"Nightmare?"

A deep voice suddenly came from beside her.

The moment Ivy turned toward it, a hand rested gently against her forehead, catching her completely off guard.

"..."

Still half lost in the remnants of her dream, Ivy stared blankly at Xander as he looked at her with faint curiosity before slowly pulling his hand away.

"But you don’t have a fever," he concluded calmly.

Ivy blinked at him for several seconds, her mind struggling to catch up with reality.

Then suddenly, awareness hit her.

"What are you doing in my room?" she demanded, quickly pulling the duvet tightly against her chest as she moved farther away from him.

She had thought she was still trapped inside the nightmare. Yet after waking up from it, the first thing she saw was Xander sitting beside her bed like some silent ghost watching over her.

Xander didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he continued looking at her with that unreadable gaze of his.

"The doctor never mentioned that overexertion could damage brain cells," he said smoothly. "But since you seem to have forgotten, let me remind you."

He leaned back slightly.

"You fainted... in the park."

He deliberately stretched the last words, as though waiting for her to finally realize she wasn’t in her room to begin with.

"Huh?" Ivy frowned faintly.

Then slowly, the memories returned.

Sal.The goons.The fight.

And the moment she had almost revealed who she truly was.

Her expression shifted slightly as she recalled the sharp pain that had suddenly pierced through her chest. Before she could even process what was happening, darkness had swallowed her whole.

But strangely, that wasn’t her main concern right now.

Where’s Sal?

Her thoughts instantly spiraled.

Did that idiot run away and leave me there?

And more importantly—

How did Xander even find me?

Her eyes flickered with confusion before she realized Xander was still quietly observing her every reaction.

"Judging from your face," Xander said calmly, "I’ll assume your memory has returned."

Ivy’s lashes fluttered slightly, but she deliberately avoided looking at him.

Now that she remembered everything, another problem hit her.

She had been caught sneaking out of the house.

And worse—Her guards.

The moment she remembered locking them inside Leo’s room before escaping through the window, her entire expression stiffened slightly.

They’re definitely dead, she thought silently.

Knowing Xander, there was no way those poor men had survived his wrath peacefully.

Meanwhile, Xander watched the subtle changes in her expression with narrowed eyes.

"You seem more worried about something else," he remarked.

Ivy immediately looked away.

"I’m not."

"Really?"

His tone carried faint amusement.

"Because you look exactly like someone calculating how many people got punished because of her."

"...."

Ivy’s silence was enough of an answer.

A small smirk tugged faintly at the corner of Xander’s lips.

"So you do know you caused trouble."

Ivy instantly frowned at him.

"I didn’t ask them to follow me everywhere like bodyguards in a bad action movie."

"And yet you locked them inside a room."

"...Temporarily. But that was because they were very bad at playing video games"

"You climbed out of the window."

"That was because I couldn’t use the front door"

Xander let out a quiet breath that almost sounded like a laugh.

Almost.

"..."

’Did he just smiled?’ Ivy stared at him suspiciously.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like you’re trying not to laugh."

"I’m not." he shrugged, but mentally he was feeling delight.

"You are."

"I’m really not."

"Your face twitched."

"It didn’t."

"Liar."

For the first time since waking up, the heavy tension in the room eased slightly.

But then Ivy suddenly remembered something again and immediately looked at him seriously.

’Wait... where’s Sal?’

Ivy remembered the last time she had seen Sal was right before she passed out.

And now that she had woken up back at the mansion—with Xander beside her—her worry immediately spiked.

Don’t tell me he got captured by... him.

Slowly, Ivy turned to look at Xander.

In her imagination, the man looked no less than a grim reaper disguised in luxury clothing. That devilishly handsome face could fool anyone into thinking he was harmless, but Ivy knew better.

And knowing Sal’s survival skills mainly consisted of crying, running away, and making terrible excuses, she genuinely doubted he could save himself.

He probably confessed his entire family history already, she thought grimly.

The more she imagined it, the more dramatic the situation became in her head.

Sal tied to a chair, crying loudly and begging for his life while revealing passwords nobody asked for.

Ivy’s expression turned serious.

I just hope he’s still alive... she silently prayed.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the mansion, the supposedly "kidnapped victim" was currently stuffing his mouth with expensive food like a man preparing for winter hibernation.

"Bring me another steak!" Sal declared emotionally while holding a chicken leg in one hand and juice in the other.

At this point, he had eaten enough food to feed an entire family gathering.

His cheeks were puffed, his stomach looked ready to burst, and yet the man still had the courage to point dramatically at the lobster.

"That one too."

The guards standing nearby watched him in stunned silence.

One of them couldn’t help but whisper, "Wasn’t he crying about dying thirty minutes ago?"

Another guard nodded slowly.

"He still is. He’s just eating through the trauma."

Back to Ivy, she had absolutely no idea that all her worrying was unnecessary.

Still, she couldn’t just sit around knowing Sal might lose his life because of her.

Pushing the duvet aside, she quickly climbed out of bed.

"I feel suffocated in here," she said casually while heading toward the door. "I need some air."

Unfortunately, before she could take another step, a hand suddenly wrapped around her wrist, stopping her in place.

"So you can run away again?" Xander’s calm voice came from behind her.

Ivy immediately frowned and turned to look at him.

Annoyingly enough... he was right.

There was no way she could peacefully stay in the mansion knowing Sal might currently be tied up somewhere while Xander’s guards prepared his funeral in advance.

Taking a small breath, Ivy finally decided to confront him directly.

"Where’s Sal?" she asked seriously.

Xander’s brows lifted slightly.

His thoughts immediately drifted toward the overly dramatic man he had questioned earlier, and his gaze darkened subtly.

So his name is Sal.

An unfamiliar feeling suddenly tugged at his chest the moment he realized Ivy was worried about another man.

It was unpleasant.

Sharp.

Irritating.

What exactly is their relationship?

The thought lingered longer than he liked.

Was he her lover?

For some reason, that possibility alone made him feel strangely uneasy.

"You’ll know where he is," Xander said slowly, "after you answer my question first."

Ivy frowned harder.

"What question?"

Xander’s grip around her wrist tightened slightly as he held her gaze firmly.

Truthfully, he didn’t understand why this bothered him so much.

He had forced Ivy into his world without ever considering whether she might already have someone important in her life.

And yet despite knowing that, a part of him still hoped his assumptions were wrong.

That Sal was not someone she loved.

"Is he your lover?" Xander finally asked quietly.

The question instantly caught Ivy off guard.

For a second, she simply stared at him blankly, almost convinced she had heard wrong.

"...What?"