?Chapter 1539:


    As he continued, shadows swallowed the light in his eyes. “Back then, I couldn’t ept it. I told myself she was being reckless—challenging me on purpose, refusing the future I had already designed for her. I convinced myself she was desperate to break free from my grasp.”


    A faint tremor threaded through his voice. In those years, he had been unyielding and authoritarian, deaf to his daughter’s wishes.


    Maia slowly raised her eyes and met his gaze with steady calm. “Why did you see it that way?”


    To Maia, her mother’s dreams had never required anyone’s permission—they were a matter of personal freedom. Choosing her own path had always been her mother’s right, and no one had the authority to deny it. The real mistakey with the aged man before her, who had tried to chain his daughter’s destiny under the banner of a father’s love.


    Dominic turned toward her, and instead of bristling, his features softened slightly. “Because that’s how I saw it.” A rigid conviction underscored every syble. “The armed forces demand many kinds of brilliance. Whatever field she pursued, so long as it served the military, I was willing to back her. I could leverage my standing to give her the finest opportunities. With her ability, excellence was inevitable—I never doubted that.”


    As he spoke of his daughter’s talent, the restraint in Dominic’s voice finally cracked, revealing unmistakable pride. “Your mother showed exceptional intelligence from childhood. She had an extraordinary memory. Whether medicine or journalism, she absorbed everything effortlessly. Before she was twenty-three, she had alreadypleted two doctoral degrees. Among her generation in the military, she outshone them all. She was the child who made me prouder than anyone else in my life.”


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    His eyes rested on Maia, a fleeting spark shing within them before dimming again. His tone fell quiet, heavy with unspoken emotion.


    “And it was exactly because of that I pushed her toward the military even harder. To let such brilliance drift outside would have been a loss to the nation, and a betrayal of the Watson family’s legacy.” He paused, eyes clouding as old scenes resurfaced. “She eventually yielded. She became a military doctor and put on the uniform I had always envisioned for her. You can’t imagine how proud I felt that day.”


    But in the next breath, Dominic exhaled heavily. “And yet she was miserable. From dawn till dusk, her gaze was dull and lifeless, like a puppet stripped of its own will.”


    He lowered his head, fingers curling tightly into the fabric over his knees. “Looking back now, I finally understand how wrong I was. I should have honored her choices.” The words clearly cost him immense effort to voice.


    Maia’s fingers curled slightly at her side. She could feel the weight of his remorse—a realization forged through twenty years of loneliness and suffering.


    “I never should have meddled in her life. Never should have forced my will upon her.” Dominic’s gaze dropped again. “Because of that, a rift formed between your mother and me. She began keeping her distance, and our arguments became constant. But that—” He drew in a slow, deep breath. “That wasn’t the real reason she ultimately left home.”


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