Later, your father met your mother by chance, and the two of them fell in love. When Mrs. Edith found out she was pregnant, she hoped to use the situation to persuade your grandfather to approve their marriage.


    But the Turner family was a powerful business dynasty, and at that time, your father was just a low-ranking officer. Your grandfather was firmly opposed to your mother marrying a man of such modest means.


    To make things moreplicated, my own mother came back into your father''s life around that time-bringing three-year-old me with her. Your father was torn, caught between two women he cared for and unable to decide what to do.


    In the end, your mother stepped aside to let my mother and your father be together. She returned to the Turner family.


    All of this, Stein only learned from his mother''s stories. His father died on the battlefield, and his mother sumbed to grief not long after. It was only when she was on her deathbed that she told Stein about the tangled love of the previous generation—and revealed that, deep down, his father had always loved Victoria''s


    mother.


    Stein''s mother had always been a kind-hearted woman. She understood the burdens her husband carried, and she didn''t want him to leave this world with regrets. As she neared the end, she made Stein promise to find his half-sister and to help her reim her rightful ce in the family.


    She never once med her husband for loving another woman. Instead, she felt guilty, as if she''d been the one toe between two people who truly loved each other. If she hadn''t returned to find Granville Campbell, none of this heartbreak would have happened. Granville wouldn''t have been forced to make an impossible choice. Edith wouldn''t have married a man she didn''t love while carrying a child who would never know her father''s true identity.


    In the end, among these three people, it''s impossible to say who truly interfered with whose happiness. There was no betrayal in their story-only sacrifice, only the desire to do what was best for the ones they loved.


    Stein took his mother''s dying wish to heart. He eventually managed to find Edith, but sadly, Edith never told Victoria the truth-not even at the end. All she ever said was that Stein was a distant cousin, and that no matter what happened, Victoria could always count on her "big brother" to keep her safe.


    By the time Victoria finished listening, her eyes were brimming with tears.


    She''d imagined so many possibilities, but she''d never once suspected that Stein might actually be her brother by blood.


    "Granville, he..." Victoria''s voice trembled. She''d met Granville a few times-he was just as gentle and refined as Stein, nothing like Simms. She remembered how tenderly he''d treated her. She''d had no idea he was her real father. Now that the truth was out, it crushed her to realize she''d never get the chance to truly know him.


    "I mean... Dad and Mom-" The word "Dad" caught in her throat, and she broke down in tears.


    It all felt so sudden, and yet, in hindsight, everything made sense.


    Victoria couldn''t stop crying, tears streaming down her cheeks as Stein looked at her with nothing but affection in his eyes. His gaze was deep and calm, like an ancient, bottomlesske.


    "Silly girl, don''t cry," he murmured. "At least all these years, we''ve known about you. Edith probably kept the secret to protect my parents'' memory-and to protect you as well."


    They had all been watching over Victoria in secret. And as for Simms, at the very least, he''d given Victoria a legitimate ce in the world. That way, no one could look down on her or her mother, and they could walk through high society with their heads held high.


    Victoria looked up at Stein, her heart overflowing with emotion.


    "If Simms isn''t my real father... then everything finally makes sense."


    It exined why he''d never shown her even the slightest bit of fatherly love. He''d never cared for her or her mother; to him, they were just obstacles on his climb to the top.


    Stein nodded. "Your grandfather did everything in his power to protect you and your mother''s reputation. He truly loved you both in his own way."


    Victoria''s eyes sparkled with a sudden resolve.


    "All the more reason not to hold back now," she said, her voice steady. "Some people''s greed knows no bounds. Since that''s the case, I have no reason to show mercy."