Her gaze turned cold, and a mocking smile brushed the corner of her lips. "Custody? You’re here to talk to me about custody? You don’t remember, do you? Then let me remind you. Back then you kept telling me you didn’t want this child at all, that in this life you’d never thought about having children. And now you’re here talking to me about custody?!"

Her voice, which had been fairly calm before, was now filled with aggression, as if she were ready to do anything to protect the treasure she was guarding, while in his eyes she was nothing more than a raider. "Kyle Kinston, if you really want to fight me for Ivy’s custody, then for the rest of my life, I will hate you!"

Under her gaze, he felt a kind of wretched embarrassment. And her words made his heart clench violently; every contraction brought with it a stab of pain.

Hate him for a lifetime, for all eternity?!

Just thinking of that made it unbearably hard for him to accept.

Hadn’t he already resigned himself to the fact that she would never love him in this life? So why did hearing that she might hate him hurt so much?

As if her hatred was a weight he could not bear.

"Fine, I can choose not to fight you for custody, as long as... you obediently stay here in Falling City for the next few days." As he said this, he practically fled in a panic, not even daring to look at her for another second.

Afraid that if he looked, he’d see hatred in her eyes.

Only now did Mabel Quinn feel her legs go a little weak; she had to brace herself against the back of a nearby chair just to keep standing.

She couldn’t deny that when Kyle Kinston had said he wanted to fight for their daughter’s custody just now, her heart had been in a panic, filled with fear. How important her daughter was to her went without saying.

Stay here in Falling City for the next few days? And yet she still couldn’t figure out what his intentions really were.

She took a deep breath, steadied her emotions, and then went to look for Butler Kang and her daughter, finally finding them in the back garden of the Kinston Family estate.

Her daughter was under an Osmanthus Tree, dancing for Butler Kang the routine she’d learned in kindergarten, and his deeply wrinkled face was creased with smiles.

The little one, the moment she saw Mabel Quinn, immediately ran over. "Mommy!"

Butler Kang also looked at Mabel Quinn with a smile. "Young Madam, it really hasn’t been easy for you, raising the child alone all these years. And thank you as well, for leaving the Kinston Family an heir."

To Butler Kang, this was his greatest comfort—at last, the Kinston Family could continue on.

"I gave birth to Ivy, and it has nothing to do with the Kinston Family, only because she is my child," Mabel Quinn said. Even if those words might be a little cruel to an old man, she still didn’t want Butler Kang to misunderstand.

The little one, however, chirped loudly, "Mommy, Grandpa Kang said this tree was planted by you and Daddy, it’s called an Osmanthus Tree, it smells so, so good!" There were very few Osmanthus Trees in City G, so the fragrant tree had really piqued the little one’s curiosity.

Mabel Quinn was slightly dazed. Was this tree the very Osmanthus Tree she and Kyle had planted the day they got their marriage certificate? Back then, they’d treated it as a kind of memento, hoping that this tree would bear witness to their love.

But in reality, what this tree had witnessed was their separation.

At the side, Butler Kang murmured softly, "Although Young Master has lost his memories of the past with you, he has always kept this tree. He often stands beside it, just quietly looking at it, saying that when he sees this tree, he feels very calm, very at ease."