Didn't you go to Teyvat to earn money to support me?

"...True Lord Liuyun, who is he?"

Gan Yu gazed at a painting that Liu Yun had drawn amidst the swirling snow. It depicted a girl with flowing white hair, a petite figure, and wearing a dress with large sleeves—or perhaps a boy, it was hard to tell.

It was unclear because, although the painting was exquisite, Liu Yun Jie Feng never painted the face of the person in the portrait. She held the brush, remained silent for a long time, ignored her disciple's words, and instead stood up with her hands behind her back.

Suddenly, the Rock Lord Morax appeared beside the painting. He silently observed it for a moment, then looked up at the frozen surface of Lake Untapped and let out a long sigh. Then he smiled, glancing at the paintbrush in Liuyun's hand, "Why did you stop?"

“Gui Zhong…it’s not like that.” Liu Yun covered his head with his hand, muttering to himself, “How could I have misremembered Gui Zhong? She doesn’t have white hair, and she’s not this short…I’m wrong, I’m wrong, how could I have fallen for Gui Zhong…I never…”

She had a severe headache.

Morax chuckled, but the smile lasted only a moment. He said, "If you've already forgotten the person, why force yourself to remember? This is a new chapter. Since we never had them, at least it wasn't so painful."

Liu Yun left, dejected and heartbroken.

Morax looked at Gan Yu again, but he remained silent for a long time, unable to say anything.

"Your Majesty, you don't remember either, do you?" Gan Yu asked softly.

Morax turned his head. The wind and snow gradually obscured the mountaintop, concealing everything. He finally smiled and said, "If you live long enough, you'll encounter this a few times. That's just the way things are, the wear and tear imposed on you and me."

“But it shouldn’t be like this,” Gan Yu said softly. “People shouldn’t be like this, Your Majesty. I can sense it. In a world that has been stable for over a hundred years, what exactly led us to join forces? Even the World Tree can’t answer that question. We once united the seven kingdoms around one person for various reasons. If that’s the case, he must be a good person. So beloved by everyone, I think… I loved him too. He shouldn’t just disappear like this.”

"Has the enormous historical deficit made so many people realize the mistake?" Morax pressed his hand on the picture frame and whispered, "But there's nothing we can do, that's fate."

He only felt a sharp pain in his heart.

He also couldn't remember what that person looked like. As a demon god as solid as a rock, how could his memory fade or forget? It was just another kind of wear and tear.

But the pervasive pain in his heart told him that it was a child, perhaps a child he had watched grow up. Whether in his remaining subconscious or in the omnipresent flaws of the world, he could vaguely perceive the boy's actions and feel his "presence."

He was a young talent who was widely admired by the people of Liyue. All his achievements are gone now, but for some reason, Morax still felt a great deal of pity and admiration for him.

Perhaps during his long reign over a country, he often thought about returning power to the people. But he was worried about the ordinary people of Liyue; it seemed that the times had not yet progressed to the point where they could abandon the protection of the Demon God.

So he guessed that he had once considered that boy, a boy who was a link between gods and men, possessing supreme power to protect the nation, yet also having human emotions and desires. Perhaps he had once propelled the progress of the times, gradually modernizing these ancient seven kingdoms, which was why he remembered him so vividly.

Perhaps the heavy burden of responsibility for the country and its people that he carried should have been borne by that young boy. But the boy was too human; he was caught up in human desires and hatred, and what he wanted to grasp was heavier than what Morax wanted to grasp, so he left.

"???"

Morax, who was deep in thought, suddenly froze, looking at the scene before him in disbelief.

The slender Qilin girl's eyes were still blank, but for some reason she picked up the pen left behind by her master.

Unlike Liu Yun's grief and indignation, when she lifted the unfinished easel, her gaze remained silent and even somewhat vacant. She set up the easel again, mixed the colors on the frozen inkstone, bent down, picked up the now-hardened wolf-hair brush, and gripped it tightly.

Morax held his breath, watching in astonishment as Gan Yu's hand slowly moved across the canvas, meticulously outlining lines. The frozen, dried colors were warmed, melted, and applied anew by her hands.

Each stroke, one character at a time.

Each stroke, one character at a time.

Morax finally realized that, compared to him or Liu Yunbinfeng, the girl before him who had remained silent the most was the one who had lost the most. Even though the whole world was trying to erase her feelings and erase that person, all her memories and tenderness for that person were piled up, pressing on her heart, and she couldn't let them out.

