CHAPTER 41: 41. GIFT AND SUPPORT

AT THE SAME TIME

EMPEROR LIANWEI POINT OF VIEW:

I didn’t know what to do except hold her. Mei Shen was still clutching her head, shaking, her breaths sharp and uneven. Huan stayed beside her like a little soldier guarding his mother, his eyes huge and wet. The fire hissed in the hearth, but the heat didn’t touch the chill creeping into my bones. And then, the air changed again. Not like when Zeirith spoke. This was... warmer and stranger. The lanternlight shifted, shadows deepening at the far side of the chamber. The rain outside seemed to hush for just a moment, as if the world were holding its breath. And then she stepped forward. Rosalie. Not as the faint echo of a spirit I’d glimpsed before, but whole, radiant, real.

Her gown shimmered as if woven from morning light and stormwater, her hair catching the firelight like threads of gold. She looked younger than I remembered her... and impossibly sad. I rose slowly, never letting go of Mei Shen’s hand.

"You-" My voice caught. "How-?"

She didn’t answer at first. She only crossed the distance between us, silent, her bare feet making no sound on the rug. When she reached me, she looked at Mei Shen with a softness I’d never seen in anyone’s eyes. Then she turned to me. Without asking, without warning, she placed her palm against my forehead. The world cracked open.

It wasn’t like remembering. It was like living. Fire roared around me, no, not me her. Rosalie. I stood in the ruins of a palace I had never seen but somehow knew. The smell of smoke choked my lungs. Children screamed. Steel rang against steel. A voice, my own voice but not mine shouted orders to protect the gates. I knew every soldier’s name. I knew every street, every hiding place in the capital. Then, another memory. A dry season that lasted too long, the famine that came with it, the desperate measures to keep the kingdom alive. The careful rationing, the secret routes for water transport, the way she had kept entire provinces from collapse without ever letting the enemy see weakness. It all poured into me, decades of choices, sacrifices, strategies like a flood forcing its way into a jar already full. My knees almost buckled, but Rosalie’s hand kept me upright. When she finally let go, I staggered back a step, gasping.

"You can not stop what is coming. But you can hold the line. I give you what I was, what I knew because she will need you more than you understand."Rosalie whispered.

I swallowed hard, looking down at Mei Shen. She was still trembling, lost in the storm of her own mind.

"You’re telling me I can help her through this... if I use what you gave me."I said.

Rosalie nodded once.

"Guide her. Anchor her. And when the memories consume her, remind her which world is hers now."She said."You decided to take her to another world to save her now do your duty or you will loose like original Lianwei lost his Mei Shen."

I clenched my jaw, heart pounding.

"Then I’ll do it. No matter what it takes."I said.

She smiled faintly, and for a moment, I saw the barest spark of hope in her eyes.

"Then maybe, Lianwei, this story will end differently than mine did."She said.

And just like that, she faded. The lanterns flared back to their normal glow. The rain outside roared again. I knelt beside Mei Shen, my mind burning with everything I’d just seen. For the first time since this began, I knew what to do. After Rosalie vanished, her words and the strange, burning clarity she’d given me still thrummed through my skull. She hadn’t just told me about Mei Shen’s past, she had shown it to me. The faces she’d lost. The weight she’s carried every day since stepping into this world the people we lost.

The room was quiet except for the patter of rain against the windows, the same rain that, finally, was softening the famine’s grip. But even in sleep, Mei Shen’s face was tight, her brow furrowed as if she were bracing for a blow. At first it was small. A twitch of her hand. The faintest murmur. Then she whimpered, twisting slightly, her fingers clutching the sheets.

"No... please, not again..." The sound cut through me like a blade.

"Mei Shen." I leaned close, brushing a damp strand of hair from her cheek. "It’s alright. You’re safe. I’m here."

But the tremors didn’t stop. Her breathing hitched, shallow and fast. I could feel her chest rising too quickly beneath my hand. I slid onto the bed beside her, gathering her carefully into my arms as if she might shatter if I held her wrong. Her body resisted at first, stiff as though expecting chains instead of comfort, then, slowly, she melted against me. Her head pressed into my shoulder, her trembling subsiding just enough for words to escape.

"I’m terrified, Lianwei..." She breathed, her voice so small it hurt to hear.

I stroked her back, slow and steady.

"Of what?"I asked.

"That it’s going to happen again." She whispered. "That I’ll lose everything. That I’ll lose you. The famine, the storms... it feels like the same story is starting, just in a different world. And I..." Her voice cracked. "I don’t think I can survive losing everyone twice. I can’t loose everything like original Mei Shen or Rosalie did."

I tightened my arms around her.

"You won’t. Not while I’m breathing." I didn’t just mean it, I swore it to myself like an oath etched in stone.

But then the air shifted. I don’t know if the god was already there or if it simply stepped in the moment it sensed her fear, but the presence was undeniable, vast, patient, ancient. The voice came, deep and resonant, not quite sound, not quite thought.

"The famine eases, thanks to the rain you brought. But this is only the first battle, not the war. Mei Shen’s part is not over."A voice said.

"It’s system."Mei Shen muttered."You can hear it too now."

I froze, looking down at her, but she didn’t seem to hear it. Her breath steadied just slightly, her face still pressed to my chest. The words weren’t for he, they were for me.

"She must do more. The rain will give them hope, but if the stores run empty before the harvest returns, the peace will break. She is tied to this balance. She must act."Voice said again.

My gut clenched. She was already so close to breaking, and yet the gods wanted more from her. I lowered my chin, speaking quietly into her hair.

"They say the famine is easing, Mei. But they want you to keep going. They think you’re the key to making sure it doesn’t come back."I said.

Her hands fisted weakly in my tunic.

"I’m already trying..."She muttered.

"I know, I know. But if they’re right, then I’ll make sure you don’t have to carry it alone. Whatever they want you to do, I’ll be there."I said softly.

For a long moment, neither of us spoke. The rain tapped steadily on the roof, a sound that should have been soothing, but to me felt like the ticking of a clock counting down to the next trial.

"Thank you... for holding me."Mei muttered.

I rested my cheek against her temple.

"I’ll hold you for as long as you’ll let me. And when you can’t be strong, I’ll be strong for you."I whispered.

Her breathing steadied, and she finally, slowly, drifted back to sleep in my arms, but I didn’t close my eyes. Not for a second. Because I could feel it now, as clearly as Rosalie’s touch on my mind, the famine wasn’t the end. It was the warning.