A Strange Belief

Luckily, aside from this strange painting, there wasn’t anything else bizarre in the hall. Raina pulled her gaze away, trying to put Gale down.

But Gale wasn’t having it. Raina had strong arms and holding him wasn’t a burden, so she just kept carrying him.

Leif gave her a quick tour of the villa and said, “Gale’s room is upstairs on the second floor. I’ve already had the adjacent room prepared, so Miss Carrington, you can stay right next to him for now.”

Raina was here for Gale, so living next to him was naturally most convenient.

She nodded. “Okay.”

“It’s getting late. Miss Carrington, get some rest...” Leif glanced at Gale and said, “Gale, come down. Don’t disturb Miss Carrington. She needs to rest.”

Gale understood and, though reluctant to let go, obediently loosened his grip.

Leif took Gale’s hand. “Miss Carrington, if you get hungry, there’s a kitchen downstairs.”

The kitchen, huh...

Well, embarrassing to admit, but Raina’s cooking skills were pretty terrible. Not that she hadn’t tried. There was a time she was obsessed with cooking, spending most of her days in the kitchen, convinced she was making progress.

But the more she tried, the worse her dishes turned out—heading in a terrifying direction.

Eventually, the person she wanted to cook for wasn’t there anymore, so she stopped trying altogether.

Raina rubbed her forehead and said, “...Uh, can I ask something?”

Leif: “What?”

She cleared her throat, sounding a bit embarrassed. “Is it possible to order takeout here?”

Leif was silent for a moment, then looked up at her. “You can’t cook?”

Raina’s mouth twitched. No need to call her out if he already knew.

She held back an eye-roll and replied, “Not that I can’t, just... not well.”

“Oh.” Leif’s ‘oh’ was incredibly unenthusiastic.

Fortunately, after that, he said nothing else, just held Gale’s hand and went back to the boy’s room.

Seeing that, Raina closed the front door behind her, leaned against it, and let out a nervous breath. Then she thought, Why am I even embarrassed about not knowing how to cook?

Shaking her head, she checked out her own room.

It wasn’t small—there was a partition wall inside, separating a spacious study with shelves full of all kinds of books.

After unpacking a bit and freshening up, she wasn’t sleepy at all. The room had a large terrace, so she grabbed her phone and stepped outside.

The terrace had chairs, a table, and some greenery. From there, she could see most of Wexford Lane.

Night had fallen, lights were few, no one was out, and the whole place was quiet.

Raina pulled out a chair and sat down casually, looking out over the estate. Then she opened her phone, fingers hovering over the screen for a while before dialing a number.

“Senior, it’s me... Yeah, I’m back...”

Meanwhile, in the study at Wexford Lane...

The spacious study was deathly silent.

Leif sat at the desk, one hand propping his head up, looking tired in a way that was hard to describe.

In front of him was a file that Rael had just delivered.

Rael stood by the desk, and after a while, he couldn’t hold back any longer.

“Sir, while Miss Carrington’s identity does check out... she never attended a proper university, and her reputation is—frankly—infamous. Not to mention, she’s hardly what you’d call... respectable.”

Before Rael finished, Leif suddenly snapped his eyes open, a faint glimmer flashing behind his glasses.

“She’s the one Gale likes.”

Rael was speechless.

What kind of reason was that?

Still, strangely enough, Rael had watched Gale grow up, and the boy had never gotten close to any woman before.

Others might not have noticed, and Leif didn’t show it, but Rael could tell Leif’s attitude toward Raina was different.

And honestly, Raina was decent-looking, but among all the women who’d tried to get close to Leif, she was far from the best in looks or skills.

Is our boss really losing his taste in the name of love?

Rael scratched his head, thinking carefully about how to put it, then said with genuine concern, “The young master is still just a kid. He doesn’t understand how harsh the world really is… And something like Velvet Mercy—that kind of poison—even Gunter couldn’t cure it. Are you really sure she can?”

After all these years, they’d searched for top doctors with no results. Leif didn’t say much, but Rael knew he was hurting inside.

Because after all, that was Leif’s only son.

Leif sat in his chair, eyes lowered, silent—no one knew what he was thinking.

After a long moment, he finally said, “I believe her.”

Rael’s eyes widened in shock. “You believe her?”

He paced a few steps by the desk, then stopped, making a fist with his right hand and punching his left palm hard, like he was steeling himself. Quietly he muttered, “Maybe I should just get Gunter to come over. Mr. Vexley, something’s off about you.”

Leif replied, “Gunter already checked the kid’s body. Her techniques are professional; there’s no mistake.”

Rael paused, then a lightbulb went off in his head. “Oh! Mr. Vexley, Second Young Master’s leg got injured, right? Since we can’t find Orion, why don’t we have Miss Carrington try treating his leg first?”

At the mention of his younger brother, Leif frowned, his voice low and full of frustration. “Didn’t I tell you to take away his car? Why is he still racing?”

Rael sighed heavily, like he was complaining to the universe, “Yeah, but he has some secret stash of money. Just as soon as we took his car, he went and bought a new one. And his leg injury wasn’t from racing—it was from losing the race, then getting into a fight and… cough, kicking himself.”

Leif rubbed his throbbing temples. “Who spread the news?”

Rael looked up at Leif seriously: “I heard it was the rival racers. I checked—turns out it’s a professional racing team called… oh yeah, Nexon Racing.”

Leif took off his glasses and calmly wiped them. “Acquire Nexon Racing.”

Rael gasped. “Vexley Group doesn’t have any racing business yet. What will you do with the Nexon Racing after acquiring them?”

“Whatever,” Leif said.

Rael was speechless. ‘Mr. Vexley, aren’t you a little too obsessed with your brother?’

After a pause, Rael said, “Got it. I’ll arrange it right away. But should we tell the Second Young Master about the acquisition?”

Leif put his glasses back on; his eyes beneath the lenses were as clear and deep as a pond after the rain. “No need.”

Rael nodded. “Understood, Mr. Vexley. I’ll get to it.”

After Rael left, Leif sat in his study for a while before getting up and going to his room.

***