Damien had a nagging sense that something was wrong.

Beneath the swirling snowfall, Ava's almond-shaped eyes widened slightly. She covered her mouth with both hands, too delighted to speak.

She had grown up in the south, petite in build. Her palm-sized face wasn't particularly striking, yet her features came together in a way that uncannily resembled a younger, still-innocent Lydia.

Like a little princess, she spun around in the snow, excitedly grabbing his hand before boldly slipping straight into his arms.

Damien instinctively wanted to push her away. He glanced around, but remembering that it was her birthday, he merely frowned and did nothing.

Those cameras didn't escape his notice, especially after his executive assistant, Miles Hart, had leaned in earlier and whispered, "Several accounts are already livestreaming."

Damien knew that Ava had grown increasingly spoiled and arrogant these past few months, but he was willing to indulge her.

Everything Ava was doing was meant for Lydia to see.

And even if she saw it, what could she possibly do?

Damien thought of the woman at home who always waited quietly for him, quickly forcing a smile the moment he looked her way, and his confidence hardened.

Even if Lydia saw it, she would cry and make a fuss at most. He could placate her with a few perfunctory words, and she would obediently continue being his quiet wife.

And if things had to be dragged into the open, he wasn't afraid either.

When he had been fighting his own brothers for control of Hayes Realty, the Carter family had simply gone along with the tide and married their daughter off to him.

Victor Carter had placed his bet on Damien, and over the past few years, he had made extensive use of Damien's resources to secure connections and projects for Carter Group.

Unfortunately, secrets never stay hidden forever.

On the day they returned from their honeymoon, Victor had drunk too much and, brimming with smug satisfaction, told Damien, "Lydia isn't my biological daughter at all. She was baggage my dead wife brought with her. I was generous enough to raise her, marry her off in style, and I didn't mistreat her in the slightest."

When Victor got drunk, his true colors spilled out. He muttered, "Who knows who her real father is? Probably some lowlife. After all, that dead wife of mine used to sell drinks for a living."

Damien never told Lydia.

Instead, he increasingly saw her as something pitiable. Once her background was exposed, there would be an unbridgeable gap of status between them.

Curled up in his arms, Ava's cheeks flushed red. She blinked innocently, her voice tinged with feigned grievance as she spoke.

"I really love the snow you made for me," she said softly. "But Damien, I wish I could bring Ronan to see it too. He'd be over the moon."

Damien's brow tightened unconsciously. His expression turned cold as he pulled her slightly away and lowered his voice in warning.

"Don't ever say things like that again."

Ava's eyes instantly reddened, but she didn't dare say another word.

She had no idea that what she had just said had struck one of Damien's untouchable nerves.

Ava had gotten pregnant at eighteen and delivered prematurely at seven and a half months. The child she shared with Damien was named Ronan Hayes.

Two years later, she became the housekeeper of the Hayes estate.

Damien had the child sent away to be raised in secret.

It wasn't that Ava didn't want to be with her child, but after weighing her options, she wanted even more to stay by Damien's side.

Watching Damien grow increasingly cold and indifferent toward Lydia, Ava became more convinced that she had made a brilliant move.

There had been no snow in Crownford this year.

When Damien asked her what she wanted as a gift, she casually said she wanted to see a snowfall.

She had imagined a sweet, intimate trip with him to the cold regions. What she got instead was an artificial snowstorm falling from the sky.

She nestled back into Damien's arms and coaxed him gently, "I really love this gift. Tonight… I've prepared a gift for you too."

The unique nightdress clung and concealed in all the right places. She was certain Damien would like it.

At that moment, Miles hurried over with a grave expression and whispered a few words into Damien's ear.

Damien's expression changed abruptly. "How is that possible? What was she doing on the ring expressway?"

Ava leaned in and saw the image on Miles's phone clearly.

A nine-vehicle pileup had occurred on the ring expressway. A truck from the opposite lane had smashed into the leading sports car, shattering it completely. The vehicle had already burned down to nothing but a charred frame.

Ava vaguely remembered that today was the day Lydia was supposed to undergo the abortion.

The hospital had called many times, and Damien had ordered every call to be turned away.

At the time, she had clung to him in tears, and he had softened his voice to comfort her. "I'm not going. The most important thing today is spending your birthday with you."

Now, Damien took several calls in quick succession, his expression growing more severe with each one.

He pushed past everyone, got into the car, and started the engine immediately.

Ava tried to chase after him, but Miles stopped her. His own expression looked grim as well.

"Mrs. Hayes… may be dead."

