Hey, you're awake, how do you feel?
I'm not dead, my first thought was that I had reached the Western Paradise, but the pain from my broken bones made me realize I was overthinking.
Following the sound, I looked to the side and saw a little girl with a head full of black hair, crouching by the bed, her hands supporting her cheeks, her eyes shining brightly as she looked at me.
"Where am I?" I asked, my throat dry and sore, making my voice sound particularly hoarse.
The girl did not answer me immediately but ran a few steps to the side, fetched a cup of water, and fed me a few sips with a straw. The sweet spring water slid down my throat, easing the pain in my body slightly.
"This is Wanggou Valley. You fell from the mountain, and it was my teacher who found you. You were severely injured at the time, and we all thought you wouldn't survive. God bless that you have woken up." The girl's voice was crisp with a hint of childishness, her cheeks were plump, and she looked to be only ten years old, still wearing simple clothes made of rough fabric.
Thank you.
Trying to sit up, I felt a sharp pain as if my internal organs were being tugged, and I fell back down again.
"Eh, you can't move now. You have several broken bones, and if they shift, it will be trouble." The girl hurried forward to hold my shoulders, preventing me from moving any further.
"Thank you, what's your name?" I smiled helplessly, feeling a mix of fortune and misfortune at not dying from the fall but being rendered incapacitated instead.
"My name is sun," said the girl, her enthusiasm evident as she explained, "The teacher says it means the sun, and I want to be as warm as the sun." Sun became particularly animated when talking about this, and the little girl seemed to enjoy chatting, her mouth moving continuously, ranging from picking herbs on the mountain to her daily classes and playing games with her friends.
As I listened to Sun's enthusiastic sharing, I discreetly observed the surroundings. It was a simple wooden cabin, where the warm yellow candlelight gave the place a cozy ambiance. Across from the bed where I lay was a massive bookshelf, neatly filled with books.
"Sun, don't disturb the guest's rest," a calm voice came from the door.
"Master," Sun, who had been lounging on the edge of the bed, immediately stood up and stood honestly to the side, her eyes cautiously glancing toward the door.
Seeing her like this, I was somewhat curious about what her master was like, and I looked toward the door together with her.
"How are you feeling?" an old woman with a black headband and a black long skirt carrying a bowl of liquid pushed the door open and walked in.
I just stared at her blankly until she came up to me, furrowed her brow, and looked at me for a while before I realized she was asking me a question.
"Much better." I lay in bed examining her face, which didn't look particularly old, but the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes and the pinched corners of her mouth made her look especially serious.
"Drink it." The old woman handed the bowl to me.
The black medicine in the bowl was bitter, but I drank it naturally to show appreciation for her kindness.
You may go out first.
Okay.
After sun went out, he closed the door, leaving only me and the old woman in the room.
"Do you know Betsy." In the silence, the old woman suddenly spoke up.
My heartbeat violently. Although I didn't know why she asked this question, I still obediently answered her, "Yes, she is my mother."
"No wonder you two look alike; indeed, you are her child. How has she... how has she been recently?" Grandma's expression turned a bit dim, her thin lips seemed to curl up slightly.
I hesitated for a moment before speaking softly, 'My mother passed away when I was young.'
"What, how is that possible, how could she die." Grandma's originally drooping eyes suddenly widened, the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes smoothed out due to her surprise. Her hand that reached over to grasp my wrist was trembling violently, as if she had discovered something inconceivable.
I don't know how to answer this question. In fact, I don't even know how my mother died. She passed away when I was very young, so much so that I can't even remember her appearance now, only knowing from my father's descriptions that she was a gentle and beautiful woman. The birthmark on my body is in the same place as where my mother had one; when my father still cared for me, he told me it was a gift left to me by my mother.
Grandma didn't need my response; she merely slumped unsteadily into the chair by the bed, her somewhat emaciated hands covering her face, murmuring to herself, 'She... she passed away.'
Watching her hunched back, I felt moved. Could she be a relative of my mother? Everyone told me my mother was an orphan, but my gut feeling told me there was a deep connection between Grandma and my mother.
After a while, Grandma seemed to finally calm down. She held my hand, her cloudy eyes fixed on me as if she were recalling something through me, and then slowly began to tell me about events from long ago.
Grandma indeed knew my mother; my mother was her first student.
Through my grandmother, I learned that my mother was indeed an orphan, as her parents passed away in a fight against werewolves, and it was her teacher Eden who took her in. She taught my mother magic with great dedication, and with her strong magical talent, my mother did not disappoint her teacher and became the most powerful witch in our clan.
But during one outing, she met my father who had wandered in by mistake, and they quickly fell in love. Disregarding her teacher's advice, my mother broke the witch's principle of not entering cities, gave up her magic, left the valley, and insisted on marrying my father.
