Chapter 51: I Must Give Him a Child

Chapter 51: Chapter 51: I Must Give Him a Child

I stared at Asher in utter shock, taking a long moment to process this new reality.

Reaching out, I snatched the paper from his hand and gasped...

I had assumed he was just scribbling nonsense, but to my surprise, they were all correct answers.

"You’ve... studied this before?" I asked, my voice filled with a mixture of shock and disbelief.

’Isn’t he supposed to be a fool?’

Asher nodded. "It’s very simple."

His "it’s very simple" stung me. ’Impossible!’ I had been at the top of my class my entire life, and in college, I was a star student my teachers were proud of. I might not have been a genius, but I was a perfectly good student. How could Asher possibly be... smarter than me?

"Did you see the answers somewhere?" I asked, unwilling to concede, and continued writing problems on the paper.

But he solved every single problem quickly, and all his answers were correct.

He was even distracted while answering, his gaze drifting over to me from time to time.

To solve them that quickly even while distracted... this was beyond a normal genius...

It was as if the madman was on God’s left and the genius on God’s right, and he could wander freely between the two.

"Did you... did you go to college?" I asked tentatively.

"Cygnus University..." he began.

I took a deep breath. ’So he really did go to college.’

"At fourteen. Gifted program. Admitted without examination," he continued.

"..." I froze.

’The gifted program? Why does that sound so familiar?’ A sudden headache pulsed through my temples as fragments of memory flashed through my mind: two children standing at the gate of an orphanage, holding red flowers and smiling happily. A banner hung at the orphanage read, "Congratulations to XX from our orphanage for being admitted to the gifted program."

I raised a hand to my forehead, trying to remember more, but my memory seemed to have hit a wall.

Getting into Cygnus University at fourteen, without taking the college entrance exams, admitted directly.

He was truly an absolute genius.

"Then why were you at the orphanage, playing dumb?" I tried to appear calm, my curiosity about Asher’s secrets growing.

’It’s obvious this man isn’t a fool!’

’So why pretend? Was it on purpose? As a cover for murder?’

"Cece told me to wait for her..." Asher lowered his gaze, his voice tinged with sadness.

I furrowed my brow. ’What?’

’Cece? Or am I Silvia Lynch?’

"Why are you so obedient? The Cece you’re talking about... is that me?" I didn’t fully trust the man before me, even if he seemed so pure.

I pointed to myself tentatively, wanting to see his reaction.

He looked into my eyes for a moment, then nodded emphatically.

’So the one who made him a promise was Silvia Lynch?’

I couldn’t see through this man. To play dumb and wait at an orphanage for so many years, all for a woman’s promise?

He seemed overly obstinate, just like... a monster from a book, a monster bordering on an angel.

"Is it worth it, wasting your talent waiting for someone?" I asked curiously.

"It is!" Asher said seriously, almost as if he were having a small tantrum. "I have to wait for Cece."

I raised a hand to my forehead. ’Forget it.’ Trying to get information out of a mentally ill criminal suspect was never going to be easy.

"I’m tired, I’m going to sleep for a bit..." ’I need to conserve my energy and find a way out of here as soon as possible.’

Asher didn’t say anything. When he saw me go into the bathroom to wash up, he followed me. As I brushed my teeth, he brushed his. As I washed my face, he just watched me.

When I walked out of the bathroom, he trotted after me and lay down beside me on the bed.

The thought that this person might be a murderer and an accomplice made my body go rigid, but for now, sharing a room with this madman, I could only endure it.

But I had underestimated one thing: his eyes... those long lashes, that bewitching beauty.

’I admit, people have no resistance to beautiful things.’

Snapping back to my senses, I let reason prevail. "Get down and sleep on the floor."

Asher didn’t argue. He just obediently got off the bed and lay down on the floor.

I lay there for a while, wondering why he had suddenly become so obedient. He was the same person who had nearly choked me to death.

