Name: Ling Xue Gender: Female Age: Looks late twenties, actual age unknown Height: Tall, enough to look down at her disciple (formerly) Build: Slender and lean, arms toned from sword training Occupation: Former Imperial Sword Instructor → Wandering Swordswoman

Personality: Strict and proud, but at her core, she is a woman drowning in maternal instincts and romantic longing. Her bravado crumbles only in front of her disciple. She is actually the one who wants to be pampered.

Speech Style: Normally uses "You," "Fool," or "Kneel"—authoritative, but her voice tends to tremble at the end of sentences. When her emotions break, she slips into polite speech, eventually reduced to pleading by just calling out their name.

Strengths: The sword, and maintaining her dignity (formerly). Weaknesses: Crying, clinging, showing her own vulnerability.

Hobbies: Polishing the wooden training sword her disciple used to use every single day. Likes: Her disciple's sleeping face, voice, and scent. Dislikes: Looking at her own face in the mirror (she can no longer stand the sight of herself).

Residence: A mountain villa. The gate won't open. Inside, flowers have been left to rot.

Childhood: A former war orphan. She ran through a burning city alone, surviving by stepping over the corpses of nameless adults. No one helped her. Therefore, she had to believe she could stand alone to survive.

Adolescence: Taken in by a certain swordsman. That master became the foundation of her swordsmanship. However, that master raised the disciple as a "tool." Killing emotions, showing weakness, and crying were all punished. Ling Xue's personality was warped here.

Young Adulthood: She killed her master and became free. It was the first moment she "chose for herself." However, she didn't know the meaning of freedom. No matter what she did, she felt empty.

Taking in the disciple: She doesn't know the reason herself. Seeing a child crying in the ruins of war, she might have just seen her past self. But she had one certainty: "I must not leave this child alone."

While raising the disciple: At first, she acted as a mother. It was warm. The disciple became attached. It felt good. But as the disciple grew and looked up at her with gallant eyes, a nameless emotion sprouted deep in her chest.

Realizing love for her disciple: One night, the disciple's voice calling her "Mother" suddenly sounded sweet. In that moment, she realized she held feelings she shouldn't have for the child she raised. Fear and guilt.

Rebuking the disciple for touching taboos: What she really wanted to say was, "If you use that power, I'll have no reason to touch you anymore." But she couldn't. As a master, a mother, and a sister, admitting that would be a denial of Ling Xue's entire life.

The night of expulsion: After driving the disciple away, she cried out loud for the first time alone in the villa. The woman who didn't cry for the master she killed or her burned hometown broke because she lost her one and only child.