The scene was horrific beyond words. Police officers filled the area, lights flashing everywhere.

The police couldn't even tell what the vehicle had originally looked like from the wreckage.

Only a few personal belongings left inside allowed them to confirm that there had been a single fatality, the body completely carbonized by the flames.

Nothing remained intact.

Damien had imagined the ending between himself and Lydia countless times, but never like this.

Even rescue efforts had become meaningless.

He watched helplessly as the rescue workers carefully recovered what little they could that belonged to Lydia.

His body trembled uncontrollably as he belatedly pulled his phone from his coat pocket.

He mechanically returned the countless missed calls. There was no response.

An earlier number, however, went through.

It was the hospital. "Mr. Hayes? Your wife's surgical abortion went smoothly today, but she insisted on being discharged. We tried calling you many times, but you didn't answer…"

Damien gradually stopped hearing the voice on the other end. The hand gripping the phone only grew colder and colder.

He remembered how Lydia had carefully asked him the night before, and how he had readily promised to go to the hospital with her.

She had a severe fear of sharp objects. Even a simple injection would leave her ashen as if half her life had been drained away.

Damien didn't dare imagine how she must have faced those moments alone on the operating table.

He took a deep breath, straightened himself, and faced Ethan Reeves, an acquaintance who was walking toward him, the officer in charge of the accident.

"My condolences."

They shook hands. Ethan briefly explained what had happened, then, perhaps unsettled by Damien's expression, gave his shoulder an awkward pat before walking away.

Damien's other private phone kept vibrating.

Ava's number appeared on the screen again and again.

He didn't want to answer.

At that moment, all he wanted was a brief stretch of silence.

Memories rushed through his mind, carrying him back through the four brief years he had shared with Lydia. One year of dating, three years of marriage.

There had been sweetness once. Lydia's flawless face had been etched into his heart from the very first moment their eyes met.

Ava had only ever been a resemblance. A substitute.

When had she gradually stopped mattering so much? Even Damien couldn't say.

He had grown accustomed to her waiting. No matter what he did, she was always there.

After signing every accident report, he pulled his coat tighter and got back into the car, driving away at full speed.

The wind howled past. His mind was completely blank.

Inside the estate, Ava sat restlessly. The moment he pushed the door open and stepped inside, she stood up at once.

"Mrs. Hayes, what happened to her…?"

He saw anticipation in Ava's eyes, undisguised and unmistakable. A wave of nausea rose in his chest.

His expression remained indifferent as he replied flatly, "She's dead. The car burned out. Nothing was left."

"What about the Carter family…"

Damien pushed past her impatiently, speaking quickly as he headed toward the study.

"Call the Carter family. The funeral will be held in three days. Tomorrow, you'll handle the paperwork for her death certificate. And one more thing." He paused mid-step. "Have someone pack up all her belongings. Throw them away… no, put them in storage for now."

The obituary for his late wife was released in the middle of the night.

Miles's carefully chosen words vividly portrayed the grief and agony of a devoted couple torn apart by death.

All information about the extravagant birthday celebration for Ava had already been erased from the internet.

As if, from the very beginning, Damien had been a man deeply devoted to his wife, Lydia.

On the day of the funeral, the heaviest snowfall in a decade fell over Crownford.

It was as though the snow meant to bury all filth deep underground, just as the Hayes Estate looked cold and mournful from the outside.

Inside, fires burned warmly. Ava held Ronan close, smiling as she ate the nutritional food served by the servants.

Upstairs in the study, Damien removed his wedding ring and casually tossed it deep into the wardrobe.

Raging flames tore through half the sky. Some people were shouting in shock, others gasping desperately for air.

These were the final fragments of memory after the violent collision.

Lydia's eyelids fluttered again and again, yet it felt as though her entire body was restrained, unable to move no matter how hard she tried.

She faintly heard voices speaking, unfamiliar ones, laced with foreign accents.

"She's suffered extreme psychological shock. Instinctively, she doesn't want to wake up, but physically, she's mostly out of danger."

"You mean she could wake up at any time? That's wonderful."

"No, no. What I mean is, she may also never wake up."

Those words yanked Lydia's drifting consciousness back in an instant. Her heart clenched, her fingers twitched slightly, and she snapped her eyes open.

White filled her vision. Slowly, it sharpened into focus. A high ceiling, walls so starkly white they sent a chill through her.

Standing before her was a doctor with a high-bridged nose and deep-set features. His striking blue eyes carried an inexplicable calm.

Meeting her gaze, he shrugged lightly and smiled toward the young man standing beside him.

