My Moonlit Declaration

Chapter 11：Mother

“Don’t change the subject,” Herman glared at her. “I’m asking you a serious question. Think carefully.”

“I really didn’t eat anything unusual!” Elara retraced everything that had happened in the tribe. “The Great Elder’s garden—” She suddenly stopped.

“Does eating a flower count as something strange?”

A spark flashed in Herman’s eyes. “Yes! That’s it!” He suddenly became excited, his voice rising. “A flower containing thirty years of Witch God power!”

He excitedly grabbed Elara’s shoulders, his eyes shining like two stars. “Did you eat a somewhat wilted lily of the valley?”

“Eh? Teacher, how did you know?” She was extremely surprised. “All the other flowers were blooming so beautifully that I couldn’t bear to pick and eat them. So I chose this one that looked like it was about to wither. It was so small that I finished it in one bite.”

“Haha—haha—” Herman released her shoulders and threw his head back in laughter. Once again, the birds on the tree were startled into flight by his loud laugh.

“Elara, you are incredibly lucky!”

“That lily of the valley was carefully cultivated by Quinn. There was only one. Half a year ago, Penny was in charge of watering the plants in the garden, but she didn’t use Moon Spring water on it, so it looked a bit wilted. Everyone thought it was ugly and didn’t bother to pick it.”

He paused, his shoulders shaking with laughter.

“Everyone assumed it only contained one shuttle of Witch God power, but in reality, it held thirty shuttles.”

Elara’s mouth fell open. She didn’t know what to say.

“And because it’s a lily of the valley,” the teacher continued, “its Witch God power is the gentlest and easiest for the body to absorb.”

He looked at her, his eyes containing something far more complex than mere surprise or excitement.

“Elara, before you even underwent the Blood Moon Ritual, you had already reached Mortal Tier, Second Grade.” He spoke each word clearly.

“What does Mortal Tier, Second Grade mean?” Elara was even more confused. “And what does 56 shuttles mean?”

“Mortal Tier First Grade is ten shuttles, Second Grade is twenty shuttles, Third Grade is thirty shuttles, and so on.”

“A half-wolf hybrid who hadn’t even awakened her bloodline,” Herman’s voice was soft, almost as if he were talking to himself, “managed to absorb twenty-six shuttles of Witch God power on her own, without any nourishment from moonlight.”

He looked into Elara’s eyes. Light flickered in his silver-white pupils. “You are not a failure. You are the most gifted shaman the Snow Moon Clan has seen in a thousand years.”

The sky gradually darkened.

Herman sat in the brightest patch of moonlight, absorbing the essence of the moon to restore his Witch God power.

Elara sat three meters away from him, leaning against a tree trunk and gazing at the sky.

Her mind was in chaos. Too many things were swirling inside her head—Kael’s eyes, Kael’s voice, the tone in which he had said “I’m sorry.” The blood seeping from the corner of his lips and dripping onto the ground. And his final words: “Live on. Don’t ever come back to find me.”

Elara’s chest felt heavy and began to throb with a dull pain, as if a stone were pressing down on her heart.

“Elara,” Herman’s voice drifted over from the moonlight, “you must remember that the Moon does not choose someone without reason.”

She remained silent.

“The Moon has chosen you. There must be a reason for it.” His voice was soft and slow, as though he were speaking of something very important.

“I understand, Teacher,” she replied. Her voice was very small, almost inaudible. But she knew he could hear her.

Herman nodded and closed his eyes, continuing to absorb the moonlight.

Elara closed her eyes as well.

When she woke up, the sky was already bright.

Teacher Herman was standing beside the carriage. “Let’s go. We’re heading home.”

She stood up, brushed the dirt off her skirt, and climbed into the carriage after him.

“I’m finally going back…” She could finally return to her own life.

She and Kael had been chosen by fate at the same time, only to be cruelly separated by that same fate.

And this seemingly final parting—was only the beginning of a much longer, more entangled story.

She suddenly remembered something.

