Chapter 56: Chapter 56: Another Conspiracy?

Lila’s POV

In the study, the cup of coffee was still steaming, like a dream that hadn’t yet cooled.

I stood frozen, clutching the document I had pulled from the manila envelope. My fingertips were ice-cold and trembling slightly.

The air seemed to freeze, making it hard to breathe. I stared at the title—Offspring Potential Assessment for Lila Bennett and Jasper Hale. Every word was a dull knife, slowly sawing at my nerves.

I forced myself to read on.

“Genetic Compatibility: 99.9%—a perfect match.”

“Conception Probability Assessment: Extremely high. Subject L possesses the physiological structure of a typical highly-sensitive female, with a regular ovulation cycle and an optimal uterine environment, indicating exceptional fertility.”

“Offspring Potential Forecast: 98.7% probability of inheriting the Wolf King bloodline. Comprehensive assessment concludes S-Class superior offspring.”

If I had seen these words anywhere else, I might have found them absurdly laughable. But right now, they were like heavy sledgehammers, shattering every fantasy I had about loving and being loved.

I kept reading, my gaze finally landing on the “Expert Recommendations” at the end of the report, written in bold black letters:

“It is recommended that Subject J (Jasper) engage in substantive intimate relations with Subject L (Lila) as soon as possible and establish a deep emotional bond. Research indicates that when Subject L is in a state of emotional fulfillment, stability, and psychological security, ovum viability increases by 32%, DNA methylation levels are more optimal, and telomere length is more stable, which is conducive to cultivating offspring with the most superior genetic sequence. A gradual strategy of emotional inducement is advised to ensure Subject L’s active cooperation and optimal physiological state.”

’Emotional inducement.’

’Active cooperation.’

’Optimal physiological state…’

Every word was a sharp scalpel, dissecting every little moment between Jasper and me, inch by inch, exposing the bloody truth underneath.

So that was it. All his gentle gazes, his late-night whispers, the hugs that held me when I was vulnerable, the moments he said, “I love you”… It wasn’t because he loved *me*. It was because I am a perfect vessel for procreation.

My existence, my emotions, my body, my joy, my sorrow—they were all just insignificant data points in this “Superior Offspring Cultivation Program.”

I was a carefully selected host.

Not a lover, not a wife, and certainly not some soulmate.

Just a—a breeding machine.

“Heh… heheh…”

I heard the strange sound escape my own throat—a dry, broken laugh, thick with the sound of a sob.

Tears welled up without warning, blurring my vision, but they couldn’t wash away the glaring words on that report. I felt my soul detach, hovering in mid-air, coldly watching the girl who once believed in love, in fate, in him as her salvation. She was a joke, shattered by the very god she had placed on a pedestal with her own two hands.

“Jasper… you bastard…”

I gritted my teeth, forcing those words out. My voice was so hoarse it didn’t sound like my own.

I couldn’t stay here a moment longer.

This study, saturated with his scent, this villa named Moon Hidden—every inch of air felt like poison gas corroding my lungs. I felt like a sacrifice, stripped naked for public display. All my dignity, all my trust, all my love had been crushed and ground into the mud.

I violently crumpled the report into a ball and slammed it onto the floor.

Then, I turned and bolted out the villa’s main door as if fleeing for my life.

The cool morning wind hit my face, but it couldn’t blow out the fire in my heart, nor could it extinguish the ice in my bones.

“Lila?”

A familiar voice called out from nearby, laced with clear surprise and concern.

I stopped dead in my tracks. Through my blurry, tear-filled eyes, I saw Zoe standing on the garden path.

She clearly hadn’t expected to see me in such a state. She was still holding designer shopping bags, a look of bewilderment on her face. But when she saw my tear-streaked face, vacant eyes, and disheveled clothes, she immediately dropped the bags and ran toward me.

“Oh my god, Lila, what happened to you?” She grabbed my arm, her brow furrowed as she looked me up and down. “What’s wrong? Who would dare bully you in Moon Hidden Villa?!”

Her concern, the anxiety in her eyes—to me, in that moment, it was just another, crueler form of mockery.

“Don’t touch me!” I violently shook her hand off, with so much force that she staggered back and almost fell.

“Are you here to laugh at me, too?” I shrieked at her, my voice sharp enough to pierce the dawn. “Did you come to see the joke? To watch the sentimental fool finally discover her true purpose?”

Zoe was clearly taken aback. Her eyes widened, her lips parted slightly. “What nonsense are you talking about? I’m your best friend, Lila! Seeing you like this is breaking my heart. What on earth happened?”

“Best friend?” I let out a miserable laugh as if I’d just heard the funniest joke in the world, but the tears only flowed harder. “Zoe, you people from the Hale family have hypocrisy down to an art. Jasper is like that, and so are you!”

“What do you mean by that?” Zoe’s brow furrowed and her voice cooled slightly, but the worry in her eyes only deepened.

“That report…” I pointed back toward the villa, my body trembling violently with rage and despair. “That genetic assessment report about me and your father! It says I’m a perfect breeding machine! It says my eggs are highly viable, that if I’m in a good mood, the child I give birth to will have superior genes! That’s your goal, isn’t it?”

I stared at her, as if trying to find a crack in her composure, a hint of guilt. “You got close to me for this too, didn’t you? To make me happy, to make me relax, to make me willingly lie in his bed and carry on the Hale family bloodline! You’re all in on it together!”

Zoe’s face turned deathly pale, as if she’d been stabbed in the chest. She looked at me in shock, her lips trembling. She seemed to want to say something, but my accusations left her speechless.

“That’s why you set me up with your father, right?” I sneered, my voice dripping with sarcasm and sorrow. “Now that your plan has succeeded, are you happy? Do you think I’m that easy to fool?”

I took a step closer, my gaze like a knife carving into her. “You’re just using the same tricks on me that you used on Lilith, aren’t you? Be gentle and considerate, feign concern, and then wait for her to willingly give everything up before casting her aside like a pawn… Now, it’s my turn, is that it?”

Zoe’s voice suddenly shot up, filled with incredulous shock. “I got close to you because I like you! What genetic matching? What the hell are you talking about!?”

She reached out to touch me, but I flinched away violently.

“Pathetic!” I cut her off, my voice as cold as ice. “Then why is my genetic data in that report? The only way is if you collected it from me! A ’fertility assessment’ done before we were even married!”

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