"Momma..." Her voice came out small and wobbly, filled with uncertainty and fear. "Am I a bad person for denying him? For lying about who I am?"
The question trembled in the air between them, weighted with a twelve-year-old's desperate need for reassurance, for confirmation that choosing survival and protection over blood loyalty didn't make her fundamentally wrong or damaged.
Shuyin felt her heart clench at the naked vulnerability in that question. This child, who'd been so composed under pressure, so strategically brilliant in her deception, so mature beyond her years, was still just a child who needed to know she was good, was worthy, was loved despite the choices she'd had to make.
"No," Shuyin said firmly, reaching out to cup Yuyan's face in both hands, making sure the girl was looking directly into her eyes and seeing the absolute sincerity there. "You are absolutely not a bad person. Not even a little bit."
