The heavy oak doors slammed shut behind Ning Ruomo as she exited the grand dining hall, her footsteps fading down the marble corridor. Leng Xuanmo remained seated, the weight of her words still burning in the silence that settled. He clenched his fists on the armrests of his leather chair, eyes narrowed, jaw tense.
"You crossed the line," he said, voice low but edged with controlled fury.
Ruomo, standing by the window with the city lights casting long shadows on her sharp features, turned slowly. Her eyes gleamed with unyielding pride. "I spoke the truth. Lu Jingyan is nothing more than a fallen princess pretending to wear our crown. Leng Meixuan is the true bloodline. She deserves every bit of protection I give her."
"True Leng? A true Leng isn't one who shouts it out but one who is defiant like Leng Yumo your biological daughter "
"I wasn't wrong tho" Ning Ruomo said to her son
Xuanmo's chest tightened. "You humiliated my wife. Called her a 'fallen princess' in front of everyone how can you not see the poison in your words? You tore her down when she's already struggling to hold herself up."
Ruomo's laugh was cold, biting. "She chose this path. She stepped into the Leng family's domain without the steel to survive it. Weakness is a disease. If she can't endure, she doesn't deserve our respect or our mercy."
"That's where you're wrong," Xuanmo shot back, voice sharp like a blade. "Lu Jingyan may not have your poison, but she has something you don't heart. And it's your arrogance and cruelty that will destroy this family, not her."
Ruomo's eyes flickered with irritation. "Heart won't win battles. Power does. The Leng family was built on strength and fear, not feelings. You married her to fix a problem, to put a bandage over a wound. But I see the truth beneath that pretty facade."
Xuanmo rose, his towering figure casting a shadow over her. "I married Lu Jingyan because she's more than you'll ever understand. She's not your pawn or your charity case. And if you think tearing her apart will protect anyone, you're deluded mother."
Her voice dropped, laced with venom. "She's a stain on this family's honor. You're blind to what she really is, she's nothing but a liability. Meixuan and Yumo are the future Leng, not her."
Xuanmo's eyes burned with a dangerous calm. "You want to protect Meixuan? Then stop tearing down the people around her. Your viciousness doesn't build loyalty; it breeds resentment. You think power is held by force alone, but you forget it's also held by trust. And you've lost that."
Ruomo's lips curled into a bitter smile. "You speak of trust as if it's given freely. You're weak, Xuanmo. Weakness will sink this family."
He leaned forward, voice a low growl. "And your cruelty will be the anchor dragging us down. You don't scare me, Mother. Not anymore."
For a moment, Ruomo's façade faltered. A brief flash of something like anger, fear, or maybe regret but it vanished as quickly as it came. She turned away, voice cold and final. "Then maybe it's time you decide whose side you're really on."
Xuanmo didn't reply. He watched her leave, the heavy door closing like a tombstone. The war within the Leng family had only just began. And during this war he would stand by his wife and not let anyone bully her especially his parents