A Replacement Bride

Chapter 373

"What do you mean?" Joaquin arched his brow and ambled toward the woman.

"Stop playing dumb." A speechless Katherine pursed her lips. "Why did you put on an act in front of Jayden today?"

Hearing that, Joaquin broke into laughter as a glint flashed across his eyes. His shoulders heaved as though he had just heard a funny joke.

For some reason, Katherine felt her face flushing as the man laughed. She snapped, "What are you laughing at? Why do you behave strangely today?"

Instead of answering her, Joaquin questioned, "Do you really have no idea why I behave this way?"

Taken aback, Katherine looked away and ignored him.

Joaquin approached her slowly and sat down beside her. His narrowed eyes glittered like the stars.

"Jayden obviously has an ulterior motive for approaching you. As your husband, there's no way I can put up with it."

That guy doesn't even hide his feelings for Kathy. How I wish I could just kill him!

A helpless Katherine cleared her throat and muttered, "There's nothing between us, so there's no need for you to be concerned."

"I know there's nothing between you two." Joaquin nodded and spoke impassively. "However, that doesn't mean I have to put up with him."

Realizing that they mustn't go on with the topic, Katherine fell silent and let the man be.

As they intended to head out and find out more about the current situation the next day, they decided to go to bed early that night.

When Joaquin got up in the middle of the night, he saw that Katherine was flushing and her lips were parted. Worried that she might feel thirsty, he decided to head downstairs with a cup.

However, when he arrived at the landing, he realized that the lights in the dining hall were still on at this hour.

Who is that? Why isn't he asleep?

Although he was doubtful, he didn't read too much into it. Just as he was ready to continue walking down the stairs, the voice from the dining hall made him stop.

That voice was familiar, for it was Jayden's, and what he said shocked Joaquin.

"They're going to head out tomorrow. Send some people to follow them. There's no need to do anything in particular. Just follow them secretly and let them know that the mercenaries are still running after them."

The mercenaries?! Is he speaking to one of them? Does that mean that he's the one who has hired the mercenaries?

Upon learning the shocking secret inadvertently, Joaquin turned gloomy at once. He stepped back and hid behind the other side of the corner as he listened attentively to the voice from the dining hall. Property © NôvelDrama.Org.

However, when Jayden was done saying that, he didn't have another order. He remained silent for a long time as though he had hung up the call.

Moments later, the sound of a cup being placed on the table was heard. Following that, the lights in the dining hall were turned off, and the sounds of footsteps reverberated across the place.

Joaquin had acute eyesight, so he got used to the darkness quickly. He turned around and headed upstairs stealthily. With years of training and combat experience, he managed to make no noises at all.

Upon returning to the room, he closed the door lightly and leaned his ear against it.

Soon, Jayden came upstairs as well and shuffled toward the other end of the corridor. Several minutes later, the sound of a door closing was heard.

In the darkness, Joaquin squinted and fell into his thoughts.

In fact, when he was having a discussion with Katherine in the morning, he already became suspicious of Jayden. It never crossed his mind that his suspicion would be proven in such a way.

Why would it be so coincidental that right after they were forced to land in Fontan, they came across Jayden?

What was more, when they were hunted down and besieged in the alley, Jayden could accurately locate them.

Joaquin wasn't someone who believed in a series of coincidences, which looked more like a plan that was well thought out in his eyes.

Moreover, Jayden was someone Katherine was familiar with, and they had a partnership in Fontan. In other words, he was quite powerful in this place.

These two points met the criteria for the mastermind that Katherine had listed.

Now, it seemed that Jayden had already had his eyes on Katherine back in their own country. That was why he was aware of Theodore's laboratory and told the mercenaries to lie in ambush in advance.

Since the mission was unsuccessful, he decided to run after them. To make it easier for him to make a move, he pretended to hijack the plane and forced them to land in Fontan so that the mercenaries on land could do their job. They pretended to hunt them down, and Jayden put up an act of saving them at the most critical moment. That was because he had to gain Katherine's trust.

Well, that's a lot of twists and turns. He's such a cunning man!

Nonetheless, given Jayden's identity, he supposedly wasn't able to hire any mercenaries.

Although the Hall Family could be considered wealthy in Kyoland, they were not one of the four most prestigious families, after all. As such, they didn't have the right to contact the mercenaries.

The only possibility was that Jayden still had an identity that was hidden from others, and that identity must not be underestimated.

As Joaquin racked his brain, he soon thought of Lab X.

It was apparent that Jayden was after Jennifer's inheritance. The outsiders only knew that Jennifer was proficient in medicine, and they were eager to get the Scott-Tutton Family's secret scroll from her.

Since Jayden was after the secret scroll, his hidden identity must have something to do with the medical field as well.

As such, Joaquin couldn't help but think of Lab X. With that said, he couldn't confirm that Jayden was indeed the mastermind.

After all, many people wanted to get Jennifer's secret scroll. With the secret scroll in possession, one would acquire endless benefits.

While Joaquin was in his thoughts, Katherine turned over and sensitively detected that something was off in the room.

She abruptly opened her eyes, and with the help of the moonlight filtering through the window, she saw a man standing at the door. She tensed up at once.

Nevertheless, when she realized that the person was Joaquin, she was relieved. She sat up with difficulty and asked, "Why are you standing there in the middle of the night?"

Joaquin came to his senses and shuffled toward her with an empty cup before replying gently, "Nothing. I was about to head downstairs and pour a cup of water for you. Are you thirsty? I'll do it for you now."

Katherine rubbed her eyes and shook her head. She then muttered, "It's fine. I'm not thirsty. Come and get some sleep."

Joaquin stroked her hair and put the cup down on the bedside table. Then, he lay down on the bed and pulled the woman into his embrace. "Alright, let's sleep."

Following that, he landed a kiss on her blemish-free forehead.

Without reading too much into it, Katherine dozed off once more as she was extremely sleepy.

Once she started breathing stably, Joaquin retracted his hands carefully and adjusted the quilt for her. Then, he headed to the balcony and called Jeremy.

"Have you found any information regarding Lab X?"

Jeremy was still awake in Hovington. He replied promptly, "Not yet, but I've asked my subordinates to look into the matter. I'm sure we'll find some useful information soon."