From Villain to Virtual Sweetheart: The Fake Heir's Grand Scheme(BL)-Chapter 245: The Truth He Brought Home

Inside the quiet building, Darcy stared at the scene before him in bewilderment.

He swallowed hard, moistening his dry lips.

He stepped forward slowly. "Hello, ma’am," he said politely, keeping his voice steady despite the odd sensation in his chest.

Zhou Ruyan glanced at him for a second before her lips curled gently. "Oh, how rude of me," she said. "Hello, dear. Come closer. This old lady’s eyesight is not what it used to be."

Darcy approached with careful steps. The light brightened his features as he moved, his sharp profile now clearly visible under the warm glow of the lamps. The way he held himself spoke of dignity.

Zhou Ruyan followed his every movement.

Micah straightened himself with effort and shifted to sit on the couch beside Zhou Ruyan. His body moved stiffly, like every joint hurt. He swallowed the lump in his throat and patted the empty space beside him. "Sit down," he said to Darcy. "Grandma, this is my friend, Darcy Edwood. The one I told you about."

Darcy nodded politely and sat stiffly beside Micah, his back straight and hands clasped neatly in his lap. "Nice to meet you."

Zhou Ruyan’s gaze didn’t waver. "It’s the first time Micah has brought a friend here."

"It’s my honour, then," Darcy replied with a soft smile, casting a glance toward Micah.

But Micah didn’t meet his eyes. His glasses caught the light, hiding his expression, and his gaze remained low, distant. Like he was somewhere else. Like he couldn’t hear their conversation. Trapped in a sealed place.

Zhou Ruyan’s sharp eyes noticed. She shifted slightly and reached for the teapot on the table in front of them. Her hand, delicate but worn with age, trembled as she tried to lift it.

"Do you want some tea, dear?" Zhou Ruyan asked. The porcelain tilted awkwardly. The edge of the teapot hit the tray with a sharp clink, nearly tipping over.

The thud sound made Micah wake up from his daze. "I’ll do it, Grandma," he said quickly, rising from the couch. He took the tray carefully, his fingers brushing hers. Then he turned and walked toward the kitchen area, leaving Darcy alone with her.

For a moment, an awkward silence fell into the room.

Zhou Ruyan smoothed the fabric of her skirt slowly, then glanced sideways at the boy sitting beside her. "So," she said, adjusting the edge of her sleeve. "How did you two meet?"

Darcy shifted slightly under her intense gaze. "Well," he cleared his throat. "It was under unfortunate circumstances. Micah saved my sister from some thugs. That is how we met."

Zhou Ruyan nodded. It must have been a coincidence then. That sounded exactly like something Micah would do. Brave. Reckless. Kind to a fault.

She folded her hands in her lap. Her gaze lingered on Darcy’s face, tracing every line, every shadow, on his profile. The curve of his jaw, the high cheekbones, the shape of his eyes, almond yet subtly upturned at the outer corner. Each detail struck her.

The resemblance was uncanny.

Zhou Ruyan had seen thousands of faces in her life. But this one, this particular face, felt engraved in her memories.

Micah... oh that child was truly something. Too clever for his own good. Too observant. Too emotionally intelligent to the point of being dangerous. He knew her far too well. He knew exactly what would happen the moment she saw this boy. That she would recognise him. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Why shouldn’t she?

This young man, this Darcy Edwood, was the spitting image of her deceased brother. The one who had died young. The one who was meant to inherit the legacy of the jade business.

He died tragically and left a hole in their lives.

No one dared speak of him openly.

Zhou Ruyan’s parents had shut it all away, packed up the pictures, the clothes, the sketches of jade designs that never came to life. It became a silent pact. A shared grief.

Zhou Ruyan didn’t talk about it with her husband Albert, not even showing him a picture. But Micah... that boy had found it.

He was just a child then, maybe seven or eight. She remembered how he snuck into the old studio, snooping around like a little fox he was, curious about the locked cabinets. He had stumbled on it once, on that photo. A boy standing tall next to a carved jade dragon, holding a half-finished amulet in his hands.

Micah had stared at it for a long time, then turned to her and asked, "Grandma, who is this?"

She didn’t know why, but had answered him truthfully.

Micah had always been a different kind of child. Quiet in the right moments, loud when it mattered, stubborn beyond reason, but with a heart of gold.

And now...now, he brought this boy.

It pained her deeply to imagine what Micah must have felt the first time he saw Darcy. What went through his head? Just shock? That this young man probably a distant cousin?

But... if that was the case...if he had believed that, Micah would have acted immediately. Micah would have dragged him the moment he saw him. He wasn’t the type to hesitate...

And yet, he had not done it. Instead, he had brought him here discreetly. Quietly. On his birthday. Asking her to keep a secret, to help him...

That thought pressed on her chest heavily.

Micah had brought this boy not just to introduce his friend, but to seek help, to protect him, to claim his place, to give back what was his rightfully. And to ask her to keep it all a secret. As if she were the last stronghold before everything fell apart.

He hadn’t told his parents. His sisters. Not even his grandfather. Just her.

Zhou Ruyan was not a fool. She had lived through political upheavals, market crashes, betrayals, and marriages of convenience. She knew what it meant when someone brought their most precious secret to her door.

And now, watching this boy, Darcy, sit beside her grandson with such a careful posture and open sincerity, she understood why. She could see it, feel it in her bones. This young man... was her real grandchild.

Her heart ached not only for Micah but for Darcy too. The truth would undoubtedly turn his world upside down.

How had he lived all these years? The mixed up... what must it have cost him?

Micah, who had grown up in her lap, fed with a diamond spoon, wrapped in her silk shawls, who had always looked at her with love, had made this choice. He had brought the truth to her when he could have kept hiding. He knew her heart was weak. The doctors had said she wouldn’t last another winter three years ago. But she had lived longer than expected.

For Micah to do this... what did that mean?

Had he brought Darcy because he believed she had little time left? Because he feared she wouldn’t live to see the truth acknowledged? Or had he already made up his mind, to step away, to leave the family quietly, to make room for the one who was meant to be here all along?

The possibility pained her tremendously. Her hand, resting lightly on the armrest, trembled despite her efforts to stay composed.

Micah could have hidden the truth for the rest of his life, or at least until he secured the entire Ramsy legacy. But no. He had taken the hand of the real young master and led him in.

Micah, her precious grandson, would always have a place in her heart, in her family, in Ramsy’s empire. She would make sure of it.