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Chapter 3
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2021-09-14 09:46:55A knock sounded from outside the door. Butler Freddy’s voice followed, calm but nervous.
“Come in,” Holden replied, the corner of his thin lips lifting slightly.
Freddy pushed the door open. “Master, Madam… Old Madam is here.”
Holden stood beside the bed, tall and imposing. At 1.87 meters, even in a simple white shirt and black trousers, he looked like he was wearing custom haute couture. His presence alone carried a cold nobility.
While fastening the silver button on his sleeve, he lowered his eyes and said casually to Elena, “There are two wolves in the backyard of Green Garden. Don’t try anything clever. If you do… you’ll be the one feeding them.”
Elena’s breath tightened.
This marriage was arranged by the elders — between the four great families of Darenvil: Lu, Gu, Huo, and Su.
The investigators the Xia family sent to Green Garden found nothing except two elderly people and a supposedly sick, dying young master.
Yuna’s dream had always been to marry her daughters into the four great families. So when she heard the groom was a “ghost husband,” she immediately offered up Elena in place of her own daughter.
That was why Elena believed the man in front of her was a nobody — until now.
His presence… was too sharp, too elegant, too authoritative. He didn't look like a “sick ghost” at all.
He looked like a ruler giving orders.
And he raised wolves.
Elena opened her mouth to speak — but suddenly, Holden rested both fists on the table, his handsome eyes narrowing as pain washed across his features.
Freddy’s face drained. “Master! I’ll call the doctor immediately!”
Elena’s gaze dropped. Holden’s fingers trembled uncontrollably — symptoms of a disorder. A severe one.
He’s sick?
No — worse than that.
Holden’s blood-red eyes lifted abruptly and met hers. “Get her out,” he growled, his voice hoarse with restraint.
“Madam, please leave quickly!” Freddy urged.
But Elena didn’t move.
She needed this identity — the bride of Green Garden.
She steadied her voice. “You’re sick. What is it? I know medicine. I can help.”
Holden’s lips curved coldly. “Go.”
Instead, Elena stepped closer. “I smell lily, poria, gastrodia elata… rare herbs for insomnia. If I’m right, your condition is chronic. Severe insomnia affects the mind — if untreated, it can consume a person.”
“Madam, you—” Freddy was stunned.
Elena continued, her calm voice cutting through the tension. “When insomnia reaches its limit, the mind splits. One self lives in the light… the other in darkness.”
Holden’s eyes turned crimson.
In a flash, his hand wrapped tightly around her neck.
Freddy panicked. “Master! Please— let go of Madam!”
Elena’s face reddened as her breath thinned, but she remained steady. With a swift twist of her fingers, she slipped a silver needle into a point on Holden’s neck.
Holden’s hand loosened instantly.
He collapsed onto the sofa, his breathing heavy.
Elena gasped for air, her chest rising and falling. She didn’t want to die on her first day of marriage. And this man — this unpredictable, powerful man — was far more dangerous than she originally believed.
But she had nowhere else to go.
Regaining her composure, she walked behind him and pressed her fingers gently to his temples.
“This is your treatment?” Holden asked, eyes closed, voice low.
“Be grateful,” Elena replied in a small voice. “You’re the first man I’ve ever massaged.”
He let out a soft, cold laugh. “It seems you’re not the first woman who wanted an excuse to touch me.”
“…”
Elena nearly choked.
“I won’t interfere with your private matters,” she said calmly. “In return, I’ll help you act in front of Grandma — and I can help with your insomnia. That’s my condition.”
Holden said nothing.
Elena inserted a thin silver needle into an acupuncture point behind his ear. Within moments, his body relaxed. His breathing deepened.
And then — unbelievably — he fell asleep.
Freddy froze, staring as if witnessing a miracle.
Master… asleep?
The top insomnia specialists in the world had failed, yet the young lady succeeded with a single touch?
Freddy whispered in awe, “Young lady…”
“Shh.” Elena placed a finger on her lips. “Go. I’ll watch over him.”
For reasons he couldn’t explain, Freddy felt reassured — and obediently left.
Silence filled the room.
Elena adjusted his posture, covered him with a blanket, then lay down on the bed, exhaustion pulling her into sleep.
After some time, Holden’s long lashes trembled.
He slowly opened his eyes.
He had slept.
And it was because of her.
