Chapter 676 --676

Chapter 676: Chapter-676

Heena smiled, a sad, knowing expression. "Because if you were like the other women who suffer from domestic violence—the ones who break, who still put their abusive husbands on a pedestal, and who actively push other young girls into that exact same fire just to validate their own suffering—I would have thrown you off a cliff right alongside your bastard of a husband. But you are not like them."

Heena turned her head, looking out at the golden koi swimming beneath the lotus leaves. Her eyes grew incredibly distant, clouded with the heavy, unshakeable memories of a world completely alien to the Great Dynasty.

"There are two types of women who endure domestic violence," Heena said quietly. "The first surrenders her soul completely and becomes a monster herself. But the second... the second type of woman takes the beatings, but she shields her children. She teaches them right from wrong. She remains a pillar of steel. Even if she lacks the physical strength to fight with a sword, she fights with the sheer, indomitable force of a mother’s will."

Heena paused. A flicker of profound, genuine pain crossed her dark eyes as she pulled a memory from the deepest recesses of her past life.

"I knew a woman once," Heena murmured, her voice carrying across the water. "She was incredibly simple, very gentle, yet possessed a will of absolute iron. She was only eighteen when her parents married her off. Her husband had no real job, just inherited properties and a cruel temper. From the very first day she entered that house, the abuse started. His brother-in-law even tried to force himself on her. She struggled, she fought back, and they beat her for it. But she survived."

Heena smiled, a sad, knowing expression. "Because if you were like the other women who suffer from domestic violence—the ones who break, who still put their abusive husbands on a pedestal, and who actively push other young girls into that exact same fire just to validate their own suffering—I would have thrown you off a cliff right alongside your bastard of a husband. But you are not like them."

Madam Gu sat perfectly still, completely captivated by the raw sorrow in the Vanguard Madam’s voice.

"When she became pregnant, she returned to her maternal home," Heena continued. "Her parents considered arranging another marriage for her, but they didn’t want the financial burden or the social disgrace. So, she suffered in her maternal house, too. She was treated like a pitiful, unwanted burden. But one day, that woman sat by a window, thinking and thinking. And she realized something: ’Why should I hand my fate over to another man just to escape this one?’"

Heena’s eyes hardened, a fierce pride cutting through the sorrow.

"When she gave birth to her child, she marched right back into her husband’s house. He was about to bring in another woman, but she stood her ground and refused to let him, using her status as the legal, official wife. The beatings didn’t stop. Her father-in-law despised her so much he used to keep large bottles of kerosene ready, threatening to pour them on her and burn her alive in her sleep. She lived in constant, visible terror. Her hands were always trembling."

"Why didn’t she run?" Madam Gu whispered, horrified by the brutality of a world she didn’t fully understand, yet intimately recognized.

"Not because she loved him," Heena said sharply. "Because she wanted her children to have the absolute best foundation possible. She endured the fire so they wouldn’t have to. The very first time that woman ever raised her voice—the first time she ever crossed the boundary of that terrifying house—was when her daughter fell deathly ill."

Heena looked back at Madam Gu, her dark eyes blazing with the memory of that woman’s defining moment.

"Her father-in-law tried to physically block the door to stop her from seeking a physician," Heena said, her voice dropping into a fierce, echoing register. "That quiet, trembling woman took off her veil, looked her abuser dead in the eye, and shouted, ’’If anything happens to my daughter today, I will jump into the river. And if anyone in this house dares to stop me from walking out this door right now, I will chop them to pieces with my own bare hands.’’"

Madam Gu’s breath hitched, her own heart pounding at the sheer, desperate bravery of the mother in the story.

"No one could stop her that day," Heena smiled softly. "Everyone in that household finally understood the terrifying, unstoppable force of a mother’s love. She never once raised her voice to defend her own life, but for her children, she was ready to wage war against God himself. And she did."

Heena leaned back against the cedar railing, the fierce intensity slowly fading back into a quiet, profound respect.

"The funniest part of it all," Heena mused, "is that she raised three children in that hell. Everyone expected them to turn out exactly like their father—aggressive, cruel, and broken. But that woman single-handedly disciplined, loved, and cherished them with such ferocity that they grew up to be the absolute best versions of themselves. They were so proud of her, and so disgusted by him, that the world eventually stopped calling them by their father’s prestigious surname."

Heena looked directly into Madam Gu’s tear-streaked eyes.

"People started calling those children by their mother’s name," Heena whispered. "And her children found their greatest joy in it."

Madam Gu stared at her, genuinely struggling to reconcile the Vanguard Madam’s pragmatism with the tragic story.

"But why didn’t that woman just leave?" Madam Gu asked, her voice laced with confusion and a desperate need to understand. "No matter how strong she was, what kind of healthy teaching or preparation could children possibly get growing up inside an abusive house?"

Heena smiled, but it was a heavy, exhausted expression that carried the weight of a world entirely separate from this one.

"My lady, there are thousands, millions, trillions of people out there who are incredibly talented, educated, smart, and have the guts to conquer the world," Heena said softly. "But there are so many invisible rules binding a daughter, a son, a wife—chains so thick they can never truly escape them. That happens in every era, in every case, no matter how brilliant the person is. And just like you, that woman was bound by those rules."

Heena looked down at the rippling water, her reflection distorted by the lotus leaves.

"She didn’t stay because she was weak. She gave her entire life to her parents, then to her husband, and finally to her children," Heena explained, her tone hardening. "And she stayed because she knew exactly how much property and money her husband had. It was wealth that would take her a lifetime to build from scratch. Her only thought was: ’After suffering this much, after bleeding for this household, why the hell should I walk away and give some other woman the chance to enjoy his money?’"

Madam Gu’s breath caught. It was a vicious, incredibly grounded logic that stripped away all the romanticized ideals of running away to start a new life.