Under the Heiress' Facade

Aside from thinking that Bernard feared she'd run away to leave him untreated, Hera couldn't come up with any other reason for Bernard shadowing her like a prisoner for the last few days.

Bernard gazed at her intently. He wasn't afraid that she might run away but was afraid she might disappear again.

"Yes," he said, confirming her assumption.

Hera was momentarily speechless.

"You can rest assured. I have medical ethics. I'll take responsibility for you," she said, then turned and entered the café.

"Douglas."

Bernard looked at the driver's seat, and Douglas immediately understood.

Led by the waiter, Hera was taken to a private room reserved by Leon. She knocked and entered.

Inside the room, only Leon was present. He was engrossed in a discussion on Cyber Web's forum.

Discussions have been rampant recently about the UTA-224 hacking incident and the International Police's bounty of 100 thousand dollars for Raven's capture.

Everyone on the forum speculated about Raven's true identity and whereabouts, while another hotly debated topic was the identity of the person who hacked the satellite.

"Boss, take a look at this. Someone on the forum is speculating that S might have been your partner in the UTA-224 hacking. Is that true?" Leon turned the computer screen toward Hera upon her arrival.

Hera immediately glanced at the post's contents but realized it was mere gossip. Most people were just speculating about S and Vulcan.

Both were legends in the hacking world and bitter rivals. Their fans, who typically didn't get along, were now engaged in heated exchanges on the forum.

They were blaming the opposing side for the trouble brewing, as though they were afraid that their idols were wanted criminals.

Vulcan's fans claimed, "Raven is wanted, so obviously his mentor, S, must be involved."

S' fans countered, "Vulcan is just copying S to shift the blame. How despicable!"

Onlookers commented, "Truly top-tier hackers. They can even hack into Miridian's military satellite. Impressive!"

Hera was rendered speechless.

She was curious about this gossip herself. She wondered if it was true and who the other person might be. S hadn't responded to her yet. But now wasn't the time to indulge in gossip.

"Where is it?" she asked.

Leon extracted a small black memory card from his computer and gave it to Hera.

It was

256MB microSD card, a relic

from the era when phones had. buttons. It had been a while:

those days. Content belop

"Do you have the card reader?" she asked.

"Here."

to

Leon took out a card reader from his bag and handed it to her.

Hera

her laptop over and satNôvelDrama.Org holds © this.

Cim. She inserted the S the computer. Content thenie

the reader and then

to

Leon immediately got up and went over to Hera's side to watch.

Hera clicked on the card's icon on her computer and realized it was empty.

At that moment, a waiter brought in

a cup

of coffee and asked, "Miss, is

the gentleman outside your friend?"

Hera peeked through the door crack and saw Douglas standing outside the private room.

Leon also spotted Douglas and knew he was Bernard's personal assistant.

He asked, "Should we invite him in?"

"No," Hera refused.

She wasn't ready for Bernard to know her true identity.

She told the waiter, "Get him a cup of latte and ask him to wait outside."

"Sure," the waiter replied and left, not forgetting to close the door.

Leon caught her meaning.

"Hey, aren't you planning to tell him your real identity?"

Hera raised an eyebrow.

"Tell him, and then wait for him to turn me in for the 100-thousand-dollar bounty?"