Rising silently, he walked to the bedside. With a slender hand, he reached toward her, gently lifting the veil covering her face—
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The safehouse felt smaller than usual that night.Not because of its size—Holden had chosen one of the Lu family’s most discreet mountain hideouts, hidden behind walls of dark pine trees and wrapped in silence—but because of the unbearable pressure between him and Elena. Every emotion they had been avoiding since the storm, every glance, every touch, every unanswered question… all of it sat in the air like a storm waiting to break.Holden locked the door behind them.The click echoed.Elena spun toward him, breath uneven. “You didn’t need to take me away like this.”“Yes,” Holden said, voice low, strained. “I did.”She stepped back—just one step, but it was enough to twist something sharp inside him.Holden dragged a hand through his hair. He looked exhausted, colder than she’d ever seen, but beneath that ice lived something far more dangerous: fear.Real fear.Not of Silas.Of losing her.“What were you thinking?” Holden asked. “Running off alone? Silas was there, Elena. He was waiti
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The storm had thinned into a soft drizzle, but the mountain road was still slick and dark as Holden pushed Elena into the back seat of the armored SUV.“Go,” he ordered sharply.The driver slammed the door shut and accelerated down the winding road. Trees blurred past in streaks of black and gray as the early morning light struggled to break through the thick clouds.Elena buckled herself in, her pulse still trembling from the moment in the cabin—the closeness, his confession, the shadow outside the window.But Holden wasn’t looking at her now. Not like earlier. His jaw was clenched. His shoulders rigid. His eyes fixed on the rear-view mirror like a predator tracking prey.“Is someone following?” Elena asked quietly.Holden didn’t answer at first.He exhaled slowly, almost too controlled to be natural.“That shutter sound wasn’t an accident,” he eventually said. “And shadows don’t vanish unless they have a reason.”She swallowed. Her hands tightened in her lap.“But it… it might ha
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Elena woke slowly, like rising through layers of warm fog.Her lashes fluttered. Her breathing was soft, shallow. A faint scent—clean soap, cedar, and something deeper—wrapped around her before she was fully aware of where she was.Then she realized something was against her.No—someone.A chest. Hard, warm, and rising steadily beneath her cheek.Her fingers curled involuntarily into fabric. Her legs were tangled with another pair. An arm—heavy, strong, firm—was draped over her waist with a possessiveness that made her pulse stutter.Her eyes snapped open.The room was dim, early morning light barely creeping through the curtains. Rain still pattered faintly outside the cabin. The storm had calmed—but the memory of last night was still sharp, still electric.The power outage. The cold. Holden pulling her closer so she wouldn’t shiver. Their breath mingling in the dark. His hand on her back—steady, protective, trembling just slightly.And then—She must have fallen asleep.But she
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The storm had long passed, but its aftershocks lived on in the house—inside its walls, inside its occupants, and most of all, inside the charged, unspoken space between Holden and Elena.The night was quiet. Too quiet.The kind of quiet that made every thought louder.The Lu family villa at the foothills of the Verdant Range settled into sleep early; the lights were dimmed, the staff dismissed, and even the restless cicadas outside had grown tired of their own song.Holden, however, sat awake.The couch groaned softly as he leaned forward, elbows braced against his knees, staring at the dying embers in the fireplace. The golden orange glow painted shadows along his jaw and cheekbones—so sharp they looked carved by tension itself.He rubbed both hands over his face once, exhaling.He had avoided going upstairs for an hour.Not because he wasn’t tired. But because Elena was there.And because earlier—too earlier—their tension had exploded into something he still couldn’t name. That argu
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The storm had passed, but the electricity between them hadn’t.By the time Elena descended the stairs, Holden was already waiting near the base of the tower, speaking tersely with the security team. His posture was rigid—shoulders tense, jaw locked, every inch of him coiled tighter than the last time she saw him.He sensed her approaching before she spoke a word.His eyes lifted. Found her instantly. And something unguarded flickered across his face, gone just as quickly.“Stay close,” he said—not a command this time, but something like instinct.She nodded, falling into step beside him as the guards led them toward the main hall.But the tension from the observatory still clung to them like static. Every accidental brush of their arms. Every sideways glance. Every breath.It was too much. Too sharp. Too real.And it was only a matter of time before something snapped.The Engineer Who Stood Too CloseAt the front hall, a team of emergency engineers arrived to assess structural
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The morning began too quietly.Elena woke before sunrise, wrapped in blankets she didn’t remember pulling over herself. Her mind was heavy with fragments of dreams—Holden’s voice calling her name, the warmth of his hand brushing her hair back, the way the storm had softened him.But when she blinked awake, the room was empty. Cold. Silent.She closed her eyes again.Everything would have been easier if she could simply forget last night. If she could pretend the warmth between them was only the storm. If she could stop replaying the sound of his heartbeat under her cheek.But pretending was becoming impossible.She swung her legs out of bed, feet touching the cold floor. The villa felt unusually large this morning—like every open space between them had doubled in size.When she walked downstairs, the scent of freshly brewed coffee drifted from the kitchen. She followed it, pulse quickening against her will.Holden stood at the counter, sleeves rolled up, hair still slightly messy
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