ABFMV Chapter 29 Part 1

Rong Ru-yue wiped at her tears, but her emotions were out of control.
“Back then, I never understood why you were so set on attending Lilan Military Academy. Now I realize—you were looking for a new protector.”

“Old General Jiang may have a strange temper, but he fiercely protects his own. Even His Majesty can’t do anything about him. With you as his disciple, His Majesty won’t be able to keep targeting you, and you won’t have to keep exhausting yourself pretending anymore.”

Xu Linlang knew all too well that this entire chain of events had been nothing more than a coincidence. But the reasoning held together so neatly that denying it now would only raise more questions.

So, Xu Linlang could only nod in agreement.

Rong Ru-yue patted the back of her hand. “I’ve always known you were a good child—you’ve been that way since you were little. Now it’s fine. You don’t need to keep degrading yourself anymore. You can live your life well.”

She smiled. “As for your father and me, don’t burden yourself worrying. As long as we are alive, we won’t let anyone hurt you.”

Her bond with Rong Chen as brother and sister had been severed the day Xu Linlang drank that poisoned soup.

They always said the royal family was heartless. Rong Ru-yue had never believed it. She and Rong Chen had supported each other since childhood, surviving countless hidden daggers, finally securing power together.

And in the end, Rong Chen tried to kill her son for the sake of power, and in doing so, wounded her daughter.

She had never harbored a single thought of seizing power, yet Rong Chen treated her this way. What “sibling bond” could remain between them?

Later, Rong Ru-yue saw even more clearly—Rong Chen cared nothing for the people closest to him, not even the one who shared his pillow.

He knew full well childbirth would damage the queen’s body, yet he forced her to bear him a son. She nearly died in the delivery room, while Rong Chen was overjoyed.

He already had a daughter, but because he feared Xu Gongyu, only another son could put his mind at ease.

Xu Linlang felt a little dazed. Her words were like a key, unlocking a Pandora’s box of memory within her.

Scenes from her childhood—her parents’ love and tenderness—flashed across her mind.

Her mother held her in her lap. Her father, the Marshal, used a remote control to tease her with a mechanical dragonfly.

Her older brother stood at her mother’s knee, laughing and leaping, trying to catch the toy dragonfly.

She didn’t manage to catch it and burst into loud, miserable tears.

Her father wiped her tears away while gently teaching her:
“Sweetheart, remember—don’t get hung up on a single failure. If you want something, you have to fight for it.”

She blinked her big eyes and said in a milky little voice:
“Then I want us to always be together as a family, just like now.”

Her mother and father both ruffled her hair with doting smiles. “Silly child—of course.”

Xu Linlang’s eyes grew hot. Looking at Rong Ru-yue across from her, she whispered, “You and Father must take care of yourselves too. I still want us to always be together as a family.”

Rong Ru-yue’s eyes trembled, tears spilling down. “Alright.”

After walking her mother out of the dormitory, Xu Linlang collapsed onto her bed, utterly drained. Memories she hadn’t thought of in years had surged up just now, stabbing through her nerves like needles.

She remembered the princess—her childhood playmate—calling her to the back garden one day.

The princess had always liked copying her outfits. That day she wore a red-and-white dress—one her brother had once praised Xu Linlang in, saying she looked especially cute.

The princess stood high above, but her voice came out muffled and heavy:
“Father wants to kill your brother.”

Xu Linlang had only laughed it off, thinking it a joke.
“How could Uncle ever do that? Don’t tease me like that, Cousin.”

But the princess’s face stayed cold.
“I heard it with my own ears. He told the wet nurse to poison your brother. After my brother died, many urged Father to adopt my brother as his son. You think Father would allow that?”

Xu Linlang’s eyes went wide, helpless. “Then what do I do? How can I save him?”

The princess broke into a cruel smile.
“Only if you drink that poisoned soup by mistake can your brother live. With Father’s nature, if it doesn’t work this time, he’ll try again. To him, only a life is a warning enough. If you want your brother to survive, then you must die. Between the two of you, only one can live.”

“And don’t think of telling your parents. Father is already being merciful, letting just one of you die. If they knew, they’d fight him—and then it won’t just be you. It could be… your whole family.”

And her memory cut off right there—at the moment she drank that poisonous broth.

No matter how hard she tried afterward, she couldn’t recall what came next. Her next memories jumped forward to her life growing up in the modern world.

As for the original Xu Linlang’s memories after her illness had passed, they were a complete blank—erased, as if by force.

So those childhood memories—were they really her own, or fragments from the original?

She couldn’t tell.

Her head throbbed so badly it felt like it was splitting open. She buried her face in the pillow, clutching the quilt tight, enduring the pain.

“Meow!”

Through the haze, a familiar voice reached her ears, pulling her slowly out of the storm of memories.

Eyes red, Xu Linlang looked up into a pair of round, luminous eyes.

The kitten had padded close without her noticing, pressing its tiny paw—like a little lychee—into her palm.

Her nose stung. For a moment just now, she had felt like she didn’t even know who she was.

As though nowhere belonged to her.

But the kitten stayed by her side—clingy, affectionate, its gaze full of worry. Then it curled up beside her, watching her every move.

Those wide amber eyes seemed to hold a cup of sunlight inside them, staring up at her so innocently, as if they had countless secrets to tell her.

She rubbed its soft ears. “I’m fine.”

The kitten rolled onto its back, belly up in a show of trust. On the quilt, it was like a fluffy ball of cotton candy. With those sweet, liquid eyes turned on her, Xu Linlang melted completely.