His Untamed Rose novel Chapter 96

Lumina closed her eyes, drifting off into a hazy sleep. Somewhere between dreaming and waking, she heard a man’s gentle sigh at her ear, “Do you really want to leave?”

Half-asleep, she mumbled a faint “Hmm?”—unsure if it was her own dream or reality. Her eyelids felt impossibly heavy, and she soon nodded off, head tilted to the side.

Maybe Cedric’s constitution was just unusually strong, because despite how ill he’d been, two days on an IV drip was enough to get him back on his feet. Except for the occasional cough, he was mostly fine.

By the third day, he was already working from his hospital bed.

And, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, he roped Lumina into his work discussions.

Lumina gave a dismissive hum, making her refusal clear. “I’ve been running myself ragged for you here in the hospital, but that’s just basic decency. As a free and happily unemployed citizen, I’m not obligated to help you get your job done.”

Hilton, standing nearby, chuckled. “Ms. Jardin, are you still upset? That position has always been there for you. We’ve been saving it, just waiting for you to come back.”

Lumina calmly straightened the sheets, lips pressed together, her voice cool. “You can keep saving it, but I never said I was coming back.”

Cedric set his medicine bowl down on the table with a sharp clatter, a flicker of coldness in his eyes. He looked at her seriously. “If you don’t come back to work, then what do you plan to do? Just live off that little trust fund I set aside for you and call it a life?”

Lumina didn’t dare meet his gaze. “Anywhere else is fine. I just want to leave.”

The tension between them was palpable.

Just then, Nancy burst in, breathless. “Mr. Royce, something’s wrong! This whole floor has been locked down. People from the Royce family are here.”

The moment Lumina heard “the Royce family,” a chill ran down her spine. She stood up abruptly, glancing at the man in the bed.

Hilton’s face went pale. “How is that possible? I cleared everything with the doctors and nurses.”

Harriet’s eyes filled with tears at once. “Oh, sweetheart, why didn’t you tell me how sick you were? How could you keep this from your own mother?”

“Wasn’t I already getting better?” Cedric replied quietly.

Maybe it was the group entering that let in a draft, because Cedric had to clench his fists to suppress a coughing fit.

Soren arrived too, having come with the Royce family entourage. He placed a bag of fruit and a bouquet on the table, only to notice a single pearl earring—a woman’s—lying beside Cedric’s things.

Soren frowned and silently reached out, intending to put the earring away for him.

But Harriet got there first. In a flash, she snatched the earring and threw it down in front of Cedric, overcome with emotion as her tears spilled over.

“My son! Have you forgotten who you’re suffering for? You let her take care of you and kept it from your own family? Do you really see that woman as one of us now? Am I not your mother anymore?”