?Chapter 1658:


    Alban let his gaze travel slowly over the people gathered around him. The weight of their expectations pressed in from all sides, thick enough to make the air feel heavy.


    “Even if I marry, there won’t be any children,” he stated tly.


    Taking it as open defiance, Henrik exploded. “Are you truly nning to let the Martel line end with you? If you have no intention of continuing the family, then you have no business leading thepany. Step aside.”


    A brief sh of exhaustion passed through Alban’s eyes, softening his cold exterior for just a moment. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and spoke with deliberate calm. “I can’t have children.”


    “What?” The word burst from his family simultaneously, disbelief etched across every face.


    “What did you say?” Colette grabbed his arm in panic, her voice unsteady. “You can’t have children? Do you mean you’re… infertile?”


    “That’s impossible. You’ve always been healthy — there’s no way that’s true,” Henrik stated tly, rejecting the im outright. The impact hit him so hard his knees buckled, and he swayed unsteadily. Santos hurried forward at once to support him.


    “I’ve already undergone medical tests. The reports are in my room — if you don’t believe me, I’ll bring them out,” Alban said, meeting their eyes. “This isn’t something I would lie about.” He held their gaze and continued evenly. “It isn’t that I don’t want children. I’m physically incapable. The Martel line ends with me.”


    Henrik looked on the verge of copse, barely maintaining his bnce. Without Santos holding him, he would have fallen. “How… how did ite to this?” His voice cracked, his body trembling, eyes rimmed with red. “For generations, the Martel family has had only one heir. Now my grandson can’t even have a child. Is this really the end? What did we do to deserve this…”


    “Dad, please calm down,” Santos said, trying to soothe him. “What if the diagnosis was wrong? We should have Alban examined at another hospital — there could still be a chance.”


    Colette nodded frantically. “Yes, it could be a mistake. Alban has always been strong and healthy. There has to be some error.”


    None of them were willing to ept that Alban might be thest of the Martel line. Perhaps he was lying to avoid marriage — even the medical report could have been falsified. For three generations, the Martels had produced only sons, and they had even dared to hope Alban might one day bring home a daughter. Now, without warning, his deration had shattered those hopes entirely.


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    Forget a male heir — it seemed they might never have a child to carry on the family name at all.


    “Then he must be tested again — and we’ll all go with him,” Henrik insisted, worried Alban might tamper with the results. He wanted to witness everything personally. Alban’s parents shared the same suspicion, clinging to the faint hope that he was deceiving them.


    “Fine,” Alban said, agreeing without resistance. “We can go to any hospital you want.”


    He knew the truth of his condition — there was no deception, no exaggeration. Even if they visited a dozen hospitals, the oue would remain the same. But he also knew they would never ept it without seeing the proof themselves. This, then, would be his final exnation.


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