"Mitchel, I'll let you be with Malva... From now on, let's never see each other again!" Livia said.

Not sure which words triggered Mitchel, but he tightly gripped her neck, his deep eyes filled with anger. "Do you even know what you're saying? I only consider her as a sister and insulting her means insulting both of us!"

Even with her body covered in ice, the heart-wrenching pain refused to subside.

The places where the glass had pierced her skin throbbed, as if countless tiny insects were gnawing at her body.

As Mitchel’s grip on her neck tightened, the suffocating sensation creeped back. She opened her mouth to speak, but blood spilled out instead.

As the blood covered Mitchel's hands, he immediately panicked, "What's going on? Didn't you say you were pretending to be sick?"

Livia forced a smile, her lips trembling.

However, this attitude seemed like a provocation to Mitchel.

After loosening his long, bony fingers for a while, he tightened his grip again on her chin. "What do you mean by never seeing each other again? You love me so much. How can you live without me?"

Livia tilted her head slightly, but her body was too weak to respond.

"Livia, are you causing trouble with Mitchel because of me?" Malva chimed in. "At first, you wanted to cancel the engagement, but after seeing him care for me, you self-harmed to make him pity you. So many doctors have testified that you’re fine. Now that Mitchel is treating you so well, why won't you just treat him properly?"

Mitchel sneered, an aura of hostility surrounding him as if he wanted to tear her apart. "Did you find someone else already, that’s why you're insisting on breaking off the engagement?"

Livia felt a stir in her heart. But she turned her head away, her expression cold.

Seeing her icy demeanor, Mitchel suddenly laughed, releasing his grip on her chin and smirked. "Whether we break off the engagement or not is not for you to decide. You don’t have the right to make that decision."

Malva tugged at the corner of her mouth.

Hearing Mitchel say that, Livia lost the desire to argue. Every time she tried to reason with him in the past, he only grew closer to Malva. Moreover, whenever she tried to defend herself, he always ignored her.

Realizing this, she smiled bitterly to herself. "Yeah, you're right about everything."

"You!" Mitchel was infuriated, glaring down at her with a cold expression before clenching his teeth and storming off.

Malva waved her hand, signaling the doctors to leave and personally poured a cup of hot tea for him.

"Mitchel, you know how bad Livia's temper is. When I used to accept your family's support, she even called me shameless..."

Mitchel's face darkened further, sneering sarcastically. "Why would she look down on you? Isn't she just a little better than you in terms of background? She's just been spoiled, a rich girl with all the bad habits!"

Malva timely wiped a few tears, speaking with a nasal tone to comfort him. "Alright, Mitchel, it's not worth getting angry over her. Livia's temper really is bad. Honestly, I think you should just break up with her and marry someone with a better temperament..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Mitchel interrupted her with a cold tone. "Whether we break up or not, that's for me to decide."

He sneered, his eyes softening slightly at the edges. "Livia is just stubborn and soft-hearted. She only said those things in the heat of the moment, no need to take them seriously. Besides, her dream since childhood has been to marry me. There's no way she'd really want to break up with me."

"She's been waiting for 23 years to marry me and her birthday is coming up soon. She wouldn't be foolish enough to truly fall out with me now. Besides, I think she's been through enough this time. Maybe tomorrow she'll come to her senses and beg me not to leave her."

"I have to admit, Malva, your method is really effective. I've noticed Livia has been much more subdued lately."

But as soon as he closed his eyes, the image of her bloodstained body and her indifferent gaze flashed in his mind.

His heart felt like it was being tightly squeezed, a mix of pain and bitterness rising within him.

Malva bit her lip, her hand holding the teacup starting to feel sore. She extended the cup forward and replied, "But Livia..."

Just then, the phone vibrated and Mitchel leaned back on the sofa as he swiped the screen.

"Mitchel, the custom wedding dress is ready. Would you like to come and take a look?"

Mitchel curled the corner of his mouth and said, "I have something to do, I'll go first.”

“Mitchel, let me get you a fresh cup of tea… ah, it's so hot!"

Mitchel stood up without noticing and the scalding tea splashed all over Malva.

He widened his eyes and hurriedly took out a handkerchief to wipe the tea off her. But her fair skin was already red and swollen in patches, with her arm covered in cuts from broken porcelain.

"Mitchel, you don't need to worry about me, go ahead with what you're doing. It doesn't hurt..."

"You're covered in injuries, how can it not hurt!"

When they arrived at the hospital, a nurse helped treat her wounds. Using the excuse of going to the restroom, Malva slipped away.

***

A sudden scream rang out and several nurses scrambled to carry an unconscious Livia out. "Quick, get a stretcher!"

One of the kind-hearted nurses placed a blanket over Livia. Shortly after, Malva arrived, slipping them an envelope and threatening them.

"You all know that I am Mitchel's true love and this woman is just a marriage partner. Even if something happens to her, it'll only make Mitchel angry, so no one can leak this information!"

"Malva, are you really okay?" Mitchel's anxious voice came from outside the door.

"I'm fine, almost healed. It's just that Livia..."

"Don't worry about her!"

