Oakley opened the door, and a sharp, pungent smell hit him immediately.

My soul hovered near, watching him closely, not wanting to miss any expression on his face.

"What's going on? What's that smell?"

He covered his nose, his eyebrows slightly furrowed.

"Sir... it might be because the weather is too hot. The cake has been left out too long and has gone a bit bad," the waiter said.

I rolled my eyes. Since when did a spoiled cake smell like blood?

But Oakley didn't overthink it.

He walked up to the freezer and called my name.

He waited one second, then two.

No response.

Growing impatient, he called again, "Emilia."

Still no reply.

Completely losing his patience, he snapped, "Even if you're angry, ignoring me won't change anything. You made a mistake, and you need to be punished. The more you act like this, the less I'll let you off."

Oakley didn't think too deeply about it.

After all, before locking me inside, he specifically instructed that air holes be left for me to breathe.

But Lydia had sealed them.

I had been frozen alive inside the freezer.

I couldn't respond to him.

Oakley found it strange. Before he left, I had been making quite a fuss, so why was it so quiet now?

"Stop pretending to be dead."

For some reason, Oakley suddenly felt a wave of unease. He caught a faint whiff of blood in the air.

He reached out his hand, about to unlock the box.

I was ecstatic.

What kind of expression would he have when he saw my corpse?

Fear, panic?

It was bound to be spectacular.

However, just as his hand touched the lock, his assistant rushed in.

"Sir, Miss Lydia had a fall!"

Without hesitation, Oakley withdrew his hand, stood up, and quickly followed the assistant out of the room.

Tsk tsk.

As expected, in his heart, my life meant less than a single hair on Lydia's head.

What a shame. I wouldn't get to see the look on his face when he found my body.

Lydia's fall wasn't serious.

She'd only scraped her skin a bit.

Yet Oakley was frantic with concern. "Why did you get up so late? What were you thinking?"

"I woke up and didn't see you. I thought… I thought you had disappeared again."

Lydia certainly knew how to play her cards right.

She cried pitifully, her face streaked with tears like a delicate flower drenched in rain, filling Oakley with guilt.

"I just went to check on Emilia. I didn't go far."

"Is Emmy still mad? Maybe we should just let it go. It's not that big of a deal. I'll go check on her…"

I felt confused.

Why would Lydia suggest that Oakley go see me?

She should be hoping that Oakley would forget all about me.

But I soon realized the reason.

The freezer was empty.

Inside, there was nothing but the cake, with no trace of my body.

I couldn't believe it. I floated around the room in disbelief, looking everywhere but finding no sign of my corpse.

Not only me, but Oakley was also stunned for a long moment before Lydia suddenly let out a scream.

"Where's Emmy? Why isn't she here? How could you be so careless?"

The people in charge exchanged uneasy glances before immediately dropping to their knees.

"Young Master, the Madam said she needed to use the restroom, so we opened the freezer to let her out..."

"We didn't know she would run away, Young Master."

I hovered for a while longer.

Finally, I noticed part of a finger peeking out from behind the cake.

So that's what happened.

Lydia had hidden my body and bribed the staff to make it seem like I had escaped.

Her lie was full of holes.

First of all, Oakley had ordered that my mouth be gagged, so I couldn't have said anything.

Secondly, even if I had gotten out of the cramped space, I would've been too weak to move after the ordeal.

But Oakley believed her.

His face darkened, and his hands clenched into fists.

"Lee, don't be mad. Maybe Emmy just stepped out for a while and will come back soon... She wouldn't run away."

As she spoke, Lydia shot a glance at the staff.

One of them immediately chimed in, "Miss Emilia has been gone for quite a while now... We were afraid of getting caught, so we didn't say anything. We were wrong, Young Master."

"Search! Find her for me!"

Oakley trembled with rage.

No one dared to challenge him like this.

To him, my supposed escape was an act of defiance.

But did he even stop to consider that I'd been weak and sickly ever since we met?

And the hotel was tightly secured by guards. Where could I have run off to?

Lydia's every word was like gospel to him.

I smiled bitterly.

Oakley searched every corner of the hotel but couldn't find a trace of me.

"It's all my fault. I made Emmy angry, and that's why she ran away with Lucas."

As soon as Lydia said that, she immediately covered her mouth as if she had accidentally revealed some terrible secret.

"Mr. Faulkner, I didn't mean that miss Morgan and Mr. Graham..."

Lucas was my childhood friend.

He was also well-known in our circle for liking me.

By mentioning him in front of Oakley, Lydia was obviously trying to make Oakley suspicious of my relationship with him.

Oakley let out a cold laugh. "I don't care. She can leave with whoever she wants!"