The gentle voice that floated from beyond the door could no doubt, only belong to Asura's mother. That soft, tender tone—so full of warmth—was unmistakable.
He hurried to the door, hand reaching for the handle, but froze as a surge of doubt crept into his chest. 'What if she realizes I'm not really her son? What if she sees the change… will she still want me? Will she still… love me?'
Liu Chen couldn't explain why the thought of her rejection struck so deeply. But somehow, the fear of being cast aside by this woman—his mother now—stirred something raw and unfamiliar within him.
The door slid open before Liu Chen could reach for the handle.
A gentle fragrance spilled into the room—lotus root and gingko, faint sandalwood, something soft and maternal that reminded him of warm broth in winter. A woman stepped inside, and the glow from the twin moons behind her illuminated her figure in a soft silver outline. Her presence alone seemed to soften the air.
"Asura, are you still awake?" Her voice was like drifting mist on water—gentle, delicate, but steady. "I thought I heard something."
Liu Chen froze. His heart should not have trembled. He had long since died once. But now, standing here in another's body with this boy's memories, this woman's voice had made him feel like a child who didn't want to be scolded for crying.
Wang Mei.
His mother. Or rather, Asura's mother.
She was more beautiful than memory allowed. Snow-white hair like woven clouds, bound loosely with a lilac pin. A pale lilac robe, simple but spotless, draped her slender frame. She had the tired grace of someone who'd suffered long, but bore it with dignity.
Her skin was paler than it should have been, but with that paleness came an otherworldly allure. Like she was a pure jade beauty who stood untouched by the tribulations of this world.
"...Mother," Liu Chen said. The word scraped out of his throat like rusted iron. Liu Chen hadn't called anyone that in years since his mother had passed away when he was a young boy. For most of his life, he had been raised by a strict father that was closed off to the world around him.
Wang Mei paused. Her gaze studied his face, her lips trembling ever so slightly. Then, without another word, she walked forward, wrapped her soft arms around him, and pulled him into her chest.
"You scared me," she whispered. "You really scared me."
Liu Chen stiffened. Her embrace was so real, so heartbreakingly real. He didn't know how to return it. He didn't know if he had the right. He wasn't her son. Not really.
And yet her heartbeat against his ear… that was real. That was the first true comfort he'd felt since awakening in this cursed world.
She pulled back slightly, lifting his chin to look at him properly.
"I cannot explain it, but you've changed," she said, voice low.
Liu Chen's heart skipped a beat. A sliver of dread ran up his spine.
But Wang Mei smiled, brushing his hair behind his ear. "Your eyes… they're stronger now. Not like before, when you used to look away from everyone. My Asura has finally grown up, hm?"
He said nothing.
She looked at him for another moment, then stood and gestured to the cart racked with food behind her. "You haven't eaten, have you? I brought you soup. Go on, sit."
He sat.
She laid out a tray on a small table near the bed, placing down a bowl of steaming herbal broth, some salted lotus roots, and a few dried dates. Simple food, poor even, compared to what the rest of the Wang Manor ate.
But the care behind it could not be counterfeited.
Liu Chen looked down at the meal. "You made all this?"
"Of course." Wang Mei poured him a small cup of spirit-cleansing tea. "Who else would bother to cook for my little boy?"
As she spoke, her eyes flicked down—just briefly—to the blood-stained bandages wrapped around his ribcage. Wang Mei had long known about the injury almost as soon as it happened, for that was the reason she knew to come to the medical division.
But knowing the politics and schemes of the household, she didn't dare voice her concerns in front of anybody and kept her head down like she saw nothing.
She tried to smile, but the corners of her lips trembled, and the tears welling in her eyes betrayed her efforts. Anyone with half a heart could see she was crumbling on the inside.
"I cannot pretend anymore…" Her voice cracked, brittle like frost on glass.
She knelt beside him and reached out with trembling hands, barely brushing his cheek as if she feared even that might break him. Or her.
"My little Asura… I'm so sorry we must live like this. You don't deserve any of it. None of it," she whispered.
She pressed her forehead against his shoulder, the words tumbling out faster now, as if she'd held them in for too many years.
"This is my fault. All of it. I should never have conceived… knowing the curse that plagued my bloodline. I was selfish. I only wanted to give him—your father—some joy, just one thing to make him look at me the way he used to…to make him love me..."
Her voice faltered.
She tried to continue, but the sobs finally won. They choked her, wracking her frail frame as she crumpled at his side.
Liu Chen sat frozen, the boy's six arms tense, hands clenched into fists at his sides.
He had heard what she had said, but he refused to take any of it to heart. She said that her bloodline carried a curse and that was the reason for his appearance, but he hadn't considered his six arms to be a curse at all. In fact, he found life to be more interesting with them.
Though he did not feel any sadness nor guilt, she did - and he didn't know how to comfort a mother who wept like this.
He looked at her again. She was even beautiful as she wept.
This woman—so gentle, so thin, so worn down—had been shouldering his pain all this time.
"My little Asura, soon...soon we can leave here and live a good life. You just have to hold on and give me a bit more time."
As she tightened their embrace further, Asura noticed what seemed to be countless claw marks on the bottom of her neck and downward. It was evident she had tried to cover it up with her clothing, yet Liu Chen was more perceptive than others so her attempt ultimately failed.
'Father's other wives...'
They continued this in silence for a few minutes until Wang Mei composed herself and let the two of them eat.
"Why do you do all this for me?" he asked quietly, halfway through chewing a lotus root.
She blinked, startled by the question. "What kind of mother doesn't care for her child?"
Liu Chen had not remembered the love of his mother, so he was surprised this woman would go through such lengths for him.
"You know they all call me this family's curse and how they treat you because of me. You could've left me, yet you did not."
Wang Mei's smile faded. Her eyes dimmed slightly, and her voice dropped lower.
"You think I didn't want to sometimes?" she whispered. "There were days when I wondered if I could bear it—when the servants spat outside my door, when they threw your food in the dirt. But every time I looked at you, I saw those eyes. And I knew… if the world hates you, then I'll be the one who doesn't."
Liu Chen sat in silence.
Something inside him shifted. Not just guilt. Something deeper. A buried emotion he hadn't let himself feel in years.
For the first time in both of his lives, someone was choosing him without condition.
He clenched his fists under the table.
"I'll repay your kindness," he muttered.
Wang Mei raised an amused eyebrow and said, "You do not have to repay love. Besides you are a child, I must shoulder this burden by myself."
"I'll grow stronger," Liu Chen said. "I'll make them all shut their mouths. I'll even destroy this place and them along with it if I have to."
She shook her head and laughed quietly. "You've always been so dramatic, Asura. Rest now. You don't need to carry the world."
But he did.
He had already decided to.