The Sevie home was not large. Although the exterior had been repaired over the past year, the inside had not been remodeled; it was evident that the furnishings still dated back ten or twenty years, seen for instance in the bare concrete floors rather than tile.
Sonia's room was modest, but one could tell she had put considerable care into it: pockets cut from discarded clothes were pasted onto the wall in a collage of colorful little pouches, serving as both storage and decoration. With stems of balloon vine Martha had grown and stalks of wheat gathered from the fields tucked inside, the room naturally took on a warm, refreshing atmosphere.
The wind chime by the window, the decals on the wardrobe, the paintings she had done herself on the wall—the accumulated traces of a girl's teenage years and her longing for a better life lent this humble room a cozy glow.
When Sonia lay down on the creaking wooden bed, she curled up and hugged her little quilt tight. Rubbing her bleary, sleepy eyes, she gazed dazedly at Martha and Yaxiu standing beside the bed. "Mom...? Yaxiu...?"
Perhaps her drowsy thoughts had looped through several layers of confusion, or perhaps she felt she was still dreaming. Sonia pulled the quilt up over her mouth, her cheeks flushing bright red as she murmured shyly, "I'm not ready to get married yet..."
"We're not here to discuss a wedding... at least not yet," Yaxiu said, caught between tears and laughter. "We only came this time to visit your mother."
Sonia looked toward Martha and reached out to grasp her hand. "Mom... he's Yaxiu. Yaxiu Heath."
"I know. I've been following the news about you two all along." Martha wiped the fine beads of sweat from Sonia's forehead with a towel. "Are you uncomfortable anywhere?"
"Just sick, don't worry," Sonia said softly, closing her eyes. "I'll be fine soon. We're very capable, right, Yaxiu?"
"Of course." Yaxiu stood up. "I'll step outside for a bit. Take your time and talk."
Seeing that Sonia did not object, Yaxiu pushed the bedroom door open and walked out. A mother and daughter reunited after so long needed their privacy, and besides, the whole point of bringing Sonia back was to let her seek comfort and lean on her mother. Lingering in the room would have been utterly tactless.
Just then, Martha called out to stop him. "You..."
After uttering that single word, the middle-aged woman could say nothing more. Her expression was deeply conflicted, looking as though she wished to voice words of gratitude, yet the undisguised resentment in her eyes was glaringly sharp.
Yaxiu understood her feelings completely. In her eyes, after all, he was the great villain who had led her daughter astray. If not for him, Sonia would still be the foremost student at Sword Flower University—the kind of prodigy about whom they would say, *Yesterday I took pride in Sword Flower; today Sword Flower takes pride in me.* Her future would have been bright and boundless, so why would she ever have been reduced to a fugitive hunted across five nations?
Furthermore, according to the prevailing urban legends and street gossip, Sonia was entirely an innocent victim; everything was the fault of the cult leader Yaxiu, who had used vile, despicable means to brainwash and dominate the Starry Country's most talented sword sorcerer into his tool. If Yaxiu's own daughter had run off with some rotten brat, he would certainly be more than willing to believe that version of the story.
That Sword Princess's mother had not hurled abuse at him only proved that the Sevie family's manners could stand to be lowered a bit. Had Yaxiu been an onlooker watching a mother refrain from attacking the scoundrel who abducted her daughter, he would almost have wanted to criticize her for holding back.
"I understand," Yaxiu said with total sincerity. "No need to thank me, Auntie. This is only what I ought to do."
He closed the door behind him, walked through the house, shut the front entrance, and stood beneath the eaves, watching the curtain of rain drown the world.
Only Yaxiu and Sonia had returned to the Starry Country on this journey—more precisely, Yaxiu carrying Sonia on his back. Weise had naturally insisted on coming along, her logic being quite sound: if two could go, three certainly could as well.
Yet Yaxiu had still refused. First, Witch and Vichy had to remain in the Yisu Imperial Palace; if any accident occurred, Felix and Daedalose, being merely Sanctuaries, could never keep the situation under control. A god-level combat asset was required to hold the rear. Second, he was returning with Sword Princess to see her mother. While Yaxiu was fully aware that he was an irredeemable scumbag, showing up to meet his prospective mother-in-law while bringing along another lover went beyond a lack of emotional intelligence—it was an outright insult.
Even so, Weise could still assist them from afar.
Yaxiu touched his earlobe, where a point of silver light was embedded, looking at a glance like an earring. This was Silver Lantern's miracle for long-distance communication, keeping their channel unobstructed even across national borders.
The greatest danger in returning to the Starry Country lay, of course, in the Law Angels stationed in the mortal realm. Once Yaxiu exposed his presence here, it would be no different from dropping a Lalafell into a pot of boiling oil; the entire country would instantly erupt, and the Law Angels would swarm upon them without fail.
Setting aside whether he could win, even if he were capable of winning, Yaxiu would not dare fight. Burdened with an ailing Sword Princess and a defenseless mother-in-law, the slightest misstep would become an irreversible tragedy. His circumstances were difficult enough already; there was no need to crank up the difficulty further.
The best course was to slip in quietly and slip out just as quietly. So far, the plan had proceeded smoothly. Yaxiu had hidden within a merchant caravan, and after entering the Starry Country from Gospel, he immediately went into stealth and sprinted the entire way to Sword Princess's hometown without triggering a single alarm. Weise, borrowing Witch's Gospel God, was currently monitoring the overall situation across the Starry Country; the instant any unusual angel movement was detected, she would notify him to withdraw.
Truthfully, it would have been best to take both mother and daughter away immediately, but for Sword Princess, the combination of "mother" and "childhood home" was the only true safe haven where she could relax completely and let down all her defenses. To help her complete her trial as quickly as possible and free her from this torment, Yaxiu was willing to take the risk and stay.
