C5 The Night We Shared

As Vivienne carefully applied the medicine, her movements were incredibly gentle.

So gentle...

That something in Rowan's heart stirred then; he wanted to touch her.

She was his wife, so to him, everything he did felt perfectly natural.

But to Vivienne, he is "Adrian" and Rowan's cousin.

He molested her repeatedly and kissed her, which was far beyond her tolerance.

Vivienne shoved him away with all her strength and stumbled back several steps.

Looking at him with a cold expression, she said firmly, "Adrian, I'm your cousin's wife. Please show me some respect."

After helping him remove the bullet, Vivienne's opinion of "Adrian" had improved a little.

But she hadn't expected him to be just as shameless as before.

Rowan slowly brushed his thumb across his lips, as if savouring the lingering taste.

A trace of amusement flickered in his deep voice.

"Cousin's wife, you are just a widow for a lifetime with my cousin; don't you want to think about me?"

Vivienne didn't hesitate for even a second. "No, I don't."

With her dull expression and an ugly dress, she looked like a little old woman. There wasn't the slightest thing attractive about her.

Yet Rowan found Vivienne's appearance strangely pleasing to the eye.

Vivienne felt that she could no longer sit back and wait for things to happen. If she did, "Adrian" would only become even more shameless.

"You can call someone to pick you up, or I'll call an ambulance. Then everyone will know you've been shot."

Her voice was soft, and even though she was trying to threaten him, there wasn't the slightest hint of intimidation.

Rowan merely glanced at her.

As though he hadn't heard a single word, he simply closed his eyes to rest.

Vivienne bit her lip and looked at his pale face.

In the end, she couldn't bring herself to wake him up and throw him out.

Taking advantage of the time while "Adrian" was resting, Vivienne headed to the nearby market to buy some groceries.

Although she was nominally the third young lady of the Virement family, she had never lived like one.

Most of the time, when she was sick, no one cared. When she was hungry, no one asked if she had eaten.

As a result, Vivienne had long learned to take care of herself.

No matter how much she disliked "Adrian," she couldn't simply ignore him and risk letting him die in her apartment.

She had always treasured life.

She had no intention of becoming responsible for his death or arranging his funeral.

So, despite herself, she went into the kitchen and made him a pot of soup.

By the time night fell, Vivienne gently woke "Adrian."

"Are you hungry?" she asked softly. "I made some soup. Would you like to have a little?"

She deliberately stood two steps away from him, afraid he might do something shameless again.

Rowan lifted his eyes to look at her. "Yes," he replied simply.

Vivienne walked over with the bowl of soup and placed it on the small table beside the bed before immediately stepping back.

But her apartment was simply too small.

Besides the tiny kitchen and the bathroom separated by a partition, there was only a 1.5-meter bed, a small folding table, a single-person sofa, and a simple bookshelf.

Those few pieces of furniture already took up most of the room.

No matter how far Vivienne tried to keep her distance, she couldn't escape Rowan's sight.

Rowan glanced at her before slowly sitting up.

Without a change in expression, he pulled the blanket aside, exposing the bloodstained bandage wrapped around his chest.

"The wound has reopened," he said casually.

His indifferent tone made it sound as though he were talking about someone else's injury rather than a life-threatening wound of his own.

Vivienne wanted to ignore him, but she simply couldn't.

She slowly walked over, holding the bowl in one hand and the spoon in the other. She scooped up a spoonful and brought it to his lips.

Rowan didn't say a word this time.

He lowered his eyes and quietly drank the soup she fed him, one spoonful after another.

The tiny apartment fell into silence.

The only sound was the soft clink of the spoon against the edge of the bowl.

An unspoken intimacy quietly settled between them.

Early the next morning.

Vivienne was awakened by the ringing of her phone.

To maintain the image she had carefully created over the years, while everyone around her carried the latest smartphones, she still used an old Samsung phone with a cracked screen.

She picked it up and glanced at the caller ID. Dad.

The last trace of sleep vanished from her eyes.

After a brief hesitation, she answered the call. "Dad."

Victor Virement's voice was as stern as ever.

"You went home yesterday? Who brought you back?"

As a father calling his newly married daughter, yet asking such an irrelevant question, all Vivienne felt was a chill in her heart.

Victor rarely called her now; out of nowhere, the first thing he asked was this.

It made Vivienne instinctively question his intentions.

"It was Rowan's cousin," Vivienne replied truthfully.

Victor fell silent for a moment before speaking again.

"When you have time, bring your sister to the Devereux residence. If there are any suitable young men, introduce her to them. It would be good for her to make more friends."

Vivienne understood immediately.

After she had left the Virement residence yesterday, "Adrian" and Seraphina must have crossed paths.

Seraphina had obviously taken a liking to him.

Now, Victor wanted her to play matchmaker.

The father and daughter's wishful thinking was truly laughable.

Rowan had originally been engaged to Seraphina.

In the end, however, it was Vivienne who married into the Devereux family.

And now...

They wanted to use her as a stepping stone to find Seraphina another outstanding man within the Devereux family.

Everyone in Rostenvel knew that, apart from Rowan, every member of the Devereux family was exceptionally accomplished.

A trace of self-mockery flickered across Vivienne's eyes.

Seraphina was Victor's biological daughter too, wasn't she?

How could he favour one daughter to such an extent?

Swallowing the bitterness in her heart, Vivienne forced herself to remain calm.

"You want me to bring Seraphina to the Devereux residence..." she said quietly. "But I haven't even met Rowan yet."

The moment Victor heard that she hadn't even met Rowan, his tone turned icy.

"You haven't even seen your own husband? Useless! And you still had the nerve to come back home?"

Vivienne's nose stung.

She clenched her fingers tightly, forcing the tears back, and answered in an even voice,

"Why don't you send Seraphina to the Devereux residence instead? Maybe Rowan would rather see her."

A faint, bitter smile touched her lips.

"After all... I'm only the substitute bride."

"Why would he want to see me?"

Rowan had just stepped out of the bathroom when he overheard her words.

Vivienne was sitting on the edge of the bed.

Her long, dark hair cascaded down to her waist, and her fingers gripped the phone so tightly that the veins on the back of her hand stood out.

Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears, yet she stubbornly refused to let them fall.

Her slender figure looked unbearably fragile.

Rowan narrowed his dark eyes.

For some reason, his new wife was becoming more and more pleasing to the eye.

He didn't know what the person on the other end of the call had said.

But Vivienne's face gradually turned pale.

She neither spoke nor ended the call.

Rowan walked over, took the phone from her hand, and hung up without hesitation.

Rowan glanced at the old phone in his hand. She still uses a phone like this?

He lowered his gaze to Vivienne.

His voice remained calm and unreadable. "If you don't want to hear it, then don't."

Vivienne raised her head hurriedly; tears still filled her eyes, blurring her vision until she could barely make out his face.

Strangely...

She thought she heard a hint of comfort in his words.

But in the very next second, her eyes flew open in shock.

"Why am I on the bed?"

She clearly remembered giving the bed to the injured man and spending the entire night sleeping on the sofa.

"You climbed onto the bed in your sleep." Rowan said expressionlessly. Then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, he walked over and lay down beside her.