Chapter 40 - Stone Cold Woman

"Um..... *cough..... ahem, excuse me. So your chosen lin (female qilin) is not a lin but a qi (male qilin)? That's um..... that's interesting," she said trying to process the piece of information after half listening to what he said.

Ji Yao, "..."

What the fuck was a lin and a qi? No that wasn't the point. The point was that all this time she was pretending he was invisible whenever he came here yet she could not only see him but also talk to him.

"You are such a jerk, you know that right? Tsk...," he said as he got up to leave.

Seeing this Qilin Hao panicked and hurriedly stopped him. "Wait, wait, wait. Don't you have questions? I can answer anything you want as long as you don't leave," she said with her hand stretched out as though reaching out to him.

Of course, she couldn't touch him but that didn't stop her from subconsciously reaching out.

Ji Yao kept walking even when she said that. He had burning questions but he was angry right now and wanted to walk away just like she walked away from him. But as soon as he turned the corner he found it difficult to walk away.

His questions were more important than the grudge weighing over his heart right now.

Clenching his fists he walked back again and said, "If you lie I won't come back here ever again," threatening her.

The threat was well received but Qilin Hao couldn't help but think her son was cute when he was angry. "I swear to the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me...," she swore but Ji Yao cut her off before she could finish.

"No..... don't dare bring god into this.  You lie to me and I walk out," he said with one foot at the door..... sorry I meant to say one foot out the cave entrance.

Qilin Hao nodded her head before making a hand gesture for him to sit. "No, I am fine. Now tell me how this is possible... and why on earth wouldn't you say a word to me each time I came here? Was it fun to watch me make a fool out of myself?"

Okay ouch, that hurt this princess so much that she felt a sharp pain like a knife was wedged in her heart. This was the perfect example of someone with a tormented past reproducing offspring when they haven't received help for themselves. It was highly probable that they would carry over that hurt on their children.

Her father shunned her and demoted her revoking her title as a princess which is why she was at the forefront of opening the portal. Her father was perfectly fine with using her as a guinea pig on the premise that she would reinstate her title.

She naively thought she would be welcomed home after this but instead, she was sucked into this strange world with no way of going back. If she hadn't met Ji Wen she would have continued tearing this planet apart until she found each and every one of those keystones.

Having found her qi who wasn't necessarily of the same clan she thought she could live a happy life and forget her past but it came to haunt her. Fast forward eighteen years and here she was talking to her son through a portal because if she so much as took a step outside her fortress the formidable one would tear apart whatever was left of her aether.

She might make dozens of excuses but the honest truth was that she didn't speak because she was afraid to hear Ji Yao say he hated her for leaving. She didn't think she had the mental capacity to hear her baby say that. Qilin are overprotective jealous creatures, especially with their offspring.

This was also another reason she made Ji Wen drink her blood because she wouldn't be able to handle another woman raising her child. In her own way, she tried to be there for him but it still wasn't good enough.

"Which one do you want first? A physics class or the reason why I never spoke," she said nervously stroking her long hair.

"What do you think?" he replied through gritted teeth. Only the heavens know how much he was struggling not to walk out on her right now.

Qilin Hao's breathing stopped for a moment as she could see the formidable one in her son. The tone, the anger was so similar that she was almost frightened.

"Because I didn't want to hear you say that you hate me right to my face.... that's my greatest fear..... Your father can curse me all he wants but if you do it then what else is there for me to live for?" she said her eyes bloodshot red. This was the truth... her truth and for the first time, she had said it out loud.

Her words hit Ji Yao so hard that he stood there rooted with no words to say. He thought she was going to say something like 'because you didn't speak first' or that 'she didn't see the need' but this went beyond his expectations. This stone-cold woman actually had a heart. Granted it was encased inside a hard rock but it was there.

"I thought you don't care... based on everything you did it doesn't look like it," he said with his head lowered unwilling to face her directly.

Qilin Hao pursed her lips as she averted her gaze trying to stop herself from crying.

She had been through so much and never shed a single tear but right now in front of her son, she felt like crying. She had let him down but at the same time, she felt like she had no other choice.

"I care..... and I just want you to know that, ahem," she said before clearing her throat when she realised her voice was brittle.

The two stayed silent for what seemed like forever. No one spoke that is until the image of her soon started fading away. It was then she realised how weak her seraphic energy was becoming. She could barely hold this transmission for thirty minutes unlike the first she did this and the two of them sat together for three hours.

"We have run out of time..... let's talk tomorrow," she said feeling her entire body weaken with each word she spoke.

"Wait.....," said Ji Yao but he was dumbfounded when he saw blood flowing at the corner of his mother's lips. From what he knew something was definitely wrong with this situation but because he was stuck in his own emotions earlier on he hadn't noticed.

Her hand was fragile and there was a slight tremor in hand as she stroked the brush on the paper.. This was unlike Qilin Hao from what he could remember and now she was bleeding from her mouth? Something was absolutely wrong with her but he couldn't ask because everything faded and he was left alone in the cave once more.