?Chapter 1540:


    As the words fell, he suddenly lifted his head, eyes locking onto Maia with piercing intensity. His lips twisted into a smile more painful than tears.


    “Maia,” he asked hoarsely. “Do you think I’ve been too harsh? A stubborn, outdated man? A tyrant who only knows how to control?”


    Maia didn’t answer. She simply looked at him—weathered, old, andid bare.


    After a few seconds of silence, she softly asked, “Will you tell me what my mother was called?”


    Dominic visibly froze, caught off guard, as if only now realizing he had been so consumed by his own emotions that he had overlooked the most essential thing. His granddaughter didn’t even know her own mother’s name.


    How tragic. How painfully ironic.


    He looked into Maia’s clear eyes, his expression growing solemn. “Your mother’s name is Melody Watson,” he said softly, his voice lowering with reverence. As the name left his lips, something in his face visibly eased—as though the word itself carried everything beautiful he had ever known.


    “It was your grandmother who chose it,” he added, a faint smile touching his lips. “She hoped Melody would live a joyful life and walk toward a future filled with light.”


    His eyes took on that unmistakable look of pride and longing once more. “Melody was extraordinarily gifted,” he continued, emotion threading through his tone. “Her words flowed like poetry, her paintings carried soul. She was brilliant—whatever she learned, she mastered with ease, as if talent itself bowed to her.”


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    Dominic paused for a brief moment, his voice lowering as he resumed, heavy with reflection. “I once had such high hopes for her future. I pictured myself watching her get married, raise children, and shine brilliantly in her career. But maybe the way I went about it was wrong.”


    He drew in a slow, deep breath, his chest rising and falling as though the memory he had reached for was still painfully close. “In her second year at the military hospital, she told me she wanted to leave. One day, she brought me her resignation letter. She said she wanted to quit medicine and be a war correspondent—reporting from the most dangerous front lines.”


    Maia listened without interrupting, yet her chest tightened, as if an invisible weight had settled there, making every breath feel strained.


    Dominic paused again before continuing. “To make her stay—to force her to abandon what I called her ‘unrealistic’ dreams—I decided to arrange a marriage for her.” His voice grew heavier, colored with restrained and helpless resolve. “At the time, your mother was a celebrated figure in Drakmire. She came from a prominent family and was exceptionally beautiful. I let it be known in high society that the Watson family was searching for a husband for their daughter. I thought marriage and family would secure her future.”


    He shook his head, a bitter, self-mocking smile crossing his face. “People with status from all over Drakmire crowded the entrance of our home. There were countless noble heirs and young men everyone praised as promising.”


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