“Teacher,” she leaned out of the carriage window and called out to the back of the driver ahead, “the Moon Oath requires returning to the tribe once every seven days. How am I supposed to go back? The Root Chain needs ten shuttles of Witch God power to use, but I already have fifty-six shuttles now.”

Teacher Herman did not turn around.

“So if I learn the Return spell now, and once I get the Root Chain, can I instantly go home? This damn carriage is way too slow.” Elara sounded eager and impatient.

“The Root Chain can only be obtained in the Snow Moon Clan,” his voice drifted back from the front. “It also requires a blood pact to recognize its owner. We’ll talk about it next time you return.”

“Oh.” She looked at her teacher’s back with disappointment.

“Elara, don’t be impatient. The Return spell is one of the most basic spells in the Snow Moon Clan. It’s very easy to learn.”

“Teacher, can your Root Chain store things? Are everyone’s Root Chains the same?” Elara’s curiosity flared up again.

“The Root Chain is alive. Each person’s is unique. Even if they absorb the same elements, they may develop different abilities.” Herman winked at her. “I simply attached an invisible storage pouch to mine.”

“An invisible storage pouch? That’s amazing! Why don’t these things exist in the human world?”

Herman smiled carelessly.

The carriage continued forward. The forest gradually thinned out, with fewer and fewer trees. The sunlight grew brighter, and the outlines of houses appeared in the distance.

It was the human realm. She had returned.

The carriage wound through the streets and alleys before finally stopping at the entrance of a narrow lane.

“We’re here,” Teacher Herman said.

Elara jumped down from the carriage and stood at the mouth of the alley. The lane was very narrow, with high walls on both sides covered in thick moss at the base. At the far end of the alley was her home.

She stood there, staring at the house at the end of the lane. She had only been away for two days, yet those two days felt longer than the past eighteen years of her life.

She turned around, wanting to say goodbye to her teacher, but the carriage was already gone.

The entrance of the alley was empty. Only sunlight shone brightly on the stone pavement, almost blinding her. She turned back and walked toward the door.

Elara stood in front of her own door. Light was leaking through the cracks—not the dim glow of the oil lamp she had left behind, but the brighter, warmer light of candles.

There was a stranger in her house.

She pushed the door open. A woman dressed in luxurious clothes stood in the center of the room. Hearing the door open, she turned around.

That face—Elara recognized it.

Even after fifteen years, the face had barely changed. It was fairer, without even a single fine wrinkle.

It was Susanna, her mother.

“Darling daughter!” Susanna’s eyes lit up, her voice soft and sweet. “My poor daughter! I’ve finally found you!”

She hurried over, opened her arms, and pulled Elara into a tight embrace. “Why did you come back so late today? I’ve been waiting for you for a long time…”

Elara stiffened in her arms. Susanna’s body carried a strong, cloying perfume—sweet to the point of nausea—that made it hard for her to breathe.

Elara found it strange. In over ten years, Susanna had never come looking for her, let alone known where she lived.

“Daughter,” Susanna cupped Elara’s face with both hands and looked her up and down. Tears shimmered in her light brown eyes.

“I… I just went outside the city to deliver some woven vine crafts. It was quite far, so I came back late.” Facing her suddenly reappearing mother, Elara stayed cautious and made up an excuse.

The reason was perfect. There were still many half-finished vine crafts at home anyway, so Susanna had no reason to doubt her. “It was quite far, that’s why I came back late.”

“Who sent you back? Do you have a boyfriend now? I thought I heard a man talking to you earlier.” She glanced toward the entrance of the alley, but it was empty.

Elara didn’t know whether to cry or laugh. “No man would ever want a girl like me,” she said self-mockingly.

“So someone did send you back just now?” Susanna pressed. “Why didn’t you invite him in to sit for a while?”

“Oh, that was Uncle Cole from the end of the street,” Elara replied. “He had just finished delivering goods with his ox cart and saw that I was also heading home, so he gave me a ride.”