Chapter 322: Chapter 322: A Decade of Agony

Hearing that silly yet gut-wrenchingly sincere statement from Julian, Ethan’s chest rumbled with a low vibration. He did not say anything more, only silently bowed his head and placed a deep, lingering kiss on the soft hair of the person in his arms. That kiss carried absolute devotion, as if sealing an invisible vow between the two of them.

Indeed, the Sterling family was nothing. From now on, Julian had him, and Julian had the Caldwell family.

Waiting for the bittersweet emotions permeating the air to settle down a bit, Ethan’s deep and warm voice slowly rang out, carrying the breath of distant, bygone years, “Actually, even though I criticize him like that, when he was alive, my father was truly great. He lived his entire life with pride, summoning the wind and calling the rain in the business world, never once bowing his head to anyone. However…”

The man chuckled softly, a smile laced with a touch of helplessness intertwined with pride, “No matter how talented he was, or how much he could breathe fire and command authority on the outside, whenever he returned home, he was still managed into absolute obedience by my mother. He did not even dare to raise his voice for a single sentence.”

Julian looked up at Ethan with clear eyes, his curiosity thoroughly piqued, “Your mother… what kind of person was she?”

If the great man who stood at the helm of the Caldwell Empire back then could dismantle his thorny armor for her, then that woman was certainly not a weak and fragile flower who only knew how to hide in the shadow of a towering pine tree.

“My mother…” Ethan’s gaze suddenly became distant, as if he were trying to sketch out a silhouette that had faded over the years within his mind, “She was a completely different extreme from my father. She did not understand business, nor did she care about the power calculations in the commercial world. She was a genius in the medical field.”

Speaking up to this point, Ethan’s voice unconsciously carried a profound respect, “Back in those days, while her peers were still struggling with a mess of basic theories in university lecture halls, my mother was already a familiar face in national laboratories. She was still very young, yet she was personally guided by top professors and academicians in the medical industry, participating in countless core research projects. In the eyes of the professionals that year, my mother was a brilliantly shining pearl, a treasure that the medical circle of St. Lawrence City had to cherish.”

A talented man and a beautiful woman, a match made in heaven with perfectly aligned social statuses.

Just hearing this much, Julian’s mind automatically painted a flawless picture.

A domineering CEO standing at the pinnacle of power within the Caldwell Empire and a genius beauty carrying outstanding medical intellect within herself. Their union, it goes without saying, must have shaken the high society of St. Lawrence City to its core.

“They met at a charity banquet organized by the Caldwell Empire, and then they fell in love as if it were the most natural thing in the world.” Ethan’s large hand still maintained a steady, soothing rhythm on Julian’s back, evenly continuing the story, “Their love was very smooth, there were no prohibitions, no forceful separations. Grandpa Arthur was immediately pleased with my mother the moment he met her that year. The wedding took place under the blessings of absolutely everyone, so grand and magnificent that the press spent ink and paper covering it continuously for several entire months.”

Julian blinked, his heart rate speeding up just a little bit. He knew that, according to the usual motif of these old tales, the more beautiful and radiant the beginning was, the more cruel and devastating the storm that followed would be.

Julian’s hand unconsciously gripped the hem of Ethan’s shirt, waiting.

“And then, the tragedy began.” The atmosphere in the room seemed to drop a few degrees, “That year, my mother was putting all her effort into pursuing an extremely massive medical project. If this project succeeded, it would not only change the medical landscape of St. Lawrence City but also reach far out to an international level. The person directly mentoring her was an incredibly virtuous professor, who was also the teacher my mother respected the most.”

Ethan’s voice grew colder by several degrees, “But right in the phase when the project was entering its most crucial period, that professor… suddenly passed away.”

Julian jolted slightly, his small shoulders trembling faintly.

Passing away suddenly while holding onto a massive project? This absolutely could not be a mere coincidence.

“My mother did not believe it was an accident or a sudden onset of illness. She had a premonition that some dark hand was intentionally interfering to destroy everything, or to plunder the fruits of their labor.” Ethan continued, “She pleaded with my father. With the colossal power of the Caldwell Empire rooting itself everywhere at that time, my father immediately deployed the entire intelligence network, turning this entire St. Lawrence City upside down to investigate for his wife.”

“So… did you find out anything?” Julian asked softly, holding his breath.

Ethan let out a harsh scoff, a smile so cold that it pierced straight to the bone, “That is where the strangeness lies. A Caldwell Empire as powerful as the midday sun, yet every spearhead of the investigation crashed into a dead end. Everything remained hazy and blurry, entirely unclear. It was as if… there was some invisible power, even more gigantic and airtight than the Caldwell Empire, that had made a move to sweep away every single trace completely clean.”

Right after the departure of the professor, that passionately devoted medical project was immediately suspended indefinitely by the board with all sorts of absurd and outrageous excuses. All of Mother Caldwell’s efforts were washed down the drain in an instant.

“My mother was an incredibly unyielding person. She refused to accept letting her teacher’s life’s work be buried in such an unjust grievance. Right at the moment she intended to blow the matter out of proportion, disregarding all consequences to expose that mysterious force…” The corners of Ethan’s lips curled up in a rare touch of tenderness, his fingers lightly brushing across Julian’s cheek, “She discovered that she was pregnant. It was me.”

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