Chapter 1

Caleb risked everything to enter the Mirror of Souls, all to save his precious little protégée, Evelyn.

When the mirror shattered, his memories were fractured. He woke up believing that Evelyn was his wife and the mother of his child.

I tried to tell him the truth, but the rest of the Order ruthlessly erased every trace of my existence.

Even my own son used the magical essence I had gifted him to strike me down, forcing me back into my true fox form.

"You filthy beast! How dare you pretend to be my mother? I'll skin you alive!" he screamed.

Heartbroken and hollow, I left them just as they wanted.

Six years later.

Caleb stands before me with Leo, his eyes rimmed with red as he gazes at me.

"My love, I've finally found you," he whispers.

Meanwhile, Leo points at the little girl in my arms, who has her hair tied up in cute messy buns, and shrieks.

"Mom! Who is she?"

1

Seeing Caleb again was the last thing I expected.

That day, I was just starting to feel like myself again after a long bout of illness. I couldn't say no to my little girl's constant begging, so I took her down the mountain to hunt some wild turkeys.

We were on our way back to our cabin when two figures blocked our path. One was tall, the other small.

The man looked at me with such intense emotion, as if we were reunited after a lifetime apart. He looked overjoyed.

Caleb's eyes were bloodshot as he stared at me, filled with longing and a desperate kind of happiness.

"Kaelie, I've finally found you. They all lied. They tried to tell me Evelyn was my wife," he said, his voice trembling.

Beside him stood Leo. Seeing the little girl clinging affectionately to my neck, he looked like he was about to explode with rage.

"Mom! Who is this? Why are you holding her?"

Seeing these two again made the old scars deep in my soul ache with a dull, throbbing pain.

I am a spirit fox, born from the raw energy of the earth. Not long after I gained consciousness, I wandered into the backwoods of the Silver Ridge Order and was sealed away by their founder.

It wasn't until Caleb accidentally broke the seal during a training exercise that I was finally able to walk the world again.

Later, when the Order faced a crisis, I sacrificed half my magic and several of my spirit tails to power their protective barrier. I ensured the Silver Ridge would be safe for a century.

When Caleb became the Grandmaster, I took it upon myself to gather resources for the Order.

I hunted for treasures and explored dangerous ruins, single-handedly keeping the crumbling Order afloat for him.

After nearly two centuries of devotion, the day the Order finally prospered, he asked me to marry him.

I married him with a heart full of hope. But less than ten years later, his old flame, Evelyn, came back.

She returned to the Order alone and penniless, begging Caleb to take her in again.