CHAPTER 36: 36. MEETING MEI SHEN MOTHER - ROSALIE

AT THE SAME TIME

EMEPEROR LIANWEI POINT OF VIEW:

The first thing I noticed was the change in the air. It grew heavier, charged, like the moment before a summer storm crashes down. My fingers tightened on Mei Shen’s pale hand.

"Who’s there?" I growled, my voice hoarse. "Show yourself."

And then he appeared. Zeyrith. He didn’t arrive in his usual subtle, mocking way this time. No, the god manifested in a swirling cascade of golden threads that lit up the dark room. His long coat fluttered around him as if caught in a wind that didn’t exist. His golden eyes glimmered faintly as they fixed on Mei Shen, and for the first time since I met him... I swore I saw hesitation in them.

"You..." My throat burned. "You did this to her, didn’t you? You’re trying to take her back!"

Zeyrith tilted his head, expression unreadable.

"No, emperor. I am not the one pulling her. You know very well who she whispered before slipping deeper, don’t you?"He said.

I froze, hearing it again in my head. Rosalie...

"You know who that is." I accused, my voice sharp. "Don’t you? Tell me!"I ordered.

"I know her, yes." Zeyrith admitted, stepping closer. His eyes softened, impossibly so for someone like him as he looked down at Mei Shen. "But it is not my place to tell her truths. Not yet."

"I don’t give a damn about your ’place.’" My voice broke. "If she’s in danger, I need to know. If Rosalie’s the one pulling her away-"

"She isn’t." Zeyrith interrupted. "Not in the way you think."

And then, with a wave of his hand, light fractured across the room like a cracked mirror, and through it stepped... Her. A woman. She looked so much like Mei Shen my breath caught.

Long black hair that shimmered like midnight silk. Warm golden brown eyes with an intensity that felt like sunlight after a long winter. But there were differences too her face was older, gentler, lined with grief and wisdom in equal measure. Her presence filled the room, and for a moment, I couldn’t even speak.

"Rosalie..." The name left my lips like a curse and a prayer at once.

She smiled faintly, her gaze falling on Mei Shen with an affection so fierce it made my chest ache.

"My little star." She whispered, kneeling beside me. Her hand hovered above Mei Shen’s hair but didn’t quite touch.

"I felt you slipping. I couldn’t let you wander too far."She muttered.

"You’re-" My voice shook. "You’re her mother, aren’t you?"

Rosalie’s eyes flicked to me, and I swear there was recognition there.

"In a way." She said softly. "Though not in the way she dreams."

"What does that mean?" I demanded.

Rosalie didn’t answer right away. She looked down at Mei Shen again, her lips trembling as if she wanted to say everything and nothing all at once.

"She doesn’t remember. Not fully." Rosalie murmured. "The life she left. The love she lost. She’s always been searching for me, for a family. And she’s found one here, hasn’t she?"

I swallowed hard.

"She has. With me. With Huan. She’s ours."I said.

Rosalie’s gaze returned to mine, and there was sorrow there.

"Good. Then hold her close, emperor. Because your world... may soon need her as much as you do."She said.

"What are you talking about?" My grip on Mei Shen’s hand tightened. "What do you mean?"

"The threads of fate are fraying." Rosalie said, her voice soft yet heavy with finality. "An apocalypse looms over your world born not of fire or war, but of collapse. The balance is breaking, and the system cannot stop it this time."

"And Mei Shen...?"I asked.

"She may be the key." Rosalie whispered. "Or the spark that sets it all ablaze."

"No. She’s just a woman. She’s-"I started.

"She’s more than you think." Zeyrith cut in quietly. "Why do you think I chose her? Why do you think the system allowed her here at all?"

My breath caught. The pieces started fitting together too many coincidences, too much mystery around her arrival, her strange strength despite her pain. Rosalie looked at me again.

"She has always carried light in her, even when her own world gave her none. Protect her, Lianwei. If she falters... so does everything."Rosalie said.

I didn’t know whether to scream or beg or fall apart right there. Instead, I held Mei Shen tighter against my chest.

"She’s everything to me. I don’t care what she’s supposed to save or destroy. I just... I can’t lose her."I whispered.

"You may not have a choice." Rosalie’s voice cracked with a mother’s grief. "But I will help as I can. Even from beyond."

She leaned down and whispered something too soft for me to hear into Mei Shen’s ear. And then like smoke caught in wind, she was gone. The fractured light faded. Only Zeyrith remained.

"She’s right." He said. "And if you truly want to keep her safe, you’d better start preparing for what’s coming."

I stared down at Mei Shen’s sleeping face.

She looked so peaceful now. Too peaceful. And for the first time in my life, I felt powerless. I felt her shift before she fully opened her eyes small movements like a bird trembling its wings, hesitant, fragile.

"Mei Shen?" My voice cracked as I brushed a stray lock of hair off her forehead, soaked with sweat. "You’re awake. You’re back."

Her lashes fluttered open, slow and heavy. Her eyes blinked once, twice, trying to focus. And then she saw her. Rosalie. Standing quietly a few steps away, her gaze soft but piercing. I watched Mei Shen’s eyes widen like she’d been ripped from a deep fog and suddenly saw a lighthouse shining through the storm.

"Mother..." Her voice was a fragile whisper, barely more than a breath, but it shattered me.

Rosalie’s face softened into a tender smile, the kind only a mother can give. She took a cautious step forward, reaching out, as if to touch the daughter she’d lost and found all at once. But Mei Shen’s eyes flicked to me, confusion and a thousand questions swimming there.

"You... You’re here." She murmured, voice thick with disbelief. "But how? Why?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat and squeezed her hand.

"She’s been here all along." I said softly. "Rosalie... she’s someone important to you. Someone from your other life."

Mei Shen’s gaze shifted back to Rosalie, searching, desperate for something familiar in this impossible moment. Rosalie’s voice was quiet but steady.

"You’re not alone anymore, Mei Shen. There’s more to your story than you remember."She said gently.

Her eyes filled with tears, and I saw the war raging inside her, between the life she’s living now and the shadows of the past calling her back. I felt helpless watching it. But I refused to let go, not now, not ever.

"Whatever comes." I said, my voice low and fierce. "We face it together. You, me, Huan and whoever else we need."

She looked at me and for a moment, the weight of everything lifted from her shoulders, replaced by something like hope. But the fear was still there, too. Because this was only the beginning.