''And did mother love him too?'' Han Jian Yu asked.
Mia sat up straight and she glanced at his face, ''Who are you calling mother?"
''Your mother,'' he blinked.
She narrowed her eyes, ''Why are you addressing my mother as yours?"
''When did I?"
''You… You just did,'' She was speechless. She had never been rendered speechless like this in a row before.
''Oh, the you was silent,'' He flicked his forehead, ''Dummy.''
Mia's mouth opened and closed and not a single word came out of it. Dummy…. He called her dummy. ''You are dummy, your sister dummy,'' She glared at him.
Han Jian Yu chuckled and pulled her back into his arms.
''My mother was very powerful and very prideful…''
''So, you got this from her, my little fox?" He interrupted her while playing with her hair.
Mia blinked before pinching his shoulder, ''Do you think you are getting very much into this so quickly?'' Just a few minutes passed since he came to know the truth, but she had yet to see a hint of shock on his face. Let alone shock, he even came up with something like 'little fox'.
Han Jian Yu cleared his throat, ''Continue, why are you getting distracted?''
Mia rolled her eyes. Wasn't he the one who was distracting her?
''When my mother discovered that she will have to leave her tribe, her place, she stepped back on it. But both of them loved each other so eventually, things changed for them. My father married her, despite the ministers and other higher-ranking court officials opposing him to let a woman of unknown origins become the queen.''
''But the marriage between them still worked as they loved each other,'' he guessed to which she nodded, ''And then little Mia came,'' Han Jian Yu teasingly said.
''Uh… yes,'' Mia paused for a moment before adding, ''My name was Liuyue. Xiao Liuyue.''
''Sounds very delicate to me…''
Mia smiled, ''But over the years, things started going downhill when someone cursed my mother. In the initial years, we did not notice anything amiss because the curse did not show any signs and my mother's health was always good. Once or twice, she did fall sick but my father did not look much into it because mother said it was normal because she is not used to be living with humans. Moreover, nobody in the kingdom was aware of my mother's identity except my Father and me. I was 7 or 8 at that time.''
Han Jian Yu frowned, ''What about you? Were you born with powers?"
''I was more of a human but my powers started showing up in the later years and to make me more capable, mother taught me how to handle them.''
''Then why did they place a curse on her?"
''For someone who is now existing in legends, she was precious. Every fur of her tail, every sparkle of her power was something that people will hold greed for. At that time, in our kingdom, there was a Han Family too.''
That caught Han Jian Yu's attention, ''And?"
''The family of generals and they were your ancestors. The man who caught hold of this information and shared it with evil people, he was your ancestor,'' Han Jian Yu went quiet while Mia continued explaining, ''The day when my mother found that she was cursed, she did not hide it from my father because she knew how much he detested being kept in dark, especially when things were about her.''
''Comparatively, I am so understanding,'' Han Jian Yu interrupted her as he said, ''Look at me who was being kept in dark all this while but am I still not letting you sit on my lap?"
She was speechless again, ''They were husband and wife.''
''We can be too…'' The words slipped out of his mouth unconsciously and silence lingered in the air.
Mia did not say anything and neither did Han Jian Yu as he tried to gauge her reaction but she had her face on his shoulder and he could not see her expressions.
"From the day my father got to know about it, he started looking for a way to break the curse. But my mother realized that it was a very powerful ancient curse that grew stronger with time. Despite being an immortal, the curse inflicted a lot of pain on her and when she noticed that her power was being sucked by the curse, she started to send her powers into my body," As Mia continued speaking, Han Jian Yu noticed how effortlessly she dodged the topic and his words. It left a weird feeling in his chest but he did not dwell on it as he continued listening to her.
''...By the time my father found the curse and came back to our kingdom after a long journey, my mother was no more. He was numb but he did not speak much about it and I knew it must be painful in his heart because I was in pain too,'' Mia wrapped an arm around Han Jian Yu's waist as she softly mumbled, ''...He wanted to work more that night, to look into the court matters but I coaxed him to sleep. I said I will see him the next day….'' She closed her eyes, feeling a little warmth in them.
Han Jian Yu quietly stroked her back as he waited for her to continue.
''...But he never woke up.''
The movement of his palm paused for a moment before he continued stroking her back.
''And I was told that he is gone…'' Mia paused, ''I lost control over my powers though I appeared calm from outside. Those people who instigated this did not get my mother's power because she passed most of them to me and only a little bit of her powers was sucked by the curse. But I was her daughter and they abducted me in doubt.. Though there were all the royal guards and they were all outstanding soldiers but they did not win against black magic and I was taken away. I don't know what they did to me but I came into my original form right in front of their eyes…''