Born Into Villain's Family: I Have a 200\% Rebate System-Chapter 536: Ivy

When she opened her eyes, she blew out the candles and cut the cake.

That night, laughter filled the apartment. They talked loudly, teased one another, and celebrated until the air felt warm and alive.

Dorothy drank more than usual. Her cheeks flushed pink, and her laughter grew louder.

At one point, she wrapped her arms tightly around Aurora. "You’re the best," she murmured earnestly. "I’m not letting you go."

Aurora patted her head gently. "It’s nothing."

Dorothy shook her head stubbornly. "No. If you can’t be my best friend, then you should have been my sister."

Aurora chuckled softly. "We are friends."

Dorothy looked at her and smiled, eyes shining.

"Yes, we are. If I hadn’t become friends with you, I wouldn’t have taught you so much. That was the best decision of my life."

She paused, a mischievous glint in her gaze. "After all, I taught you how to fake everything."

For a split second, Aurora felt something heavy cloud her heart. Was there any necessity to expose her dark history?

She shot Dorothy a sharp look, but Dorothy only laughed and ignored it completely.

They hugged again, rambling about nonsensical memories and ridiculous dreams.

Aurora could only sigh quietly, the sound lost in the noise of celebration.

The next morning, as Aurora watched Dorothy wake up with a faint groan from her mild hangover, she noticed something unsettling.

There was not even an ounce of shame in Dorothy’s expression.

Rather than letting Aurora sleep any longer, Dorothy shook her awake gently but insistently.

The faint morning light filtered through the curtains, carrying with it the sterile scent of the city after a night of rain.

"Get up," Dorothy urged, her voice unusually serious. "I want to take you to meet someone."

Aurora blinked in confusion, still half-asleep.

’Meet someone? This early?’ she wondered, rubbing her temples.

Nevertheless, she nodded and got ready without asking too many questions. Something in Dorothy’s expression told her this was important.

Soon, they arrived at a hospital.

The sharp smell of antiseptic hit Aurora the moment they stepped inside.

Nurses moved quickly through the white corridors. Dorothy led her silently to a VIP ward, her pace steady but tense.

Aurora immediately understood what was going on.

She did not stop. She did not hesitate. She simply followed Dorothy inside.

The moment she entered, she saw Dorothy’s mother lying on the bed.

Her hair had completely fallen out, replaced by a soft cap.

Her face looked pale and fragile, her body reduced to something that seemed almost weightless beneath the blanket.

The harsh treatments had carved faint wrinkles into her forehead, and her skin had lost its vitality.

She looked exhausted, as though even breathing required effort.

Aurora felt her chest tighten.

For a brief second, the scene overlapped with a memory from her dreams.

’Olivia...’ she thought, her fingers curling slowly into fists.

In that other timeline, Olivia had looked exactly like this when cancer consumed her.

’Life is truly fragile,’ Aurora realized, her heartbeat echoing loudly in her ears. ’One disease... and a person becomes this vulnerable.’

Taking a slow breath to steady herself, she turned toward Dorothy, who had already moved to her mother’s side.

Dorothy leaned forward and smiled gently. "Mom, I brought someone to see you."

Her mother stirred faintly, her eyelids fluttering open. Her voice was weak but warm.

"Dorothy... sweetheart... I can see that."

Dorothy grinned, trying to keep her tone light. "You have a visitor."

Her mother looked confused. "A visitor?"

"I wanted to introduce someone," Dorothy said softly, turning and pointing toward Aurora. "This is Aurora. My best friend."

Aurora was slightly taken aback by the sudden introduction.

Still, she stepped forward politely and nodded. "Hello. I’m Aurora."

She extended her hand carefully.

Dorothy’s mother, whose name was Ivy, reached out with surprising gentleness and shook her hand, offering a faint but sincere smile.

"It’s good to know my daughter has such a friend."

She studied Aurora’s face for a moment and added,

"Dorothy talks about you often. I can tell... she loves you very much."

Aurora smiled warmly. "Of course. She’s a very lovely girl."

At that, both Dorothy and Ivy chuckled softly, the tension in the room easing for a moment.

The three of them chatted quietly.

When Ivy learned that Dorothy had recently won an award, her eyes brightened with unmistakable pride.

She patted Dorothy’s hand weakly. "I always knew you had talent. From the very beginning."

