Feeling something dripping on the back of her hand, Lydia looked up, only to see William’s tears rolling down his face onto her hand.
Overwhelmed with joy, she gripped his wrist, screaming, “Dad, dad, are you awake?”
Hearing Lydia’s scream, Leo, Caroline, Rebecca and the others all rushed in. Everyone beamed a smile at the sight of the tears on William’s face, except for Rebecca.
“Dad is waking up!”
Seeing that, Medical saint also gave a relieved smile. “People have emotions, and it’s hard to erase all memories, no matter one uses leading-edge instruments or highly effective medicine.”
“Dad!” Lydia called excitedly, waiting quietly for William to wake up.
The next moment, William’s body trembled slightly again while his eyelids twitched, as if he was having a nightmare. At last, he opened his eyes slowly.
“Dad!”
“Great!”
Watching William coming round, Caroline wept for joy and held Leo tight with excitement, even if Lydia was present too.
Rarely, Leo didn’t push her away. No one saw him wiping the tears from his face secretly.
Even Leo was moved by this scene. He just couldn’t help himself.
Rebecca, nevertheless, appeared nervous and uneasy, because she knew she had fallen into disgrace the moment William woke up. No one would listen to her again.
“Leo, Caroline…” Now that William had returned from the jaws of death and saw Leo, Caroline and the others again, he started to weep bitterly.
“Dad, it’s so great that you’ve come round! I was so scared!” Caroline held William in great excitement, wailing.
Leo also watched this scene with a smile. Somehow, the hair on his temples had become grayer.
“Lydia.” William turned his gaze on Lydia with mixed feelings.
Lydia didn’t say anything, but stared tearfully at him.
At this moment, Leo shot a glance at Caroline, and she drew back knowingly at once.
Now that William had come round, it was time to unveil the secret.
William gave a self-mocking smile. “To me, all this is just like a dream. I’ve been in a coma for some time, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know what has happened.” After that, he turned to Lydia. “You know everything, don’t you?”
Lydia said nothing, nodding.
William heaved a sigh. “I thought I could keep this secret for the rest of my life. However, it’s time to tell the truth.”
Caroline couldn’t help but urge him, “Dad, tell us! Is Lydia really my biological sister?”
William nodded solemnly. “Exactly. She’s your half-sister!”
Both Lydia and Caroline quivered upon hearing that. Caroline was shocked, while Lydia’s fantasy was annihilated by harsh reality.
Tears streamed down Lydia’s face, but she made no sound.
Leo saw that and chimed in at once, “Lydia, I won’t have a prejudice against you because of your origin. You’ll always be the one I love the most!”
Lydia grunted and calmed down a little, waiting for William to continue.
William stared at Lydia with mixed feelings, saying, “Lydia, since you come from Valenham, you must know the story happening in your family 27 years ago.”
“On that day, the child of Karl, the head of the Henderson family, and his wife, the first beauty of Valenham, was born. On that night, his servant couple left Valenham and settled down in Emerdale… The servant couple were me and my ex-wife.”
Both Leo and Lydia were a little surprised to hear that.
Lydia and Marie had brought up the story before, but Leo didn’t take it seriously. It didn’t occur to him that William and his ex-wife were Karl’s servants.
Lydia was astonished. “So you were…”
William nodded solemnly. “However, what exactly happened on that night is entirely different from the story you heard. In fact, when Karl and his wife’s baby was born, me and Vanessa’s baby was also born on that night. It was a girl, and that was you.”
William was blinking in erratic intervals as he cast his mind back.
Vanessa was William’s ex-wife’s name.
Everyone was listening quietly, and no one interrupted him.
“I thought that was the start of my new life. However, it turned out Karl’s ex-wife was infertile. But at that time, they were throwing a big party to celebrate the birth of their baby. If word got out, the Henderson family, one of the royal families in Valenham, would be humiliated. Therefore, Karl called me into his study and made a deal with me. He bought my daughter for one million.”
Lydia shuddered slightly as she heard that, asking in disbelief, “So you agreed?”
“I refused.” William gave a self-mocking smile and continued, “But the one I refused is the head of the Henderson family! He’s the man at the top of the pecking order. He told me if I refused him, my family would disappear from this world.”
“Karl Henderson!” Lydia growled the name through clenched teeth.
“But he had no choice. After all, he’s the head of the Henderson family, and he needs to maintain his family’s dignity, while I’m just a nobody, so it’s easy for you to imagine what happened next.”
William turned to Lydia and went on, “I was forced to agree, to protect you, and to protect my family. So I gave you to him, but on one condition, that is, it was up to us to name you, and he must give you my jade pendant. Karl agreed.”
“You were such a beautiful baby, so we named you ‘Lydia’, and we left the jade pendant with you. Finally, we left Valenham on that night. So, you turned from a servant couple’s baby to the daughter of the head of the Henderson family and the first beauty of Valenham. You would have a privileged and superior life, while we… No one remembered us. We were just two nobodies. After we left Valenham, my ex-wife’s health deteriorated since she missed you so much, and that she was weak after giving birth. Before long, she died. Later, I met Rebecca.”
At this moment, William turned to Rebecca, only to see her indifferent face, so he turned his eyes to Leo and Caroline.
“One million was a big fortune then. Since I had money, Rebecca insisted on marrying me, regardless of her family’s strong objection. Besides, she didn’t care that I had been married before, so I married her. During the same year, I adopted an abandoned baby, and it was Leo. Three years later, Rebecca got pregnant. She gave birth to a girl, and I named her ‘Caroline’.”