Really
As Was Expected, Just As I Thought
adverb
You hope your efforts will bear fruit, but… will they really? It remains to be seen.
果たして is a word used to express skepticism or uncertainty about an outcome. For example, you might hear a soccer announcer say 果たしてゴールできるのか？(will they indeed be able to score?) as a player runs down the field, or an anime character say 果たしてそうなのかな？(I wonder if that's really the case?) when they're doubting something they've been told. It sounds a bit dramatic and theatrical, so you'll run into it more in entertainment media than in casual conversation.
In some cases, it can also mean as was expected, as in 果たして失敗した (as expected, they failed), but this meaning is mostly limited to either older or quite literary writing.
Since this word consists of a kanji with hiragana attached, you can bet that it will use the kun'yomi reading. You didn't learn that reading with this kanji, so here's a mnemonic to help you:
When you don't really believe someone, you say, "Hah (は)! Nice try, but you're not fooling anyone." As was expected, you saw right through their lies. Hah!
果たしてあるのか？
Is it really there?
果たしてできるのか？
Can it really be done?
果たして来るのか？
Will they really come?
果たしてどうなのか？
What is it really like?
果たしてこの計画は成功するのだろうか？
Will this plan really succeed?
私の行動は果たしてあれで正しかったのだろうか？
Were my actions really the right ones?
あのカフェでコウイチに会えるかもしれないと思っていたら、果たしてその通りになった。
I thought I might be able to meet Koichi at the cafe, and sure enough, I did.