Rebirth To Marry

Chapter 8

“What?” I asked in confusion.

“Mr. Lockwood, maybe you meant to say something else, I said, trying my best not to look affected by his aura.

“I saw what you did there earlier. With the sick old man,” he started.

“What does that have to do with us getting married, Mr. Lockwood?” I asked.

“I did my investigations; that old man has Erezobia, but you, who has no record about learning medicine, were able to give him the emergency treatment so easily, something that would require a bunch of experts to do,” he said with his legs crossed, looking all mysterious, and it clicked. No wonder he suddenly gained interest in me; it was because of his grandmother's illness.

“My grandmother also has Erezobia,” he said.

“Hmm, really ?” I said, trying my best to look surprised, but I guess such simple acting cannot deceive Adrien.

“You don't look that surprised, Miss Lyon,” he said with a serious look.

“Wait, how do you know my name?” I asked; it had been barely twelve hours, and he already knew my name. I am sure he knew so much more.

“That is not a concern here, Miss Lyon,” he said, his serious expression not faltering one bit.

“Now how did you know about my grandmother's illness?” he asked, and I quickly formulated a good lie.

"Well, you first of all invited me into your car, and your main concern was about this old man's sickness. I had already guessed that one of your family members had the illness; I just did not know who,” I said, and he looked at me deeply for quite a while, looking for proof of lying on my face, but I would not give him the chance to catch him this time.

“You have not told me why us getting married is in relation to your grandmother's illness, Mr. Lockwood,” I said.

“I was getting to that,” his brows furrowed together.

"Well, maybe if you were not busy beating about the bush, you would have gotten to that by now,” I chucked, and in return, he shot me a dangerous stare, causing me to quiet down.

“Can you treat Erezobia, and by treat, I mean giving the patient a permanent release from the illness?” he asked, and I laughed.

“Of course I can; it's not that hard, I said.

“That is why I want us to get married. First of all, my mother would not trust you to treat Grandma because you never studied medicine; you are unqualified,” he said, and I literary had to prevent myself from bursting out in laughter again. If I am an unqualified doctor, that means every other doctor is unqualified as well.

“But you trust me enough to treat your grandmother despite my not being qualified, okay?” I chuckled.

“You are my best option so far,” he said.

“So what is the second reason for our marriage?” I asked.

“My extended family, of course. They are like crouching tigers just waiting for my grandma to die before they eat up all her shares in the Lockwood industries. I cannot let them know that she is being treated; I want them to let down their guards, and then destroy them in one fell swoop.”

“Hmmm, well, that's reasonable, but what is in it for me?” I asked.

“How about ten billion dollars?” he offered.

“Oh please, you know what I am doing is worth more than that amount; I am not just treating your grandma; I am also getting married to you.”

“Why are you acting like it's a loss? Get married to me, Adrien Lockwood; many women would kill to be in your place, plus I can render support in other areas of your life,” he said, suddenly turning to face me and giving me a deep look. I nervously scooted to the side as a result.

“What, you’re nervous?” He asked with a smirk.

“I know about your little situation with the Times entertainment agency and your ex-husband; don't you think you would need a backer to help you become the best actress?” He tried to convince me, but I had to give it some thought. It is not like I was serious about acting in the first place, plus the fact that I would be rich again just based on my medical skills; I did not need to act at all.

But at the same time, when I was still the princess of the hidden valley, Rio never allowed me to explore the areas I liked; he only made me take lessons for practically almost all my life until he locked me up. Acting could be like a fun hobby that I just get paid to do, plus I could defeat Alex and that stupid Stirling family that believed that they could actually cancel a whole me; they literally only had one foot in the upper-class circle, yet they were already throwing their weights around like they owned the world.

“Okay, sure, I will marry," I said shrugging like marriage was nothing.

“But we need to set some ground rules before we, you know, get married.” I continued.

“Go ahead,” he said.

