No flaw

'This is what I heard from the senior maid. When his mother died, Boss ran away from home, then when he was 20 years old he was brought back by Mr. Albert. Even so Mr. Albert didn't really consider him a child. The old man was just guiding the boss to become the successor of the company and using him as this family's money machine.'

Livy recalled the driver's words and her heart ached for no reason. Infidelity always makes children as victims, for some reason she somewhat understands how Arthur was at that time. She felt like comforting him, but since she was just an outsider, she couldn't do anything about it.

She sighed.

It was still her day off after marriage, she's bored because there's nothing to do. When she came out of the room, she glanced at Arthur's room which was on the far left. The room was tightly closed.

'Has Arthur gone to the office?' she thought. Then she decided to go to the kitchen.

"Good morning."

Livy heard the butler greet someone after the bell rang. Her footsteps paused for a moment.

Who's coming?

From the direction of the kitchen, there was a bulkhead blocking her view anywhere, so she quietly walked over and peeked. At that moment, she saw Evander and another young man with him go up to the second floor. The foreign young man's appearance looked a bit delinquent and funky.

"Lady?"

Livy was surprised and found the butler behind her. "Th-That's … I-I heard there was a guest and was just looking around."

The butler remained silent.

"Are you going to report this to Arthur too?" she asked nervously.

"Pardon?"

"That ... won't everything I do here be reported to Arthur? I guess after seeing me sneak a peek, you'll too ..."

The old butler smiled. "No, Lady. I'm not going to report anything. I called you because I wanted to say a message from Master."

"Message?"

"You didn't work today, if you feel bored in the study, you can play on the third floor."

"Play?" Livy was confused.

"Yes, the third floor is specifically for playing. So, you can try it too so you don't feel bored."

***

In Arthur's room, the two newcomers sat on chairs carrying some work reports for review.

"You don't have to work today. I'll take care of everything." Evander said.

"I'll be counting on you," Arthur replied with a light cough.

Today Evander came when Arthur said he wasn't feeling well. As his assistant and best friend, Evander knew Arthur's condition would relapse if he thought about hard things and lacked sleep. Sure enough, Evander had seen how tired Arthur's eyes were puffy, his face was even red with fever and his lips were pale as if he had lost blood.

"Dave, how is he?" Evander turned to the person beside him.

Dave Hummel, one of Arthur's trusted personal doctors and one of his best friends, immediately put on a sour face. He put the sphygmomanometer down with a slight slam.

"Boss, please stop all this. I told you to leave them all behind, why the fuck are you so stubborn? Look at yourself. You don't have to take care of those freaking greedy wolves anymore. Get out of here right away!"

Arthur didn't answer.

Dave knew there was no point in arguing with stubborn people, he turned to Evander. "Boss is just tired from lack of sleep. His fever is quite high, and his blood pressure is low. A good rest for a few days will help."

"Okay."

"I have to work tomorrow." Arthur suddenly said.

"Can you stand on those two damn feet of yours?" Dave asked sarcastically.

Every time winter came, Arthur would lose the strength in his legs which had been paralyzed in the past, during which time he could only lie down. Plus he will have a fever and pain. Even though it would recover after three days, but the frequency of the pain had increased recently and it was worrying Dave. Arthur's illness is actually not an ordinary disease, in the past because of his carelessness, he did not realize that his enemy came in a cunning plan.

Although Arthur didn't say much, he actually had a lot of enemies. It just so happened that this old enemy sent someone as a maid in his house and fed him poison every day in his food without him knowing.

The poison wasn't something lethal, it had a slow reaction, but the result would be paralysis at regular intervals if he consumed it continuously. Luckily, he realized it sooner, but it was also still quite late. Because of the poison, he almost lost his sight, also he often had leg cramps and eventually became paralyzed.

The worst thing was that when it rained in winter, his whole bones would feel uncomfortable to the point of excruciating pain. At that time, hospitalization was the only way to make him recover.

Dave said that there is no medicine that can make him fully heal other than surgery. Only, he could suppress the symptoms so as not to recur and restrain Arthur's activities. But it actually had to be with Arthur's own cooperation.

"You can't stand up now, I know that. So I'll just put your medicine here, make sure you take it regularly."

Dave snorted, tidying up his tools. He didn't wait for Arthur's answer and handed Evander his medical kit and then walked out. Before opening the door, he turned around again.

"Y'know, I'll never get tired of saying it; we're all still waiting for you to come back. So hurry up and leave your damn family."

Dave came out with a slight slam of the door.

"I have to go too. I'll arrange a maid to take care of you for a few days." Evander stood up.

Arthur finally sighed. "Don't let anyone including Livy know about my condition. Ask anyone to make excuses."

***

Livy's phone rang while she was daydreaming in the study. It was a call from her aunt.

She rolled her eyes, before reluctantly picking up. "Hello, Auntie."

"You forgot about me right after you married a rich man. I purposely didn't call you yesterday, wishing you had the initiative to call me first, but look what happened? You want to get away from this aunt of yours right away, don't you?!"

Livy slowly massaged her temples. Two days without seeing her aunt, she felt a little relieved, after hearing her nag, she started having headaches again.

"Anything you need? I'm busy right now." She answered slowly.

"You damn child! How dare you ask your aunt like that as if I need you all the time!"

"..."

"You forgot I've been taking care of you for ten years without paying anything. Did I ever throw you out on the street even though I was tired?"

