Ludwig felt my gaze and seemed a little unsure of how to respond.
"Hold on tight—we need to get to the hospital as soon as possible."
The car sped through the streets, and before I knew it, I was settled into the special ward he had arranged for me in advance.
With the priority access, my test results came out quickly.
"Vali, I'll personally perform your surgery tomorrow. I’ve already worked with my mentor overseas to create the best possible plan—breast conservation won’t be an issue."
I didn’t know why, but back when I thought I could rely on Karsten, I was terrified—afraid of the illness, afraid of what lay ahead.
But after discovering how he had insulted my parents and betrayed me, I had no one left to lean on. And somehow, I wasn’t afraid anymore.
"With you here, I feel at ease," I said.
Just then, my phone started ringing nonstop.
Ludwig handed it to me, and the moment I glanced at the screen, my expression darkened.
It was a trending news alert from my secretary, Sam.
[Thalmann Legacy Holdings’ Valeria Caught Cheating During Pregnancy—Exclusive Photos!]
I clicked on it and was met with an infuriating image—me, my shirt slightly open, with a young man whose face had been pixelated. His hands were on my chest.
Because of the angle, we looked incredibly close. My expression appeared tense, as if I were trying to suppress something—almost like I was enjoying it.
Despite the censor, I knew exactly who the man in the photo was. It was Ludwig—caught in the moment he was performing a manual diagnosis on me.
Furious, I hurled my phone across the room.
Seeing my reactions Ludwig rushed to my side, tense with concern. He was completely unaware of what was happening.
“Vali, I don't know what’s going on, you need to stay calm okay.”
Seeing my heavy, uneven breathing, he gently rubbed my back in slow, soothing motions.
“There’s nothing more important than your health and tomorrow’s surgery.”
I knew he was right. I forced myself to suppress the anger burning inside me.
What infuriated me wasn’t just the false accusations—I had also dragged Ludwig into this mess. He was the youngest medical professor in his field, and the last thing I wanted was for his reputation to be damaged because of me.
“…I’m sorry,” I finally spoke with low voice.
Ludwig picked up my phone and looked at the screen. His expression darkened.
The hospital room was designed like a five-star hotel suite. In the photo, what had been a simple medical examination now looked like something entirely inappropriate.
“This isn’t your fault. Why are you apologizing?” He handed the phone back to me. “Trust me. Let me handle this.”
I hesitated for a moment, then shook my head. “There should be security cameras in the hospital hallway. Just help me get the footage.”
Lowering my gaze, I kept scrolling through the trending post—until I saw something that made my blood run cold.
My wedding photos.
The clueless internet trolls flooded the comments with insults.
[You can tell just by looking at her—she’s got that slutty face.]
[She’s the heir of Thalmann Legacy Holdings—she can have any man she wants. Marriage? Please. Like she’d resist a cute guy throwing himself at her.]
[At least pretend to have some morals. Is this how high society plays? Damn, sis, I’m hot too—why don’t you sleep with me instead?]
Some of the comments weren’t even about me—they were taking shots at Thalmann Legacy Holdings itself.
I took a deep breath, steadying my heart rate.
“Ludwig, I might drag you into this mess,” I said, already forming a plan in my mind. The only issue was that Ludwig might get caught up in the fallout.
He scoffed. “As if this is the first time you’ve gotten me into trouble.”
We had grown up together. Even though I was a girl, I had always been the more mischievous one. Whenever I caused trouble, I’d find a way to pin it on him. If he tried to argue, I’d put on a three-second crying performance in front of our parents, and that was that.
Like in middle school—when I set his grandfather’s prized pet bird free.
I just wanted to take a closer look. Maybe pluck a couple of tail feathers to use as bookmarks.
Unfortunetely, the bird flew out the moment I opened the cage and went straight to the top of my bedroom curtains. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t reach it.
The moment the bird took off, Ludwig was completely dumbfounded.
“Valeria, are you out of your mind? You said you just wanted to watch it eat for your essay—why the hell did you let it out?!”
We slammed the door shut and spent the next half hour frantically trying to catch it, but the bird simply fluttered around my room, completely unbothered.
Frustrated, I came up with what I thought was a brilliant idea.
When I brought the neighbor’s tabby cat into my room, Ludwig’s face twisted in sheer horror.
That essay on animal behavior? I got an A+. Turns out, I was the only student in class who wrote a detailed account of how a cat hunts a bird.
Ludwig, on the other hand, nearly got beaten to death by his father after taking the blame for me. His grandfather was so devastated by the loss of his beloved pet that he ended up hospitalized.
Thinking back, Ludwig had been dragged into my messes more times than I could count. But this time—I swore it would be the last.
I picked up my phone and dialed Sam.
“Ms. Thalmann, our PR team is already working to suppress the trending post. Don’t worry, we’ll get it under control,” Sam said anxiously.
“No, Sam. Don’t suppress it. Buy traffic—push it to the top. I want it trending at number one for the next week, and it better stay in the top ten for at least two.”
