Chapter 3

There was a crash as the door of the basement room exploded open.

A man deftly rolled in and swept me into his arms before running out.

“You’re…”

He looked down at me, his eyes shining bright like stars.

“My name is Owen Ward. I’m Matthew’s little brother.”

I suddenly recalled him. He was Matthew’s father’s illegitimate son. He was the only second son in the history of the Ward family.

On the day his mother’s pregnancy was confirmed, the entire Ward family celebrated, thinking that the curse had been broken. However, that same day, Matthew’s father died of sickness in a very sudden manner.

A life had been taken away for one that had been given. It was hard to deny that it was fate at work.

When Owen was born, he was found to be infertile as well.

With that, he was no longer the family’s last hope. Instead, he was the monster who had caused his own father’s death.

At this very moment, however, he was looking at me with eyes full of hope. “Dr. Harman, can you cure me? I swear that I will repay your kindness.”

If Owen could procreate, then he would no longer be the illegitimate son that everyone despised. Instead, he would take Matthew’s spot as the Ward family’s only heir.

I smiled. “I will cure your illness.”

I brought Owen to the hospital. Just as I was talking to my supervisor about Owen’s condition, I saw Matthew and Cynthia.

Cynthia’s expression immediately shifted when she spotted me. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be…?”

“Should be where?”

Cynthia paused at that before regaining her smile. She held Matthew’s hand and said, “Matt, it looks like Lil regrets rejecting you earlier. Look, she came back here to treat you. Perhaps I should let her do it since she’s a real, acknowledged expert.”

Matthew scoffed. “She’s no expert. I looked into it. Lilith hasn’t even attended university! She’s a scammer!”

A furor immediately went up among the people milling around.

“That can’t be! Lilith Harman is Statute Hospital’s star expert. How could it be possible that she hasn’t attended university?”

“Goodness, I purposely came to this hospital to see her! I waited three days for an appointment but never got one!”

“If Mr. Ward said it, there’s no way it’s not true! I bet Lilith Harman’s sleeping with someone in the hospital. The only way she’s gotten this far in life is because of a man!”

My supervisor, Dr. Reynolds, instantly panicked. “How could you people accuse someone without proof like this? Ms. Harman is a special expert we hired under unique circumstances. She doesn’t need an academic record!”

“Who would believe that? Maybe you’re her sugar daddy?”

“There’s definitely something going on between you two!”

“Y-You!” Dr. Reynolds sputtered furiously.

I could not be bothered to treat this gossip seriously. I did not want to ruin Dr. Reynolds’ reputation, either.

Thus, I looked at Cynthia and said, “There’s no point in talking about any of this. Do you dare to compete with me? We will each treat a patient. Whoever cures her patient wins. If I win, you will publicly apologize and admit to defaming me.”

Cynthia laughed. “Such a contest is beneath me!”

I replied blandly, “What’s wrong? Are you afraid?”

“How dare you!”

She glared at me angrily. She reached a hand into a bag and must have found my set of bone needles. It gave her confidence.

“Alright, I’ll compete against you! If you lose, then you’ll have to crawl around like a dog and call yourself a cheap mutt!”

“Sure.” I accepted the challenge without a second thought.

Matthew pulled Cynthia into his embrace. He said to me tauntingly, “This isn’t fun enough. I bet fifty million dollars that Cynthia will win! Do you dare make the same bet, scammer?”

My kind had a rule against gambling and bets.

I was about to reject the bet when someone behind me said, “I’ll bet one-hundred million dollars that Lilith will win!”

I looked back to see Owen walking over. He stood beside me staunchly.

Matthew’s eyes narrowed. “What are you doing here? Is this your new friend, Lilith? Do you need a man so badly?”

“Be mindful of your words. He is my patient,” I said. “You’re both from the same family and have the same cause for your condition. This makes the competition perfectly fair.”

Matthew said sarcastically, “This man is an illegitimate son. He’s not worthy of being referred to as my family! Don’t think I don’t know what you’re planning. I’m warning you now, the Ward family is mine!”

“You said one hundred million dollars, right? Well, I’m evening my bet!”

The surrounding crowd got excited, and many quickly joined in on betting.

Meanwhile, I pushed Owen into a surgery room.

“Let’s go. We’re starting now.”