Chapter 4

When I got to the hospital, I was diagnosed with a fracture in my right arm and a minor rib fracture.

The doctor told me to stay at the hospital for observation for two days.

Not long after I got back to the hospital room, Kairo showed up.

He stood by the door, and there was still some blood on his shirt. It was probably Vienne’s.

When he saw me looking at him, he explained, “Vienne is fine, and the baby is safe too.”

I didn’t ask.

He paused, walked over to the bedside, and put a document envelope in front of me. “There’s something we need you to cooperate with.”

I looked down at it. It was a public statement.

The fact that Kairo and Vienne had pretended to be dead for three years could no longer be hidden.

Vienne was about to give birth, and after the baby was born, they would need to handle various procedures. Kairo was also getting ready to take over the Simpson family’s company again.

They had to show themselves in public again.

I went over the pages one by one.

It wasn’t until I got to the end that I realized why he had come to see me.

The statement said that after the video was leaked three years ago, Kairo and Vienne faced severe online abuse. To protect Vienne, the Simpson family had no choice but to hide the fact that the two of them were still alive.

As for me, there was just one sentence.

“The incident was a private family dispute.”

I stared at it for a long time, then suddenly laughed. “Three years ago, everyone said I was the one who leaked the video, that I drove my husband and younger sister to their deaths. Now that you’ve come back alive, you still don’t plan to tell them that I didn’t kill anyone?”

Kairo frowned. “It’s been so long. There’s no point in finding out who leaked the video anymore. Besides, the most important thing with public opinion right now is explaining why we’re still alive.”

We.

When I heard that word, I suddenly found it almost funny.

He and Vienne were “we.”

And I was just a small problem they needed to deal with.

Kairo handed me another document. “There’s a press conference tomorrow afternoon. You’ll attend with us.”

I didn’t take it. “What am I going there for?”

“The media will definitely ask why you didn’t know I was still alive for the past three years.”

He spoke calmly. “When the time comes, you only need to say that you knew about the fake deaths back then and that it was a decision we made together after talking about it.”

The hospital room stayed quiet for a few seconds.

I even wondered if I had heard him wrong. “You want me to tell everyone that I knew all along you weren’t dead?”

“Just say that in public.”

Kairo lowered his voice. “Aurelia, this is the fastest way to deal with it.”

I looked at him and suddenly asked, “Then what about me?”

He paused.

“What?”

“For the past three years, I cleaned your grave, burned paper offerings for you, and had people blocking my doorstep and calling me a murderer. If I knew all along that you were alive, how do you explain any of that?”

Kairo went quiet.

I didn’t bring up that child again.

After a long time, he finally said, “Those things already happened anyway. You only need to cooperate this one time.”

I looked at him.

Three years ago, they lied to me once.

Three years later, they came back alive and still wanted me to personally prove that there had never been a victim in their entire lie.

That way, they could start over with no problems. As for how I had spent these past three years, it didn’t matter at all.

The door suddenly opened.

Vienne stood there with one hand on her waist, with Mom beside her.

Her face was still a little pale, but her eyes were red. “Aurelia, just help us this one time. The child is about to be born. If Kairo’s fake death turns into a huge scandal, what will he do in the future?”

Mom looked at me too. “It’s only a few sentences. Do you really have to make things hard for everyone?”

I looked at the three people standing in front of me.

Suddenly, I felt there was no reason to keep arguing.

“Okay, I’ll go tomorrow.”

Vienne clearly let out a breath of relief, and Mom’s expression relaxed too.

Only Kairo kept looking at me, but in the end, he didn’t ask anything.

The next afternoon, the venue was packed with reporters.

Kairo and Vienne were already there.

Vienne wore a loose white dress and sat next to him, her face still a little pale. Mom sat on the other side. From the moment I walked in, she kept looking at me.

A staff member gave me the prepared statement.

The very first sentence said: “I knew about everything that happened three years ago from start to finish.”

I looked at it for two seconds, then closed it.

So not only did they want me to help them keep up their lie, but they also wanted me to personally tell everyone that all the suffering I had gone through over these three years had been my own choice.