My mother lay weakly in the healing den, her chest rising with shallow breaths, and hot tears streaming silently down her cheeks.So… I had known the truth all along.Back when I came home this time, I hadn't challenged Xina like before. My mother had even felt relieved—thinking that maybe her daughter had finally grown up, matured after all that suffering in rogue territory.She thought I had changed.But in reality, I had just stopped expecting anything.This time, after going through so much trauma, I didn't say a word. Not one complaint.I'd just… given up.My mother remembered that day—how I had looked at her with such hope and asked, "Mother… can I not do this ritual?"And what did she do?She'd sent her own daughter straight into hell. With her own hands.My mother clutched at her fur in agony, sobbing uncontrollably as she clawed herself over and over.Her son, my brother, now unshaven and gaunt, wrapped his arms around her and rasped out in a broken voice:"Mother… you have to
Read more