Those loves that have already been lost are of no meaning, of course, but Gan Yu's life has been tied to these meaningless things. So she is confused, she has nowhere to go, and can only entrust these pointless emotions to her paintbrush.

call--

The final stroke concludes.

A stunningly beautiful white-haired woman, sword at her waist, leans against a pear tree by the Weiqu Lake, a scene of vibrant springtime beauty born on this cold, snowy night.

As the painting came to light, the snowstorm on Mount Ozang quietly subsided, and the entire mountain was once again covered in a peaceful and serene silver-white.

“Gan Yu?” Morax asked.

"I'm fine, Your Majesty." Gan Yu put down her pen and turned her head.

Morax thought the girl would be in tears, but he didn't see any sadness. Gan Yu simply composed herself and smiled steadfastly.

"What do you think that child's identity is in Liyue, Your Majesty?"

Morax was taken aback, and after a long while he smiled helplessly, making a rare joke: "So important, so talented, and so beloved by the people of Liyue while I was alive, ha... If I didn't know myself, I would have suspected that he was Morax's child."

“That is Lord Youjun.” Gan Yu said softly, “My… Lord Youjun, I am no longer alone.”

She smiled silently, put away her painting, and stepped into the beautiful snow.

The moment you fall in love with someone, you lose your loneliness. It's better to never hold hands than to be strangers for life.

If you are sleeping in the lake, then wait for some years, during which time I will live a wonderful life.

When the mountains have no peaks and the seas have dried up, on a sunny day, we will meet again by this lake with its clear waters, fine sand, and white birds in flight.

I believe that we will not become memories.

------------

Earth time, 1982, Bergen, the capital city in western Norway.

"Why aren't you crying? Why...why aren't you crying?"

At least twenty doctors from the Destiny Nordic branch arrived at the municipal hospital. Outside the ward, the Kaslana family paced anxiously, and they were even more frightened and at a loss when they heard the doctor's question inside.

The Kaslana family has declined, and by this point in time only the "main family" remains; all other branches have ceased to exist. It is conceivable that in another ten or twenty years, the Kaslana family will be reduced to a single line of succession.

At this time, Claire's second child was truly a rising star.

But the delivery was probably already over, and the doctor was still inside, not coming out for a long time. It was getting really hard to wait, so a spirited "boy" who looked only eight or nine years old stood up and said, "I'll go in and take a look!"

"No entry to the sterile room! The delivery isn't over yet!" The nurse from Tianming immediately stopped them!

This is the delivery of the current matriarch of the Kaslana family. Although the child in front of her is the only one of the current generation of young people in the Kaslana family and the future head of the family, the nurse is still very responsible. "Child, don't cause trouble!"

Siegfried Kaslana sighed and laughed, "Nurse, you don't understand the Kaslana family. Being born unable to breathe doesn't mean you're beyond help. You have no idea about our vitality! Even a placenta can develop into a human being in the Kaslana family. Let me go in and give my future sister some Honkai energy! A little stimulation and she'll cry!"

The nurse was stunned. Was this how the Kaslana family treated a newborn baby?

But before she could speak, she heard a loud cry coming from the midwifery ward.

Everyone, including Siegfried, breathed a sigh of relief.

Inside the hospital room, Claire didn't even have time to recover; she frantically pounded on the bed, almost shouting, "How is it! How is it! Let me see, how is my baby?"

"Madam, why are you getting up like this? Even if your Kaslana family has great stamina, you can't just jump out of bed right after giving birth, can you?" The doctor, who was also a Valkyrie, smiled as she held the baby over. "Look, he's perfectly fine. Newborn babies are usually quite ugly, but this little guy was born with big, round eyes, looking around everywhere. He's so cute. We had to tickle him several times before he cried. He's perfectly healthy!"

Claire quickly pulled out the IV needle that was giving her an IV. She was an A-rank Valkyrie of the Kaslana bloodline, and childbirth was nothing to her; she didn't need to worry about it at all.

At that moment, she was just eager to ask, "So, what's the result? Boy or girl?"

At this step, the doctor paused slightly and glanced hesitantly at Claire.

"Well... how should I put it, it's another boy."

The doctor felt a pang of pity. She knew that the Kaslana family, as a Valkyrie family, possessed the bloodline of "knights" and would inevitably become battlefield warriors capable of killing thousands. In this situation, it was certainly better to have a girl.

