The man listened to Yasmin quietly, a silent observer offering no personal opinions.

“You’re very loyal, but it’s boring chatting with you,” Yasmin sighed, shaking her head. “Lily disapproves of my actions, so she won’t like what I say. As for Rhea…” She trailed off, acknowledging their lack of common ground. A wave of sadness washed over her; she felt utterly alone. Looking out the window, an idea struck her. “Didn’t Fred kidnap a miracle doctor not long ago?”

“Yes,” the man replied thoughtfully, “the old man is Lily’s mentor.”

Yasmin’s face brightened. “Yes, yes, that’s him! Where is he?”

“The storage room on the top floor.”

“Bring him here,” she commanded, then reconsidered. “Forget it. Take me to him.”

“But he’s in the storage room,” the man hesitated.

“I know. Just take me there. I just want to talk to him, not stay there, okay?”

Heeding her insistence, the man wheeled her to the top floor.

Dominic, having spent two days in the cramped storage room, was thoroughly bored. The room was clean, but he’d exhausted himself fiddling with the scattered odds and ends. He feared nothing so much as the loss of his freedom. His youth had been spent traveling, facing hardship and danger, yet he thrived on that very freedom. Later, he’d purchased a vast plot on the outskirts of Operose, building a home where he lived a reclusive life, tending his herbs, reading medical texts, and occasionally assisting Lily with Galen. This confinement, however, proved unbearable. He even contemplated requesting the duke to end his life rather than endure the imprisonment, when a knock sounded at the door.

His visitor, however, was neither the duke nor Lily, but an elderly woman in a wheelchair. A man, clearly a bodyguard, wheeled her inside. Dominic met her gaze.

“Are you Mr. Dominic Fike, the miracle doctor?” Yasmin asked, breaking the silence. Dominic looked at the man behind her, then back at her. “Who are you?”