Cecilia, with a gentle smile on her face, pinched Siegfried's cheek and leisurely took the phone back. "Kiana, Mama understands. Your father and I will do our best to negotiate with Overseer Kallen so you can enjoy your youth as much as possible. But it's all thanks to you, dear; if you hadn't refused all family assistance since you were a child, even your father and I wouldn't have been able to convince the Overseer... I'm sorry, Kiana. We can't help you more than this. Once Schicksal detects any aid from us, your free time will be drastically cut short..."
"Unlike other family members, you are a Herrscher... Once the time comes, you can only..."
Cecilia's voice choked up a bit, and she didn't continue that line of thought.
"I'm so proud of you for living so well on your own in the Far East."
Power and duty were two sides of the same coin. The more power you used that didn't belong to you, the more unavoidable certain duties became.
As the direct heiress of the Kaslana family in this generation, she was originally supposed to enter the laboratory at sixteen. Her genes were to be combined with her betrothed, Anna Schariac, to give birth to stronger offspring for the fight against the Honkai.
But with the help of Cecilia and Siegfried, and the fact that she had never accepted any special treatment from Schicksal, she had naturally earned a longer period of freedom.
If things remained the same, she still had two years of freedom left.
Because she was a Herrscher, once she and Anna produced an heir, she would be taken to the lab for various research experiments...
Kiana's lips trembled. It took her a long moment before she whispered an "Mhm." She adjusted her expression, took a photo showing her sunniest side to send over, and said in her most upbeat tone:
"I'm living very well here. School life is fulfilling, and I'm never hungry. Everyone is nice to me, so there's no trouble. Lots of boys chase me, but I don't like them, so I've politely rejected them all. Dad taught me that if you don't like someone, you can't keep them on the hook. Since I have no intention of being with them, I have to reject them directly rather than giving them false hope."
"That's right! My baby girl, you did great!! Ahhh! Wifey, I was wrong! Don't pull my beard!! It's gonna snap! It's gonna snap!"
Siegfried's tone shifted instantly from a proud shout to a humble plea for mercy.
"Could you stop interrupting our daughter's report, dear?~"
"No problem! Mouth is shut!"
Siegfried immediately covered his mouth, finally escaping the ordeal.
With the distraction gone, Kiana continued to slowly answer the last question. "Someone I like... No, I don't have anyone like that. And... I don't really understand what 'liking' someone is supposed to feel like."
Hearing this, a meaningful smile touched the corner of Cecilia's mouth. Her voice became melodic, like a poem falling from the heavens, drifting lightly into one's heart. "Liking is just liking. For example, you remember what he does after he gets to class, what he does during lessons, what he usually says, who his friends are... You can't help yourself from looking at him, from noticing him... Kiana, have you ever done that with a boy in your class?"
"Ah... I..." Kiana paused, her eyes beginning to shift. For some reason, she thought of Li Wu. However, he was just someone she saw frequently in her dreams; she had only approached him in reality to chat out of curiosity.
After a moment of hesitation, Kiana calmed her heart again. "No. But there is a boy in my class who is constantly making me angry."
"What!?" Siegfried roared. "What's his name? I'll go take care of him tomorrow!"
He quickly went quiet again—well, there was the muffled sound of bones being crushed on the other end of the line.
Cecilia continued in her gentle, soft tone. "Oh? And what is he like? To be able to make our good daughter angry, he must be a heinous delinquent, just like your father was back in the day..."
Kiana carefully recalled Li Wu—the things he said, the things he did. Although he was strange, he certainly couldn't be called a "heinous delinquent."
"No, he's not actually a bad person. If anything, he's a 'good guy.'"
"A good guy? Then how does he make you angry?"
"I don't know. He's just... really annoying..."
Kiana's mood suddenly soured as another person's face surfaced in her mind: Raiden Mei.
"There's also a very manipulative girl in class who enjoys toying with people's hearts. I warned him so many times not to get close, but he wouldn't listen! He just had to stick to her! And now look—that girl is clinging to him like a leech, and he can't shake her off! Not only that, not only that..."
Kiana repeated "not only that" twice, her voice becoming agitated. The more she reminisced, the hotter her cheeks became, as if she were a character entering an "overheat" state after spamming too many skills.
"He's clearly just an ordinary person, yet he constantly forces himself to do dangerous things, getting himself covered in wounds and still trying to act tough. He always thinks he's some manga protagonist who can save girls in distress and then live happily ever after, but he completely forgets that he's just flesh and blood. Playing the hero once or twice is going to push him right off a cliff and smash him to pieces..."
"He loves saying unrealistic, pretty words, acting like some Ally of Justice. But in reality, he's covered in injuries, walking back from class all alone, limping with no one to support him. Everyone who sees him laughs at him; even the P.E. teacher was just shaking her head."
"He doesn't pay attention in class, he copies all his homework, and for lunch, he just goes to the convenience store instead of eating a proper meal. And he's still being played like a fiddle by that girl..."
Kiana rambled on. Only in front of her parents could she show this childlike temperament, rather than her "Ice Queen Goddess" persona at Chiba Academy.
From the beginning, Cecilia and Siegfried's "listening for fun" attitude had gradually shifted. It went from amusement to confusion, then to seriousness, and finally to grim gravity.
They knew the rules of Schicksal all too well. Even as an S-Rank Valkyrie and a warrior husband who rivaled S-Ranks, they could only bow their heads before these rules that were as insurmountable as a chasm.
There was absolutely no possibility of the bloodline leaking out.
The more they listened, the heavier their hearts became.
Adolescent boys and girls sometimes don't even realize their own feelings, acting purely on instinct.
And liking someone often begins when your emotions are tugged along by them, when you start caring about their every move.
Clearly, their daughter Kiana had already met that criteria. While Cecilia and Siegfried firmly believed their daughter wouldn't fall for someone so easily—and even if she did, it wouldn't matter as long as she didn't give her heart away—everything could still be salvaged.
But if Kiana truly entertained the thought of "wanting to be with that person," they had to nip that possibility in the bud. Even if... even if it would make Kiana suffer, they had to do it.
The reach of that Schicksal Overseer, the will of Kallen Kaslana, was far more terrifying and twisted than the Honkai itself...