Having indirectly obtained the answer, Ned nodded to Matthew and was about to turn and leave when another sentence reached his ears: "Mr. Harrington! Please wait a moment!"
"What is it? Is there anything else?" Ned looked at him, his expression even colder than before.
Assistant Kate glanced at her watch and reminded her boss: "President, the meeting is about to start; we might not make it in time."
Matthew lowered his head, feeling a bit uneasy: "I'm sorry, I didn't know you had a meeting, young master—"
"It's fine. Say whatever you need to say." Ned looked at Matthew. His tone was gentle, but there was no smile on his face.
"Um... I wanted to say that Old Mr. Harrington's health needs attention. Earlier at the café, I asked him about it too, but he told me he was fine. I'm worried he might not be taking it seriously, so I wanted to ask you to persuade him to go to the hospital for a full physical examination."
"Alright, I'll advise my father to take better care of his health. Don't worry!" After saying this, Ned turned and walked out of C&C, with his assistant following close behind.
Matthew stood dazed in the hotel lobby, staring at Ned's retreating back, his mood as heavy as it had been four years ago when Sophie left.
In recent years, many new micro-luxury hotels had sprung up in London, with extremely opulent interior decor! Not only was the service attentive, but they were also very clean.
Over the past few years, whenever Victoria met with Charles, she was exceptionally cautious.
In the past, she could disregard her husband's thoughts and opinions, meeting Charles at ordinary restaurants without a care. But now, she cared about her son's reputation—especially since Ned had already taken control of Harrington & Co. International and Crown & Cipher, and was about to become engaged to the daughter of Fujiwara Imperial Tokyo. Any strange rumors spreading out would only harm her son's career.
So, she chose to meet Charles in the rooms of these hotels, precisely because she didn't want to be seen with him in public, attracting the attention of nosy media and causing trouble for her son's business.
Sitting on the sofa in the small living room of the room, Victoria's tone sounded very melancholic: "After all these years, is there still no news of that child?"
Over the past year, she had grown increasingly anxious. Whenever they spoke on the phone or met in person, the topic was always the daughter who had been switched in Manchester—the daughter whose whereabouts were unknown.
Charles, sitting across from her, looked up and glanced at her: "Don't rush. Don't be anxious! I've been looking for her. I've always been looking for her. I believe that as long as we persevere, one day we will definitely find our daughter—"
"One day? I've already waited over twenty years. How much longer do I have to wait to find her?" Victoria irritably covered her face and sighed in sorrow. "I really regret it so much! Why did I do something so stupid back then? How could I give my own daughter to someone else? Why didn't I want her?"
"I remember that three years after giving birth, I once went to Manchester to find that midwife—Eugenie—and begged her to take me to see my daughter. I even gave her a hundred thousand pounds as compensation, but in the end, she only showed me a photograph."
"The woman in that photo had a large black birthmark just below her forehead, covered by her long hair. My daughter was standing obediently beside her, wearing a little floral dress." Victoria recalled with deep remorse.
"That afternoon, we had arranged to meet at a local chain coffee shop. I thought I would finally see my long-yearned-for biological daughter, but for a hundred thousand pounds, all I got was a glimpse of a photograph—and in the end, I wasn't even allowed to take the photo with me. I refused and lost my temper badly. But Eugenie was certain I wouldn't dare expose the truth in public. She actually called the café security to hold me back, then escaped herself."
Charles listened quietly without interrupting her.
"That same night, I called her phone almost nonstop, but the next day she changed her number. When I went to the hospital where she worked to find her again, she had already taken a full month's leave from the hospital. At the time, I didn't have much time to stay in Manchester, and fearing the consequences, I couldn't track her down. In the end, I had no choice but to return to New York first."
"But a few years later, when I went looking for Eugenie again, she had already left the hospital many years earlier. From then on, I could never find her again. I had forever lost any news of my daughter. I regret it! I really regret it so much!" Victoria grew agitated and began stamping her foot.
"Don't be like this. Regretting it now won't help. You have to be patient—this matter can't be rushed." Charles tried to comfort Victoria.
Victoria didn't even want to look at him; she remained immersed in her own remorse: "I was so stupid! So stupid! Now that I think back carefully, I could have simply taken both children home. I could have just said I gave birth to boy-girl twins, and that would have been that!"
"It's not that simple!" Charles couldn't help but say to her. "You're really too naive! If you had actually done that back then, your husband would have grown suspicious instead—after all, the chance of having fraternal twins is very low! The university hospital had your complete medical records; all the ultrasound images told one clear truth: you were only pregnant with one child, with no evidence of a second. And besides, the two children didn't look alike at all."
Victoria looked up and glared at him: "So what? It would still have been better than giving the child away to someone else!"
Charles stood up, looked out the window, and couldn't be bothered to argue with her anymore.
"Why aren't you saying anything? Am I wrong?"
"Victoria, how old are you now? How can you still be exactly like you were twenty years ago—always like a child who never grows up!" With a sigh, Charles turned around and said to her.
Victoria felt a stab in her chest. She bit her lip, and only after a long, long time did she say gloomily: "Actually, the biggest mistake was more than twenty years ago, that night—we never should have made that mistake!"
Charles sat back down on the sofa, glanced at her, and remained silent.
"If I hadn't drunk alcohol that night, hadn't gotten drunk, none of what followed would have happened!"
Charles clenched his hands tightly, lowered his head, and still said nothing, though his expression grew increasingly dark.
"If nothing had happened between us that night, none of this chain of events would have followed, and there wouldn't be so much regret now..." Victoria began to ramble.
"Even if the man drinking with you that night hadn't been me, and the man who took you home hadn't been me, it would have been some other man who'd 'make the mistake' with you!" Charles suddenly interjected, unable to hold back any longer.
Victoria looked up, her eyes wide as she glared at him: "What do you mean?! What exactly do you mean?"
"That night, you deliberately got yourself drunk. Even if I hadn't been the one to take you home, if it had been some other man, you would have slept with him all the same, and the exact same chain of events would have followed."
"What nonsense are you spouting? How could I possibly be that casual! Any man would do?" Victoria retorted loudly.
"At that time, you already knew your husband was having an affair and was planning to leave the family to divorce you. You were dead set on getting revenge on him—of course any man would do!" Charles, true to his nature as a professor, always spoke with piercing accuracy.
"You!" Victoria gasped in fury, but she could no longer find words to respond. Yes, back then, she truly had been driven to that level of madness.
Charles glared at her until he saw that she was so enraged she seemed on the verge of being unable to breathe. Then he immediately felt deep regret. "Let's not discuss this anymore, alright?" His tone softened as he coaxed her gently.
"Don't men do the same thing casually?" But Victoria refused to let Charles pin it all on her: "Even if I was willing, doesn't that mean you bear no responsibility at all? Are you saying you didn't want it yourself—that I forced you?"
Charles turned his face away. A voice in his heart kept saying, We were the golden couple from our university days; what I regret is that I never married you and made you my wife. But in the end, he could only answer calmly: "I don't want to say anything in my own defense, nor will I make any excuses for my actions. I'll say this just once: I've never regretted that night."
Victoria opened her mouth and drew in a sharp breath. His meaning was...