New World, New Life: I Became A Bigshot In The Ancient World-Chapter 299: MISSING DAUGHTERS

"My girls..." Henry whispered, voice cracking.

What?

The words that left the butler’s lips stunned everyone.

Henry moved forward, almost in a daze, until he stood right in front of Heidi and Penelope.

The twins instinctively stepped back.

What was going on?

But Henry bent slightly, staring deeply into their faces with trembling eyes. "It’s really you..." He breathed.

All of a sudden and before they could react, he turned toward Wilson.

Their eyes met, and Henry gave a single, heavy nod.

Wilson’s gaze sharpened.

"Let’s go inside," he said calmly to Aristia. "You haven’t introduced our guests yet."

Aristia was confused even though she had a faint guess, but still nodded and turned to the bewildered sisters.

"Let’s go in."

As they entered inside, the head maid, Jacqueline Cedmond, was speaking with a maid.

She turned just in time to see the group.

A warm, welcoming smile lit her face. "Princess Aristia is back with the guests."

But when she caught sight of the two girls, her reaction was equally peculiar.

The smile froze on her face and her eyes widened.

"Dear lord," she muttered, touching her forehead. What was she seeing?

Jacqueline glanced at her husband. Seeing the look in Henry’s eyes made her own tremble, and told her that he could see what she was seeing.

"Who are these?" She swallowed and asked, managing to ask the question without her voice trembling.

"Mrs. Cedmond, these are the girls I mentioned would be coming to live here." Aristia explained, stepping forward. "Their names are Heidi and Penelope."

Gasp!

Jacqueline gasped sharply.

"H-Heidi...? P-Penelope...?"

This time, she couldn’t control the tremor in her voice.

"Can someone please tell me what’s going on?" Aristia exhaled in exasperation. She couldn’t take the suspense anymore. She turned to the head maid. "Mrs Cedmond, what’s wrong?"

Heidi and Penelope couldn’t agree more with her.

But Jacqueline didn’t seem to hear her.

She walked straight to the girls, gently grasping both their shoulders.

"I... I’ve missed you so much," she sobbed as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Heidi and Penelope froze, utterly overwhelmed.

They exchanged gazes, not knowing what to do as the woman cried uncontrollably.

Jacqueline felt like a dam had been opened inside her. The tears just wouldn’t stop coming.

She could only hold onto them tightly, as if afraid they would suddenly disappear. She was scared that this was a dream. It felt so unreal.

Wilson cleared his throat while Catherine said, "Jacqueline. The girls are confused. Let them sit."

Jacqueline looked at them and nodded, realizing Catherine’s words made sense.

Realizing she was clinging too tightly, she loosened her grip, though she did not release the girls entirely.

She held the both of them in each hand and followed the group to the parlour.

Before this whole drama happened, Aristia’s family and the butler, along with her people, Adeline and Kai, had waited outside to see who the new additions would be so it was quite a crowd.

After the butler and his wife, the head maid’s absurd reactions, it shifted from just a meeting of Aristia’s latest people to something else.

Everyone settled in the parlour.

Seeing the children’s inquisitive gazes, butler Henry decided to speak.

He took a slow breath and when he began speaking, his voice had steadied and he was back to normal.

"Jacqueline and I had two children... twin girls. They were barely a few months old... We never stopped searching for them."

Heidi and Penelope stared back, shocked speechless as their brains tried to process the new information and how in the world the couple’s reaction upon meeting them was connected to the story.

Aristia noticed their fingers twist together tightly.

Henry lifted his gaze to them. His eyes were soft, yearning, and pained.

"It happened exactly ten years ago," he said quietly. "Back when Her Highness and His Highness"—he nodded respectfully toward Wilson and Catherine— "traveled to Orrivale for an inspection. We accompanied the household with our babies."

Jacqueline squeezed her husband’s hand, encouraging him to go on. Her own face was pale.

"Prince Wilson had asked us to return to the capital first," she said, voice coming out weak. "So we did. Sigh. It was supposed to be a simple, safe journey."

Aristia’s brows furrowed. She could already feel the tension gathering in the air.

"But on the way back... a merchant wagon ran wild on the road. The horses were spooked by something. We never found out what. The wagon crashed straight into our carriage."

