Chapter 230 — Psychological Panic

Victoria lay in the hospital bed, quietly contemplating what had just happened. The surprises this day had brought her were simply too many; they had exceeded what she could bear.

The freedom she had always longed for had descended upon her so easily. Victoria felt as though she were dreaming; it was all so unreal.

In the end, Yang Ce had not taken the remote control away. Not that Victoria had any use for it now—she kept it merely as a memento. Tomorrow, she would step into a new life, would she?

Victoria had been terrified that when she woke, everything would have reverted to the way it was, so she had gone to sleep very late the night before. But when she woke today and saw the remote control beside her pillow, Victoria was certain she was not dreaming.

"Knock, knock, knock..." A knock came at the door.

"Please come in." Victoria assumed it was the nurse coming to change her dressing, so she paid it no mind and said calmly.

The ward door was pushed open. It was Dr. Jessica—but behind Dr. Jessica stood a person Victoria resented and feared from the depths of her heart! That person was her former master, Bobby.

This resentment and fear were involuntary. Though Victoria had nothing to do with him anymore, after years of submitting to Bobby's oppression, Victoria had come to fear him.

"Victoria, how are you feeling? Any better?" Bobby walked cautiously into

the ward and greeted Victoria with a face full of concern.

Bobby was a man skilled at social maneuvering; he had finally managed to establish a connection with Yang Cenbin, and naturally he meant to find a way to maintain and consolidate it. So after Yang Ce had asked for Victoria and treated her, Bobby mistakenly assumed that Yang Ce had taken a fancy to Victoria's beauty—because he could not think of any other use an injured Victoria might serve for Yang Ce.

As for what Yang Ce had said to Victoria yesterday, though Jessica had heard it, without Yang Juehuan's permission she would never breathe a word of it. The doctors at this hospital all bore military ranks and military discipline, so they would absolutely never leak anything.

Thus, although Jessica knew the true reason Yang Ce wanted Victoria, that reason could not be spoken aloud to Bobby. As for what Bobby chose to believe, that was Bobby's own affair. To Bobby's questions, Jessica offered nothing but a smile.

But the more this was so, the more Bobby misunderstood. He took Jessica's smile for something ambiguous, and his heart grew even more anxious and reverent. Only after entering Victoria's room did Bobby comport himself with such caution.

"?" Victoria was instantly dumbfounded by Bobby's attitude; she could not fathom how the ever-haughty Bobby had suddenly become like this! Victoria gaped in astonishment, and for a long while could not utter a single word.

"Victoria, I know that what I did to you before may have been a bit over the line, but... you were my slave then... Now your status is exalted, and I think you're magnanimous enough not to hold the past against me, right?" Seeing that Victoria did not answer, Bobby was convinced she harbored a grudge. Moreover, seeing that Victoria now occupied such a luxurious ward, with professional physicians attending her around the clock, Bobby knew she must occupy a considerable place in Yang Juehuan's heart. In that case, once this girl gained favor, she would inevitably resent what he, Bobby, had done before—and if she whispered a word or two into Yang Juehuan's ear at pillow talk, would he, Bobby, not be finished?

It was this thought of the misfortunes the future might bring that had sent Bobby hurrying to Victoria's ward to beg her forgiveness.

"?" Victoria was even more bewildered. When had her status become exalted? She merely had a certain degree of freedom now—hardly something that could be called "exalted"! There were countless free people like her in this world, far too many to count. Were all of them exalted? After all, even the beggars in the slums had their freedom... and Victoria truly did not feel her situation was much better than theirs.

Seeing Victoria's expression, Bobby surmised that she must still be full of resentment, and that winning her forgiveness would surely not be accomplished in a few words.

"Victoria, it's your good fortune that Mr. Yang has taken a fancy to you. But you must seize this opportunity well. There is no shortage of beautiful women around Mr. Yang, so if you want to keep his favor, you must first learn how to please and ingratiate yourself with a man..." Seeing that his endless apologies were of no use, Bobby changed tactics. He had prepared two approaches before coming here, and one of them was to speak with Victoria as a friend about her future and how she might secure her footing in Yang Ce's household.

"Huh!" Victoria's eyes went wide. What did he mean, there was no shortage of beautiful women around Mr. Yang? What did the number of beauties around him have to do with her? It merely meant a few more people under protection. Besides, why should she want Yang Juehuan's favor?

"Victoria, your former status... oh, forgive me. Though bringing this up now may seem to belittle you, everything I say is the truth, and I hope you can understand... I am speaking to you now entirely as a friend!" Bobby's hands did not know what gestures to make, but his sincerity was abundantly on display.

"And then?" Victoria was utterly lost in the fog. Seeing that Bobby too could be so at a loss, she suddenly found it somewhat amusing. Was this still the same Bobby who had once swaggered and lorded it over others? Before her, he had suddenly become like a child—the sheer contrast made Victoria feel as though she were dreaming.

Victoria wanted to understand what on earth had happened to Bobby, so she spoke up to let him continue.

Seeing that Victoria had finally spoken, Bobby was overjoyed. It seemed Victoria was softening; his friendship card had been played correctly. He hurried on: "In the past, you could never have come into contact with matters between men and women... Take me for example—there are no few women around me, but what attracts me most is perhaps not the most beautiful, but the most charming! A woman's charm can be cultivated and changed, so the main reason I came this time was to talk to you about these things!"

"Oh?" Victoria still did not quite understand. What was Bobby's ultimate purpose in coming here? All this nonsense about a woman's charm—could Bobby have suddenly gone mad? Victoria had never seen Bobby talk or act in such a way before.

"If you want to capture Mr. Yang's heart for good, Victoria, you must work hard!" As he spoke, Bobby mysteriously placed a box into Victoria's hands, then winked and said: "I have a small video player here for you. I've downloaded videos onto it for you—footage of some of the world's famous intelligence organizations training their female agents. Their skills at seducing men are second to none. If you learn even half of it, you'll be able to..."

"Female agent training?" Victoria took the small box from Bobby's hands and murmured to

herself, repeating the words.

"That's right—it took me a great deal of effort to get my hands on this!" Bobby hastened to claim credit. "Well then, Miss Victoria, I won't disturb your rest any longer. I'll come visit you a little later. Also, I've brought some fresh fruit, all your favorites, and left it by the bedside

————"

What fruits Victoria had once liked to eat, Bobby evidently did not know. But overnight he had learned some of Victoria's habits from the men who guarded the slaves under him.

Ordinarily, Bobby was not stingy with the slaves' food, because he depended on these people to win him matches. So their diet and nutrition had to keep up.

After saying all this, Bobby rose to take his leave. He nodded at Victoria with a smile before stepping out of the ward door.