Tang Yuze closed his eyes briefly, absorbing the magnitude of what she was saying. When he opened them, there was no judgment, only a deep, weary understanding. "And the cost?"
"The cost is mine to bear," she said, pulling away fully now, straightening her spine. "But he's alive. That's the only cost that matters."
She turned back toward Mu Yunchen's bed, her gaze softening as she looked at him. "He's fighting. He'll wake up. And when he does, this world will be safe for him. That's all that matters.
Tang Zichen moved to stand beside her, looking down at his unconscious brother-in-law. "The doctors say?"
"Critical but stable," Zhou Yuxi recited, the words clinical. "The surgery repaired the damage. Now it's up to his body, and his will."
"And you?" Tang Zichen asked, coming to stand on her other side. "What happens to you now?"
