Chapter 326: What did you not hear him mention?

Adelyn knew that nothing happened without a reason.

Her expression turned serious as she stared at Dylan and asked, "What was it, Mr. Warren? Is it something serious?"

Dylan met her gaze for a moment before shaking his head.

"Nothing serious. But it isn’t something you can afford to ignore either."

Her brows knitted even more tightly in confusion.

However, she didn’t rush him for an explanation. Instead, she waited patiently for him to continue on his own.

Dylan’s eyes briefly moved over her face before dropping to her hand, which was still lightly wrapped in a bandage.

"It was the wound on your hand," he finally said.

Adelyn followed his gaze and looked down at her own hand.

"The wound on my hand?" she repeated, still unable to understand. "What does that have to do with my fever?"

Dylan slowly resumed his breakfast, his movements as calm and unhurried as ever.

"Injuries can sometimes cause a fever. When the body’s tissues are damaged, the immune system responds to the injury. That response can trigger inflammation and temporarily raise your body temperature."

He paused briefly before continuing in the same composed tone.

"It isn’t necessarily abnormal. But you still can’t afford to ignore it. If you get injured again in the future, you need to be more careful and make sure the wound is properly treated. Otherwise, you could end up with another fever."

Throughout his explanation, Dylan never once looked directly at her.

His behavior didn’t seem particularly unusual. His tone remained perfectly normal, and his attention stayed conveniently fixed on his breakfast as though he were simply explaining something insignificant.

Yet ...

For some reason, Adelyn felt there was something slightly strange about the way he was explaining it.

Her brows furrowed faintly.

Still, she couldn’t find anything wrong with his explanation.

After all, what he said made sense.

She glanced down at her bandaged hand once more before slowly nodding.

"I see."

Dylan gave a quiet hum and continued eating.

Adelyn did the same.

But unlike before, she couldn’t completely focus on her breakfast anymore.

She was so unfocused that she barely even noticed how quickly the food in front of her disappeared.

"Done?"

The sudden voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

Adelyn looked up and immediately met Dylan’s eyes.

"Huh?"

Dylan gestured toward her bowl.

"You want more?"

Adelyn glanced down.

Only then did she realize that she had already finished everything.

She shook her head and smiled.

"No, I’m done. I won’t have anything more."

She then turned to her side and glanced at the little girl.

Eira was still eating.

Seeing that her mama and Dada had already finished their breakfast, the little girl seemed to realize she was the only one still eating.

She immediately began hurrying, taking larger bites as though she needed to finish before they left.

Adelyn noticed it right away.

"It’s fine, baby." She gently reached over and touched the girl’s shoulder.

"Take your time. Don’t rush. I’ll stay with you until you finish."

Little Eira looked at her.

Then, after receiving that reassurance, she nodded and slowly returned to her normal pace.

Adelyn smiled, and her gaze softened.

Once she had made sure Eira was eating comfortably again, she turned her attention back toward Dylan.

She noticed him checking the time.

"You don’t have to stay back and delay your work any longer, Mr. Warren," she said softly.

Dylan looked her way.

And their eyes met again.

For a brief moment, he didn’t say anything as if considering something. Then he simply nodded.

"Alright."

He pushed his chair back and stood up.

Adelyn watched him closely as he turned and headed upstairs. And just as he disappeared —

Her mind drifted back to what she had originally been thinking.

The wound.

The fever.

And the strange gap in her memory.

Adelyn thought for a second before reaching for her phone. She unlocked the screen and began searching.

Just a few taps were enough.

She searched the theory again, carefully reading through the information she found.

And even on the internet, it proved to be the same.

Injuries could indeed trigger a natural inflammatory response. A fever could occur as the body’s response to injury.

So ...

Dylan wasn’t wrong.

Adelyn’s gaze slowly shifted back toward her hand. She turned it over, looking at the neatly wrapped bandage.

The more she stared at it, the more serious her expression became.

She didn’t doubt what Dylan had said.

What she couldn’t quite believe was that such a small injury could cause her body to react so strongly.

This wasn’t her first time getting injured.

She had gotten injured before. And some of those injuries had been far worse than this one.

Yet she had never remembered falling sick because of them.

She had never suddenly developed such a high fever.

Nor had she ever woken up with an entire portion of the previous night missing from her memory.

Then ...

How could her body react this way this time?

Could it be that there was something else?

Something she didn’t know?

Adelyn’s brows drew together.

Recently, too many strange things had been happening around her.

She had begun forgetting things she shouldn’t have forgotten.

She had begun experiencing sensations she couldn’t explain.

And now, even her body seemed to be behaving strangely.

The more she thought, the stranger she felt.

Could there be something serious happening to her that she hadn’t yet realized?

Or ...

Had she just been overthinking?

After all, she just had a fever.

People do get sick.

They do forget things when they are exhausted.

There could be a perfectly ordinary explanation for everything.

Couldn’t there?

"What’s wrong, Mama?"

The innocent voice of Eira suddenly broke Adelyn’s trance.

She turned toward the little girl instinctively.

Eira was looking at her with slight worry in her eyes. Her gaze darted toward Adelyn’s hands before she looked back at her.

"Is your wound hurting, Mama?"

Adelyn glanced down at her hand. She blinked once before turning back toward the little girl.

"It isn’t."

She smiled reassuringly.

"I was simply checking if it was hurting. But it isn’t."

"Really?" The little girl asked again, clearly seeking confirmation.

Adelyn couldn’t help smiling at her.

"Really."

She paused before adding,

"Furthermore, how can you still doubt it?"

She lightly tapped the tip of Eira’s nose.

"Haven’t you heard what the doctor said last night? The fever was because of this wound. Now that the fever has gone down, it only means the wound must be getting better. You don’t need to worry about it anymore."

Her explanation was simple.

Perhaps even a little too simple.

But she was explaining it to a four-year-old child.

Surely that should be enough for Eira to understand.

However—

Eira didn’t look reassured.

Instead, the little girl’s expression slowly turned confused.

Adelyn noticed it and asked her softly, "What’s wrong?"

Her hand slowly moved to comb her hair gently, away from her face.

Eira stared at her.

"Mama ... yesterday, Eira didn’t hear Uncle Ford mention that."

Adelyn paused.

She blinked in confusion.

"Uncle Ford?"

Her brows slowly furrowed, not understanding why the girl mentioned him out of nowhere.

"What did you not hear him mention?"