Rhea wanted to tell Fred to leave the surgery to her, but she could not bring herself to do it. Her fingers trembled as she thought, ‘How am I supposed to perform such an intricate surgery alone?!’
As if sensing her concerns, Fred said, "Don't worry, I've arranged top-notch assistants for you."
'What the hell?' Rhea thought. 'Why doesn't he have them perform the surgery instead? If they’re the best, why are they my assistants and not the other way around?'
Although she had always thought highly of herself, her expertise was limited to research and development of drugs. Surgeries like these were not what she did best.
"What's the matter? You can't handle it?" Fred asked somewhat unhappily after seeing her hesitance.
Rhea gulped and said with a forced smile, "I'm honored you trust me so much, but—"
"That's all I need to hear." Fred raised a hand and interrupted her. He knew he would not like what she was about to say.
"Rhea, I know you’ve performed brain surgeries before, and your academic performance in medical school was outstanding. Since you’ve always wanted the world to recognize your abilities, I hope you will prove yourself."
Fred looked at her profoundly, and she was speechless.
'I did perform brain surgeries before, but I only acted as an assistant to my professor. Besides—'
Before she could finish her thought, Fred turned and shook hands with several men in white coats as they entered.
Rhea was shocked to see that one of them was the professor who had guided her in the brain surgeries. When the professor turned toward her, she nodded. "Long time no see, professor."
The man was not surprised to see her and nodded with a smile.
"I told you I've found top-notch assistants for you,” Fred turned back to look at Rhea and said smugly, "Now you're confident enough to perform the surgery, right?"
"I'll do my best, Your Grace," Rhea said, nodding. She now realized the duke was not acting recklessly but was well-prepared.
After all, the organization had approached her when she was just a teenager, and the "boss" had worked for them even longer. Fred must have planned for this experiment for a very long time.
'Perhaps things aren't as bad as I thought they were, and everything will go smoothly,’ she thought.
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