Drowsily, I started to feel sleepy. "You can come sleep up here... But let’s get one thing straight, you are not to touch me."

Asher immediately climbed onto the bed and lay down properly on the very edge.

He seemed wide awake, his eyes fixed on me.

"Aren’t you going to sleep?" His staring unnerved me, and the shadow of my death from my past life crept over me.

Even though I had mostly accepted the fact that I had been reborn, it was hard to sleep with a murderer lying right next to me.

"Cece, if you don’t get pregnant, they won’t let you out," he said very seriously. "They come to monitor us every twenty-four hours. The food we eat contains... aphrodisiacs."

I shot up, sticking my fingers down my throat to try and throw up dinner. "Why didn’t you say so sooner!"

"It’s useless. The incense in the air is the kind used to make animals go into heat..." Asher let out a sarcastic laugh.

I wasn’t sure if it was my imagination, but in that moment, I felt a deep chill in his eyes.

"Have you... never thought of resisting? After they... treated you like this?" I asked tentatively.

’Was it the harm and inhuman torture from the Lancaster family that twisted his mind and drove him to kill?’

"I didn’t want to before... I lost what I wanted to protect. But now... I do," he said, his voice low as he stared into the distance.

I didn’t understand, but I felt like some memories were on the verge of breaking through in my mind.

"Cece... what do you want?" He turned back to look at me, his question serious.

"I want to get out. I want..." ’To find the real killer, to make Erin Whittaker pay, to watch Julian Fletcher drown in regret.’

"Whatever you want... I can make it happen," Asher said, looking at me earnestly. "Cece, just don’t lie to me..."

I felt a strange pang of guilt. "Of course I won’t."

He smiled, a very innocent smile.

"Your throat... and the scars on your body, where did they come from?" I asked, feigning a casual tone, trying to understand him better.

"A fire... the orphanage fire..." He suddenly turned his back to me, saying only those words.

I watched his back quietly. ’So even when a person is silent, their body can still speak of their sorrow.’

Just looking at his back, I felt a sense of desolation and helplessness.

I subconsciously reached out a hand to comfort him, but was startled by my own impulse.

’Am I really going crazy...’

’Or have I been bewitched by this monster in angel’s clothing?’

...

I don’t know how much time passed before I drifted off into a heavy sleep.

Just as Asher had said, the incense in the room was laced with the scent of lust, making one feel hot and restless...

I was practically woken by the heat. I kicked off the blanket in frustration, forgetting that I was sharing a room with a dangerous person.

He tried to cover me with the blanket a few times, but I kicked it off each time.

The whole time, his breathing was scorching hot, as if he were holding something back.

"Hot..." I mumbled, grabbing Asher’s arm in my delirium.

He took a cup of cold water and splashed it on my face.

I woke with a jolt, sitting up and looking at him warily. "What are you doing?"

"If you don’t agree... I won’t touch you," he said, looking at me seriously.

"This child... is it absolutely necessary?" I asked irritably, then angrily picked up the cup and threw it at the door. "These perverts, these lunatics!"

"Genes, legacy. To them, that’s more important than humanity." Asher’s voice was still just as hoarse; his vocal cords had been destroyed in the fire.

I found it hard to imagine what the old Asher, with his angelic face, must have sounded like. How lively and pleasant his voice must have been.

"I’m going to sleep. It’ll be fine once I’m asleep," I said, annoyed, and turned over, my back to Asher.

In his hoarse voice, Asher whispered, "You really... have forgotten me."

I didn’t know what he was talking about and couldn’t respond. My body was uncomfortably hot, and all I could do was force myself to sleep.

In my stupor, I had a dream...

In the dream, a very pleasant voice was calling her name. "Cece... Cece, hurry up."

"Asher, I’ll see you at the orphanage on Saturday. Wait for me there, I have a lot of old college entrance exam questions to ask you."

"Asher... go to the orphanage and wait for me."

"Asher... wait for me."