A Replacement Bride

Chapter 278

Chapter 278

Katherine was carrying out a much more important assignment and she had no intention of fighting with these people.

At that moment, she shot him an indifferent look before stating calmly, "Where's the lounge?"

Howard heaved a slight sigh of relief upon seeing her relent. He quickly nodded and bowed as he pointed to the corridor on the left.

"It's that way, Miss Cornell. Go ahead."

As Howard said that, he turned around and spoke to the other researchers standing by the side. "You guys, why are you standing around in a daze? Hurry up and make the necessary arrangements. Prepare some snacks and beverages and send them over to Miss Cornell in the lounge."

The others finally came to their senses upon hearing his words and they proceeded with their tasks.

However, Katherine suddenly announced coldly, "I don't need snacks or beverages. Just bring me a glass of water."

As she said that, she shot an indifferent look at Rita before turning to look at Howard.

"Professor Walt, I'm not one to waste time. I've wasted half an hour because of the researchers working under you, so I'll only spare you fifteen minutes to get everything ready for me. Fifteen minutes later, I want to start work promptly in the laboratory. As for this woman…"

Katherine lifted a hand and pointed a finger at Rita.

"I don't want to see her when I'm working in the laboratory over the next few days. You can get her to take a break or fire her. I just don't want her to appear in front of my eyes."

As soon as Katherine said that, Rita paled and she revealed a horrid expression.

Howard was momentarily stunned as well but after weighing the pros and cons, he naturally went along with Katherine and quickly nodded earnestly.

"Okay! Sure! No problem! Don't worry, Miss Cornell. She definitely won't appear in front of you ever again!"

Katherine no longer commented on anything else upon hearing his assurance. In the end, she headed over to the lounge.

After Howard escorted Katherine into the room, he came out and immediately summoned Rita. Subsequently, he informed Rita quite abruptly, "Pack your belongings and leave the access card to Lab 7 behind before you leave the place."

As soon as Rita heard that, the blood drained from her face and she felt as if she was submerged in ice water. At that point, her lips trembled uncontrollably.

Lab 7 was the ultimate goal of every researcher. Most strived to gain a job there but to no avail. Rita had worked extremely hard since she was young and didn't dare to slack off just to gain a foothold in this place. However, she was about to be fired because of this matter.

At that point, she was finally hit with franticness. She hurriedly pleaded for mercy with Howard and begged him to let her stay.

However, the man merely frowned at her.

"What can I do? There is no point in you begging me for mercy. Katherine is Mr. Town's guest so even if you find her an annoyance, you shouldn't have blatantly spoken so rudely to her. You've even clashed so badly with her, so how on earth could she possibly forgive you that easily? Even if you go down on your knees to plead for mercy, there is no chance I will be able to let you stay on. Otherwise, Lab 7 might run into trouble. Hurry up and gather your belongings then leave the place."

After Howard said that, he no longer bothered himself with Rita and turned around to leave.

Meanwhile, Rita was left in a daze and she stood rooted there, as though her world had come crumbling down.

…

Once Katherine threw herself into work, she would end up fixated to the point of giving up food and sleep.

If it wasn't because of Howard's worry that Marcus would blame him for Katherine collapsing in his laboratory, he would not have been so diligent in reminding Katherine regularly to take her meals. Without Howard's constant reminders, it was very likely that Katherine would have forgotten to eat and drink.

Over the next few days, she didn't step out of the laboratory at all as she repeatedly ran tests on the unique antidote.

Five days later, she finally succeeded in producing an antidote.

In the afternoon, Marcus rushed over excitedly when he heard the news. He looked at the antidote in Katherine's hands as if it was a precious treasure.

"Miss Cornell, is this antidote effective? If you're sure that everything is fine, I'll hand it over to Professor Walt's staff and get them to mass-produce it as soon as possible. Têxt belongs to NôvelDrama.Org.

Katherine nodded in response.

"This antidote here is way more effective at penetrating the target and it can enter deep into the body to fight against the venom produced within the infected person's body. Once the venom is cleared from the human body, we can then proceed with the next step of handling things. By then, the man-faced curse will no longer be able to use the human body as a host, and we will be able to achieve the goal of inactivating the curse."

Marcus did not fully comprehend her explanation, but he knew that he should trust her. As such, he nodded earnestly and turned around to hand it over to Howard.

Howard, on the other hand, knew not to ask unnecessary questions and agreed to the job without any comments.

At that moment, Marcus felt a huge relief at having resolved this troubling matter. He glanced worriedly at Katherine, who looked quite unwell, and he suggested on his own accord, "Miss Cornell, I'll send you back to the Fraser Residence right now. You must have gone without sleep for the past few nights, so go back and have a good rest."

However, Katherine shook her head. "I don't want to go to the Fraser Residence. You can send me to any hotel that's nearby."

Subsequently, she added, "Don't inform Joaquin yet that I've already left the laboratory. I'll head back to the Fraser Residence after I'm fully rested."

Katherine had been without sleep for several nights now and after looking at herself in the mirror in the toilet earlier on, she noticed that her eye bags were massive and looked very haggard.

She knew that Joaquin would worry if he saw her in this state.

"Well…" Marcus hesitated upon hearing that but in the end, he chose to respect her wishes. He immediately sent her to a five-star hotel in Kyoland and chose the presidential suite.

"Miss Cornell, get some rest and give me a call once you wake up. I'll leave some men here to guard the place and they can send you directly to the Fraser Residence after that."

Katherine expressed her gratitude and then quickly took a hot shower. After showering, she fell asleep immediately upon getting into bed.

She was exhausted mentally and physically, so she remained in deep slumber for quite some time.

It was the afternoon of the following day when she finally awoke.

The glaring sunlight streamed through the French windows and filled the entire room. There was some movement of Katherine's eyelids, but she didn't open her eyes. She lifted a hand to cover her eyes as she took some time to come to her senses.

At that moment, she heard a voice by her side and she immediately jumped up in fright.

"Are you awake? Are you feeling better?"

She was momentarily stunned and instantly opened her eyes wide to glance in that direction. Just then, a handsome face appeared right in front of her eyes.

She saw that Joaquin had somehow arrived without her realizing it and was currently lying next to her. He appeared to have just woken up and had a slightly drowsy look in his eyes.

"W-Why are you here?"

Katherine expressed her surprise and instinctively wanted to shift backward. At that moment, she realized that his arms were wrapped around her waist.

Joaquin sensed that she wanted to retreat, so he lifted his eyebrows and tightened his grip to hug her tightly.

Their bodies were pressed against each other and it was only then that Katherine realized he was actually bare-chested without any shirt on. Her face instantly blushed.

"You…" She opened her mouth and for a moment, her eyes wandered because she didn't know where to look. Surprisingly, she seemed quite ill at ease.

Meanwhile, Joaquin was tickled by her awkward expression as he smiled in response. Subsequently, he inched closer and accosted her on the lips while she was preoccupied.

"I arrived yesterday. I've been waiting for you for five days and it's been such a long wait. However, not only did you keep the news of you leaving the laboratory from me, but you even made Marcus keep me in the dark! That's so mean of you."

Katherine was speechless when she heard that. Faced with his accusations, she grimaced slightly. "I find the Fraser Residence too rowdy, so I came to a hotel to get some rest first."