MIDNIGHT Bride The CEO's TEMPTATION

That afternoon, her fever was brought down, and she was better in spirit. After a nap, she slipped out of the ward, holding her beloved bear doll.

Her feet brought her to her uncle's office.

There were usually many nurses and assistants in and out of the director's office.

But that day, for some reason, there was no one. It seemed that they had all been sent away in advance.

The door opened just a crack. She was about to knock on it when she heard the low cry of a woman.

It was her mom.

Her mother had always been noble and proud. She had never heard her cry. Her voice sounded not sad but full of fear.

Why did her mom cry in front of her uncle?

She paused, holding her breath.

"... If it hadn't been for Cecelia's sickness this time, I wouldn't even know it," her uncle said in a low voice, "According to her blood test, her blood type doesn't match yours or Robert's. Then I secretly had a paternity test for you... Madison, tell me, who is Cecelia's real father? What have you done?"

Cecelia was shocked.

Her real father?

Wasn't her father Robert?

She knew that a terrible secret was about to be disclosed and that it might hurt her.

She knew she'd better leave, but somehow her feet couldn't move.

She peeped through the crack of the door to see her mother's pale face. Madison stopped crying, grinning through her clenched teeth.

"Why didn't you ask what Robert had done? After we got married, we quarreled every day, and he even made a housekeeper's daughter pregnant. Although the woman and her illegitimate son were driven out of the house by me, this has always been a scar on my heart! Every time I thought of it, I got so annoyed that I couldn't forgive him! He betrayed me, why can't I cuckold him?"

"So... you just..." Cecelia heard her uncle gasp.

"Yeah, eight years ago, I went to a bar and had a one-night stand with some guy, and then I had Cecelia. I don't know who her father is and can't remember that man's appearance, but whatever. If Robert can have a mistress, why can't I have a lover?" Madison's cold voice exalted hate.

Her brother's facial expression changed.

"Stop that!" He whispered, "Madison, are you crazy? You're the governor's wife, and... If Robert knows you've betrayed him and he's raising another man's daughter, he would be more than angry!"

"That would be best. I wish he could feel how I had been betrayed!" Madison said coolly.

"Enough! For our family as well as for yourself! If your marriage with Robert should break up, I'm afraid that the relationship between our two families will be broken too. Do you want our father to pop off with rage?" Her brother growled.

Madison silenced and said nothing.

Behind the door, Cecelia stood stock still, too terrified to breathe. Her little face was pale, though she didn't fully understand the conversation between her uncle and her mother.

"All right," her uncle calmed down and said, "I'll change Cecelia's blood type and never let Robert know. With my position and status at the sanitarium, it isn't hard to keep the secret. Anyway, Cecelia is still Robert's daughter. Don't fool around with me from now on, and never mention it again!"

Madison wiped away her tears and nodded.

When Cecelia saw her mother rise, she stumbled back to her room, clutching the bear doll.

She climbed into the bed and wrapped herself in a blanket.

In less than ten minutes, her life was turned upside down.

She knew she wasn't Robert's daughter. She was only the product of a one-night stand her mother had in retaliation for her father's infidelity.

She was born guilty.

If there had been repentance in the world, she would not have gone to her uncle's office.

Just then, the door opened.

She heard her mother's light step come in.

"Cecelia, are you awake? Are you better today?" She called softly.

Cecelia's body fluttered, and her heart was filled with coolness.

She had thought it was her luck to be born in a noble family and had the governor as her father, but now she found herself a joke.

No matter how noble and dignified she might be in public, she was nothing but an illegitimate child.

Even if they could hide it from dad and the rest of the world, she couldn't hide it from herself.

Silently wiping away tears from her eyes, she turned and sat up. She repressed the ebb and flow of her emotions with the greatest effort.

"Well, mom. I'm feeling better now."

She knew she had to keep what she had just heard a secret.

***

Pulling herself back from memory, Cecelia pulled the blanket upward to cover her face.

She had known that she was not Robert's biological daughter since she was a child. Therefore, she was clear that she and Kevin were not siblings when she met him for the first time.

It was funny.

She was only an illegitimate child, not the real daughter of the governor.

Kevin, who had grown up outside, was Robert's real son.

Perhaps because of this, she felt guilty for him, as if she had taken his place.

Slowly, her guilt evolved into pity, and uncontrollably turned into inexplicable feelings.

Her feelings for him grew deeper and deeper and became out of control.

But her story was a big secret. It was not only about the harmony of her parents' life, but it would also affect the relationship between two families.

So, she couldn't tell Kevin anything. She had to see Kevin hesitate because of their blood relation.

Whenever Kevin mentioned their relationship, she wanted to cry to him that they were not sisters and brothers.

But she couldn't say it.

For her mother and father's marriage, and for the relationship between two families, she could only break off her own feelings.

***

A sudden rain sent the temperature down.

It was evening when Madison got home.

She got out of the car in a daze, walking towards the villa in the rain.

Approaching the steps, she looked up and saw Robert holding an umbrella at the door, waiting for her.