Heavy violence in this chapter and detailed suicide.

Reader POV

My two boys Zhisong and Luiwei were born on December 7th.

Luiwei was born looking exactly like his father while his brother Zhisong looked like my brother-too much so that I almost named him Jianyu.

"Congratulations," Brita said as she and the other maids said as they cleaned up the mess, another lady in waiting handing me my two sons.

"Dark times are coming," my grandmother said as she closed her eyes. "I saw it in meditation this morning."

I looked down at my two boys and I could already sense a darkness in Luiwei and Zhisong only radiating pure energy.

In fact Luiwei was sputtering black flames in his eyes while his twin's eyes glowed golden then the lights died.

Grandmother shook her head in sorrow. "These two will cause the destruction of the world, (y/n). You may try to stop it, but it cannot be stopped."

"Grandmother, I will protect my children at any cost," I said to her sternly. "I don't care what fate says; they're still my children."

"Tainted with the blood of the Zenin throne!" Grandfather spat as he and my parents entered. "Countless people have died, little one."

"For the price of freedom, I knowingly gave up my own," I said. "And I have no regrets, only that I did not kill Prince Naoya when I had the chance."

"Then why didn't you, child?!" Grandfather snapped. "He would've been slain by one distantly related to the Gojo imperial family."

I looked at him with confusion. "Distantly related?"

My grandmother took my children out my arms, nodding. "It's time you learn about the truth of the Ling family, little one."

Everyone except my mother left and the door was shut.

"My precious daughter, what I'm about to tell you is a secret and should not be told to anyone, including the girls and your sons." Mother took off the pendant she wore, opening it for the very first time.

Inside was the seal of the Gojo imperial family.

"I don't understand,"

Mother closed her eyes and placed her hands on mine. "When I was younger, I lived as a princess. The sister of the crown prince; Prince Katsume Gojo."

"Wait...you're the long-lost Princess Sona Gojo?" I stared at my mother with disbelief. "How is this possible?"

"It's simple, really. My father, Eternal Emperor Shen had two wives. Katsume's mother died in childbirth before Emperor Shen met and married my mother. When the Zenin forces sieged the palace, I was rescued by your father who was then the captain of the royal guard."

"To protect me, my brother told everyone that I had died in the massacre and my body set aflame. The only reason why I haven't gone back was because I was pregnant with Jianyu then," Mother explained. "And if the Zenins knew I was pregnant, they would've really killed me."

"I was given a new name. Sona Jiao, a noblewoman from a very distance province. And only then was I allowed to marry your father as two people within the palace knew I was alive."

Mother put the locket's cover back on, shaking her head in sadness. "When my mother Empress Consort Sorano heard I had died, she used my half-brother's sword and killed herself. Katsume delivered her locket to me in secret after visiting you."

"Emperor Katsume visited me?" I asked.

Mother nodded sadly. "He did. You were just a baby and Jianyu was five."

"How come he never mentioned it?"

"That was my own doing," she said softly. "If your brother had been captured by the Zenins, they would've tortured him for information: including searching through his memories."

Mother lifted her hand and a golden glow appeared. "I've kept these memories locked away for almost 20 years. I suppose you should have them now so you can see exactly why I erased all memories of my previous life-and why no one recognizes me as Princess Sona."

The memories started flashing in my mind and I found myself seeing through my mother's eyes.

I saw Eternal Emperor Shen holding my mother when she was born, cooing at her with admiration and how everyone was happy she was born healthy-and with the gift of the Gojo imperial family.

To be able to control the wind as well as Empress Sorano's memory magic.

I watched as my mother grew up and fell in love with my father, a nobleman whose family origins was from the Itadori empire as well as the captain of the royal guard.

Everything seemed to be perfect until my mother and Katsume's older brother and former crown prince, Prince Xiangling was murdered at the border.

The warriors with him explained how Prince Xiangling was walking along the Great Wall of China and arrows from the east rained down upon him and his soldiers, as well as Emperor Naobito Zenin showing up and killing my uncle.

This instigated a war between the Zenins and Gojos, neither wanting to back down.

I watched through my mother's view as Katsume mounted his horse alongside Emperor Shen, both valiant in battle and using their wind magic as drawback magic in case anything happened.

However just as the Gojo side seemed to be winning, soldiers from the Zenin special forces branch snuck i to the Gojo Imperial City and ruined it.

Buildings burned to the ground, bodies being stabbed to death. Not a single man, woman, or child spared.

My father rescued my mother out of the burning throne room, her eyes tearing up as she watched everything she loved be destroyed by greed.

"Princess! You must be strong!" Father shouted. "You and your brother are the last hope of the empire!"

"What?!"

"Your father...he too was killed by Emperor Naobito Zenin. We must leave! Now!"

"But what about Katsume?" My mother had looked back in the direction of fighting with worry.

"He will survive," Father assured her as he carried her out of the burning palace, coughing on the flames. "He's got the power of the wind dragon as you do."

"As I do..." Mother nodded and began using her wind magic to move the flames away from the palace but only a pyro magic user such as the Itadori royal family could put it out completely.

In the days that followed, Empress Sorano was captured by Emperor Naobito and the price for her freedom was for my mother to marry the Zenin emperor.

My mother knew if she married the Zenin emperor, he'd kill her since she conceived a child out of wedlock and she had fallen in love with my father, a man of no royal blood.

My uncle Katsume knew of the plan and informed his stepmother (my mother's mother) that her daughter Princess Sona perished in the fire and her body turned to ash.

Overcome with grief for her daughter's death, Empress Sorano took her own life that day as my mother was snuck into the palace to say goodbye, not knowing her mother was grieving so.

She watched her mother use Katsume's sword to kill herself, blood dripping from her neck and her falling from the heavenly shrine of the Gojo imperial family.

Her last words were that of eternal love for the descendants of Emperor Shen, the man she had loved the most.

By the time Mother reached the edge, her mother's mangled body was already at the bottom, the locket shining.

She was almost discovered had it not been for Katsume using his magic to transport her to the Ling estate nearby.

The memories moved on to show Katsume visiting his sister one final time five years later, explaining how he could no longer visit her for her own safety.

He gave her the pendant Empress Sorano wore, alongside a new identity as Sona Jiao, a noblewoman from the most distant of regions in the Gojo empire.

After he had gone, my mother used her magic to wipe Jianyu's memory for his own safety as well as my own even though I was a baby.

As the memories faded once more, I squeezed my mother's hand.

"We have both been through Hell and back," she said to me fiercely. "We both have given everything up for the sake of our empire. It is our noble duty, my daughter."

I looked at her with confusion in my eyes. "Mother. How can you let my children live? They share the same blood as Emperor Naobito! He took everything from us. I know before I thought they were innocent, but their grandfather has committed terrible sins!"

"True, but the children are innocent. Just as you said, my dear. They carry on the Gojo legacy and we can only hope they will turn out to be the reason why this war officially ends."