Chapter 895 Investment
Xavier managed to get Hera to finish half a bowl of nourishing soup before letting her rest for a bit. Then, he offered her some fruit. Ideally, she should have started with the fruit, but knowing she hadn’t eaten since morning, he figured the warm soup would be gentler on her empty stomach, and any further delay would’ve let it go cold.
As soon as he set aside the tray, Liz quietly took it back to the mini kitchen. A few doctors and nurses arrived for their rounds, and upon seeing Hera awake and catching the lingering aroma of herbs in the room, they assumed she had eaten. The lead doctor reviewed her chart and nodded at the nurse to proceed with administering her medication on schedule.
While the nurse worked, the doctor stepped over to Xavier and quietly updated him on Hera’s condition. Alexandre stood nearby, listening silently.
According to the latest scans, Hera had suffered a bone fracture. She would need at least three months of recovery before she could walk normally again. Her leg would remain in a cast for six to eight weeks, depending on how well she healed. Once the cast was removed, she could begin walking gradually, but would need to avoid any strenuous activity that might strain the injury.
Hearing the doctor’s prognosis, Hera swallowed hard, nerves prickling at the back of her throat. She hadn’t expected to be in an accident, especially not now, with the movie shoot just days away. It wasn’t just any film either; it was an action-heavy apocalypse movie where she and Xavier were cast as the leads. The role demanded intense physical performance, something that now seemed impossible in her condition.
Xavier knew it too. His jaw tightened as he frowned, clearly worried. Once the nurse finished administering her medication and the medical team left, he turned to Hera with a serious expression.
"Hera, just focus on getting better," he said gently. "Don’t worry about the movie right now. It can be delayed."
But they both knew that wasn’t entirely true. The director had ambitious plans to submit the film for this year’s major awards, possibly even the Oscars. Any delay could jeopardize the timeline and, with it, their chance at back-to-back Best Actor and Best Actress awards.
Hera felt the weight of that pressure settle on her chest. This movie wasn’t just another role for her; it was part of her strategy to stabilize the storyline. She frowned deeply. Like Athena, she realized something: this accident wasn’t part of the original plot. It meant that even though she had overtaken Alice’s female lead halo and effectively pushed her out, the story was still unpredictable. Anything could happen now.
Her only option was to see the storyline through to its end and follow the plot as closely as possible, to reach a safe conclusion, just like Alice did in the original novel.