“After the fire at the Stone residence, some of the extended family asked if I wanted to come back and rebuild the Stone residence. I could never decide, so I kept putting it off. I just never expected that I’d return here like this. It seems there really might’ve been something hidden behind Xenon’s death.” Waylon’s words made Natalie pause for a moment before realization dawned on her. He was right. If Xenon had truly been involved in the baby-swapping incident back then—and had been silenced for it—then after so many years, there shouldn’t have been any more trouble. But now that Yvonne was revealed to be Xenon’s daughter—even if the truth hadn’t been completely exposed—the Stone family, including the extended branches, knew parts of it. And now Yvonne had been brought here. Could that have something to do with Xenon’s death? Maybe even with the baby swap itself? Thinking that, Natalie turned to look at the residence outside. “Dad, didn’t you say there was a fire here before? Why does it still look so lush to me?” Waylon lowered his voice. “After the fire, because the rescue came quickly, even though there were serious casualties, only one row of houses was burned. The rest remained intact. I never decided to come back and repair it, but one of the branch families planted trees at the fire site. It’s been more than twenty years now; the trees have grown tall.” Baron suddenly spoke up. “Dad, the row that burned down back then—wasn’t that the one Xenon’s family lived in?” Waylon hadn’t thought about it in a long time. When he heard Baron’s question, his expression changed slightly as he recalled the details. “You’re right. It was Xenon’s row. By my generation, the Stone family only had me and Xenon left. Our eldest sister was sent away at birth, and after she was turned over to the state, we never saw her again. So it was just the three of us. According to the Stone family’s rules, every child must move out and start their own family once they turn eighteen.”He pointed toward the eastern edge of the property. “That side used to belong to your grandparents. Even though they’ve been gone for years, we’ve kept their house just the way it was—empty but untouched. The next row over was your aunt’s. Even after she moved away and built her own life, we always kept her a room here. Ours was the third row, and the last one on the far end belonged to Xenon.” Natalie followed her father’s gesture. The estate had four rows of villas in all—spaced far enough apart to give each its own quiet privacy, yet arranged with a kind of symmetry that felt deliberate. The place had wide lawns, a front and back courtyard, and a calm, timeless charm that reminded her of old countryside manors. Her eyes lingered on the last villa at the edge—Xenon’s home. It stood a little apart from the rest, and somehow, it looked lonelier too. Waylon’s eyes followed hers. “When the fire happened years ago, no one was supposed to live in the main house—it was meant to stay empty after the family moved overseas. But someone had to keep an eye on the place, so I asked one of our extended relatives to stay here and look after the property. Xenon’s home had already been abandoned by then. People said it was cursed after what happened to his family, but this couple volunteered to move in, and I let them.” Even now, the memory seemed to weigh on him. “I just didn’t want the house to fall apart. I had it cleaned, kept up the maintenance. Someone suggested that if a family lived there, maybe it’d bring a little life back to the place. The couple I chose were good, honest people—steady, dependable. But less than two years later, tragedy struck again. I’ll never forget that night. The fire started in the middle of the night, around two or three in the morning, when everyone was asleep. By the time the fire trucks got there, half the house was gone. The whole family died—everyone except one child who somehow survived, hidden in a rain barrel.” Waylon’s voice grew thick with emotion. He had only wanted to preserve Xenon’s bloodline, yet his decision had led to the deaths of an entire family. Natalie felt a pang of sorrow. “Dad… what happened to that child? Are they still alive?”