[The Fragrant Consort spoke slowly. "On any other day, I would not have breathed a word. But today is different. The situation has long since changed, quietly and unseen."]
[She raised her eyes to Gu Rui before her, the apprehension and gravity of years still lingering in her gaze. "Rui, you have never witnessed the methods of Blazing Sun Mountain's legitimate daughter. I have seen them all too well."]
["Precisely for that reason, I have spent these years in the Azure Sea Dragon Palace treading cautiously at every step, as though walking on thin ice, never daring to put a single foot wrong."]
[Her voice was gentle, yet laden with suppressed emotion. "I have had only one thought: if I should fall one day, you would be left alone in this Dragon Palace of treacherous waves and shifting clouds, with no one to shelter you."]
["Mother!"]
[Gu Rui's throat tightened abruptly, his voice hoarse and choked. He could no longer hold back the ache in his heart.]
[The Fragrant Consort gently raised a hand and helped him up. "Stand. Your father is resolute and decisive in matters of life and death. Nothing displeases him more than seeing his children weak and weeping."]
["Your father also came from a minor branch. In his youth, he endured cold looks, humiliation, hardship, and privation. Yet he broke through his predicament, reached the summit, and secured the supreme seat of the Azure Sea Dragon Palace. As his son, you should inherit his backbone, temper your resolve, and live up to his might."]
[Gu Rui rose and said respectfully, "I will remember your teachings, Mother!"]
[He could not help feeling that his mother today was utterly different from her usual self.]
[Whenever the Dragon Palace's secrets or internal affairs came up in the past, his