A Replacement Bride

Chapter 272

Chapter 272

Katherine never expected him to say that, and her expression looked a bit unnatural. Then, keeping a straight face, she darted a look at him from the corner of her eye with feigned indifference. "Sticking up for you? What are you talking about? Why would I care about you? I just hated to see them act snobbishly, that's all."

"Oh? Really?" Joaquin raised an eyebrow as amusement flickered in his good-looking eyes. "Are you sure… that you didn't do that for my sake?" he asked, slowly raising his tone of voice toward the end of his sentence.

Katherine continued to stubbornly deny it, saying, "Of course not. And besides, nobody asked you to insist on coming to Kyoland with me. Given your condition, you're supposed to rest and recuperate!" Obviously, she was rather dissatisfied that he had insisted on following her around despite his health condition. However, when it occurred to her that he had done all this for her sake, she felt indescribably warm and rather happy inside, so her feelings were somewhat mixed.

Joaquin's eyes flickered for an instant when he caught sight of this. The next second, though, his face assumed a different expression. Looking as if disappointed, he hung his head and fell silent.

Katherine had thought he'd say something and was waiting for him to speak. When she didn't hear anything from him after waiting for a long time, she couldn't help but turn to look at him in puzzlement, only to see him looking like this. Stunned, she felt at once speechless and helpless. After gently biting her lip for a moment, she had no choice but to feign a cough, clearing her throat before saying, "Okay, it did have something to do with you…" As she spoke of this, she seemed to feel quite embarrassed. Rubbing her petite, upturned nose with her hand, she muttered in a whisper, "How dare those men actually lay hands on you? Like hell I could put up with it…"

Hearing every word that she said, Joaquin was instantly blissed out; he smiled and raised his hand to stroke her hair. "That's more like it. Honesty is a virtue, so one's got to be honest."

Katherine was rendered speechless. Virtue, my *ss! What a sly fox you are! she thought to herself before attempting to leave.

At this moment, Marcus hurried outside and blocked their path while panting heavily. "Miss Cornell! Mr. Levisay! Please stay, the two of you!"

Katherine shot a glance at him expressionlessly in a chilly manner. "You don't have to say anything else, Marcus. Since they don't trust me, I don't have to go out of my way to save them." Never have I done such a thing as to kiss somebody's *ss!

Marcus' face screwed up into an utterly helpless expression. "Please calm down, Miss Cornell. The Frasers only offended you because they were addled by illness. Please be the bigger person and forgive them this once!" he said. Then, he quickly explained, "I've called Mr. Fraser just now. He's conscious right now and will explain everything to his family—"

Before his voice could fade, Lexie hurriedly ran outside and spread her arms in front of Katherine as if fearing that Katherine would leave. "Miss Cornell, my madam only doubted you just now because she was confused, so please don't take it to heart. My madam would like to ask you to go back and save her life; she even promised that you'll be rewarded handsomely if you can save the lives of the Frasers!"

At this, Katherine suddenly let out a snort of laughter as if she had heard some funny joke. "Reward me handsomely, eh? Does it seem to you that I'm short of that kind of money? Just tell your madam to use her brains. Such insincere words will only make people laugh their heads off," she said before slightly narrowing her eyes with a look of mockery. Then, she continued, "But that's no longer necessary. After

all, she'll die very soon and no longer has to use her brains anymore." With that, she walked past Lexie and was about to leave, not bothering to pay more attention to the maid.

Just then, a weak voice suddenly rang out from behind them. "M-Miss Cornell… Please stay… I-I'm begging you…"

Hearing the voice, everyone turned around and was instantly surprised. Patricia, who had been bedridden at first, had followed them outside before they knew it. Feeling light-headed, she staggered forward unsteadily, surrounded by quite a few bodyguards and nurses who apparently wanted to stop her. However, none of them dared get near her as they were afraid of the man-faced curse on her.

At the sight of this, Marcus immediately walked up to Patricia. "Mrs. Fraser, what are you—"

Patricia shook her head. No longer looking as arrogant as she had been a while ago, she staggered along like an old person until she was two steps away in front of Katherine before stopping. "Miss Cornell… Please forgive me for my insolence just now," she said, looking genuinely sincere as tears sparkled in her eyes.

Seeing her change in attitude, Katherine didn't show much emotion. Her expression still cold, she lowered her gaze upon the woman without saying anything.

Patricia pursed her lips with tremendous effort before shooting a look of displeasure at Lexie. "I told you to do your best to ask Miss Cornell to stay, and that was all you said? Don't you think it's insulting to judge someone in monetary terms?"

Lexie shuddered for a moment while looking at a loss for what to do. "H-How would I know what to say…" she complained under her breath.

Patricia, who was seriously ill and had poor hearing, didn't hear what she said, but Katherine heard every word of it. She shot a frosty sideways glance at Lexie, sending a chill down the latter's spine and causing her to hold her breath in fear.

At this moment, Patricia hesitated for a moment and let out an apologetic sigh. "Miss Cornell, I'm very sorry for offending you and hurling insults at you just now. It's just… It's just that I really couldn't believe at first that you could be so highly skilled in medicine at such a young age, so I thought you were a fraud. My husband isn't home at the moment, and there was no word about him while I was confined to bed. To me, there's no knowing whether he's dead or alive. How can I trust a stranger to treat my children and me under such circumstances?" she said, explaining her previous attitude in fairly sincere words.

"That was why I got anxious for a moment and feared that you'd do harm to our family. As you know, the Frasers are a huge family with a large family fortune, but we have a lot of enemies, too. I'd been worried in the first place that someone might take this opportunity to destroy our family, and you showed up right at this moment. As a result, I got nervous and thought you were some unknown person sent by our enemies who wanted to lay a hand on my children and me. If that were to happen, I'd be too ashamed to face the Fraser Family's ancestors even if I died…" This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.

When Marcus heard this, he couldn't help but let out a sigh. "Mrs. Fraser, it's okay if you didn't trust Miss Cornell, but how could you distrust me as well? Am I that gullible to you? You're too paranoid."

Patricia nodded with an apologetic expression. "Sorry, Mr. Town. Indeed, I wrongfully assumed you guys to be up to no good," she said before shifting her gaze back toward Katherine. "Miss Cornell, I know my explanation may not soothe your anger, but surely you have a kind heart as a doctor. I'm begging you, please save our family! However you want to vent your anger on me after this, I'll accept it; I don't care even if you refuse to save me. But please save my innocent children…"