"Oh, I lost. She woke up this quickly. Looks like the shock wasn't quite enough."

Lydia struggled to sit up, but her body had no strength. She quickly fell back onto the bed.

The young man reached out at once to steady her, his voice gentle and calm. "Careful."

Lydia blinked, utterly confused by the situation before her. Memories began surfacing bit by bit, and she parted her lips involuntarily.

The sound that came out was hoarse, completely unlike her former voice.

"I… wasn't I dead?"

The doctor's smile deepened as he suddenly leaned closer. "Yes, ma'am. But I pulled you back from Death himself."

He picked up a stack of documents from the bedside, his expression turning serious. "Any interest in signing my hospital on as the Sterling family's permanent private medical facility?"

The young man quickly stepped in to stop him. "Stop messing around, Henry."

......

It took Lydia some time to piece together everything that had happened.

The young man's name was Julian Sterling.

At the moment the horrific crash occurred, Julian's car had been right behind hers.

He and several others quickly got out to help, but the fire was too intense. They barely managed to drag Lydia out of the car and move her to safety.

The violent impact left Lydia unconscious. She had suffered severe head trauma, along with burns to her shoulder, elbow, and other areas.

In fact, she had been undergoing emergency treatment at this private hospital overseas for a full three months.

Lydia listened to all of this in a daze.

After a long while, she looked up at Julian in confusion.

"You saved me… then why didn't you take me to a nearby hospital? Why bring me overseas? M-my husband… where is he?"

Thinking of Damien, her throat tightened. She suddenly grabbed Julian's arm.

"He doesn't know I'm here, does he? Otherwise, he would have come looking for me."

But after hearing that, Julian's expression darkened visibly.

He lowered his shoulders slightly and turned on the television.

Over the past few months, he had recorded every piece of news related to Lydia. Now, he played them for her one by one, in chronological order.

When the obituary for Lydia was released, she was visibly stunned.

"He… he thinks I'm dead?"

Soon, she grew increasingly silent.

She watched the funeral end in haste. Damien held a black umbrella, leaving shoulder to shoulder with Ava.

She watched Damien mention her in front of reporters, his expression heavy with grief, though the wedding ring was long gone from his finger.

Lydia trembled as tears fell onto the blanket. She rubbed the wedding ring still on her finger.

Julian hesitated before speaking.

"Actually, more than half a year ago, I started tracking your life. I knew very clearly what you were going through, and what had been happening."

He pulled out a stack of photos and placed them in front of Lydia.

In those photos, there were shots of Damien holding Ava, and others of him bending down to wipe sweat from a little boy's forehead…

As Lydia looked at them, an uncontrollable chill spread through her body, leaving her shaking.

"This is… this is Ava's child."

Julian corrected her calmly. "No. In fact, this is Damien and Ava's child. He was born one year after your marriage. He's two years old now."

The truth drained all color from Lydia's face.

One year after the marriage.

While she had been full of hope, baking small treats for their newlywed life and ironing Damien's suits, he had already been with Ava.

Those photos laid bare every hollow moment and hidden underside of the past three years.

During the moments she waited for Damien, he had been staying close and intimate with Ava.

Her teeth chattered uncontrollably.

She remembered waking up groggily late at night for water, seeing Damien come upstairs in his pajamas.

He had answered so casually, "Couldn't sleep. Just walking around."

In reality, Ava had already been staying in a room downstairs at the time.

Lydia's tears wouldn't stop falling. She wiped them away, only for more to spill over again.

For the first time, Lydia felt grateful that she was still alive. Otherwise, she would have died without ever knowing the truth.

Yet confusion slowly spread through her heart.

She looked straight at Julian. "Why were you tracking me?"

Julian pulled out a chair and sat down. His gaze and tone had never been more focused.

"Do you know Richard Sterling?"

Lydia grew even more confused, but answered honestly. "Yes. The world's richest man. An elderly tycoon. What does that have to do with me?"

Julian said quietly, "It has everything to do with you. He's the one who's been looking for you. For more than twenty years."

"Looking for me?"

Julian nodded.

"Lydia, your mother was Richard's only daughter. He has no other children. Which means you are now his only granddaughter."

Lydia stared at him in shock. How was that possible?

She remembered countless times when her father, drunk, had pointed at her and cursed, saying her mother was nothing but a poor, short-lived woman who sold drinks.

How could that possibly be connected to the world's richest man?

But the look Julian gave her was utterly serious.

"I followed you for half a year. All the investigation files and biological verification results prove it."

He reached out and took her ice-cold hand in his.

"He's been waiting for you all this time."