Pregnant Cultivator, Doted by Big Boss

’Is that a light?’

She slowly moved her hand away from her eyes.

The light grew brighter and brighter.

She could see.

After so long in darkness, the sudden return of her sight was jarring. She instinctively shut her eyes, unable to adjust. She could hardly believe it. She could actually see.

When she slowly opened her eyes again, the world suddenly burst into clarity before her.

She blinked. Before her stood several unfamiliar men and women. The surroundings were both familiar and strange—an alley, right at her doorstep, just as she remembered it.

She raised her hand, her gaze falling upon it, and couldn’t help but murmur.

"I... I can see."

"I can really see."

"Thank you... Thank you!"

Hearing her constant thanks, Nana Warren smiled as she looked at the birth mother she was supporting. She raised a hand and waved it in front of the woman’s eyes, sharing in her joy. "They’re really healed. Mom, you can see!"

Ever since calling her "Mom" for the first time, Nana Warren had felt an instinctive closeness to the woman before her. Now, the word came to her lips without any pressure, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

The woman, her vision now restored, turned to look at the person beside her.

’This was the girl, Nana Warren, who had called her "Mom" and claimed to be her biological daughter.’

When she saw Nana Warren’s face clearly, she froze. That face, those eyes... they bore a striking resemblance to her own when she was young.

"Are... are you really my daughter?"

’But... how could this be possible!’

Nana Warren took her hand. "To be honest, when I first found out, I could hardly believe it either. But I really am your biological daughter. Let’s go inside and talk."

The woman, led by the hand by Nana Warren, nodded repeatedly. "Yes, please, come in." She clutched Nana Warren’s hand tightly, refusing to let go, her own palm slick with sweat.

’Maybe she was desperate to turn this sliver of possibility into reality. Or maybe... maybe this was all a dream. A dream where her daughter was alive and had come back to find her. Not only had her daughter returned, but her eyes were healed, too. It was all so wonderful, so perfect, that she never wanted to wake up.’

Celeste Grant and her companions followed the woman into her home.

She looked flustered and uneasy as she faced Celeste Grant and the others. "Please, have a seat," she said. "My home is quite simple, I hope you don’t mind. I’ll go boil some water for you."

Celeste Grant and the others didn’t stop her. It was a good opportunity for Leo’s birth mother to adjust, since her sight had just returned.

Soon, a cup of plain boiled water was placed before each of them. There was no tea in the house; after all, life must have been difficult for a blind woman living on her own.

The house had only a couple of stools and a small sofa in the narrow living room.

"Let’s get down to business."

Celeste Grant was the first to speak. Sitting on a wooden stool, her gaze fell upon the woman seated next to Leo.

"Your surname is Grant, correct?"

The woman nodded slightly. "Yes. My name is Mae Grant."

Celeste Grant nodded slightly. While she didn’t practice the Heavenly Mechanism Skill, she knew a little of the common Divination Technique. After all, she was a Cultivator; it was normal to have some knowledge of such things, even if she wasn’t an expert.

Celeste Grant began, "The main reason we came here was to bring Leo to see you. But first, let me introduce us. We are Cultivators. You’re probably familiar with Cultivation, since everyone is doing it these days."

Mae Grant nodded at the mention of Cultivation.

"I know about that."

’Of course she knew. Her neighbors had asked her to go get her Spirit Root tested with them, and they had even brought back a Cultivation Method for her. But she was blind; she couldn’t practice it, and she didn’t want to be a bother to anyone. Besides, she was all alone, and blind. Even if she practiced Cultivation, she’d probably just be a blind Cultivator. What was the point of living that long? It was enough to just live out her life as a normal person.’

Celeste Grant glanced at Nana Warren, then turned back to Mae. "Nana Warren is your daughter. She was abandoned at the gate of an orphanage when she was two months old and grew up there. I’m a Cultivator with some skill in the Divination Technique, and I was able to see the thread of kinship connected to her. That’s how I knew she wasn’t an orphan and that she still had family. I used the Bloodline Traction Technique to find you. Leo also wanted to know what hardships might have forced you to give her up, but after arriving, we realized things might not be as she imagined."

’Those words sounded like something out of a fantasy novel.’

’But now that the government was encouraging Cultivation, was anything truly impossible?’

’The Bloodline Traction Technique!’ Even though she didn’t know what kind of powerful Spell it was, she could guess its meaning from the name. At this thought, she opened her mouth, her voice hoarse. "Then... is she really my daughter? But my daughter is dead." She was utterly bewildered.

’She wanted her daughter to be alive, too.’

It’s just... her daughter had stopped breathing in her arms. She had arranged the funeral herself. At the memory, her eyes reddened, and she choked back a sob.

Mae Grant’s gaze fell on Nana Warren beside her. The girl’s face did look a bit like her own when she was young, and she felt such a sense of familiarity from this child. ’So... is she really my daughter?’

’Could she believe it?’

Just then, Celeste Grant spoke up. "Have you considered the possibility that your child was swapped at birth? That the baby who died wasn’t your daughter at all."

Mae Grant’s hand trembled at her words, and she murmured, "I don’t know."

Celeste Grant continued, "Think carefully. When you gave birth, was anyone else with you who was also giving birth? Or was there anyone who had direct access to you, someone who could have swapped your baby without anyone suspecting a thing?"

At these words, Mae Grant’s hands began to tremble even more violently. A thought seemed to strike her, and the color drained from her face.

"There... there was someone! My husband’s younger sister got pregnant after breaking up with her boyfriend. We told her to get an abortion, but she refused and insisted on having the baby. We had a huge fight about it, and she moved out."

"Then one night, she called and said she was going into labor. She was at a rental house in a remote area and couldn’t get a taxi. I was worried something would happen to her, so I rushed over in my car. But when I got out, I fell, and it sent me into labor early."

As she said this, everything suddenly became terrifyingly clear to Mae Grant.

’She had never thought anything of it before. After all, it was her husband’s own sister; surely she wouldn’t try to harm her. She had never considered anything malicious. But now, the more she thought about it, the more wrong everything felt.’

"When I got to the rental house that night, my sister-in-law had already given birth on her own. Because of my fall, I went into labor early, and I started having contractions right after I walked in the door. It was my sister-in-law, the one who had just given birth herself, who dragged her weakened body out of bed to stay by my side. In the end, she was the one who delivered my baby."