“Well, this is clearly a fake marriage, meaning that we do not have to engage in any marital acts. This clearly a boss and staff relationship, okay?” I said. I had to make things clear so that no misunderstandings would occur in the future.

“I know, it's not like you look irresistible; I sure can control myself when it comes to you,” he mocked.

“You!” I shouted with annoyance.

“Let's go to civil affairs, Bureau,” he suddenly said.

“What? Now?” I asked with shock in my voice.

“Of course now, do you think time waits for anyone?”

"Well, okay then, my car would be right behind yours,” I said as I tried to open the car door and go to my car, but he was quick to stop me.

“We are going together, Miss Lyon,” he smirked while I sighed.

“But what about my car?” I complained.

“Don't worry, my secretary Smith will bring it back for you,” he said as he snatched my car keys from my hand in a swift motion. I did not even realize it, I, the queen of combat.

“I do not have my documents with me,” I said.

“Don't worry about that,” he said with a smug look on his face, and I rolled my eyes. Of course, he was going to pull some strings.

“Let's go,” he said to his driver, who was standing outside the car and gave my keys to Smith, and we took off.

***

Walking out of the Civil Affairs Bureau with my marriage certificate in my hand was when the real shock began to kick in. I just got married after escaping from a stupid marriage about three days ago. The fact that I had not healed fully from the things Rio, whom I trusted, did to me, and now I was jumping into the firepit by choosing to live with a man.

But then again, Mr. Lockwood was different from Rio; at least it was not a secret that Adrien dislikes women being close to him, apart from if it is for a business transaction, and our marriage is definitely a business transaction.

I decided to take my life as the princess of the hidden valley as a very bad dream, and I chose to enjoy this new life without letting Rio hold me back.

"Congratulations, Mr. Lockwood, you are married; how do you think the world would react when they find out?” I joked, and this man had the audacity to ignore me. The fact that I don't make jokes that often.

I quickly ran into his car before he would decide to take off without me, and even without me telling him, he dropped me home. I could not even be confused by how he knew my home address; he was Adrien Lockwood.

“So when will you start treating my grandmother?” he asked.

“Well, what is her situation now?” I asked him.

"Well, she has been receiving neurotoxin therapy for the past few months,” he said, and my eyes flared up. Where are those doctors trying to make her situation worse?

“Tell them to stop immediately or even fire them,“ I said.

“Why, is there something wrong with the treatment?” he asked, and I nodded quickly.

“Of course, there is; the neurotoxin therapy might seem good for Erezobia on the surface because it reduces the pain level, but it just makes the illness worsen over time; it will quicken the death of your grandma,” I said with worry all over my face.

“What should we do now? Should I take you to meet her?” he asked.

“That is not necessary; first of all, you should stop those doctors from administering that treatment, and don't worry about the damage. I would write a prescription that would serve as a pain reliever and at the same time heal her body from the damage caused by the neurotoxin therapy. After one month of using my prescriptions, then I would be able to start giving her the real treatment for Erezobia,” I said as I brought out a sheet of paper and pen from my purse and scribbled down the ingredients for the medications I prescribed and how to prepare them.

“We have to make the drug from scratch?” he asked after I handed the prescription over to him.

“Of course, I invented this prescription, so it's not on the market; maybe a few years later, I don't know,” I said nonchalantly.

“Have you ever used the prescription on somebody with the same illness before?” he asked, looking annoyed.

“Of course not; patients with Erezobia are few,” I said with a ‘duh’ look on my face.

“If you don't want to trust me, that is fine; just let your grandma suffer from the damage of the neurotoxin therapy,” I said while crossing my arms in anger. In my whole life, nobody had ever questioned my prescription; in fact, people used to be happy to receive just a simple prescription from me. I have really fallen so low.

“Okay, I would trust you this once; pack up your stuff; you have moved into my house by tomorrow; I will send you the address,” he said as I nodded and alighted his car.