Chapter 6

Mrs. Wellington was surprised when she learned that her surgery had been paid for. She was worried about how her daughter had gotten the money.

"Did you borrow the money? How will you repay it? I hope you didn't do anything bad to get it."

Sophie laughed. "Mom, you're getting worked up for no reason. I got the money legitimately."

After some convincing, her mother finally relaxed and soon fell asleep.

Her sister Maria looked at her worriedly.

"Is Mummy really going to be alright?"

"Yes," Sophie replied. "You have to take care of her. I have to work to repay the money for her hospital bills." Since her mother was going to stay a few months in the hospital, she couldn’t possibly wait that long to fulfill the contract.

She gave Maria some money.

"I'll visit you guys from time to time," she promised before leaving.

She took a cab back to her house to pack her things. Since she was now married to him, she had to live in his house. Also, Carson wanted to take her to their family dinner party. After she was done packing, she called him. He promised to come and pick her up thirty minutes later.

She was nervous as she waited. A few minutes later, she heard a knock on the door. She immediately went and opened it. A middle-aged man in a black professional suit was standing before her.

"Excuse me, are you Miss Wellington?" he inquired.

"Yes, and you are?" she asked curiously.

"I'm sent here by Sir Carson to bring you to his house. I'm his butler. Something came up, so he can't pick you up himself," he replied.

Sophie pondered for a while and then nodded.

"Okay, wait here. Let me confirm with him."

After she confirmed with Carson, she left with the man. She was quite nervous. The man was a butler—was he taking her to the O'Connell family house?

That was so soon. How could she face his family without him around?

Luckily, she was overthinking. The butler brought her to a huge white mansion. When she saw it, she concluded that this must be the O'Connells’ family house. The butler seemed to have guessed what she was thinking. He helped with her luggage and informed her,

"This is Mr. Carson's mansion. He doesn't live with the main family."

Sophie was even more shocked. Carson lived in this huge and magnificent castle alone? She could only imagine how grand the main O'Connell family house would be.

The butler took her into the house and started introducing her. He called the house help and cooks and introduced Sophie to them.

"This is your madam from now on. Her words are as powerful as those of Mr. Carson himself, so you must respect her just as you respect him. From now on, all your orders should come from her too."

Everyone was confused. They hadn’t heard anything about Mr. Carson getting married. There was no way his marriage wouldn't be a big deal. But they knew better than to ask questions that didn’t concern them. They could only obey the butler—he held considerable power in the household. And since he placed this unknown woman above himself, she must be very important to the boss.

The butler led Sophie to her room. She was very thankful for all his help. The room was quite large and looked luxurious. She had never seen a room this big before. The designs were top-notch.

She touched the bed. It was very soft and comfortable. She couldn’t help herself and jumped on it.

"It's so soft and relaxing!" she exclaimed, very reluctant to get up.

After a few minutes, she forced herself to get up and arrange her things.

Carson came back in the evening. The butler sent someone to inform her that he was back.

She became nervous. It was true that their marriage was only a contract marriage. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t nervous—after all, they would be living together as husband and wife from now on. It still felt unbelievable to her every time she thought about it.

A few minutes later, someone knocked on her door. She didn’t dare step out of her room to greet Carson after the butler had announced his arrival. When she heard the knock, her heart jumped.

"Is it Carson?"

She quickly opened the door, and it was indeed Carson, leaning lazily on the door frame. He was wearing casual clothes, and his hair looked a bit wet. He looked super handsome standing there with his lazy expression.

It seemed like he had just come out of the bathroom, Sophie quickly noted.

"Carson, you're back," she said with a forced smile.

"Yes, I’m back. But you don’t seem happy to see me. You look tense," he exposed her in one sentence.

She pouted, a bit embarrassed.

"Who said I'm not happy to see you? I'm just surprised to see you in this kind of outfit," she said, quickly finding an excuse.

Carson seemed to think of something. He leaned closer and whispered, "Are you falling for me?"

Sophie was astounded. She couldn’t even form a word to refute him. Carson laughed when he saw her expression.

"It’s just a joke. Don’t take it seriously," he said.

She was even more speechless.

"Mr. Carson, I didn’t know you could actually joke," she replied earnestly.

"Why?" he asked curiously.

Sophie didn’t know how to reply, so she simply changed the topic.

"You didn’t come here just to joke with me, right? You must have come for a reason. Where are my manners—come inside."

Carson didn’t say anything this time and followed her inside before telling her the purpose of his visit.

"My family is having a gathering. It’s actually a small family dinner. I want you to come along with me so I can present you to them," he informed her.

She nodded. This was what she was paid for, after all.

"Also, don’t call me Mr. Carson outside—not even in front of the housemaids. You can call me any sweet couple name you like. We need to make everything look real."

She nodded quickly.

"You don’t have to be nervous. Look at your expression—it’s like you're going out to war."

She smiled awkwardly.

"I’ll be taking my leave now. The butler will send people to bring the dress I prepared for you."

After that, he left. Sophie stood there and watched him go. She sighed, then went inside to collect her thoughts and prepare for the gathering.