A single needle shot out with an almost undetectable sound. Eleanor was lying under the shade of the tree, whereas Matthew had taken a few steps and was out in the sun.
Just as she waited for the needle to strike her, she noticed a tiny sliver of silver against the sunlight. Amid her startlement, Matthew froze. “W-What’s going on?”
Eleanor was in a daze. Her weak body managed to shoot up straight. She bent down to look at the watch in her hand before staring at Matthew. She shook her head and exclaimed, “No! No! I… I had it pointed at myself!”
Matthew felt a stinging pain in his back. He turned around in disbelief and walked over to Eleanor. “It wasn’t me! I really pointed it at myself! I swear!”
Eleanor panicked; she never thought this would happen. The poison hadn’t fully taken effect yet. Matthew felt his body growing numb, but he had enough control over his limbs to bend down and snatch the watch from Eleanor’s hand. He studied the watch carefully. Then, he aimed the opening to his left and the button to his. right before pressing down on it. A needle shot out..
However, it was fired from a tiny hole beside the button. It was the hole to eject the SIM card tray! Matthew narrowed his eyes. His expression was stormy as a menacing aura seemed to emanate from him.
Eleanor could see his hand trembling as he gripped the watch, and at the very next second, he crashed onto the ground. “Master? Matthew? Master! W-What’s happening to you?”
The sudden turn of events horrified Eleanor. It’d only been less than a minute since she fired the needle, and Matthew was already lying unconscious on the ground.
The poison took effect in a shockingly short amount of time. Eleanor panicked. She immediately dug out a special whistle from her bag and blew with all her might.
It let out a bird call that sounded perfectly. natural in the environment. At the same time, she took out a signal flare and used it at once. It let out red smoke that clung in the air for quite some time.
Three minutes later, she fired off another signal flare. Five minutes later, a helicopter came buzzing over the peak of the mountain. The trees rustled heavily from the wind it stirred up.
After confirming the location, the helicopter hovered in the air and let down the ladder. The men came down from the helicopter and took both Matthew and Eleanor away. Meanwhile, Veronica, who was a few miles up the mountain, saw the whole thing.
As she was standing on the mountainside, she could see everything that was happening in the distance. However, it was too far to see who had gotten into the helicopter. All she saw was the helicopter flying over and flying back off in just two minutes.
Nevertheless…
“Could it be Eleanor?” Veronica pondered. “If it wasn’t her, then it’s most likely the eldest prince, Dominik.” Even though everyone had to publicly sign a death waiver, the hidden clan royalty did have some special perks.
“I suppose someone’s life is at risk. Otherwise, they wouldn’t openly use the helicopter under these circumstances,” Xavier deduced as he stood beside Veronica. Veronica nodded. “I think so, too.”
She couldn’t think of any other reason that would explain it. As she let out a deep sigh, she looked around and thought to herself, Where on earth is Matthew? How much longer will it take to find him?
