Chapter 209: You Really Are a Good-for-nothing

"Something’s happened to Young Master Hughes!" The voice on the other end was frantic.

Jane Lancaster ignored the impending crisis, calmly sitting down in the chair by the bed.

"But that alone wouldn’t have been enough for you to make a move. Alvin must have discovered another one of your secrets. That’s what shocked him and caused his amnesia."

Her slender, pale fingers tapped her chin as she watched Jean Hughes desperately gasp for breath.

"Alvin is a gentle person. He loves small animals. That night, he told me something seemed off about Reggie’s old injuries... The Reggie we have now is a fake, isn’t he? Did you kill the real one?"

"If you’re a psychopath who enjoys torturing and killing small animals, it all starts to make sense."

Jean Hughes suddenly burst out laughing.

"You really are incredible. So smart, so calm, and so utterly ruthless." ’She’s just too sharp. There’s no hiding anything from her.’

Secretary Dawson rushed to the hospital room door. Just as he was about to open it, he froze, stunned by the sound of loud laughter from within.

’What’s going on?’ Out of caution, he knocked on the door. "Young Master Hughes?"

Jean Hughes ignored him, gazing at Jane with a sigh of admiration. ’Truly amazing. Exactly what you’d expect from a brain that got into the prodigy program.’

"So that’s why you killed Prince back then? I see! To think I’ve only just figured it out!" he said with a laugh.

"But you don’t seem very smart," Jane said, her face devoid of expression. "A little stupid, even."

’If he weren’t stupid, why would he ever have suspected Alvin?’

Jean Hughes’s eyes instantly turned sinister. He suddenly choked and began to cough violently.

Anxious to protect his master and getting no response, Secretary Dawson pushed the door open in one swift motion.

"Get out!" Jean Hughes clutched his chest, his voice cold and menacing.

Secretary Dawson looked hesitantly at Jane. "Did this woman offend you...?"

Jean Hughes glared at him coldly. "What are you looking at? Scram!"

Secretary Dawson flinched in fear and quickly shut the door.

Jean Hughes looked at Jane with excitement.

From start to finish, her gaze remained icy, betraying no hint of fear or retreat. She was like a goddess—haughty, cold, and merciless.

’No one else had the right to call him stupid, of course. But if she wanted to, what was stopping her?’

Jean Hughes: "You don’t like Secretary Dawson, do you?"

His voice was like a serpent’s hiss, soft and enticing. "How about I gouge out his eyes and give them to you?"

Jane looked at him. "I don’t like you either. Why don’t you gouge out your own eyes and give them to me?"

Jean Hughes: "..."

He thought for a moment, then said, "I heard you say Alvin’s veins were beautiful. I also love that moment when you slice open a vein... such ultimate beauty..."

Jane impatiently cut him off. "Don’t change the subject. Why aren’t you gouging out your eyes for me? Are you scared?"

Jean Hughes: "When you jumped off that building holding the suspect, were you ecstatic when the blood bloomed on the ground? Such a perfect crime. Is that the kind of method a genius brain devises? You not only got away with it scot-free, but you even became a hero."

Jane remained perfectly calm. ’I don’t feel a thing. In fact, I almost want to laugh.’

’Jean Hughes is a complete lunatic.’

’Not only that, he probably knows some hypnotism. His gaze seems calm, but it’s full of a bewitching power.’

’Is he trying to see if that incident is my psychological anchor? Sorry, but it’s not.’

’I’m not the original owner of this body. She’s the one who would be wracked with guilt and suffer from PTSD for killing someone.’

’Then again, it’s not like I have a conscience either.’

"Don’t act like you understand me so well, just because you’ve killed a few dogs. How did you do it? Have someone tie them up so you could torture them to death, knife-stroke by knife-stroke?"

Jane could guess easily. Jean Hughes didn’t look like he enjoyed exercise; his constitution was on the weaker side.

’Someone as pampered as him would never put himself in danger.’

With a look of utter disdain, Jane said, "You really are useless. Even the way you kill dogs is pathetic."

Jean Hughes bit his lip. "Actually, I’ve committed a perfect crime once, too..."

"You mean with Alvin? If it weren’t for your father and my father working together to cover it up, do you think you could have gotten away scot-free?"

Jean Hughes hesitated. He shouldn’t have said that.

"Darling, let’s get married soon, okay? And then have a child..." He reached for Jane’s hand.

Jane’s eyes went cold. She pulled out a few roses and pressed them against his hand. The thorns, not fully removed, scratched the back of his hand, drawing beads of blood.

Jean Hughes watched her, obsessed, his breathing growing rapid.

"Jane Lancaster, how can you be so wonderful? A thousand, ten thousand times better than I ever imagined..."

Back then, when he heard from that teacher that Jane was also a student in the prodigy program and had voluntarily dropped out with the top scores, he knew she was different from everyone else.

Later, he even pulled up the surveillance footage of Jane killing Prince with a knife, watching it again and again.

Then, when he heard she had killed someone, he was so excited he stayed up all night, frantically collecting and analyzing all the case files.

Back then, he had guessed that she wouldn’t remain in a coma forever. She must have planned everything before she jumped from the building.

’What heroic act? She was clearly using that as a perfect getaway.’

And in the blink of an eye, Jane had once again brutally killed those three mixed-breed dogs.

Her hands were stained with blood, yet she was still so gentle and graceful.

He firmly believed that Jane must have a soul that was infinitely close to his own.

The two of them were meant to be together.

"Not that time." Jean Hughes offered up his deepest, most buried secret with almost religious reverence. "In Solara, I once orchestrated a perfect murder by incitement."

"I intentionally showed her concern, luring her into an inescapable obsession with me."

"Then I let the other girls who had crushes on me see that she actually dared to desire me."

"Those girls isolated and bullied her. The more viciously they treated her, the better I was to her."

"Then one day, I pretended to find out about the bullying and deliberately wrote a revenge plan in my notebook. I even bought a knife."

"She was afraid I would kill for her, so she burned the notebook, took the knife, and stabbed the girl who led the bullying to death. Then she killed herself."

"To the day she died, she thought she was bravely protecting the man she loved." He couldn’t help but sound smug by the end.

Jane sighed. "Aren’t you afraid I’m recording this?"

Jean Hughes was suddenly alarmed and whipped his head around to look at her hands.

’Her dress is perfectly tailored... no pockets, nowhere to hide anything...’

"Sorry, darling, but you’ll have to let me check your phone." Jean Hughes smiled like a gentleman, but his tone left no room for refusal.

Jane lowered her gaze, fiddling with her phone. "If I refuse, does that mean I won’t be walking out of here today?"

Jean Hughes watched her warily, his hand secretly reaching for the knife under his pillow.

’I really don’t want to hurt her unless I have no other choice.’

Jane, however, didn’t resist. She handed over her phone. "Check all you want."

Jean Hughes took it and quickly looked through it. Finding nothing suspicious, he handed the phone back to Jane.

"Darling, are you hungry? I’ll have someone prepare some food." He smiled and reached for the call bell, the fanaticism in his eyes fading as his composure returned.

But Jane’s heart sank.

’The moment he revealed his secret, he decided he wasn’t going to let me leave.’