Livy sneered. What payment does this annoying woman want? Hadn't she already spent the money Livy's father left and took over the company that was supposed to be for Livy and then bankrupted it.

Actually, without Livy asking her aunt what she wanted, she already knew the answer.

"Auntie, I'm swamped. There's a lot of work here," she answered tiredly. "Do we really have to discuss this? The money left by my father is enough to pay for everything, even my company has gone bankrupt in uncle's hands, right?"

"You're really being brave now. Do you have any thoughts of leaving your aunt. Geez, my head hurts. The child I'm taking care of has never had any gratitude for me at all. I was so abused."

If her aunt was in front of her, Livy would have seen how she pretended to be weak and helpless. This was often done by her aunt as long as she objected. She could relent first because she had no power, now that she's married and gone away, she doesn't want to be bullied anymore.

But Livy also didn't want to rush to dump her aunt, she wanted to follow the game for a bit.

"All right, Auntie. What do you want right now?"

She could feel that her aunt was smiling on the other end of the phone.

"Look, you've lived in that mansion now, are you lonely?" Camille asked.

"There are a lot of maids here, I'm not lonely," Livy answered simply.

"Geez, servants and family are different. You must be lonely suddenly living in such a big house without a family, right?"

Livy clicked her tongue. She already knew what her aunt meant.

Sure enough, when Camile said, "Brenda is on holiday now, how about if she stays there to keep you company for a bit?"

Livy rolled her eyes.

"Only three days doesn't matter, because after that she will go back to school again. She just want to know about your life after marriage if her friends ask about you later."

What did Brenda's friends ask her for? Wasn't there a better excuse her aunt could come up with?

Basically they just want to stay to enjoy a luxurious house. How could they really care about her. They're definitely going to be in trouble here.

Livy sighed. "Auntie, this is not my own house. If I want to bring someone to stay overnight, I have to ask my husband's permission."

Livy deliberately pressed the word 'husband' on her tongue, as well as wanting to explain to her aunt that she was married now. There is no need for small talk like this in the name of the family. She already has a new family.

Too bad Camile was insensitive, she said "Then ask his permission first. Brenda is your sister, can Arthur forbid you to bring your sister to stay? Tell me that you are lonely because you live in such a big house."

Livy seemed to understand now.

At first they would make her say that she was lonely, and had a reason to stay here, but in time they would start choosing to stay here and take control of the house.

Did they think Livy would be stupid all the time?

"Okay, Auntie, I'll let you know later."

"Good kid," said Camile gently. "Don't forget to say that you are lonely, because you are lonely, right? Auntie waits to hear from you, don't forget, ok?"

Livy hung up in annoyance.

Leaving her aunt was the only reason she accepted Arthur's cooperation. But after she thought about it, she still didn't know how to properly get rid of her aunt.

Should she ask Arthur for help?

Even if she had to ask for his help, she was at a loss as to where to start, they weren't very close.

"Isn't Arthur not working today?" she muttered, remembering the maid said Arthur didn't go to work today.

She guessed that Arthur was still in a bad mood because of the fight at the main house yesterday, so he didn't come to work. If she were to talk about the matter, it would be very disrespectful, moreover Arthur also had a problem at the moment.

What should she do? Her aunt will also call again, if she doesn't think quickly to find a solution.

She shook her head, she felt compelled to speak to Arthur. At least to ask if her cousin could come just this once. She didn't have the authority to just take her in, this was still Arthur's house and needed his permission.

Livy finally came out of the room and headed to the kitchen, intending to make something for Arthur. She looked at the spice basket and saw that there was ginger set aside in it. Immediately boil it and process it into a drink.

On returning to the second floor, Livy knocked on Arthur's door. Some of the maids today were nowhere to be seen as it was almost lunchtime. There was nothing for her to ask, so she took the initiative to go to his own room.

"A-Arthur, it's me." Livy called while knocking on the door, but there was no answer.

She repeated again and again, but she still didn't hear anything.

Did Arthur leave?

It was possible that she had mistaken Arthur at home when it turned out that he had actually gone to work. If that's true, she'll only be disappointed. She almost turned around, before trying to turn the knob on a whim, unexpectedly, the door was unlocked.

Livy was surprised. "Why isn't the door locked?"

She peeked through the gap in the door, the room inside was dark because the window blinds weren't opened so no light came in, the lights were even turned off. With the light from outside the door, she could see inside a little. The room was spacious with simple decor and not much color. As her eyes wandered around, she accidentally saw someone on a chair, her heart was beating fast, but the person she saw was asleep.

After all, it was Arthur.

'He really is at home,' she thought.

There was a book in the man's arms, covering his chest with open pages. His head drooped to the side, indicating that he was asleep. His face was pale and there was a slight trace of tiredness. Seeing him this close, Livy had a strange feeling. Her heart was pounding again with nervousness.

'He's so handsome. Good looks that can captivate everyone, right?'

Is it true that with this good looks he was rejected by many women? Even though he had a blemish in his eyes, seeing him sleeping like this, it didn't look flawed at all.

Subconsciously, she stretched out her hand, revealing some of Arthur's bangs that had fallen over his eyes.

Just as she had just touched the tip of his bangs, suddenly her hand was gripped tightly, and a cold voice made her freeze,

"Why did you come in here?"

... to be continue ...