---- Before Madeline could completely register what Lacey had just said, the latter hurled a bottle at her all of a sudden. Her eyes blown wide, Madeline instinctively tried to dodge the bottle. But Lacey was too fast. There was no way Madeline could avoid it. Just as Madeline thought that bottle would hit her, a figure darted in front of her out of nowhere and shielded her from the bottle. Acrash sounded, followed by a pained scream. Chaos broke out around Madeline instantly. "Get away from that place! That's acid!" "That woman's gone crazy! She's definitely lashing out at the public! Hurry up and apprehend her!" The first thing that Madeline saw was Timothy's face, which was warped in extreme pain. Since the acid was splashed onto half of Timothy's face, he was quickly taken to the emergency room for treatment as soon as he reached the hospital. ---- Thanks to Timothy's efforts in shielding Madeline, the latter only suffered from light injuries. Lacey, on the other hand, was quickly arrested for attempted murder. Three days later, Timothy's condition finally stabilized. When Madeline went to visit him at the hospital, he happened to be lying in a hospital bed. Half of his face was completely covered in bandages. Madeline couldn't understand why Timothy protected her. "Why did you shield me?" Timothy just smiled, though the action clearly pained him. He responded with his own questions instead of providing Madeline with an answer. "Are you feeling better now? If so, can you please not leave Loraynea?" Taken aback, Madeline soon realized what was going on. Timothy was asking her if she felt better after seeing him in this condition. Even now, Timothy was still pulling one of his ---- tricks. He thought Madeline wanted to leave Loraynea simply because she was throwing a hissy fit. Her expression became glacial instantly. ''What's there to feel better about? Lacey splashed acid at you. It has nothing to do with me, so you can forget about guilt-tripping me." From the start, Madeline was forcibly involved in Timothy and Lacey's affairs. At the end of the day, Timothy was the root of Lacey's resentment and hatred. Timothy was stunned upon hearing Madeline's response. He didn't expect that his playing the hero would end up backfiring on him. He wanted to speak up again, but this time, Madeline cut him off. "Stop wasting your efforts on me, Timothy. I will never return to you. You might as well learn how to love someone properly for once instead of wasting your time on your tricks. "I want you to remember what I was like in the