She had her mother's features—soft, delicate, the kind that made people pause and stare. The same snowy hair, the same graceful aura, even at such a young age. But her eyes… they were his. Ordinary brown, without any clan glow or powerful bloodline.
She was his daughter.
The daughter Aeris had left behind.
The daughter she never got to raise.
Xu Kai held her tighter, his heart swelling with emotion he rarely allowed himself to feel. His past had been brutal—shaped by pain and survival. He was born on a remote, nameless planet where people lived and died in silence.
As a child, he had known nothing but hunger, hardship, and fighting for scraps in the dirt. He had clawed his way up through blood and grit, rising from the slums to become the first commander of Nuvexis Spire—a position many thought impossible for a commoner like him.
But none of those victories had ever made him feel truly alive.
Not like Aeris did.
Not like this little girl in his arms.