Heidi flinched while Penelope’s grip on her sister tightened.

Aristia leaned forward unconsciously, seeing where the story was heading.

Henry and Jacqueline remembered that day clearly as if it happened just yesterday.

Because of the force caused by the collision, the carriage overturned and crashed into a ditch near a crowded road. People screamed. Horses panicked. Wagons collided. It was pure chaos.

Thinking about it made Jacqueline’s heart that had just calmed down, ache again.

Henry patted her hand comfortingly and continued, "I lost consciousness upon impact. When I woke... Jacqueline was bleeding beside me. Our coachman was alive but badly injured. And our carriage..." He paused. "It was crushed. It was a miracle we weren’t harmed."

"Our babies," Jacqueline whispered. "Our precious girls... were gone."

Silence fell over the room.

"The carriage door had broken open when it overturned and the people around had brought us out of the carriage while we were unconscious." Henry explained. "We thought, maybe someone had taken our children out first."

His voice dropped into something hollow.

"But when we wanted our children, no one knew where they were, or that children were in the carriage. We searched for months. Then years. Every town, every noble household, every marketplace... any rumor of twins, any hint of children found after an accident."

Henry shook his head slowly.

"We never found them. We eventually believed... they had died, or were taken far away." His voice cracked. "We were forced to accept that our daughters were gone. Everyday I would pray to Lord Nerin to keep them safe."

Heidi’s lower lip trembled while Penelope’s eyes shimmered with tears she didn’t yet understand. They had already caught up with what the couple was saying.

"Then... how do you know they’re your daughters now?" Aristia asked.

Henry closed his eyes.

"When you brought them here," he said, "their faces... their eyes... I recognized them immediately. A parent knows. We have dreamed of those faces for twelve years." He said, grasping his wife’s hand.

Jacqueline nodded fiercely.

"Even their mannerisms," she said, her emotions no longer high. "Heidi always tilts her head to the right when she’s confused. Penelope always holds onto her sister when she’s nervous. And their eyes...the exact shade of brown we have."

Heidi blinked, lifting her hand to her eye without realizing, seeing that it was true.

Penelope’s grip on her sister tightened instinctively.

Wilson rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He’d been silent the whole time, but his expression had gone unreadably deep.

Catherine opened her mouth. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"Girls," she said calmly. "May I ask... do you have anything, any item that has been with you since you were born?"

The girls nodded.

"Um, yes." Heidi said, taking out the pendant from around her neck. "We’ve had this necklace. It had our names on it."

Seeing the necklace, Jacqueline gasped.

"We got that pendant for the both of you. The C means Cedmond— our surname. We wanted to get you both a better pendant, but then that accident happened."

"Hehe, if it wasn’t so simple, our aunt and uncle would have sold it. We heard them talk about selling it once, but our aunt said it wouldn’t sell for much." Penelope said with an awkward laugh.

Everyone guessed that the so called ’aunt’and ’uncle’were the people the girls lived with.

Henry exchanged glances with Wilson, determined to see this aunt and uncle.

"Heidi. Penelope," Henry said quietly. "Would you allow us to confirm it... properly?"

Heidi and Penelope exchanged a long, fearful look, wondering how he planned to.

Then, Heidi exhaled shakily.

"If... if it’s true..." she whispered with confusion, "that means..."

"... We have parents." Penelope completed.

They looked down at their hands, feeling uncertain and overwhelmed... but also strangely hopeful.

Aristia scooted closer to them.

"You’re not alone," she said quietly. "Take your time. I brought you here and I don’t plan to leave you alone."

She knew that the girls would be less comfortable around the others than they were with her because they weren’t as familiar with them as they were with her.

Heidi and Penelope nodded gratefully.

Aristia leaned back, letting out a long sigh she hadn’t realized she was holding.

This was going to change everything.

Wilson finally rose to his feet.

"Henry. Jacqueline," he said calmly, "go to my study. I’ll call for the physician and have the confirmation done immediately."

Jacqueline nodded quickly.

Aristia gently rose from her seat, turning to the twins.

"Let’s go," she said softly.

She knew just what this ’confirmation’ was.