"Why are you in such a daze? The fever didn’t hurt your brain, did it?" Grace Winslow sighed. The little guy wasn’t reacting at all, just staring at her with wide, curious eyes.

The doctor said the little one had been running a fever for at least three days and also had pneumonia. He was lucky to be alive. If he hadn’t run into Grace Winslow, he likely would have died.

It was normal for him to seem dazed now. After all, it was reasonable for a two-year-old’s reactions to be sluggish after having a fever for so many days.

Grace Winslow gently rubbed his head. "Alright, if you can’t remember, don’t worry about it. When you’re feeling a bit better, I’ll help you find your family."

"Just rest up here."

It was only nine o’clock when Irene Lynch arrived. She was worried Grace Winslow wouldn’t know how to take care of a child alone, so she had brought plenty of supplies.

The moment she entered and saw the adorable, cherubic child, her heart instantly filled with affection.

"Oh my, what a beautiful child. Whose little one is this?" Irene Lynch said with a smile as she walked over, handing what she was carrying to Grace Winslow.

The little guy was a bit shy with strangers and subconsciously tried to hide behind Grace Winslow.

When Irene Lynch noticed this, she didn’t get any closer, afraid she would scare the child.

"You didn’t get any rest last night, did you? Go get some sleep. I’ll watch him for now. I raised you kids, after all, and I helped your brother raise a few of his own. I have experience." Irene Lynch could tell from the dark circles under Grace Winslow’s eyes that the young woman definitely hadn’t rested well.

Grace Winslow nodded.

She had stayed up all night with the little guy, watching him until his fever broke, so she really hadn’t gotten any proper rest.

She yawned, said a quick word to the little guy, then walked to the side and sat down. She draped a piece of clothing over her face and went to catch up on sleep. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Irene Lynch coaxed the little guy in a gentle voice. Sensing she meant no harm, the little one gradually relaxed and even let her hold him.

Around noon, the doctor came for his rounds and checked on the little guy. The inflammation hadn’t gone down, so he would need another IV drip after lunch. If his condition didn’t improve by the evening rounds, he would need another one at night, too.

Grace Winslow woke up a little after twelve.

It was just too noisy in the hospital, making it hard to get any real sleep.

After learning about the little guy’s condition, she sighed. "This is going to be difficult. We can’t take him out of the hospital, which makes posting a missing person notice complicated. The best thing would be to take him to a photo studio, get his picture taken, and publish it in the newspaper. That would give his family a better chance of seeing it and finding him."

"Oh, right. Those human traffickers should have been arrested. I’ll go ask later what came out of the interrogation and see if we can find any clues."

After saying this, Grace Winslow turned and hurried off to find Archer Rhys.

George Holland was Archer Rhys’s colleague, so Archer would definitely know the situation.

After she explained the situation to Archer Rhys, he looked just as helpless. "You can try asking at a nearby police station. George has probably left already. He’s still on a mission and won’t be in Coronet for long. Besides, this isn’t his case to handle."

Grace Winslow nodded. Seeing that his color had improved a lot, she checked his wound again.

"This is strange. There’s something wrong with this wound. Why isn’t it healing? Are you not following the doctor’s orders and using the medication properly?" Grace Winslow couldn’t help but frown as she looked at Archer Rhys’s wound.

The wound showed no signs of healing, which was very wrong.

But Archer Rhys didn’t seem surprised. "It’s nothing. I probably didn’t take good care of it before. It’ll be fine in a few days."

He rewrapped the gauze around it.

Grace Winslow had a nagging feeling that Archer Rhys was hiding something from her. "Are you hiding something from me? We’re a couple now, and we’re going to get married someday. If there’s something on your mind, you should be honest with me. You can’t keep things from me."

Archer Rhys opened his mouth. There were so many things he wanted to say, but he didn’t know where to begin.

The nature of his work meant there were many things he could never fully explain to Grace Winslow.

Even though he had already transferred to civilian life, there were still some things that couldn’t be said.

He smiled and shook his head. "What could I possibly dare to hide from you? You asked the doctor about the wound, and didn’t he say it was fine? Surely you don’t think the doctor is conspiring with me to deceive you?"

"It’s probably because the weather has been so cold lately, the wound keeps reopening. That’s why it’s healing slowly. It should be fine after a while."

Grace Winslow sighed. "Alright. When you’re discharged, if there’s no one to take care of you at home, just come stay with me. There are more people at my place, so it’ll be easier to look after you. If you’re worried about your grandfather, you can bring him over, too. They’re all old acquaintances, and my parents get along well with him."

Archer Rhys looked at Grace Winslow intently and nodded. "Okay."

Grace Winslow gave him a few more instructions, left him a portion of the food Irene Lynch had brought, and then headed to the police station to ask about the situation.

When she got there, she learned that the entire group from yesterday had been arrested and had confessed. But as for the child, they genuinely didn’t know anything.

According to their confession, the child had been handed to them by a woman at the train station.

She claimed it was her own child, that she had too many children and couldn’t afford to raise another. To give the boy a chance at life, she had no choice but to give him away.

The police had repeatedly confirmed that the traffickers were not lying.

Their other crimes were already enough to warrant the death penalty; there was no need for them to lie about such a small detail.

Grace Winslow left the station with the answer, frowning.

One look at the child and you could tell he came from a wealthy family; it was impossible they couldn’t afford to raise him. Either the family’s nanny had stolen the child to sell him...

...or the child’s mother was gone, the father had remarried, and the stepmother had gotten rid of him. Or perhaps some other malicious relative had deliberately taken the child and abandoned him.

In any case, it couldn’t have been a matter of him being sold because the family couldn’t afford him.

However, she could be certain that the child’s family was from Coronet. As for which family it was, they would probably have to post a missing person notice to find out for sure.

Grace Winslow bought a few things outside before heading back. After updating Archer Rhys, she returned to the child’s hospital room.

Irene Lynch and the child were already getting along very well.

The little guy had tired himself out playing. He had eaten and was now asleep.

"How did it go? Did you find out whose child he is?" Irene Lynch asked worriedly when she saw Grace Winslow return.

Grace Winslow shook her head and couldn’t help sighing. "No. They said a family member handed him over to the traffickers; they didn’t specifically abduct him. I saw that the fabric of his clothes is good quality, and he’s wearing a gold locket around his neck. He must come from a well-off family. Once he’s better, I’ll take him to a photo studio to get a picture taken and then post a missing person notice."

Hearing this, Irene Lynch could only nod. "If we can’t find them right away, we’ll just take care of him for now. It’s not like we can’t afford to feed one more mouth."

Grace Winslow didn’t refuse. It would be best if they could find the child’s family, but if not, taking care of him for the time being wasn’t a big problem. After all, it was just one more mouth to feed.