Malva chuckled softly and whispered to those nurses. “See? Mitchel doesn't care about Livia at all.”

After saying that, she proudly pushed open the door to leave, but several nurses couldn't stand by and did nothing.

In the hospital, Livia developed a high fever and there were shadows on her lungs. Her body had no good skin left.

The department heads who had accepted the bribes all made excuses to avoid involvement.

Fortunately, an intern doctor, unaware of the situation, still did his best to treat her.

Mitchel took the wedding dress home, but couldn't find Livia anywhere. It was then that he learned she had gone to the hospital.

Her whole body was wrapped in thick bandages, only her mouth and one arm exposed.

Mitchel furrowed his brows. "What happened to her eyes?"

"Mr. West, Miss Mayer said she doesn't want to see anyone... so she asked us to cover them."

A heavy feeling sank in his chest.

She didn’t want to see anyone including him?

"Idiot! You just listen to whatever she says? As long as we're not married, she's not the future mistress of the West Family!"

How ridiculous.

They had been engaged for so long. It was Mitchel himself who had brought her to this hospital, introducing her as his fiancée and telling the staff to respect her as they would respect him.

But because of Malva, her position had plummeted.

Livia turned her head, pretending not to hear.

Mitchel's face darkened. "When are you going to change those spoiled habits? Even lying in a hospital bed, you still have such a bad temper!"

She remained silent. With her face hidden from view, an inexplicable unease settled in Mitchel’s chest.

"Forget it, I won't argue with a patient."

He sat down, sneaking a glance at her. No matter how much he tried to ignore it, he couldn’t suppress the flicker of guilt.

"Does it hurt?"

She remained silent.

"Livia, do you understand your mistake? Actually, I didn’t want to punish you. It’s just that you shouldn’t have treated Malva as a rival. I only see her as a little sister…"

Livia in the bed stirred slightly, but didn't respond.

A bitter feeling rose in her heart.

She pushed Mitchel's hand away, her hoarse voice catching in her throat. “No need to explain. It doesn’t matter to me anymore."

"No need for what? You’re not the one who’s been burning with fever for a month."

Realizing his words were too harsh, Mitchel paused and lowered his head to persuade her, his tone softening a little, "Actually, you've been punished as well. As long as you acknowledge your mistake and correct it, everything will be fine. In a few days, it's your birthday and we'll hold a..."

Before he could finish, Livia interrupted, saying, "I'm not in a hurry to get married..."

Upon hearing this, Mitchel's face turned completely dark. "You're not in a hurry to get married? You’ve been waiting for this for twenty-three years. Everything is already prepared and now you’re telling me you’re not in a hurry?"

"Livia, you're still angry, aren't you? You're angry because I punished you for Malva, so you're deliberately saying this, right?"

Everything was ready?

Once, all she had ever dreamed of was being his bride.

But now, just hearing the word "marriage" made her head throb with pain.

She tugged at the corner of her lips, thinking that these 23 years of liking Mitchel, this biased and gullible fool, had been nothing short of a disaster.

"I’ve already picked up the wedding dress. In two days, we’re taking our wedding photos, so you must be discharged by then!"

After leaving these few words, he walked away without looking back.

Not long after he was gone, Hailey arrived.

Livia had no mother and Hailey had watched her grow up. Their bond was more like mother and daughter rather than a future mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

Hearing Hailey's voice, Livia's tears instantly soaked the gauze.

"Come on, quickly take off the gauze blocking Livia's eyes!" Hailey ordered the nurse.

She then pulled Livia into her arms and comforted her, "My child, you've suffered. When I get home, I’ll make sure Mitchel kneels down and confesses!"

Hailey was not only closer to her than to her own son, but also helped her handle all the women around Mitchel.

However, after meeting Malva, who looked strikingly similar to her deceased daughter, she became somewhat soft-hearted. She even tried to persuade Livia to treat Malva as a younger sister.

But now, seeing Livia lying on the hospital bed, Hailey couldn't hold back her sobs.

Compared to Malva, Livia was the daughter she had raised since childhood. Although there was no blood relation, they were even closer than a biological mother and daughter.

Hailey felt deep regret in her heart. She shouldn’t have neglected Livia for the sake of an outsider.

To make it up to her, she specifically arranged a birthday dinner for five days later, planning to publicly gift her family heirloom that day. She also arranged for Mitchel to propose on the spot and even planned to hold the wedding the next day.

"Livia, it's all my fault! Take good care of your injuries and don't overthink things. As for the rest, I will take care of it for you!"

Hailey directly summoned all the doctors who had treated Livia to the hospital room. She questioned each of them with a cold expression, "My family supports you all to cure and save people, but you can't even cure the future mistress of my family!"

She then had someone bring Livia's medical records, carefully examining them bit by bit. With a loud slap, she slammed the desk.

"Alright, Livia's medical records are all vague and unclear. What exactly have you all been doing? You're all fired! My family can't afford to keep you!"

“Only this intern stays. The rest of you, get out!"

Hailey came from a family of medical professionals and this hospital was part of her dowry. It made her the legitimate owner of the hospital.