Currently in front of Rei is a woman who looks very similar to Aliza, the one sleeping in his lap.
It feels as if this is how Aliza would look if she were to grow even more—almost identical to the woman before him.
And Rei knows exactly who she is, because she has appeared a few times in the game.
She is Aliza's mother.
Rei adjusted his posture slightly, careful not to disturb Aliza as the scene settled.
Aliza's mother sat on the opposite sofa, her posture relaxed yet elegant. Just like Aliza, she had the same horns and the same gray hair, only more mature—calmer.
Her gaze moved between Rei and her daughter before she smiled softly.
"So you are Rei?" she said lightly. "When I walked here, I heard many people talking about you and your friends as the saviors of Valtz Duchy."
"Yes, I'm Rei. And I'm not really the hero—I'm just the one who repairs things," he said as he met her gaze. "The ones who stopped Aviza were my friends, including Aliza here," he added, looking down at Aliza, who was still sleeping.
A soft chuckle escaped from the woman.
"My, so everything from the report is true then."
"Report?"
"Hm." She nodded before continuing. "Even though I no longer live in Valtz Duchy, I still receive reports about what happens here."
"But unfortunately, Aviza's plan slipped under my radar, so I never expected him to attempt to destroy the entire city."
"I see… you too, huh? Aliza said she also couldn't uncover Aviza's plan until it was already too late."
"But thanks to you and your friends, there were no casualties, and the city has already returned to normal." She suddenly bowed slightly while still sitting. "For the sake of Valtz Duchy, I thank you for saving the city."
"There's no need to thank me. Like I said before, I didn't do much—everyone else was the one working hard to fight against Aviza."
"If you want, you could throw a small party for them. I'm sure they'd be happy," he continued. "And thank your daughter as well. She's been working hard to minimize the damage, and even now she's still been working nonstop for days."
"Fufufu, of course. I know how hard my daughter has been working—that's why I came here to help her." She stopped bowing and looked toward Aliza, who was still sleeping peacefully.
"But I didn't expect to see my daughter like this. She's always been… how should I say it—very tomboyish ever since she was a child."
"Even I, as her mother, started worrying about her future when all she did was martial arts training. But Aliza loved martial arts so much that she convinced me to let her pursue it—on the condition that she also learn how to be a duchess."
"And now, seeing her like this…" She paused briefly, then smiled warmly as she looked at him. "She must truly trust you, Rei, for her to let herself be like this."
Hearing that, he looked down at Aliza, who was sleeping comfortably in his lap.
He could hear how soft her breathing was as she slept, showing that she was still in a deep sleep even while her mother and Rei were talking.
"I don't know about being comfortable, but I'm just glad she trusts me enough to let herself be like this."
He slowly poked Aliza's cheek, feeling its softness.
"Fufufu, then I hope you can continue to stay with my daughter from now on."
After that, there was nothing else she wanted to talk about, so she decided to look through the documents Aliza had been working on.
Rei stayed sitting there with nothing to do while Aliza's mother worked by herself.
Even though no one spoke, the atmosphere wasn't awkward at all—it felt peaceful, accompanied only by Aliza's gentle breathing.
She suddenly froze, as if something had just clicked in her mind.
"Oh my, I completely forgot," she said, her expression shifting into mild panic. "How rude of me… I'm very sorry. I never even told you my name."
With that, she carefully stood up from the sofa. She lightly lifted the hem of her long dress with one hand, while her other arm moved gracefully to rest in front of her chest. Her posture straightened, elegant and refined, before she gave a gentle, noble bow—formal, yet warm.
"I am Alicia," she said, lifting her head with a soft smile. "Aliza's mother."
Her gaze returned to Rei, calm and kind, carrying both the dignity of a noblewoman and the warmth of a mother who had just seen something precious.
---
---
---
---
---
---
About an hour later, Aliza finally woke up.
The moment her eyes focused and she realized who was sitting nearby, she froze.
"…M-Mother?"
Her brain clearly short-circuited for a second before she suddenly shot upright, panic written all over her face. The reaction was so exaggerated that Rei couldn't help but find it amusing.
Alicia only laughed gently, completely unfazed.
With Alicia's help, all of the remaining work was quickly taken care of. Thanks to that, Aliza was finally free—no more documents, no more reports, no more endless responsibilities for the moment.
They moved to another room shortly after.
There, Rei, Aliza, and Alicia sat together, talking casually while sharing drinks. The atmosphere was relaxed, warm, and surprisingly lively. Time passed easily as their conversation drifted from light topics to small stories from the past.
