Chapter 706
This was no ordinary cold from getting caught in the rain. This was a severe fever brought on by extreme exposure, massive emotional volatility, and severe mental exhaustion.
The massive emotional blow and the violent mental whiplash were the real reasons the fever refused to break.
“What exactly happened last night p>
Sienna turned around, shooting a sharp, piercing glare at the nervous guard standing behind her.
Intimidated by her intense look, the guard didn’t dare hide anything and immediately spilled the truth.
“In the middle of the night, Jarred suddenly ordered us to search the Mountain Woods… looking for a black journal and a box of letters p>
Sienna’s fingers, resting on his pulse, involuntarily hitched.
Unaware of her reaction, the guard kept talking. “Twenty of us braved the thunderstorm. We scoured the deep woods for over five hours, from midnight until dawn broke p>
“We finally found everything right before sunrise. When we got back, someone made hot broth to warm us up, but Jarred just clutched the box and journal and went straight upstairs. Didn’t even take a single sip p>
The guard gestured toward the nightstand.
A bowl of untouched, stone-cold broth sat there quietly.
“Jarred carried the journal and the metal box back to his room without saying a word. Locked himself in completely. Ignored every knock, refused food and water. When we realized something was wrong at noon and forced the door open, we found him unconscious from the fever. Declan brought a doctor over immediately, but Jarred woke up just enough to furiously kick him out p>
Every word hammered into Sienna’s ears, weighing heavily on her chest.
She had assumed that tossing those items into the woods during a torrential downpour meant they would be washed away forever.
She never could have imagined it.
That Jarred—a man raised in absolute luxury, sitting at the pinnacle of power, always so arrogant and domineering.
Had actually braved a violent storm, leading a five-hour overnight search, to meticulously recover everything she had desperately thrown away.
Her gaze swept across the floor on the other side of the bed.
The old metal box lay upside down on the floor, its lid wide open.
Countless yellowed letters were scattered across the carpet.
Some were ruined by the rain, the ink smeared and illegible, others were neatly stacked. clearly opened and carefully read, while a few were still perfectly sealed p>
Sienna closed her eyes, a chaotic mix of emotions swirling inside her.
She couldn’t tell if it was frustration, embarrassment, humiliation, or something else entirely that she couldn’t even name.
“I understand p>
Forcing down her turbulent thoughts, she kept her voice calm and cold as she ordered the guard, “Leave us p>
The guard looked as if he’d been pardoned from execution. He thanked her repeatedly, nervously begged her to cure larred, and quietly shut the door behind him
The room fell into total silence.
Sienna stood by the bed for two seconds before bending down and pulling back Jarred’s blanket.
As she threw off the covers, she immediately noticed several red scratches and bruises on his left arm, clearly from sharp branches.
His pant legs were rolled halfway up, smeared with dried mud that had formed a hard, grayish-brown crust.
He had laid there soaking wet for the entire night.
In Sienna’s memory, this was a man who would change clothes if a speck of dust landed on him. How could he tolerate being this filthy?
Sienna’s fingertips tightened slightly as she adjusted his slumping body to lay flat.
She prepared to give him a proper examination.
But as she reached out, she saw it clearly.
He was completely out of it from the fever, yet his right hand was balled into a tight fist against his chest, a sliver of a black leather cover peeking through his fingers.
The Hidden Journal she had hurled into the night.
Now, it was clutched so fiercely in his grip that his knuckles were white, leaving deep fingernail indents on the cover.
Sienna’s throat tightened.