The Starfield Farming Sovereign (Elizabeth Schofield) novel Chapter 273

Chapter 273 Soothing Her Ache

The pain that had twisted Denisse’s brow finally eased, even if only a little.

Her long lashes lowered, then fluttered open again, and her gaze met her mother’s, no longer so empty, now touched with a faint spark of life.

She didn’t say anything. She simply leaned forward and took another bite from the fruit.

Winona held her breath as she watched her daughter chew and swallow. Hope made her hands tremble when she saw Denisse’s thin hand reach out and brush another strawberry in the box.

That small motion nearly brought Winona to tears.

She quickly picked up another berry and gently offered it to Denisse.

Denisse ate slowly, one strawberry after another.

Each bite took effort, but the resistance and pain faded, replaced by a quiet calm and the simple sensation of taste.

Without realizing it, she finished five strawberries.

When Winona offered the sixth, Denisse shook her head, exhaustion softening her features.

Yet the pain and gloom that had haunted her seemed lighter now, washed away by the lingering

sweetness.

“If you’re tired, rest for a while. I’m right here with you.” Winona set the strawberries aside and tucked the blanket around her daughter.

Denisse closed her eyes, and her breathing grew slow and deep.

This time, her sleep was peaceful, no longer the empty stupor forced by medication. A little color even returned to her pale cheeks.

Gabriel and Winona sat by her side, silent and still, guarding her like she was the most precious thing in the world.

Only the soft beeping of monitors and their quiet breaths broke the silence.

Time crawled by.

Winona’s eyes kept drifting to the sleek monitor beside the bed, tracking Denisse’s mental power in real time.

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For two months, that screen–its blinking numbers and shifting lines–had been her living nightmare.

The number that measured the mental power damage level always hovered in the danger zone. Each attack sent it spiking higher, tightening the noose around Denisse’s life.

Now, as Denisse finished her first strawberry, Winona saw the number flicker–just for a

moment.

It wasn’t just a flicker

After Denisse fell asleep, the red number on the monitor, the one tracking her damage level, started to drop. It was slow, but visible.

Winona blinked, hardly daring to believe it.

She stared at that number, her heart racing.

87.6% 87.5%… 87.4%…

It dropped.

The change was tiny, a tenth of a percent at a time, but the downward trend was unmistakable.

“Gabriel!” She grabbed her husband’s arm, her nails digging into the fabric of his uniform, her voice raw with disbelief. “Look… look at the number! Am I seeing things?”

Gabriel turned right away, shifting his focus from his daughter’s face to the monitor.

His dark brows drew together, and he leaned in, his gaze hawklike, fixed on the shifting red digits.

87.3%… 87.2%…

It was real.

There was no glitch, no malfunction.

The number that had haunted them for months, proof of Denisse’s fading life, was dropping.

“It’s really…” Gabriel’s voice was dry and shaky, his composure stripped away. “It’s really going down.”

Even a tenth of a percent meant everything to a patient whom every expert had declared incurable. For them, this was nothing short of a miracle.

“Could it be… a machine error? Or maybe… just the sedative kicking in?” Winona’s relief

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Chapter 278 Soothing Her Ache

crashed over her, then was swept away by the terror that this was just another cruel trick.

She was terrified that hope would shatter again, even more painfully than before.

Gabriel forced himself to calm down, drawing in a deep breath to steady his nerves.

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He pressed the call button at the bedside, his tone crisp and commanding. “Get Dr. Phalinx in here. Bring the portable deep–scan and recalibrate every monitor.”

The family doctor rushed in, alarmed by the grave expressions on their faces, certain that something had gone wrong with Denisse.

He wasted no time, directing his assistant to recalibrate every device while he prepared the portable deep–scan for Denisse.

Once every machine was checked, the numbers stayed steady.

He gently placed the scanner’s sensors at Denisse’s temples and along her hairline.

Tiny ripples appeared on the screen as the complex algorithms ran.

The seconds dragged on, feeling like a lifetime for Gabriel and Winona.

They watched Dr. Phalinx’s tense face, their hands clasped together so tightly that Winona’s palms were damp with cold sweat.

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