***
Being confined was certainly not a pleasant experience for the lively Miss Pink Elf.
Although the Fire Moth higher-ups, considering Elysia’s position and personal feelings, had specially arranged various entertainment items in the confinement room, such as books, books… well, all books.
Fine, books it is then.
Although it was painful, recalling her life at the orphanage, Elysia felt she could manage to get through this sentence by reading books.
I, Ellie, absolutely love reading books!
The confident Miss Fatty picked up one book, and the cover immediately started with C++, the next one was “Postpartum Care for Sows,” followed by “Culinary Encyclopedia,” “Linear Algebra,” “Civil Engineering,” “Magic Tricks,” “Mechanical Engineering”…
At this moment, the girl’s smile instantly vanished.
As it turns out—
Smiles don’t disappear, they just transfer.
For example, to a certain Jiang who had just finished a wonderful day and was walking home with Mei.
The sunset scenery was exceptionally beautiful, even the air was so fresh, filled with the scent of freedom.
After the intimate conclusion that morning, Miss Mei seemed to have completely freed herself from her restraints. Even without the students of Senba Academy around, she would actively hold onto 【Kiana】 arm.
It looked extraordinarily harmonious—
But this didn’t matter, they were both girls, weren’t they?
If they were girls, then they could naturally act so intimately. If you asked why, it would probably be a privilege belonging to girls.
— If it were Elysia, she would definitely say something like this.
And regarding this, Jiang Qiao had no particular thoughts.
After all, he had done similar things with other girls before, it was just that he had held onto MEI’s arm instead.
Suddenly, the white-haired girl stopped in her tracks.
“What’s wrong?”
Mei, who was holding onto the slender arm, looked somewhat puzzled at this action.
But the former didn’t explain, only revealing a smile:
“Wait here for me for a moment, Mei.”
…
Ever since that incident many years ago, in order to prevent his existence from stimulating the other consciousness within Kiana’s body and thus causing the Herrscher of the Void to awaken, Siegfried had chosen to leave his daughter.
Initially, he had also felt worried about whether Kiana could survive on her own after he left.
But gradually, Siegfried had also become at ease.
His departure didn’t bring any changes to Kiana. She still ate as usual, still slept as before. Except for constantly pursuing traces of him, everything remained the same.
After all, she was a very strong child.
However, although he chose to stay away for Kiana’s sake, he would still appear around his daughter from time to time, observing Kiana’s situation.
When she encountered difficulties, he would lend a helping hand.
For example, when Kiana was short on money and her purse was light, she would find money, or occasionally discover steaming hot, unclaimed bread and such. Although the white-haired fluffball would think this might be her luck, in reality, it was all the work of the old father hiding nearby, secretly providing assistance.
This time, after just dealing with a small-scale Honkai eruption he had discovered, Siegfried rushed to Nagazora City without stopping.
What comforted him was that his daughter seemed to have made new, very reliable friends in this unfamiliar city.
“Since I’ve confirmed that Kiana is fine, this old man should go check on other places too.”
Siegfried revealed a smile, shaking his remaining single arm.
As a Kaslana, as a shield of the people, although Siegfried had long been expelled from the Kaslana family for betraying Schicksal, he still traveled around the world, clearing those small-scale Honkai eruptions that various Schicksal branches might not have time to handle.
However, just as he was about to leave directly, a girl’s voice rang in his ears:
“Where do you want to go, old man?”
At this moment, Siegfried, who had been smiling, instantly stiffened.
This familiar voice, he couldn’t possibly not recognize it.
But… how was this possible?
When he was observing Kiana, he had kept a great distance, afraid of attracting her attention.
And Siegfried was also certain that he absolutely hadn’t been discovered.
Moreover… he still had some confidence in his own abilities. Although his well-trained good daughter was also quite capable, no matter what, it shouldn’t be possible for Kiana to approach him without him noticing, right?
Various doubts formed a puzzle, but Siegfried didn’t think much more about it. He didn’t turn around either, instead lowering his voice and trying to deny it:
“Little girl, you might have mistaken me for someone else. I’m not your dad.”
“Is that so? Then why don’t you dare turn around and look at me?”
The girl’s teasing words made Siegfried’s heart sink, and he made an instinctive move.
— Run!
Although honestly admitting it after being recognized would be the correct choice, and Siegfried genuinely wanted to reunite with his daughter, he was truly afraid that if Kiana saw his face again, it might once again awaken that other demon in her body.
Whether for Kiana’s sake or for the sake of the people in this city, he absolutely couldn’t reunite with his daughter here.
So, sorry, dad is also thinking of you!
However—
When Siegfried tried to run away directly, he felt his hand being grabbed.
How was this possible?!
From the sound, Kiana should have been at some distance from him, and Siegfried hadn’t detected any traces of her approaching him. Yet under such circumstances, she had directly grabbed him as he prepared to escape at the first opportunity?
But there was no time to think about this. The moment his hand was grabbed, his planned escape was undoubtedly ruined.
No matter how many reasons there were, Siegfried absolutely couldn’t forcibly break free from his daughter’s hand and run away.
If he did something so excessive, that wouldn’t be like a father at all, would it?
“Hahaha… Kiana, dad was just joking with you…”
Stiffly turning his neck around, the white-haired old man looked guilty and quietly tried to reunite with his daughter.
However, the girl’s face that came into view, with a light smile at the corner of her mouth, made Siegfried freeze completely.
“Yo, old man~”
At this moment, this middle-aged white-haired old man’s eyes suddenly widened, and beautiful times spent with Kiana surged through his mind.
The brief instant felt like it lasted a full minute.
But when he came back to his senses, Siegfried’s expression instantly became serious, and he loudly questioned:
“Who exactly are you?”
Whether it was that smile, or the body, or even that feeling, everything undoubtedly belonged to Kiana.
But his reason told him that the person standing before him was definitely not his daughter Kiana!
If you asked why, it would probably be because—
My daughter could never be this gentle!