"Mom..."
Mo Xie stared at the woman smiling at the camera in the photograph. She was even more beautiful than he remembered, with none of the frailty or exhaustion she had shown when he was little. She glowed as though she were the most beautiful woman in the world.
The mother in his memories had seemed more like an ordinary person. Yet in the photograph, she carried a faintly divine air, as if she truly were a goddess.
What's going on? Why would Mom...
Even as longing for his mother welled up, Mo Xie felt a surge of shock. She had known Ye Chang—and those two Western siblings beside her.
Seeing Mo Xie tremble, Asharuiya felt a pang in her heart. She slowly wrapped her arms around him, rested her head against his chest, and listened to his heartbeat before speaking softly.
"Since you've found out, I won't hide it from you. Your mother adopted me. In a way, you really should call me your sister."
Mo Xie's heart stirred. When they had first met, she had called him her long-lost little brother. In a sense, he really was.
"But..."
He still could not understand who his mother truly was, why she had known Ye Chang, or who those two Western siblings were. Questions crowded his mind.
Asharuiya looked at the photo on her phone. Her thoughts seemed to drift into the past. After taking a moment to gather her words, she explained.
"You probably know a little about the Parthenon Temple's history. The only man in the photo is Wen Tai, who was its Holy Son over a decade ago. The woman beside him is his younger sister, Izisha. Your mother was Wen Tai's sworn younger sister, and Aunt Ye was your mother's sworn younger sister."
*Mom... was Wen