Dorothy laughed shyly, and Aurora joined in, the atmosphere briefly filled with warmth rather than illness.

However, as they continued talking, Ivy suddenly frowned.

Her breathing became uneven, and she murmured faintly, "I feel a little dizzy... we’ll talk later."

Dorothy’s smile vanished instantly. "Mom?"

Panic surged through her as she rushed to call for a doctor. The medical staff arrived quickly, their expressions professional yet grim.

"It’s a side effect of the medication," the doctor explained. "She may continue to experience this."

Dorothy watched helplessly as her mother struggled, her body trembling despite trying to remain composed.

At one point, Ivy’s eyes welled up with tears from the discomfort.

Dorothy’s chest felt as though it were being crushed. ’Why does she have to suffer like this?’ she thought, her vision blurring.

Aurora stood nearby, silent, feeling a deep ache of sympathy.

She did not dare imagine the pain Dorothy was enduring.

Instead, she remembered the devastation she had once felt upon learning about Olivia’s illness in that novel.

Now, watching Dorothy, she understood that feeling all over again.

As Ivy’s condition worsened, Dorothy frantically asked for more doctors, but the initial responses were discouraging.

"There is only so much we can do," one of them admitted.

The helplessness in their voices made Dorothy feel as if the ground beneath her had disappeared.

Aurora, however, immediately pulled out her phone.

Without hesitation, she began calling every high-level contact she possessed, using influence, money, and reputation to summon specialists.

Within hours, renowned doctors arrived to reassess Ivy’s condition and begin advanced treatment.

Dorothy stood outside the ICU, staring through the glass with reddened eyes.

Aurora placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "With so many specialists here, nothing will go wrong."

Dorothy nodded weakly. "If you weren’t here... I don’t know what I would’ve done."

Aurora said nothing.

In truth, her motives were more complicated.

’I need to know,’ she thought quietly. ’Can this so-called plot really be changed? Or will fate interfere again?’

She poured resources into Ivy’s treatment relentlessly, determined to test whether destiny itself could be rewritten.

Gradually, Ivy’s condition stabilized. The improvement, though slow, was undeniable.

Dorothy felt overwhelming gratitude. ’I will repay Aurora someday,’ she vowed silently.

Meanwhile, after ensuring everything was under control, Aurora shifted her focus to another matter, Selena and Mia’s engagement.

The couple had planned to get engaged long ago, but since Aurora had insisted on organizing the event as their planner, they had waited patiently.

Aurora finalized an elegant venue, selected decoration bundles, negotiated with vendors, and ensured every detail matched the atmosphere she envisioned.

Once everything was arranged, she informed Selena and Mia of the confirmed date.

When they mentioned wanting to shop for engagement outfits, Aurora calmly told them,

"I’ve already selected several custom gowns. You can review them first."

Selena immediately frowned. "I want independence in choosing my own engagement dress."

Aurora simply looked at her, completely unfazed, as if this reaction had been expected all along.

At first, Selena had resisted the idea, thinking it would be better if she chose everything herself.

Yet the moment she saw the dresses Aurora had prepared, that thought crumbled completely.

The gowns were breathtaking.

Soft fabric shimmered under the warm lights, flowing like water when touched.

Fine embroidery traced delicate patterns along the sleeves, and every detail looked as though it had been crafted with care rather than purchased.

Selena hesitated to even reach out.

’These are... for me?’ she wondered, almost afraid to touch them, as if they might disappear.

For a brief moment, she even considered telling Aurora not to go to such lengths.

But Aurora continued handling everything tirelessly, because she knew Selena and Mia had no one else to do these things for them.

Selena’s parents were wealthy, immensely so, but they had never accepted their daughter’s identity.

When Selena confessed that she loved women, they disowned her without hesitation.

Long ago, Selena had revealed this to Mia after Mia questioned why Selena no longer visited her family or even spoke about them.

The memory still lingered like a scar.

After learning the truth, Mia had felt such deep sorrow that she made a quiet promise to herself.

’Even if we argue, even if we fight, I will always be the one to step back first,’ she decided. ’I won’t let her feel abandoned again.’

When Selena discovered that, she had been overwhelmed.

Slowly, she began sharing more, about the coldness she faced after coming out, about the isolation, about how even familiar spaces had started to feel hostile.