The maid's panicked shriek was like a siren, instantly replacing the sorrow with adrenaline. The fragile space of grief vanished. Evelise, despite her swollen eyes and trembling frame, snapped back into the cold reality of her mission.
"The Rot has returned?" Evelise whispered, horror replacing despair. "Impossible. My dosage stabilizes the genetic markers— it shouldn't regress this quickly… No it should not… returned."
Oshan immediately moved to the closet, retrieving Evelise's medical satchel.
"Lady Evelise, we must go. If the cure failed, the unification fails. We need to save her!"
Evelise nodded, pushing herself off the bed. "Guard," she commanded Sid, her voice strained but professional. "Follow with the emergency vials. We waste no time."
The four of them— Evelise, Oshan carrying the bag, Sid the guard, and the hysterical maid burst into the Mayor's wife's elaborate medical suite.