Words like 'witch' and 'werewolf' are particularly unfamiliar to me, yet the facts clearly tell me that these exist around me.
Werewolves are naturally combative and can revert to their werewolf form, with the alpha holding dominant status and ruling the tribe. They are mortal enemies of witches, and the two clans are incompatible. Although witches have strong talents, few can master them, and after being defeated in several wars against werewolves, they have been living in the valley, not venturing out.
I clandestinely rubbed the sheets beneath me; the news I received today was so hard to believe, but a bold idea was born in my mind: I want to become stronger, strong enough not to be bullied, strong enough to avenge myself.
Can I learn witchcraft from you, grandmother?
"No, such things must be learned from childhood; people like you who start halfway usually can't learn it." Grandma fell silent for a moment and then shook her head.
I'm not afraid of failure; I can put in ten thousand times more effort than an ordinary person. Please, grandma, this is my only chance.
I clung to this last hope.
Ts, you have the same stubbornness as your mother. Well, it won't hurt to try.
Really? Thank you, grandma!
As if infected by my intense emotions, I suddenly felt a severe pain in my stomach; I trembled and curled up, pressing my hand against my stomach, cold sweat dripped from my forehead as something seemed to be moving inside my abdomen.
What's wrong?
Grandma reached out and placed her hand on my stomach, murmuring some kind of incantation, and then a soft purple light appeared on my stomach, like a warm current slowly soothing my pain.
After a while, the pain in my stomach finally subsided, and I finally exhaled, gradually relaxing my lips, which were almost bitten to the point of bleeding, and managed to squeeze out a smile to tell Grandma that I was fine. However, when I looked up, I found her staring at me with a strange expression.
"You're pregnant with a werewolf child. At first, I couldn't tell because your body was too weak, but how did you get involved with a werewolf?" Grandma asked directly, without beating around the bush, her brows furrowed.
For a moment, it felt like I had been struck by lightning pregnant. I have a child?!
I had no idea how to start explaining the situation to Grandma, as my own problems were too distressing, and I didn't know where to begin.
"If you don't want to say it, that's fine." Grandma's expression suddenly changed from serious to gentle, and she hugged me lightly, patting my back to comfort me.
I thought I had already accepted this fact, but under Grandma's comfort, the walls in my heart collapsed all at once, and I burst into tears. I cried in Grandma's arms for a while, and after touching my stomach, I made up my mind and said to Grandma, 'Can you help me abort this child?'
No." Unexpectedly, Grandma immediately refused, 'This child has already become an integral part of you. If you force an abortion, you won't survive either.'
"How is that possible?" I looked at my stomach, which showed no sign of pregnancy, in disbelief.
"Oh, think positively. If it weren't for the child in your womb, with all these injuries, you would have died a long time ago. It can be said that your child saved you." The Grandma, who had just been staring at my stomach with hatred, has now started speaking up for it.
I silently stroked my own belly, no wonder I survived being thrown down from such a high mountain, could it be that this child saved me?
For a moment, my heart was filled with a mix of emotions, not knowing how to face my own child. His arrival was not anticipated, and I didn't know if I could accept him, or whether I could raise him healthily.
"Amelia, this is your child, you can decide for yourself. " After saying this, my mother-in-law sighed and left the room, leaving me alone in the room, staring at the ceiling in a daze.
My child, mine, it seems that this child will be the only family I have in this world. I chuckled with a hint of sadness, let's keep him, alone I can provide the child with ample love.
There was not much time for sentimentality in the following days; I spent my days learning magic from my grandmother-in-law, and often found myself reciting spells late into the night. My magical skills improved daily, to the point where even my grandmother-in-law said that my talent surpassed that of my mother. I could master many spells after only a few practices.
The child in my womb has been dormant since that day, showing no signs of movement, no legendary fetus kicks, and I've experienced no morning sickness. Apart from my belly occasionally growing bigger, I almost convinced myself that I wasn't pregnant.
It wasn't until a few months later, when I was studying spells in my room, that I suddenly felt a sharp sensation of falling in my stomach. I hurriedly grabbed the table next to me to avoid falling, but the pain left me immobile. Fortunately, a girl named Sun, who liked to come chat with me, quickly noticed that my waters had broken and promptly took me to the hospital run by my grandmother-in-law's grandson, Dave.
Dave is a well-known medical doctor with several hospitals under his management, so even when he brought me, a person with no identity information, to the hospital, the doctors quickly ushered me into the operating room. The last thought that crossed my mind as the anesthetic was administered was, "What if I give birth to a werewolf pup and scare the doctors to death?"
Fortunately, when Dave handed me my child, I saw a wrinkled human infant.
"Congratulations, both mother and child are safe." Dave smiled gently at me, holding the child.
"Thank you." After mustering the last of my strength to say these two words, I passed out from exhaustion.