the test subject tore into it like he hadn''t eaten in days, wolfing it down at lightning speed. ra just stared, stunned. She''d barely finished one fish before she was full, but he polished off the other ten without breaking a sweat. Once he was satisfied, he flopped onto his back nearby and announced, "There''s still rabbit, boar, andmb."


    ra hadn''te to this country to y sidekick to some superhuman eating and hunting machine.


    Leaning against a tree, she sighed. "Why don''t you go back and rescue the guy who looks just like you? If you do that, I''ll cook you as much food as you want. Seriously, I''ll make you meals every day."


    He looked at her, confused, slowly sitting up. "Looks like me?"<fn34af> Find the newest release on fin?novel</fn34af>


    "Yeah, didn''t you notice? I told you before-his name is Charles. There''s a good chance the two of you are rted."


    He frowned, clearly lost. "Rted? What''s that?”


    ra nearly choked. She took a deep breath to steady herself.


    "Okay, let me put it this way-will youe back with me? I''ll cook for you the whole way. When we get to the factory, I''ll go save Charles and you just have to protect me, alright? Do you know what that means? Just... don''t let me die."


    He stared at her for ages. "No."


    He just couldn''t bring himself to follow her orders.


    "Why not? I know Jules is your boss, but if you stick with him, you''re just going to keep living like this—surviving on terrible food. Is that really what you want? But if youe with me, I''ll cook you something better than this every single day."


    He went quiet, as if he was actually thinking it over.


    ra pressed on, "Honestly, we barely have anything to work with here. If I had a real kitchen, I could make this fish at least a dozen different ways. You could eat something new every week. All you have to do is protect me."


    He wiped his mouth, still watching her. "Okay. Protect."


    ra finally rxed, rubbing her sore shoulder.


    She wasn''t too worried about Charles. Jules had said he was going to use Charles to pay off the Chester family''s debt.


    There was no way the Chester brothers would let Charles die over a measly billion-they''d cough up the cash before that happened.


    But Dn. She couldn''t shake the worry Was he still trapped in there? And


    Who was that mysterious kid


    Who could it be?  s


    She remembered Ryan mentioning that Dn really did have a child. She hadn''t paid much attention back. then, but now she couldn''t help


    ibut


    wondering if Dn was hiding even more than she thought.  s


    ra leaned back, hoping to get a little rest.


    But even in just that short time, sleep pulled her under.


    She drifted into a strange dream: a sad voice asked her, "So you don''t want him or me, is that it? She mumbled something in response. There was a pause, then the voice said quietly, "Got it."  s


    Got what?


    She tried to wake up, but her body felt icy cold, right down to the bone. Then she felt a hand gently shaking her.


    She opened her eyes and saw the test subject crouched beside her, holding a torch. It was pitch ck outside now.


    The temperature had dropped, and she must have caught a chill. Thank goodness the fire next to her was still burning.


    He leaned in with the torch and asked, "When do we leave?"


    ra''s head spun. In this state, going back would just be walking into a death


    trap.


    Her voice was hoarse as she closed her eyes. "Make the fire bigger. We''ll leave when I''m feeling better."


    He studied her face for a long moment, as if trying to figure out what she meant, then nodded.


    "Okay."


    ra shut her eyes again,pletely wiped out.


    She slept right through to noon the next day. When she woke up, the test subject


    was sitting there, staring at her face.


    She turned her head and, sure enough, saw another pile of fresh fish on the ground.