A couple of hours later, Djeeta and the others finally returned to the mansion.
The moment they stepped inside and saw the unfamiliar woman sitting there with Aliza, they froze.
"…Eh?"
After a brief explanation, their surprise quickly turned into curiosity.
Vyrn hovered closer, squinting at Alicia before bursting out, "Whoa! You really look just like Aliza! I mean, seriously—no wonder!"
Hearing that, both Aliza and Alicia reacted differently—Aliza groaned in embarrassment, while Alicia simply laughed with a hand covering her mouth.
With more people joining in, the room became even livelier. Voices overlapped, laughter filled the space, and the quiet mansion finally felt warm again.
A few hours later, night had already fallen.
Dinner had ended an hour ago, and now everyone was busy with their own things. Rei was no exception—he was currently in his bedroom, with Lyria there as well.
"So, so—how did your date with Djeeta go?" Lyria suddenly asked, her face moving closer and closer to his, eyes sparkling with curiosity.
"Where did you find that golden flower? It looked so beautiful! Did you make it yourself, or did you buy it somewhere? Djeeta didn't want to tell me how the date went, but she looked so happy when she came back!"
The questions came nonstop, one after another.
"Lyria, calm down a bit," Rei said as he gently held her back before she got any closer. "Didn't Djeeta tell you about it herself?"
"Nope!" Lyria replied immediately. "She doesn't want to tell me because she wants to keep it to herself. But I'm really curious! She looked so happy, especially when she was bragging about that golden flower you gave her."
She puffed her cheeks slightly before adding,
"She even asked me to use my primal beast ability to preserve the flower forever."
"Alright, alright, I'll tell you, Lyria," Rei finally gave up after seeing that she clearly wasn't going to stop asking him.
He then told her where the golden flower came from and briefly explained how the date went. Of course, he didn't tell her everything—only the important parts, especially how he gave the flower to Djeeta.
"Woahhh, that's so romantic!" Lyria said after hearing Rei's story.
"Ahhh, I'm so jealous! I want to have a date like that too! Hey, hey, Rei—when is it my turn?" Lyria hugged him from the front.
Rei, being hugged like that, could only smile at her cute behavior. He gently patted her long blue hair on her back.
"Maybe after we get back to Ravi Island."
"You better actually fulfill that instead of doing your experiments for days," Lyria said with a pout, remembering how often he kept disappearing.
"Of course."
"Then for now, do you want to read the new romance book I got? I found it while strolling with the others earlier."
Rei nodded at Lyria's request, and seeing him nod, she immediately jumped off the bed and went back to her room happily to bring the book.
Not long after, she returned, running all the way back with the book, and sat down in front of Rei while Rei stayed close behind her.
Both of them started reading the story together. This was actually Lyria's favorite time—reading a book with someone she loved in a peaceful atmosphere.
She still liked reading with Katalina, but Katalina was too serious, especially when dealing with romance like this.
The atmosphere was so peaceful that after reading for half an hour, Lyria suddenly fell asleep.
Rei then moved her so she could sleep on his bed and covered her with his blanket.
"Well, it seems like all that strolling around finally caught up with her.".
He then placed the book on the table before returning to the bed to sleep as well.
But before he could lie down, he heard a knock on his door.
"Rei, it's me," Aliza's voice came from outside as she knocked.
Rei opened the door and saw Aliza standing there in her pajamas.
"Aliza, what's wrong? Is there something you need?" he asked.
"Yeah… did you forget about what you said on Tarvi Island?" Aliza said with a bit of hesitation.
Hearing that, Rei immediately remembered what they talked about back then, though he didn't expect her to bring it up now.
"Of course. You want to tell your mother now?" he asked.
Aliza nodded. She wanted to tell her that she didn't want to become the duchess, and now was the right time—especially since her mother was here.
"Yes. My dream isn't being trapped doing documents all day. I just want to explore the sky and learn more martial arts," Aliza said with determination.
"Alright then. I'll help you convince your mother," Rei said with a smile, seeing her resolve.
He carefully closed the door so Lyria wouldn't wake up, then turned back to Aliza.
"Is there someone in there?" Aliza asked, noticing how careful he was with the door.
"Yeah, Lyria's sleeping in there."
"Lyria? I didn't expect that. I thought you were dating Djeeta?"
"Well… it's complicated."
"Hm." Aliza stared at him suspiciously for a moment before speaking again. "Well, now's not the time. Let's just do this!"
With that, the two of them walked off to find Alicia.