Chapter 171: Chapter 171: Don’t Care About Me Anymore?

"Wyatt, you don’t have to worry about me. I’m in Aridia, but..."

Noelle Sutton paused her signing.

Wyatt Yates knew she had suffered a great deal with Tristan Lawson and had been eagerly hoping she would leave him.

But upon suddenly hearing she had reached Aridia, he wasn’t as thrilled or surprised as he’d imagined he would be.

That day, Tristan Lawson’s threats had been written all over his face; he clearly had no intention of letting anyone take her away.

For her to have escaped Tristan Lawson’s grasp, she must have paid a heavy price.

He didn’t know what that price was, but he could already see the bruised fingerprints on her cheek and the small cut at the corner of her lip.

Seeing Wyatt Yates watching her quietly, Noelle Sutton continued signing, "My throat hurts..."

Hearing that her throat hurt, Wyatt Yates snapped out of his thoughts and asked nervously, "Is it severe?"

Noelle Sutton nodded.

"Okay, shine a light on it and take a picture with your phone. I’ll take a quick look. Also, why did it suddenly start hurting so badly?"

Noelle Sutton’s eyes froze. What happened that night was so humiliating. She had only sought out Hugo Sterling because she had no strength left; she couldn’t possibly tell anyone else.

She signed to Wyatt Yates, "It happened after I strained my voice."

Wyatt Yates frowned. She was always very obedient and had been following his instructions for her recovery exercises. But considering how desperately she wanted to speak, it was possible she had caused this issue herself.

However, Wyatt Yates didn’t press the issue. Worried that her throat was causing her a lot of pain, he just said, "Okay, I’m hanging up now. Send me the pictures."

After the call ended, Noelle Sutton rummaged through the room and managed to find a flashlight. She turned it on, secured it to the vanity with a silk scarf, and opened her mouth in front of the mirror.

The muscles in her jaw still ached.

It took her a long moment before she could open her mouth completely. She snapped several pictures, selected a few clear ones, and sent them to Wyatt Yates.

She wasn’t a doctor, but even she could see that her throat was filled with red streaks and signs of swelling.

When Wyatt Yates saw the photos, his brow furrowed deeply.

It was clearly serious. Beyond just intense vocal cord vibration, her throat had definitely been injured in some other way.

This couldn’t have been caused by high-intensity vocal exercises alone.

Wyatt Yates was focused on prescribing her medication, so he didn’t dwell on other possibilities for the moment. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Once he had written the prescription, he messaged Noelle Sutton, asking for her address so he could arrange for someone to deliver the medicine.

Noelle Sutton quickly sent Wyatt Yates her location, along with her floor and room number.

A moment later, Wyatt Yates called again.

"The Little Mute, I’ve arranged for someone to deliver your medicine. You need to stick to soft, lukewarm liquids for now—nothing too hot. I looked at your throat. Besides the irritation to your vocal cords, it looks like there’s been some other kind of trauma, hasn’t there?"

Noelle Sutton looked embarrassed, her gaze shifting away evasively.

She didn’t want to face what had happened.

As she turned her head, Wyatt Yates saw the fingerprints on her cheek, and his expression darkened further.

"I’ll need to examine your throat in person to know for sure. I’ll tell you how to use the medications in a bit. I’m booking a flight right now to come find you. We’ll get you treated abroad."

Noelle Sutton thanked him.

After the call, she thought, ’Aridia is so big. No matter how powerful Tristan Lawson is, he can’t possibly interfere here. It’s much better for Wyatt to come here than it would be in Glenwater.’

’I wonder if Tristan followed through on his threat from last time—the one about a billion per punch.’

’I’ll ask Wyatt when he gets here.’

Wyatt Yates booked the next available flight and left immediately, without even packing a bag.

In truth, he had a sinking feeling he knew what had happened to The Little Mute.

He didn’t want to think about it. He hoped he was wrong, hoped that *that* hadn’t happened.

He just wanted to get to her side as soon as possible.

A little over half an hour later, there was a knock on Noelle Sutton’s door. Someone handed her a bag of medicine. She took it, and following the instructions Wyatt Yates had sent, she took all the medication.

One of the bottles contained an oral solution. After drinking it, a cool, soothing sensation spread through her throat, and the burning, stinging pain became less pronounced.

Her throat had been hurting so much that she hadn’t eaten anything. Besides, before leaving, she had thrown up just from brushing her teeth, so she hadn’t planned on eating anyway.

Now that she had taken some medicine, she wondered if she might feel a little better. There was a supermarket and some restaurants near her building. She had wanted to buy some congee, but the nearby restaurants didn’t have any, so she bought a bone broth and a fruit and yogurt smoothie and took them back to the apartment.

The bone broth was hot, so she set it aside to cool down. She had some of the smoothie first. After being hungry for so long, the sweet and sour taste was quite satisfying to her palate. But after eating only half, she couldn’t help but feel the urge to vomit again.

She ran to the bathroom, leaned over the sink, and dry-heaved several times. Thankfully, nothing came up.

The stimulation from dry-heaving made her throat uncomfortable again.

When she returned, she finished the rest of the smoothie much more slowly. Luckily, the urge to vomit didn’t come back.

The bone broth was still hot, so she didn’t drink it and decided to get some sleep instead.

Just as she lay down, a WeChat notification popped up on her phone. It was two photos from Tristan Lawson.

One was a selfie showing his forehead wrapped in gauze.

The other was a photo of his leg in a cast.

A message followed.

"Don’t care about me anymore? You don’t want me anymore?"

Noelle Sutton exited the chat window and immediately blacklisted Tristan Lawson’s WeChat and phone number.

The court had already accepted her divorce petition; there was no reason for her to communicate privately with Tristan Lawson anymore.

When Tristan Lawson saw she wasn’t replying, he sent another message.

The result: a red exclamation mark.

He gripped his phone, his knuckles turning white.

’Damn that Hugo Sterling!’

’He actually managed to send her away. If she were still in Glenwater, at least I could find her quickly.’

He was extremely frustrated.

Because he needed to use the restroom.

But his leg was in traction, and he couldn’t get out of bed.

"Tristan, why do you look so pale?"

Tessa Lawson walked in, carrying breakfast.

"It’s nothing."

"Are you hungry? Eat something first."

"Not eating. Go get an orderly."

Tristan Lawson’s voice was ice-cold.

He was growing more and more irritable. He hated having strangers meddle in such private matters.

"Aren’t I here to take care of you? Why do you need an orderly? Just tell me what’s wrong."

Tristan Lawson’s face was ashen. "Get a male orderly! Do you understand what for?"

Tristan Lawson raised his voice. Scolded, Tessa Lawson looked incredibly wronged and couldn’t help but complain, "Who knows where Noelle Sutton has gone. She’s not even answering her phone. It’s so annoying."

Tessa Lawson walked out resentfully to find an orderly. ’If Noelle Sutton were here, it wouldn’t be like this.’

Not long after Tessa Lawson left, Old Master Lawson and Nathaniel Lawson arrived.

Old Master Lawson had fainted from shock the night before and had rushed over to see Tristan Lawson as soon as he woke up.

The moment they entered the hospital room, Tristan Lawson threw a pillow at them, telling them all to get out.

Old Master Lawson was seething with anger and was just about to lose his temper when Tessa Lawson returned with an orderly.

Only then did Nathaniel Lawson and Old Master Lawson realize that Tristan Lawson needed to use the restroom.

Tristan Lawson had never been so mortified. He wished he could send someone to drag Noelle Sutton back to his side immediately.

’If Noelle Sutton were here, none of this would be happening!’