Chapter 270 - 269: Asher, I Love You, I Really Love You

Chapter 270: Chapter 269: Asher, I Love You, I Really Love You

"She’s not Cecilia Caldwell... She’s Silvia Lynch..." Lynn’s whole body was trembling, as if she couldn’t control the drugs’ effect on her. "She’s Silvia Lynch... after being hypnotized..."

According to Lynn, Silvia Lynch and Victor Quinn were working together, and I wasn’t the reborn Cecilia Caldwell at all.

I am Silvia Lynch.

Cecilia Caldwell was already dead.

Cecilia Caldwell was already dead by the time the police discovered the body in the glass case.

Victor Quinn’s hypnosis had been so successful, he’d even fooled me... me, myself.

Nathan Lawson grabbed my hair and viciously slammed my head against the wall. Blood trickled down my forehead.

Heh...

’So, I really was a joke.’

"Silvia Lynch, you and Victor Quinn are in this together. Victor Quinn is a traitor." Nathan Lawson yanked my hair, forcing me to look at Lynn. "Did you hear me? You and Victor Quinn are partners. Her father hypnotized you. He used hypnosis to make you forget everything, then implanted new memories—parts of Cecilia Caldwell’s memories—to fake the illusion of Cecilia being reborn in your body."

"Before all this, he gave you tons of information on Cecilia Caldwell: her experiment logs, her mannerisms... Based on the organization’s observation journals on her, it would be a piece of cake for you to impersonate her."

Nathan Lawson smiled. "So, you aren’t Cecilia Caldwell at all... You’re just Silvia Lynch."

"To make you more like Cecilia Caldwell, Victor Quinn had to make you fool even yourself. Only when you yourself believed you were Cecilia would anyone else be convinced..." Nathan Lawson’s eyes were filled with pity as he looked at me. "Just a pathetic wretch who doesn’t even know her own name..."

"His hypnosis made you firmly believe you were Cecilia Caldwell. So when you suddenly ’woke up’ one day and found yourself ’reborn’ in someone else’s body... it was all a false premise. It was just an act you and Victor Quinn staged. Your real goal was to reveal the organization’s existence, to draw the police’s attention to us, to expose us..."

Nathan Lawson shoved me away and spoke to his men in a low voice. "Get rid of her. Make it look like a suicide and dump her in the ocean."

’Silvia Lynch has a public ’identity,’ so he couldn’t just make me vanish without a trace, not like the other test subjects.’

One of the henchmen seemed nervous. "What about the higher-ups... what if they blame us? We haven’t received any orders from them. Besides, the Astraeus Group just formally recognized her. If we kill her now..."

"SLAP!" Nathan Lawson was going mad, striking the henchman across the face. "I told you to kill her! If the higher-ups come asking questions, I’ll take full responsibility! But she must die!"

’As for the Astraeus Group, he’d just have to lie and say the test subject died of natural causes.’

The henchman looked at me, still hesitant, afraid of the repercussions from above if he killed me.

"Why make it hard for others... If they kill me, they’ll have to take the blame... If you have the guts, do it yourself." I leaned against the wall, forcing myself to swallow the blood that had filled my mouth.

A sharp pain seized my chest. Even with the evidence laid out before me, I couldn’t bring myself to believe it... that I wasn’t Cecilia Caldwell, that I was just Silvia Lynch.

’If I’m only Silvia Lynch, isn’t that terribly unfair... to Asher?’

’Hypnosis, memory implants... Heh...’

’So I really had fooled even myself.’

"If you have the guts... then kill me!" I yelled at Nathan Lawson. In a situation like this... in his lab... my chances of survival were zero.

’Then let’s just die together...’

For a fleeting moment, I truly believed Lynn and Nathan Lawson. That I wasn’t Cecilia Caldwell... that I was just Silvia Lynch, hypnotized to forget everything, having fooled even myself.

’If I really am Silvia Lynch, then I should just die here. Let it end like this. At least... I won’t have to deceive Asher anymore.’

’He’s already suffered enough losing the real Cecilia Caldwell. Now that there’s someone who’s her exact double, just let him... let him be with the current Cecilia, and live happily ever after.’

