Andy looked uncharacteristically dejected. He hesitated but held Selene’s hand as they walked back to their seats, saying in a low, red-eyed voice, "Mommy, is… is Uncle someone else's daddy?"

Selene froze. Following the child's gaze, she saw the familiar figure sitting in the parents' section. Silas’s handsome features made him stand out, and Yara Vance was happily holding the child’s hand beside him.

She heard the child calling out to Silas.

"Daddy!"

Chapter 3

The noisy surroundings of the Ability Academy’s performance report echoed in her ears, but Selene felt as if she couldn't hear a thing, her eyes dull and vacant as she stared at the scene before her—a picture of what should have been a family.

She felt a wave of helplessness wash over her; she didn't know how to explain this to her son. The sudden bitterness and sorrow were nearly more than she could bear.

She had spent countless nights dreaming of how happy it would be to go on missions with Silas, to accompany their son to parent-child activities, and to live under a small roof, a family enjoying simple harmony.

Now, he stood not far away, holding another woman's child in his arms, turning all her fantasies into someone else’s reality.

Her son’s sobbing came from her arms. Selene quickly wiped away the tears that were about to overflow, picked up the boy, and forced a smile to soothe him:

"It’s not like that, Andy. He’s just playing around, don't cry, don't cry..."

Andy nodded, choking back sobs. He reached out to hug his mother's neck and said softly, "Andy won't cry, Mommy shouldn't cry either."

Selene didn't expect to be comforted by her 4-year-old son instead. The tears she had just suppressed almost broke through again.

Yet, in the end, she swallowed the lump in her throat, her eyes red as she watched the rest of the performance.

In the car, the orderly silently raised the partition.

Selene looked down at the well-behaved Andy in her arms, her fingertips gently brushing over his eyebrows and contours, which were identical to Silas’s. Tears slid down silently.

Everything had changed since Silas learned the truth.

The gaze that was once filled with love had gradually turned to suspicion and restlessness, becoming gloomy and unfamiliar, leaking a repressive paranoia.

He always wanted her to send the child to a welfare camp, stubbornly believing the boy wasn't his biological son.

After she refused, Silas became even colder...

"Silas, go for a paternity test... This is our child!"

Selene, still in her postpartum month, lay in bed, exhausted.

The light illuminated one side of Silas’s cold, chiseled features, while the other side remained in shadow, terrifyingly grim. "Shut up, he isn't!"

Selene watched his retreating back, weeping as she tried to make him stop.

"Silas..."

Silas paused for a moment but left without turning back.

The scenery outside the window slowly faded, and a low murmur came from her arms.

Andy was sleeping restlessly, his little face wrinkled, still muttering 'Daddy' in his sleep.

Selene’s fingertips brushed his little face, her eyes filled with self-reproach and guilt.

It was all her fault that her son had never experienced a father's love from a young age...

The car stopped at the villa entrance. Selene carried Andy into the children's room with light, careful steps, then returned to the living room.

As night deepened, she looked toward the entrance from time to time, aimlessly scrolling through the base's internal communication terminal.

A set of pictures and text on the screen hit her vision, making her breath hitch.

【Warmly welcoming Dr. Yara Vance to our base's medical station family!】

In the photo, Silas and Yara were sitting side by side, and the little boy she had seen earlier that day was sitting between them, laughing particularly brightly.

The comments below were even more piercing:

"Officer Silas, the child really looks like you [Smile]"

"Haven't seen you in a few years, the kid is already so big [Surprise]"

"What a pair of divine healers, even the child is so cute [Heart]"

The long-idle terminal screen automatically dimmed and slid from her palm to the side.

Only the ticking of the clock could be heard in the empty room. Selene suppressed her aching heart, her entire body filled with a deep sense of powerlessness.

Silas, what exactly do you want to do…

She didn't know how long she sat there before a sound came from the door.

Silas closed the door, threw his coat on the floor with a heavy frown, and staggered into the bedroom, completely ignoring Selene who was sitting on the sofa, staring at him blankly.

Seeing him head into the bathroom, almost tripping, Selene got up to support him, but she underestimated her own strength and was pinned down by the tall, long-limbed man.

In the panic, she hit the shower switch.

Water cascaded down, soaking both their clothes.

Silas breathed slightly, the scent of alcohol on his combat uniform filling the air even more intensely.

Suddenly, a glaring red lipstick mark on Silas’s half-open collar jolted Selene’s brain.

The color was clearly the same shade as the one on Yara’s lips in the photo earlier.

She didn't want to think about what they had done that night, or how they had spent it.

She pushed with both hands, trying to shove him away, but he held her tighter and tighter. His hot breath against her ear made her tremble all over.

Silas finally noticed the familiar woman beneath him, his voice low and entangling.

"Yara..."

A thunderclap exploded in Selene’s ears. She felt only disgust and sorrow, and she struggled desperately.

Silas ignored her resistance, his bony palms firmly confining her struggling hands, while his other hand took off his glasses.

Selene had never imagined Silas could be so brutal and terrifying. She begged through tears, "No! Please, don't do this..."

The man frowned impatiently, took off his ability-user wristband, stuffed it into Selene’s mouth, and continued regardless.

Several hours later, this unilateral torture finally ended.

Having regained his sobriety, Silas put his glasses back on, looked at the woman in the bathtub in a state of disarray, and stood up, looking down at her with a grim expression.

He left a thin, cold remark.

"Don't you like it this way? What are you pretending for now?"

Chapter 4

Selene lay in the bathtub, battered and disheveled.

Every word from Silas’s mouth felt like inch-by-inch torture on her heart, tearing her soul to shreds.

Her ears buzzed; everything around her lost its sound.

By the time she came to her senses, the man was long gone.

Selene curled up, hugging herself tightly. Her fingernails dug into her flesh, but she felt no pain. A suffocation from being toyed with and discarded washed over her, making her shed tears in a numb daze.

The words she had heard outside the medical station that day echoed in her ears.

So… did this count as the 100th act of revenge?

In the tub, the cold water soaked her bare skin. The chill was bone-biting, but she seemed to have lost all sensation. It wasn't until the water overflowed the tub that she sluggishly realized she needed to take her medicine.

Selene stumbled into the room, fished out the medicine bottle, and swallowed the pills. Only then did her unfocused eyes find a focal point.

She collapsed by the side of the bed, drifting into a heavy, nightmare-filled sleep.

By dawn, Selene struggled to open her eyes, hiding the exhaustion in them, and sent her son to the academy as usual.

A few nights later.

Silas rarely came home for dinner, but Selene wasn't happy as she usually would be; instead, her first instinct was avoidance and panic.

But seeing Andy’s happy little face, she endured it in the end.

The atmosphere at the dining table was chilling.

Selene’s lips moved several times, but she didn't know what to say.

All the words she had repeatedly brewed in her heart remained stuck in her throat in the face of the man’s unruffled gaze, eventually turning into a silent silence.

Silas sat at his seat, indifferent, as if what happened that night had nothing to do with him.

Andy was in high spirits, sneaking looks at Silas, his bright, watery eyes openly revealing admiration and affection.

He seemed to remember something, ran into the room, and came back holding a small notebook to show the man.

"Dad… Uncle, these are all the contribution point stickers Andy has saved!"

Silas paused mid-motion as he stood up, glancing at the full page of stickers. The complexity in his eyes made it impossible to fathom the emotions contained within.

Selene was afraid her son might annoy him and wanted to step in to distract him, but then she heard Andy, nervous yet expectant, say to the man with wide eyes:

"Uncle, I’ll trade all my stickers for you to take Andy to the ecological garden in the safe zone, okay?"