Men are simply incompatible with Honkai energy, making it extremely difficult for them to reach the power of a Valkyrie. And the Kaslana family… this is already their second son.

Claire's husband has already died on the battlefield. How long can the rest of the Kaslana family's middle generation fight? There are no collateral branches now; it all depends on Claire's children, but they are all boys. The Kaslana family is facing a lineage... This is a risk of extinction. It's possible that by the time the children grow up, there won't be a single strong member left in the Kaslana family.

But the doctor was surprised to see a slight smile appear on Claire's face.

“It’s alright, it’s alright, boys are good, all the same.” Claire smiled slyly, casually picking up the baby and admiring the child’s curious eyes. “It’s okay, it’s okay, boys can carry on the Kaslana family name. In the past, many ancestors couldn’t have sons and had to marry into other families to continue the bloodline. Anyway, my generation doesn’t have this problem.”

The doctor shrugged.

For those on the transcendent side, bloodline doesn't matter; both men and women can inherit it, so it's really not important. However, most boys are simply incapable of cultivating Honkai energy, which is why the transcendent side favors women… In her opinion, Claire's statement was purely self-comfort. But comfort is comfort, after all; the doctor and Claire are comrades-in-arms and close friends, so there's no need to expose her.

“But Doctor, you must keep this a secret from everyone. Just say… he’s a girl.” Claire thought for a while, then suddenly said with a mischievous smile.

"???" The doctors and nurses were stunned. Then, some of them thought about it for a moment. Indeed, if the Kaslana family didn't even have a daughter, their future was definitely over. Countless people would probably be eyeing this family. A little bit of lying was a good thing; after all, the Kaslana family had the authority to do so.

"Okay, but I will include the truth in the confidentiality agreement. The gender of the Destiny Family members is a Destiny secret, and there must be at least a true backup."

“As long as no one knows the child is a boy, it’s fine,” Claire said with a smile. “Nothing else matters.”

At that moment, the ward door opened, and Siegfried, who had been waiting outside for a long time, rushed in and saw the tiny newborn in his mother's arms.

She covered her nose, frowning slightly: "It stinks."

“Babies definitely don’t smell good, they smell of blood. If your sister remembers what you said, she’ll be sad.” Claire gestured for the doctors to leave, leaving only the mother and her two children in the ward.

She relaxed slightly, reached out to smooth her long, pale yellow hair, and then beckoned to Siegfried, "Come here, come to Mommy."

When Siegfried approached with a puzzled look, Claire hugged both children tightly and whispered, "Siegfried, you are the older sister, and you have to take care of your younger brother. He doesn't have the talent to achieve S-class status like you, but he is forced to pretend to be your gender in front of others."

Siegfried froze for a moment. She immediately looked down to confirm the baby's gender, then froze, "Brother...brother?"

No wonder she was surprised; while the Kaslana family did have a chance of producing a son, it was always very low. Most importantly, if the child was a boy, what was the point of her disguising herself as a man and causing trouble every day for eight years?!

“I’m so sorry, Siegfried. If I had known this would happen, things wouldn’t have come to this…” Claire stroked her daughter’s head affectionately. “I’m so sorry you had to go through all this.”

Siegfried was raised as a gifted boy from the year he was born. This was not because the Kaslana family was abnormal, but because it was a plan of the previous head of the Kaslana family and the Shaniat family to save the Kaslana family, which was declining and had few members.

Kaslana and Schariac are closely related, and a gifted male Valkyrie is even more important than the Valkyrie herself. This is because it means that Siegfried can marry Cecilia Schariac, the contemporary saint who has the best bloodline among Schariac's children and was even born with the blood of the saintess.

With this powerful alliance, Kaslana, who had long since lost most of her power, can at least continue to live for many more years.

This would sacrifice the lives of two young girls, but compared to the preservation of the family legacy, there was no other way.

“But…no!” Siegfried roared. “Mom, I’ve already set a bad example! Why should my brother follow in my footsteps? We should just…”

"Open and honest? What would become of Kaslana's credibility then?" Claire chuckled. "It's alright. The Shaniat family isn't unaware of these matters; in the end, they're just putting on a show for outsiders. But if the younger brother is also exposed as male, what will outsiders think if Kaslana has two boys?"

Siegfried sighed deeply.

"And don't you like playing boys? Maybe your little brother will like playing girls too?" Claire chuckled mischievously.