Faux Vows, True Desires

"You might not get what I'm saying right now, but this weekend, I'm taking you back to Ascend Estate for a firsthand experience."

Lucinda was quick to shoot him down: "Stefan, can you give me a break? I'm really scared. I'll be so frightened that my legs will turn to jelly and I won't be able to stand! Let me have some peace; I'm not quite up to speed with this kind of life yet."

"There's no need to get so worked up; my family is super friendly, and they don't have any biases. You might find it hard to believe, but that guy bustling around in the flower garden every day is my dad. He's a garden enthusiast, and the vast flower field below the manor is his prized possession."

"My mom is even more easy-going, and even my grandparents have mellowed out with age. They're not as fierce as they were when they were young."

Lucinda maintained her refusal: "Stefan, can you give me some time to adjust? If I can't, can we get a divorce? I think our lifestyles are too different."

Under his somewhat fierce and threatening gaze, Lucinda's voice gradually faded until it was almost inaudible.

"Stefan, come on, have a bite; this dish is delicious."

Lucinda quickly served Stefan a plate of food, worried that he would be angry due to her words.

"Lucy, I'm not getting a divorce!"

"Alright, alright, no divorce. We're adults; we have to take responsibility for our decisions."

Lucinda mentally noted that if she had known his true identity earlier, she would never have agreed to be with him.

Man, with all the weird things in the world, why wasn't there something that can turn back time?

Skywatch.

At the Blue family's villa.

"Sweetie, listen to mommy; don't cry, don't cry."

In the large room, a middle-aged woman in her forties, with disheveled hair and disarrayed clothes, was barefoot, holding a doll, walking back and forth in the room, constantly soothing the doll in her arms not to cry.

Another woman couldn't help but walk over, snatch the doll from her arms, and exclaim, "Mrs. Blue, this is a doll, not your daughter. Your daughter is gone; she might not be in this world anymore." "Don't take my daughter; give her back to me! My daughter!"

The middle-aged woman frantically grabbed the doll back, screaming as she did, "This is my daughter; my daughter is still alive; she's just asleep. She's a good girl; she only eats and sleeps; she doesn't cry." She was hysterical and very strong, and she quickly shoved the other woman to the ground, then grabbed the doll back, holding it tightly in her arms, endlessly soothing the toy.

The woman who was shoved to the ground angrily pushed her away, stood up, and adjusted her clothes as she said, "Mrs. Blue, have you gone mad? If you keep this up, your husband will find a new wife, and then you won't have a foothold in this house."

"Your family can't help you anymore; all you can rely on is your husband. Your daughter has been missing for over twenty years; if she could be found, she would have been found by now."

"The Avila family was jealous of you back then; they simply took your daughter away. In such a situation, do you think she would have a chance to survive? The Avila family is now dead, and she is nowhere to be found, alive or dead. Anyway, Mrs. Blue, you need to live; you have more than one child; you have a son. Ethan Blue is 24 this year; you've been ignoring his existence for over twenty years."

"In this competitive family, many people want to take Ethan's place; he's been fighting alone, and he's tired!"

As she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes.

She felt sorry for Mrs. Blue, who lost her sanity over her missing daughter, and also for the young master's lonely battle.

The family's attitude towards the wife and their son, Ethan, had become cold due to Mrs. Blue's mental issues and the shock of losing their daughter.

Everyone in the Blue family was eyeing Ethan's position, hoping to claim it for themselves one day.

And Mrs. Blue was unmoved, only concerned with the doll in her arms.

The middle-aged woman who had been trying to persuade her was called Shirley, the housekeeper. Seeing that her words were falling on deaf ears, she wiped her tears and left the room, shaking her head and sighing.

Mrs. Blue was once the happiest woman in Skywatch. A year after her marriage, she gave birth to twins, securing her position as the Madam of the Blue family.

Who would have thought that when the kids were just over half a year old, Mrs. Blue's nemesis, the Avila family, would take away the girl twin when no one was looking? The Blues sent people to search for the missing child, only to find the dead body of the Avila family.

The whereabouts of the missing daughter remained unknown.

Mrs. Blue, who had lost her darling daughter, cried day and night. Gradually, her mental health deteriorated.

This situation in the family had been going on for over twenty years.

Shirley opened the door and saw a young man standing at the entrance. The man was about 1.9 meters tall, with a serious face and deep eyes; his lips were tightly pursed.

He exuded an aura of coldness.

This was the young master of the Blue family, Ethan.

"Sir."

Shirley greeted him respectfully.

Ethan's gaze passed over Shirley and landed on the figure in the room.

Since he could remember, he knew that this mentally unstable woman was his biological mother. Although she remembered his name, she could not recognize who he was.

Every time she saw him, she would mistake him for his father.

Everyone said he looked like his father when he was young.

"Is she still the same? Messy hair, disheveled clothes-does my dad still find her attractive?"

Ethan's deep voice was filled with pain as he asked Shirley about his mother's condition.

That was his mother; he naturally didn't want to see her abandoned by his father.

Because of the disappearance of his sister and his mother's mental instability, his father's affection for his mother gradually waned. Perhaps it was out of guilt because the disappearance of his sister was his father's fault.

Even if Dad once said that if they could find his sister, he'd split half of the Blue family fortune with her,

But what's the point?

His sister's gone. Even if Dad said he'd leave all the Blue family wealth to her, she wouldn't be able to get it. Instead, it would just attract those greedy folks who'd probably love to dig up her bones just to get rid of her.

Shirley let out a sigh. "Mrs. Blue is always holding that doll, saying it's like the young lady."

"Sir, the young lady hasn't been found yet? With the DNA comparison technology now, it should be easier to find her, right?"

Ethan licked his lips, saying, "It's been over twenty years. I don't know if my sister is alive or dead. My people have been looking for her. That damned woman was found in Whiterun, but we've checked everyone her age in Whiterun and found nothing unusual."

He's not the only one looking for her. Some people with ulterior motives were also on the hunt.

What were they after?

They didn't want his sister to return to the Blue family; they didn't want Mom to regain consciousness; and they certainly didn't want Dad to split the estate between him and his sister.

That woman was able to take his sister away so easily back then; there must have been a mole in their house.

For all these years, that mole had been hiding too well. Neither Ethan nor his father had been able to find them.

Ethan felt a bit guilty that his abilities were still not up to par.

"Shirley, you go take a break. I'll go chat with Mom."

With that, Ethan bypassed Shirley and walked into the room.