Lady Victoria meets her fiancee.

A few minutes later, the servants lined up in front of the house to wait as a car entered past the gates and parked next to the other cars in the mansion. The driver was the first person to come out as he opened an umbrella and held it out above the back door when a young lady came out from the passenger seat and smiled as she entered the house. Behind her, the servants rushed to collect her luggage from the driver to carry it to the house.

As the lady entered the house, she was greeted by Elena and Eloise who were waiting for her in the living room. She scanned the room once again as if she was looking for someone before she greeted her friends. "Elena, Eloise! How have you been?"

The three ladies exchanged light kisses across their cheeks and smiled warmly. They had been childhood friends since they were very little and it had broken their hearts when Victoria's parents suddenly decided to move out of Wakefield for better business prospects but they had been secretly wishing they would be united as family by marital ties. Eloise told her. "We have missed you dearly, Victoria. Welcome to Wakefield, I do hope you will enjoy your stay here."

"Thank you, Eloise." Victoria looked past their shoulders to make her point before she asked them her most concerned question since she had arrived. "Where is Mother and the rest?"

The twins shared a look before they faced Victoria. They knew who exactly she wanted to see but they didn't know how to tell her the bad news. Elena was the first person to speak when she saw her friend's intense stare locked on the both of them. "My mother is busy attending to my sick brother. He has been very unwell since last week and still insists on working like nothing is wrong with him."

"Where is he now?" Victoria put down her bag on the table and looked at the stairs, ready to go and see her fiance whom she had not met in a very long time.

Eloise and Elena once again cast each other a glance before one of them tool her hand and guided her along the stairs. "He is in his room, let me show you. I think despite his present condition, he is going to be so happy to see you."

"You think so? That is very reassuring, my friend." Victoria smiled to cover up her nervousness in meeting her fiance but she decided not to be too worried about it after receiving such warm welcome from her friends. She realized that as long as she could win her mother-in-law's approval, things would surely be easy for her in this house.

Meanwhile, Antoniette was getting more worried as minutes passed by and she hadn't heard anything at all since Aidan's mother moved her son from the study to his room when the doctor had arrived. She prayed silently that their little lie wouldn't be discovered but she also knew that she couldn't continue to wait like this any longer so she decided to try sneak around to see if she could find the head butler who could give her more information about the situation.

Immediately she opened the door of the study she saw the Knight ladies coming up so she closed the door slightly and waited for them to pass the room but she was surprised to see one of them holding a young lady's hand and chatting. The lady had such a pretty smile and looked beautiful with her blonde hair packed up into a sleek bun with some loose strands of hair tangling at the sides of her face as the three of them headed towards Aidan's room. She waited until they had gone into the room before she opened the door but she was immediately blocked by the head butler.

He guided her back into the room and locked the door before he said to her in a cold voice. "I thought you were instructed not to leave this room until the Young Master returned. Do you have any idea how much trouble you could have gotten all of us if you were actually discovered by anyone else?"

Antoinette lowered her head in remorse and muttered in a small voice. "Please forgive me, Sir but I was just worried about Aidan and I wanted to know if he was doing alright-"

"The young master is being watched by his mother and cannot come to accompany you at the moment." The head butler's hostility towards the girl lessened with her submissive response so he paused for a brief second before he continued. "I sure you have saw the young lady who just passed by a few minutes ago. That is Lady Victoria, Master Aidan's fiancee."

Antoniette felt her heart stop when she heard his words and struggled not to lose her balance from the words she had just heard. "So soon?"

"I am only saying this to you because of your aunt and her impeccable service to this household all these years. I do not wish to see her reputation smeared by the awaiting disaster about to happen in the corner." The old butler told her. "I do not know neither do I care about how true this love between you and the young master is but I will advice you to end this unreasonable fantasy you call an affair and leave this place. "

Antoniette felt greatly discouraged by his words but she refused to back down from her promise to her lover, for the future they had promised to build together. "But I love him and we will find a way-"

"Don't be so foolish, child." The old butler chided her immediately and said. "Do you think you will really be able to marry the Young Master? And if you do, will the society accept your poor background and even your children's own? Do you really want to live with such bitterness and judgment for the rest of your life?"

Seeing that the young woman seemed to be in deep thoughts, he sighed and dropped some money that he had been asked to deliver on Aidan's orders. "I will be coming to check up on you until he returns and I will be delivering your food and other necessities. If you change your mind and feel the need to leave this place, you can always tell me. I will do my best to help you."

Antoniette sat down in a daze until she heard the door close once again as the butler had left the room. She had never thought about their life if they had managed to marry and leave the Knight family as they had planned. She couldn't deny that the butler's words were not true, what if the society and the rest of the town couldn't accept her? Was all this just an affair as he had said?

Was it really best for her to end this relationship now?

Lady Victoria walked into the room and the first thing that came to her mind was the fact that her fiance was a changed man. She had known him all her life and she had never seen use any colourful things for his room like now, he had always been the type to like monochrome colours and she had always thought she would have persuade him about it once they had gotten married. She wondered if he had done all this for her arrival.

She managed to locate him lying on the bed wrapped with blankets as his mother sat by his side diligently taking care of him. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of his handsome face and all the memories she had long forgotten resurfaced in her mind once again. She walked forward and lowered her voice deliberately when she saw that he was asleep. "Madame Silvanna."

The old woman lifted up her head in joyful surprise when she saw her and hugged her warmly. "Victoria, welcome. How have you been, my dear?"

"I have been well, Mother." She let out a small smile before her eyes crunched up in concern at the person on the bed. "How is Aidan doing now?"

The old woman exhaled and said. "Let's talk outside since he is sleeping. I have many things to talk to you about, dear. "

"Okay, Mother." Victoria allowed herself once last glance before she left the room, holding her future mother-in-law's hands. Unknown to them, immediately the door closed, Aidan opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling.

But Victoria went out of the room, she heard the old woman say to her. "I am sorry you had to meet this little inconvenience, dear. It's all because he works too hard without enough rest. Sometimes, he is just like his late father...."

"He is a good son." Victoria commented with a smile while scanning the place. She could see just how much the Knight family was flourishing under his management.

"Now that you are here, perhaps you can help take care of him since you were once a volunteer and possess medical knowledge. Maybe this would bring the both of you closer." The old woman shared a knowing look with the young woman who once again received the message. Now that her son was sick, this was the perfect chance for so many opportunities, she mused to herself.....