"You think I don’t dare?" Nathan Lawson sneered. He turned and pulled a highly concentrated drug from a medicine cabinet. The kind of drug that would kill a person the moment it entered their bloodstream.

His assistant tried to intervene but was kicked away by Nathan.

His face was a ferocious mask as he advanced on me, syringe in hand. "I don’t care if you’re Silvia Lynch or Cecilia Caldwell, you both deserve to die! Cecilia Caldwell deserved to die... If it weren’t for her, Marcus Lancaster wouldn’t be dead..."

Suddenly, he smiled. "It’s better that he’s dead... Yes, better that he’s dead."

’He didn’t love him when he was alive. Death settles everything.’

’I understood then. The person Nathan Lawson loved was Marcus Lancaster.’

’Unrequited love had driven him mad.’

"Marcus Lancaster... He didn’t love you..." I taunted him with a cold smirk.

"He didn’t love the wife the Lancaster family forced him to marry! He loved me!" Nathan Lawson flew into a rage and grabbed my throat, trying to plunge the syringe into my artery.

’He’d lost his mind, wishfully believing he was the one Marcus Lancaster loved.’

’Maybe Marcus Lancaster did have a woman he deeply loved, but it certainly wasn’t the man before me, who was selfish to his very core.’

"Your genes are flowing through my blood... It’s disgusting..." ’Whether I’m Cecilia or Silvia, I have his genes. It’s absolutely sickening.’

"Disgusting? Heh... So what if Marcus Lancaster didn’t love me? His son is still drawn to my genes!" Nathan Lawson laughed with a crazed look in his eyes. This was probably his idea of revenge.

"His son is wrapped around my little finger, all thanks to my genes... So what if Sebastian Lancaster is a genius? Cecilia Caldwell is his life! And now, his life is in my hands." Nathan Lawson clearly thought that by controlling Cecilia 2.0, he could control Sebastian Lancaster.

I had inhaled too much of the toxic gas; my body was completely devoid of strength.

Nathan Lawson’s syringe pierced the artery in my neck, and the drug was slowly injected.

A rush of heat surged through my body.

’I knew... I probably wasn’t going to make it.’

’This was the drug they used to euthanize animals...’

"You... underestimate him," I said through gritted teeth. With a final burst of adrenaline, I grabbed Nathan’s wrist, using every last ounce of my strength to tackle him to the ground. I wrenched the syringe from his hand and plunged it deep into his neck. "Let’s die together..."

’Asher would only be safe if Nathan Lawson was dead.’

Blood streamed uncontrollably from the corner of my mouth.

My eyes were blood-red, as if they were about to start weeping blood.

My whole body began to twitch, and my heart felt like it was going numb...

Nathan Lawson stared at me in terror. I didn’t stop until I had injected the last of the drug into him. Only then did his men manage to pull me away.

I couldn’t control the painful spasms wracking my body, and I collapsed on the floor, curled in a ball.

My consciousness was fading.

’Experiencing death... all over again...’

I was somewhat astonished by Victor Quinn’s hypnosis skills. If I really was Silvia Lynch and not Cecilia Caldwell, he was incredible. In the memories he had given me, I felt Cecilia’s death as if I had experienced it myself.

So, as death came for me again, I wasn’t particularly afraid. On the contrary, I felt a sense of peace.

The drug was also taking effect in Nathan Lawson’s body. He started convulsing, staring at me as if he couldn’t accept his fate.

"You people... you won’t... succeed," Nathan Lawson rasped.

’The "you people" he spoke of... he meant the Rebels...’

My vision grew increasingly blurry.

I curled up in the corner and slowly closed my eyes as tears mixed with blood streamed from their corners.

"Asher..."

’The name I called before I died was Asher’s.’

’I really... had fallen in love with him.’

’I loved him so, so much.’

’It’s a shame that I’m probably not Cecilia Caldwell.’

’My love is meaningless, worthless.’

"Live a good life..."

’Asher, you have to live a good life.’

"Cece!"

"Cecilia Caldwell!"

"Wake up..."