Slept With An "Ex-convict Nobody" - A Hidden Trillionaire!

Chapter 14: The apprentice

The hall quieted as Ethan gave precise instructions to the apprentice, which left the rest of the Robbins’ family members in awe as none of them could understand what Ethan was saying save for the Apprentice who followed halfheartedly, his lips curled in disdain. 

To the crowd, it looked like he was cooperating. But Ethan, watching closely, could tell that the Apprentice was hesitating in the way he was carrying out the procedure, but he continued all the same.

“Now, stimulate his pericardial meridian—the pressure point just above the wrist. It will help restore circulation.” Ethan said, his confidence leaving the rest of the Robbins’ family members and the gathered guests in greater surprise.

The way he spoke, the things he was saying, were nothing short of what was expected from a trained Physician who knew exactly what he was doing.

The last step which Ethan just told the Apprentice was the vital step, and without it, the method would fail.

The apprentice, however, deliberately ignored it. Instead, he pressed at the wrong point along the arm, glancing sideways at the relatives as if to say “watch this fool fail.”

And all of a sudden, Grandpa Robbins’ face grew paler, his breath more ragged. What felt like hope few moments, ago turned into a cause for concern as Grandpa Robbins’ chest heaved, falling deep like someone who had just given up the ghost.

“He’s getting worse!”

“You’re killing him!”

“Take him away from Grandfather!”

Voices overlapped in chaos. Emma’s heart dropped into her stomach. She turned desperately to the others. “No—wait! Just give him a moment, please—”

But the storm of blame turned on her too.

“This is your fault, Emma!” Aunt Rose spat, transferring her long standing hatred for Lizzy to Emma.

“If you hadn’t defended that man, none of this would’ve happened!”

“You’ve cursed our family by bringing him here!”

Emma’s face burned, tears brimming, but she refused to move as she stood firm beside Ethan.

The apprentice straightened smugly, feigning disappointment. “As expected. Worthless nonsense.” He raised his voice so all could hear. “The agreement was clear. He has failed. Bring the rod! Two hundred strokes, as promised!”

The family erupted with approval.

“Yes! Teach him a lesson!”

“Two hundred strokes will break his arrogance!”

“Maybe then Emma will wake up from her madness!”

Several servants moved toward Ethan. The apprentice folded his arms, wearing a victorious smirk.

But Ethan didn’t faze. He wasn’t the Almighty Ethan for no good reason.

“Wait.”

The sheer authority in his tone froze the room. His gaze bore into the apprentice. “You didn’t follow my procedure the way I asked you to.”

The apprentice blinked, startled. “What are you talking about? I did exactly as you said.”

“Really?” Ethan asked coldly

“Y…ye..yes,” The apprentice stuttered. 

“Then, I guess you have an explanation as to why you deliberately skipped the most crucial step. The pericardial meridian.”

Whispers rippled across the hall, as they didn’t seem to understand what Ethan was talking about.

The apprentice’s face darkened. “Ridiculous. That’s not even a valid method. The Grand Physician never taught such nonsense—”

Ethan cut him off. “And that’s why your master would be ashamed of you. You’ve learned words, not wisdom.”

Before the apprentice could protest further, Ethan shoved him aside and knelt beside the Grand Patriarch. His movements were swift, precise and unhesitating. He loosened the old man’s arm, pressed firmly at the correct point above the wrist, and with his other hand adjusted the chest rhythm again.

For a heartbeat, nothing happened.

Then, Grandpa Robbins convulsed, his chest rising sharply as he gasped a deep breath. The ragged wheeze steadied into a rhythm. His eyelids fluttered open, and he let out a weak, but clear groan.

The hall went dead silent.

Every eye widened. Every jaw dropped as it was obvious that the impossible had happened before them.

Grandpa Robbins… was alive.

Emma’s tears spilled freely now, but this time from relief. She pressed her hand to her mouth, choking back a sob.

Ethan leaned back slowly, his expression calm as though saving a life was the most natural thing in the world. He fixed the apprentice with a hard stare. “That…, Mr. Apprentice or whatever it is you call yourself is how it is done.”

The apprentice’s smugness evaporated, replaced by pale shock. His mouth opened, but no words came.

“How and where did he learn to do that?” Some of the members of the Robbins’ family began to whisper among themselves.

Ethan then turned and faced the family doctor, who had been standing frozen in the corner the entire time.

And without anyone asking, he requested for a piece of paper and a pen, and began to write, leaving everyone wondering what it was that he was writing.

“I’ve written down the procedure,” Ethan said, lifting up his head, and handing over the written note to the family’s doctor. “Apply this method daily to keep him stable. Do not deviate, not even once. That will hold him until the Grand Physician himself can examine him.”

The family doctor hesitated before taking the paper, his hands trembling. His eyes scanned the notes quickly, and the further he read, the more he was astonished. 

“This… this is…” he stammered.

“…is exactly what that Apprentice could not do,” Ethan interrupted him.

That alone made the apprentice to look even more shaken. His lips moved, but no sound came. His earlier arrogance had been drained away, leaving only shame and disbelief.

Emma, eventually stepped forward seeing that Ethan had succeeded and the apprentice had been proven wrong.

“You made a vow,” she reminded the apprentice. Her eyes locked on him. “You said if his method worked, you would bow to him and call him your master. Now do it.”

A murmur rippled through the room once again. Guests and family members alike turned toward the apprentice, expectant, some even grinning cruelly at the thought of his humiliation.

The apprentice’s face crumbled. His pride warred with the truth written plain before them all—the Grand Patriarch lived because of Ethan. Yet the thought of lowering himself, of bowing in front of the Robbins family, burned his very soul.

“I…” he faltered, sweat beading on his forehead.

The family doctor suddenly stepped in, his voice sharp. “Enough! This nonsense has gone far enough. What sense does it make for the apprentice to call an ex-convict his master? Do you not see? This was luck, nothing more. Fluke!”

Leif latched onto his words like drowning men to driftwood.

“Yes, of course!”

“Pure coincidence!”

“How could a man like him know more than the apprentice of the Grand Physician?”

Emma, however, refused to yield. She moved closer, standing tall though her eyes still glistened with tears. Her voice was steady, steel wrapped in silk.

“No. It was no fluke. You all saw it. Grandfather was slipping away, and none of you could help him. Not the apprentice, not even you, Doctor. Ethan saved his life, and you know it. The agreement was made in front of everyone. He must bow.”