Only now did Yaxiu's heart truly settle. Sonia's condition had visibly improved; bringing her back to visit her mother had indeed been the right answer. Next, he only needed to await good news from Vichy, and this Six-Wing trial would be essentially overcome.
He closed his eyes and focused his hearing, filtering through the dense patter of rain to catch the intimate conversation between mother and daughter. Though slightly improper, he was genuinely curious about how Sword Princess would act when confiding in her mother.
"...No one's been giving you trouble, right?" Sonia asked softly. "If anyone is, tell me, and I'll have Yaxiu cut them down..."
"No, none at all," Martha said, shaking her head at once. "I'm doing just fine. People have even been a bit more polite to me. Every few days, someone comes by to bring grain, oil, and the like. No one's picking on me."
"They're keeping watch over you..." Sonia murmured with a soft huff. "I'll remember that..."
"What about you, Linda?" Martha asked. "How have you... been doing lately?"
"Good, very good, wonderful," Sonia said with a sweet, soft smile. "Before long, your daughter will become a Divine Lord... That's right, when the time comes, I'll be a Divine Lord ruling over Paradise. Happy? Jialesi isn't even worth mentioning anymore. In the future, I'm going to take you to Paradise to live in luxury!"
"Whatever Linda does makes Mom happy." Martha did not truly understand what Sonia meant; "Paradise" was only a hazy concept in her mind, but that did not keep her from hearing the joy in her daughter's voice. "Are you happy, then?"
"Of course I'm happy, why wouldn't I be?" Sonia said. "Going on adventures everywhere with the person I like is practically better than a fairy tale."
"Is he... is he good to you?"
"In this world, aside from you, Mom, he's the only one who treats me well with no reservations at all," Sonia said with a soft chuckle. "He's like a fool. Before I even ask, he can't wait to give me all the best things. Sorcery spirits, cultivation realms, wonders, a divine palace, and so much more... The only reason I'm this strong is because of him... But he's not getting any of it back! What's mine is mine, and what's his is mine too!"
"...He sounds like a very good person."
"Not entirely good. His sense of responsibility is far too heavy," Sonia pouted. "He's always putting himself in danger. For a while, I worried about him every single day... But I won't anymore, because I'm going to face every challenge in the future right alongside him. Without me, he can't pull off anything great anyway. There's no rival who can stand before us!"
"Mom, I know you might have prejudices against him, but it isn't what you think. He didn't deceive me... Only your daughter deceives others; who could ever fool your daughter? We went through so, so many things before coming together. We are each other's most important person, and knowing him has been the happiest memory of my life," Sonia said. "He's the one I chose, so please don't give him the cold shoulder. If the two of you start quarreling, I won't know what to do..."
Martha looked quietly at her daughter and shook her head. "I won't quarrel with him."
"Thank you, Mom," Sonia said, smiling sweetly.
"But Linda, you're talking about the person you love most." Martha reached out to wipe away the tear tracks on Sonia's cheeks, her voice aching with heartbreak. "Why are you crying?"
Outside, Yaxiu froze. He stood pressed against the door, the rain halting just a pace away, yet the chill carried on the wind seemed to bypass his Sanctuary entirely, seeping straight into his soul and frosting over the blood in his veins.
"Huh?" Sonia wiped around her eyes. "That's strange... Why am I crying? I'm already with the person I love most, I've received so much, I'm so happy..."
The more she rubbed, the more tears flowed, refusing to stop. When Martha drew her into an embrace, Sonia laughed and wept at once, like a bullied little girl clinging to her mother, struggling to choke back her sobs. "Then why... why do I still feel so sad?"
Martha sniffled, her own eyes reddening, and gently comforted her daughter. "Because Linda is a good girl?"
"No, not at all. It's because I'm a greedy child," Sonia murmured, almost like someone talking in her sleep. "Why can't I just be satisfied? I've already received so many things I never dared dream of, I should be completely content... but I just have to be so greedy. So greedy that I'm miserable every single day, so greedy that I can hardly breathe, so greedy that..."
Sonia could hold it in no longer, breaking into a wail against her mother's chest. "So greedy that I can't help wanting to hate him!"
"Then let's not go on like this," Martha said, tears spilling over as she held her daughter, her voice trembling with choked sobs. "Mom will stay with you. Mom will be with you. Don't force yourself to suffer like this..."
"But I can't let him go!" Sonia cried until she could barely draw breath, her face drenched in tears, her eyes swollen red, her hoarse voice sounding like the sorrowful twang of an overstretched string. "I can't bear to let go... Even if it hurts this much, even if I hate him this much, I still can't bear to let him go! When I was little, I always mocked the foolish girls in screen dramas who jumped right into the fire pit knowing full well what it was... I thought I would never become that kind of person, but it turns out I'm stupider than any of them... At least they had the courage to love and hate, while I can neither pick it up nor put it down. I'm the biggest idiot of all!"
"No, you're not. My daughter is the smartest person under the starry sky." Martha wiped Sonia's tears and bit her lower lip. "Linda, you did nothing wrong. The one at fault is—"
"No, it is my fault. I brought this on myself!" Sonia shook her head. "More than once, I've thought about how nice it would be if life could start over. That way, I could go to different cities, make different friends, learn different sorceries, eat different food, and then..."
"Fall in love with the exact same person all over again."
In the courtyard, Yaxiu had unknowingly stepped out beneath the curtain of rain. His Sanctuary seemed to have failed, allowing the downpour to soak his hair and seep through his clothes. His body grew heavier and colder, his heart so weary it hardly wished to beat. He wanted only to curl up in a corner, or simply lie down and be done with it.
"Yaxiu!"
Silver Lantern's voice rang sharply in his ear: "A Law Angel is moving toward your position. Evacuate immediately!"
Chapter 1209