The Contracted Ever After novel Chapter 531

Back in the day, medical expertise hadn't caught up with the needs of the times, and as a result, the younger daughter's illness remained untreated. Now, eighteen years later, she believed that her condition could be remedied, but her father still refused to seek treatment for her, choosing instead to bury his head in the sand. Maybe he feared that curing his long-hidden daughter would tarnish the family's good name. So, he opted for blissful ignorance, turning a blind eye to her suffering. With each passing day, the younger daughter's resentment towards her father and sister grew.

Meanwhile, the healthy elder daughter was the very picture of joy, as free-spirited as a bird in the sky. She went to college. and was the object of many a suitor's affections, yet she spared none a second glance. That was until the day a film studio spotted her potential, and she was swept up into the world of acting, rocketing to stardom with her very first roles. She appeared in a string of movies that were all shot domestically, adored by her fans, and reveling in her craft. She left college prematurely. Her heart was set on the silver screen, starring in hits like "Emerald Waters" and "Sails in the Wind"...

The old man paused, seemingly lost in a reverie of the young lady's radiant beauty in her heyday.

Cordelia furrowed her brow slightly. "Emerald Waters," "Sails in the Wind"—those titles sounded vaguely familiar to her. But where had she heard them? She couldn't quite place it.

"Please, go on," Cordelia urged the elder man.

He hadn't touched his glass of milk; it sat untouched as he continued.

The healthy sister eventually fell in love with a fellow actor during a film shoot. Their on-screen romance bled into reality, and before long, they couldn't tell where the acting ended and their true feelings began. They crossed a point of no return, and in the midst of her rising career, the elder daughter couldn't afford a pregnancy. Perhaps it was the depth of her love for the man that led her to retreat overseas, hoping to give birth to their child in the privacy of her family home—the child of the man she so deeply adored.

The male actor had commitments to finish on set and couldn't accompany her. Moreover, he was intimidated by her prestigious family background, uncertain if her parents would accept a man like him. The actress reassured him, promising to return home first to gauge her father's sentiments.

But when she got back, her home was in turmoil. Her father lay bedridden, a shadow of himself, and her once-ailing sister stood in the living room, healthy and vibrant, greeting her with a sly smile, "Hello."

Cordelia felt a chill run down her spine. The sister's sudden recovery seemed too strange, too convenient. And her father's abrupt decline? It was all too sinister.

The old man himself seemed uneasy as he recounted the tale; Cordelia noticed a tremor in his hand as if he, too, feared the younger daughter's machinations.

"Are you curious about how the younger daughter recovered?" he asked, his voice tinged with the drama of his story.

Cordelia nodded, eager to hear more.

The younger daughter had pleaded with the housekeeper who brought her meals to beg their father to let a doctor examine her, arguing that with her sister away, she could step in to care for and honor their father. The man, now advanced in years and alone since his wife's passing, was swayed by the thought of having a daughter by his side. He quietly summoned a physician who treated the girl with therapies and acupuncture.

Perhaps it was the younger daughter's sheer will to live that spurred her rapid recovery. She began to run daily, and the sight of her vitality brought some comfort to their aging father. Yet, unbeknownst to him, his own final days were quietly drawing near.