Betrayed, Then Back For Blood

Chapter 36

Joshua and Marvin, well past middle age, fell into heavy silence after broaching such a somber topic. Finally, Marvin sighed and urged, “Alright, our old bones can still hold up.

“Let’s give youngsters more time. When the moment comes, they’ll definitely do better than we did back in the day. Go on in, don’t keep Briar

waiting.”

Joshua nodded, waving Marvin off. “Go on, scram before our close contact draws attention.” With that, he shut the lab door,

Bored of waiting in Joshua’s office, Briar got up to check out the space. The room was simply furnished–just a desk and bookshelves lining

the wall.

Alongside traditional medicine texts, the shelves held countless specimens of rare herbs, some of which Briar had only seen in Tristan’s private vault.

But what truly caught her eye was an old picture frame nestled amongst the specimens. The photo showed five young men. The one in the center was clearly a younger Joshua.

A

To his left stood Marvin, whom she’d just met. To the right, she recognized Griffin in his youth. The man next to Griffin was unfamiliar to her.

But the real shock came from the long–haired, black–rimmed man on the far right–he was the spitting image of a young Tristan.

‘Whoa, she thought, ‘didn’t know Tristan was such a trendsetter back then.‘

Joshua walked in, he caught Briar staring at the photo frame. “Briar,” he chuckled, “bet you

turned with a smile. “Obviously you, Mr.

taste! For that alone, I’ll make

old–fashioned Joshua to

introduce you to your seniors. In our traditional medicine program,

along, his warm demeanor sparked a flicker of genuine anticipation

thought, ‘Who would’ve thought I’d ever look

traditional medicine students were men, many from hereditary practitioner families. With Dasmieca cracking down

universities had a brutal 8:2 male–female ratio, Shoneport’s ratio was relatively

enrollment in Shoneport’s Traditional Medicine department rarely topped

rare. Including two new additions this

students.

are ten males and only one female. So this

every guy in the lab stopped what they were doing. Their eyes were

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Chapter 36

me introduce–this is Briar, our new transfer student in first year. She’s 18, but don’t let her age

to applaud enthusiastically. “Hey there, I’m James, head of the lab

fourth year.”

in, “Hey, Briar. I’m Karl, also a