"I wish you had," Eleanor said bitterly, looking away.


    Eleanor''s gaze returned to him. "And you—"


    "I agreed,"n sighed. "I agreed to invest ten billion dors to build ab, both to help your father finish his research and to create the conditions for my mother''s future hematology studies."


    He looked down, ovee with guilt and self-reproach. "But I never expected your father to work himself to the bone. I underestimated his drive. If we''re talking about responsibility, I can''t escape my share."


    "It''s not your fault," Eleanor quickly replied. She knew that even if he hadn''t provided the resources, her father would have found another way, one that would have been harder, more urgent, and would have made him even more anxious.


    The air in the room seemed to freeze. Eleanor finally understood that her marriage had been part of her father''s n, a silent entrustment of his legacy.


    "But in the end, I failed your father''s trust, and I hurt you. I couldn''t give you a happy marriage. I thought I could shield you from the storm, but I ended up being the one who hurt you the most."


    Eleanor''s breathing hitched. So many things were starting to make sense.


    From the beginning, her father had appealed to him, using his feelings for her to pull him into the n to save her life.


    "Your father never wanted us to have children right away, but... Evelyn''s arrival was a surprise to both of us,"n said with a sigh.


    Eleanor remembered it, too. When she told her father the good news, he hadn''t seemed overjoyed. She''d chalked it up to his reserved nature and hadn''t thought much of it.


    It turned out he was worried his granddaughter might inherit her grandmother''s leukemia.


    Her heart clenched painfully. Although she had already developed the drug for leukemia, the thought that her daughter would face this additional challenge still made her tense up.


    Pain and helplessness shed in


    father ced in me and betrayed the love you gave me. I let my own arrogance blind mes... and m the


    end, I lost everything that mattered."


    Eleanor looked at the man kneeling before her. He was looking up at her, baring the thoughts he could never speak aloud.


    The scene from that day was still vivid in her mind. Vanessa had been so suren would save her, most likely because she knew about.


    Gina''s hereditary condition.


    saving her wasn''t because she was was special, but because in the heat of the moment, she gambled that he would choose her.


    Eleanor''s hatred at that time had been immense.


    But now, all of those emotions had vanished.


    She looked at him, this titan of industry, who now appeared weary and wounded before her. He might not have been a perfect husband, and he had put her through a painful marriage.


    But he had supported her father''s research unconditionally, protected her, and ensured their daughter''s well-being. He had even protected the lives of others, like Marilyn and her descendants.


    She remembered that the first fund his pharmaceuticalpany established was a five-billion-dor donation to leukemia charities. He''d kept hispany private to prevent its core research from being made public, preserving medical resources for the country.


    He joined the Neural Interface Project and gave the core technology to the military, keeping only the civilian applications. All of this showed he was a man of great foresight and integrity.


    In the face of his aplishments, no one could truly me him for anything.


    He was a man, not a god. And men make mistakes, men have emotions.