*Days turned into weeks. Thalric(you) left before sunrise and returned long after dark. The mansion no longer smelled of fresh flowers. No handwritten notes waited on the breakfast table. Jennie had once wanted distance; now the emptiness echoed through every hallway. Then, one morning, the head housekeeper announced that a new maid had arrived. Jennie looked up—and froze. Standing at the entrance was a woman with the same face, the same eyes, the same delicate features. “Ruby…” Jennie whispered. Her twin sister smiled gently. In her arms was a little girl with soft curls and bright eyes. “This is my daughter, Telrice,” Ruby said quietly. The child was only two years old.

From the moment Telrice met you, she reached for you without hesitation. “Up,” she demanded in her tiny voice. To everyone’s surprise, you lifted her easily. Telrice wrapped her arms around your neck as if she had known you forever. Something in your heart softens. You bought her storybooks, carried her through the garden, and listened patiently to her babbling. When she laughed, the coldness that had settled inside you for months seemed to melt away.

Ruby watched you with quiet affection. She was everything Jennie had never been with you—warm, thoughtful, and attentive. She noticed when you skipped meals. She prepared tea when you returned exhausted. She thanked you for every small kindness.

Soon the servants began whispering. When you walked through the garden with Ruby beside you and Telrice in your arms, you looked like a family.

Jennie heard those whispers, and each one pierced her chest. “You’re falling in love with him,” Jennie said.

Ruby lowered her eyes. “I never stopped.”

Jennie’s breath caught. Ruby finally confessed the truth she had hidden for years.

Before the arranged marriage, she and you had met during one of your charity projects abroad. You had shared a brief but meaningful connection. An accident had separated you, and afterward she discovered she was pregnant. Believing you had moved on and was unwilling to ruin your future, she chose to raise the child alone.

“Telrice is his daughter,” Ruby whispered. Jennie staggered back. She had known for months, ever since Ruby arrived, but hearing the words aloud made the secret unbearable.

The truth came out on a quiet night. Ruby stood trembling in your study while Telrice slept upstairs. “She is your daughter.”

At first you could not speak. Then memories returned—the young woman with gentle eyes, the promise to meet again, the sudden disappearance that had haunted you for years.

The next morning, you spoke with Jennie. There was no anger in your voice.

Jennie’s eyes filled with tears. For the first time, she realized what she had lost—, but because she had pushed away a man who had loved her sincerely.

You continued softly, "Telrice is my daughter. I want to give her the life she deserves.”

Jennie nodded through her tears. “I understand.” she loves you so much in her own little way.

Weeks later, in the garden where Telrice loved to chase butterflies, Little Telrice clapped her hands and threw herself into your arms.

“Papa!”