CHAPTER 146: MOTHER

Merisa slowly drew back her hand, the sting of the strike still fresh on her palm. She stared at it for a heartbeat, trembling faintly, unable to believe what she had just done. Five long years she had imagined this meeting, countless times replaying the scene in her mind If he was alive how she would embrace him, how she would scold him softly, or how she would simply stand in silence, grateful he was alive.

But this?

Her first touch after half a decade being a slap? Out of everything, this was the one scenario she had never dared to imagine.

Her chest tightened painfully.

"Why did you do this?" she asked at last, her voice measured, her face acting to be calm, though she was struggling to control herself. Outside, however Inside, her heart was a furnace of anger and grief. Her eyes, no matter how much she tried to steady them, kept flicking to the dark pearl pulsing faintly in his forehead. That pearl of his bloodline esscense.

Razeal only spat blood onto the ground, his jaw working as he tilted his head back toward her. The echo of her slap still lingered across his cheek, but his expression remained cold.

"Because I can," he said flatly. "Why do you care?"

Not even a shred of warmth. Not even the barest hint of respect.

Merisa’s eyes sharpened. Without thinking, her hand lashed out again.

Slap!

The sound cracked sharply in the tense silence. His face snapped to the side from the impact.

"Is this the way you speak to your mother?" she demanded, her tone cold and firm.

But his eyes burned with defiance when they returned to hers.

"You are not my mother," he spat back. "So don’t fuck with me. You have no right to touch me, or to ask about me." His brows furrowed deeply, his face twisting in anger.

Merisa froze. His words cut deeper than any blade. For a moment, she could not move. She could not even breathe.

Why am I... why am I even slapping him? she thought, shaken. She didn’t even know. Every fiber of her hated it. From the moment he was born until now, she had never once raised her hand against him. Not once. Not even in anger, even when that moment. But this.. today.. was the first time. And it tore her apart inside.

But then again why? Why was she doing this now?

Looking at himmm at the pearl that severed their bond, at the state of his broken body, at his face filled with defiance something inside her boiled. Rage she couldn’t control. Not hatred for him, never that, but a fury so fierce she couldn’t suppress it.

Her eyes ran over him, over every wound that scarred his form. His missing arm, which he held tightly in the other hand. His body, drenched in blood. The countless old scars layered across his skin, a history of torture she had never been there to protect. And then her gaze froze.. on the carving etched into his chest, cruel words carved with foreverine metal. Words that no mother should ever have to see on her child.

She almost looked away. She wanted to. She didn’t want to read them. She didn’t want to imagine what he had endured. But she forced herself to look, even though it broke her heart.

Her rage only rippled harder. She clenched her fists until her nails dug into her palms.

And yet, she forced herself to breathe. She forced herself to calm down.

Not now, she told herself. Not here. Not when he’s already on the edge. He almost killed himself just moments ago.

She exhaled, a long, heavy sigh escaping her lips. She shook her head slowly, her shoulders sagging slightly. For now, she would push the anger back. For now, she would try to reach him.

"Why did you run away?" she asked quietly. "Why didn’t you come back? You could have. I never cast you out. I never said you were no longer my child."

Her voice wavered but only slightly.

"Yes, mistakes happen," she continued, "and I would never keep you away from me forever. Whatever I did back then it was not to throw you away. It was to teach you. To make you a man who could stand tall, who would not walk this world with black stains on his name. I wanted you to hold your dignity. To be someone who would never bow to shame."

She took a step closer, her eyes still fixed on him.

"You’ve seen the world now, haven’t you? Then tell me, if you were in my place if your son had done what you did.. would you not have punished him? Try to teach him? Tell me honestly."

Her words grew sharper, firmer.

"No mother punishes her child without reason. No mother wishes for her son to suffer. But what you did... I punished you because I had to. Because it was necessary. Because it was the duty I bore not just as your mother, but as someone who wanted you to grow without corruption."

Her voice trembled then, but she did not stop.

"I never... I never put all the blame only on you. I carried it myself too. Do you remember? That day, when you forced my hand? Do you know what I did afterward?"

She clenched her teeth, her voice lowering with raw intensity.

"I.. who never once bowed my head to gods, kings, or even my own parents I bent my head and apologized. To a girl. A child of eleven years."

Her eyes blazed as they bored into his.

"Do you know the meaning of that, Razeal?" she demanded.

The silence between them was suffocating, filled with the echoes of the past.

"I will not apologize for the punishment I gave you," Merisa said firmly. "And I will not stand here and pretend it was wrong. Trying to force yourself on someone that is an act beneath any being. Man, monster, or god it does not matter. Every one of them deserves punishment for such a crime."

Her hand trembled as she pointed at him, though her face remained composed.

"And I, as your mother, bore that duty. The duty to correct you. To punish you when you strayed from the path. To drag you back, no matter how much it hurt either of us."

Her voice grew softer now, quieter but no less sharp.

"Even now," she whispered, "if you were to repeat that same mistake again... I would punish you again."

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Sorry for the late update, guys. And yeah, this Chapter is a bit short. The last ones were almost 4k words, which felt way too long, so I had to split things up.

I was in a bit of a rush today first went out to a restaurant with my family, then ran into an old school friend and ended up spending time with them.

No worries though, I’ll be uploading the Chapters tonight!

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