After the Seymour family left, Pine Mansion returned to its tranquil state. However, the guests' moods were completely different from before. Roland, the patriarch of the Rogers family was one of the most influential figures in the business world. He was also aptly described as a genius. Unfortunately, all three of his sons were mediocre in business management. His eldest son, Anthony, was slightly better than the other two, but only in terms of character. His intuition and shrewdness in conducting business were lacking. Despite his three sons growing up and working within Soaring Corporation, Roland still held the reins of the company's management. He never truly relinquished control of Soaring Corporation until his death. The third generation of the Rogers family continued to deteriorate, probably due to their privileged background and upbringing. They were worse than their fathers' generation. Except for Kevan, all of Roland's other grandsons ended up being useless

Larissa thought she was seeing things when she saw Kevan through the peephole of the door. She wondered why was he here instead of at Roland’s funeral service. She opened the door with confusion and asked after sizing up Kevan from head to toe, “Do you need something?” He appeared unusually calm, and there was not a hint of sadness in his deep-set eyes, as if he was unaffected by the passing of his grandfather.She was about to give him her condolences, but she swallowed back her words since there was no need for them in his case."My mom said you went to the funeral," Kevan watched her carefully. She looked normal, not as heartbroken or lost as Aster had described, which put his mind at ease. Larissa hummed in acknowledgment and waited for him to continue. "A lot was going on at the time, so my mom didn’t have time to see you off. She’s very sorry about it." He couldn’t sell Aster out, so he made up an excuse, and continued, "I’m here to thank you and apologize on behalf of he

Aster's room had a double bed too. It was more than enough for an adult and a child to sleep together. Aster had fallen asleep earlier on, and Larissa lay on the other side of the bed, tossing and turning because she could not stop worrying about Kevan, who was sick.By midnight, she could not stop herself and got up from the bed. She carefully snuck over and opened the master bedroom door. The orange night light at the head of the bed was turned on, and she was able to clearly see Kevan's open eyes with its aid.Hearing the noise, he turned over to look. Their gazes locked, and an embarrassed smile appeared on Larissa's face."You're not asleep yet?" She entered the room and closed the door, but left it open by a crack instead of closing it completely.Kevan sat up slowly, his voice sounding pitiful. "Head hurts. Can't sleep."Larissa became alert at once. "Do you still have a fever?" She took a few steps closer and felt his forehead with her hand.As she was in an air-condition

Larissa's movements of getting up halted abruptly. Bracing herself against the edge of the bed, she sat down again. "Do you … need me to help you massage the spot?" Kevan pressed a hand on his pounding heart and said with restraint, "No need."Larissa suddenly remembered his weird quirk of not letting others touch him. "Forgive me, I was too forward." She apologized to him before adding, "Wait a moment—"She retrieved the aromatherapy machine she had bought but never used—it was still in its original packaging—from the closet she used to put her sundries in. After filling it with water, she added a few drops of lavender oil into the machine."This will help you relax and sleep." She introduced the product to Kevan. "Just close your eyes, and you'll be able to sleep soon."The faint smell of lavender filled the air via the mist from the machine.Kevan obediently closed his eyes, though his headache did not lessen likely due to his tense nerves. After some time, he opened his eyes a

Aster frequently followed Larissa when she went to work, so he knew most of the people she interacted with at work. Due to Larissa's identity, the attitudes of those people were very friendly. He could not tell who were the ones trying to woo Larissa or who were the ones who were only just flattering her.So, he gave Kevan a vague answer. "I guess so?"There was a little bit of his cunningness involved in this. If Uncle Kevan really liked his mommy, he might feel a sense of danger knowing that his mommy had other potential partners, so he would speed up the process of trying to bag his mommy. The moment Aster thought of how Uncle Kevan would soon be his daddy, he could not stop himself from smiling, and the happy glint in his eyes was unmistakable.Kevan could not understand Aster's expression. He could sense Aster's joy, but he could not get where it was coming from.Could it be … he really hoped that other men would pursue Larissa?But—"Aster, when you said that you liked me,