Con Artist

“You’re spreading lies to confuse the public!” Leif clearly didn’t believe her.

As long as he was here, Gale would never lose control.

Still, despite his words, he loosened his grip on Raina’s wrist.

There was a ring of bruises on her wrist, but she didn’t care. She just glanced at Gale in his arms. Strangely, even though she barely knew this child—having only met twice and not even knowing his name—an inexplicable, subtle feeling stirred in her heart.

Raina suddenly said, “He’s been poisoned.”

Leif’s pupils sharply contracted as he fixed his gaze on her, wary: “Who exactly are you?”

Gale usually didn’t let strangers touch him. In fact, even with Leif, Gale wasn’t very close. And after seeing Raina, it was clear Gale was prone to losing control around her.

So when Gale had rushed over to cling to Raina, he had been quite surprised.

And now, for Gale to once again cling to her leg—this was truly baffling.

Raina pressed her forehead and said sincerely, “If I told you I’m a doctor, would you believe me?”

That doctor identity was probably going to come out eventually.

Leif was stunned for a moment. “A doctor?”

Because of Gale’s condition, he had ordered his men to search for famous doctors everywhere. But most so-called experts were frauds and useless.

Yet, he had never heard of Raina’s name or seen any photo of her.

Was she hiding her skills, or was she just a con artist?

Raina didn’t know what Leif was thinking. Calmly, she said, “Believe it or not, your son isn’t doing well right now. If you don’t want him to have an accident, I suggest you lay him flat. Let me examine him.”

Leif looked down at his son in his arms. Gale was indeed acting very strangely today, and his condition was unclear. Since she immediately diagnosed poisoning, maybe she wasn’t a fraud after all.

His men probably wouldn’t arrive for a while. If they delayed any longer and something happened to Gale…

Without hesitation, Leif said, “Alright.”

Raina: “...”

He agreed just like that?

She had thought he would refuse or at least doubt her. But to her surprise, he didn’t hesitate and accepted immediately.

A few minutes later.

On the top floor, the presidential suite.

The moment Raina stepped out of the elevator, the corner of her brow twitched slightly.

There were only two presidential suites on the top floor. She stayed in the one on the right. Unexpectedly, Leif was staying in the one on the left.

But soon she noticed that although both were presidential suites, Leif’s was much more spacious. Outside his room was even a private pool—and… a vegetable garden?!

Growing vegetables in a hotel presidential suite where every inch of space is precious?

This must be what they mean when they say rich people’s brains don’t quite work right.

Meanwhile, Leif had settled Gale on the sofa. Gale was still unconscious, but even so, his delicate, carved-like face was scrunched up in pain, looking both vulnerable and pitiful.

Raina pulled back her gaze and casually sat down on the sofa, raising a hand to check Gale’s pulse.

Leif sat rigidly on the nearby sofa, his eyes fixed unwaveringly on Raina.

After a long moment, Raina withdrew her hand, her expression dark and difficult to read as she looked at Gale’s face.

Finally, she spoke hoarsely, “The toxins in this child’s body were passed down from the mother…”

She paused, took a deep breath, and pronounced slowly and clearly, “Have you ever heard of the most sinister poison—‘Velvet Mercy’?”

From Gale’s loss of control earlier, she had her suspicions. Now after checking his pulse, she was certain.

But “Velvet Mercy” was an extremely rare poison, very hard to implant. As its name suggests, it was the deadliest poison of all, but not concentrated or obvious at first. If carefully controlled, the early stages were nearly undetectable. But once it spread deeply into the blood and body, there was no cure.

And yet, Raina had seen it once—this poison on a child.

Leif’s back stiffened slightly. His long fingers tapped the armrest irregularly, his gaze darkening.

After a long silence, he said as calmly as he could, “I’ve heard of it… Do you know how to cure it?”

The poison was notoriously tricky and required long experimentation to identify the exact type used by the poisoner. One mistake could mean no effect—or worse, speed up the poison’s spread.

Since Gale’s birth, when the poison was detected, Leif had been desperately seeking a cure.

But “Velvet Mercy” was harder to plant and even harder to cure, especially since it came from the mother’s body.

This made Leif hate Gale’s unknown mother all the more.

Raina said, “I know how. But curing it takes time, and…”

For years, Leif had consulted countless doctors, only to hear the same answer—no cure.

He was already resigned to this fate and had just asked out of habit. He hadn’t expected Raina to actually know how to treat it.

Even if it was only a slim hope, he wasn’t willing to miss it.

Leif’s eyes widened a little, and his voice trembled slightly, even without his own awareness, “And… what else?”

Raina smiled faintly and said calmly, “I charge quite a lot. For a poison like ‘Velvet Mercy,’ the price starts here—”

She held up five fingers.

A glimmer flashed in Leif’s eyes. “And if you fail…”

Raina smiled again, confident, “Failure is not in my dictionary. But there is one condition… Well, it’s nothing difficult.”

Leif asked, “What condition?”

Raina lifted her eyes and looked at Leif. “Oh, nothing much. Just wanted to ask—have you been staying here recently? Or, where exactly do you live?”

Her words hung in the room, creating an odd silence.

On the side, Rael rolled his eyes, thinking: ‘So much for not being a con artist—it turns out she just wants to get close to Leif! Leif, don’t be fooled by this charlatan!’

“This is your condition?” Leif asked.

Raina, clueless about his meaning, repeated, “My condition?”

The next second, Leif said coldly, “You’ve been following me on purpose, using Gale to get close to me. I don’t know what tricks you used to make Gale act differently toward you than others, but it doesn’t matter. If you can really cure Gale’s poisoning, I’ll accept you—become my girlfriend.”

Raina’s mouth twitched sharply, nearly spitting blood in shock.

“…Sir, are you out of your mind?”

***