"Cereza, you say your name is Cereza?" Hearing the little girl say her own name, Bayonetta froze for a moment; she remembered Jeanne saying her own name was also Cereza.
However, upon hearing little Cereza's crying voice, she became somewhat irritated.
She snatched little Cereza away from Aiden's hands in one motion, and said to her helplessly, "There are two things in the world I hate the most, one is cockroaches, and the other is children who love to cry…"
"Luckily, there's only you, a child who loves to cry; if there were a crying cockroach, that would simply be terrifying to the extreme… so you're not allowed to cry again."
Little Cereza, with tears welling in her eyes, nodded, "Okay, mommy."
Bayonetta instantly raised her head somewhat in despair, but she couldn't do anything to the little girl, and seeing Aiden's deliberately feigned expression of confusion to the side, she sighed.
She turned the little girl around to face Aiden, and said, "This is my man, but I haven't done anything with him, although I do want to… Fine, you're still a child, why am I telling you this? But, since you call me mommy, then you should call him daddy."
"But this big brother isn't my daddy." Little Cereza's tone was very serious.
"Then I am absolutely not your mommy." Bayonetta once again became fierce, "I have only this one man, you call me mommy, then you should call him daddy."
"But… but… he really isn't my daddy." Little Cereza was very smart; she looked at Aiden, then turned back to look at Bayonetta, making a questioning sound, "Did you divorce my real daddy?"
Bayonetta drew in a sharp breath, looking at Aiden who was shaking his head there, she felt like crying without tears, 'just what is going on here!'
"Mr. Cat, you have to believe me." Bayonetta felt she had to explain this clearly to him.
Aiden pinched the bridge of his nose, pretending to look very sad, while in fact almost laughing himself crazy inside, but outwardly still said with a serious face, "Saying all this is useless, perhaps… we can take her for a paternity test."
"Then let's go now." Bayonetta didn't say another word, picked up little Cereza and turned to leave.
"What about the matter of the gemstone?" Aiden followed her and asked.
Without stopping her steps, Bayonetta gritted her teeth and said, "What could be more important than proving my innocence?"
Suddenly, she stopped walking, looked at Aiden, and continued, "If it really won't do, we can get a room, my first time is still here."
Aiden raised his eyebrows, "Don't say this in front of the little girl."
"She doesn't understand, she's still a child." Bayonetta gently shook the little Cereza in her hands.
But the little girl smiled happily, and even said, "I understand, mommy."
"I said… I, am, not, your, mom!" Bayonetta said, one word at a time.
She was practically going crazy.
"But you are my mommy." Suspended in mid-air, little Cereza hugged a Cheshire Cat plush, her two short legs crossed, her tone especially serious.
And Aiden, to the side, added fuel to the fire again, "Forget it, Miss Cat, actually having a daughter isn't bad, I can reluctantly be her dad."
"You're not my daddy." Little Cereza turned to look at Aiden, pouting, "I already have a daddy."
"Then who's your daddy, where is he? I'll take you to him right now, and then I'll confront him face to face; if he can't explain things clearly, I'll blow his head off with one shot." Bayonetta raised a Scarborough Fair, using the barrel to lift little Cereza's chin.
This scene made Aiden's heart pound in fear, afraid that Miss Cat would accidentally fire and send herself away along with it.
"I don't know where daddy is, he's always busy working." Little Cereza said in distress, "Daddy never plays with me."
"Then how about letting me play with you?" Aiden wouldn't let go of any chance to take advantage of Bayonetta, and conveniently took little Cereza from her hands, letting her get away from the gun's muzzle.
"No." Little Cereza turned her head to one side in dislike, but didn't reject Aiden's hug.
"Mr. Cat, she really isn't my daughter; if you like daughters, we can have one, even ten." Looking at Aiden starting to tease the little girl, Bayonetta spoke, both depressed and expectant.
"Then what about her?" Aiden lifted little Cereza, holding her by the armpits and shaking her toward Bayonetta.
"Throw her away." Bayonetta glanced at little Cereza.
The result of this sentence was that little Cereza immediately began to cry.
"Mommy doesn't want me anymore."
"If you cry again, I really won't want you… Oh heavens, I'm really not your mother, why am I even telling you this, Mr. Cat, let's just throw her away."
Bayonetta, angry, pinched little Cereza's cheeks, pulling the chubby flesh to the sides hard.
"Don't, I can't bear to, I think she's very cute." Aiden pulled little Cereza into his arms and said to her, "Come, call dad."
"I don't want to." Little Cereza refused.
Aiden said with a smiling face, "Call me dad and I'll make your mommy keep you, not throw you away."
"Really?" After all, little Cereza was just a child, her stance not firm at all.
"Really." Aiden nodded hard, as if to prove the truth of his words.
"Then alright." Little Cereza hesitated for a moment, then crisply called out, "Daddy!"
"Eh!"
Aiden instantly beamed with joy, feeling satisfied.
Although little Cereza was just Bayonetta as a child, not Bayonetta's daughter, hearing this one word, even if in the future Bayonetta found out and came to settle accounts with him, he still felt it was worth it.
"Little Cereza is so good, come on, call 'Daddy' again."
"Daddy!"
"Hehehehehe… good kid!" Aiden's face bloomed into a smile, and despite little Cereza's resistance, he planted a firm kiss on her face before saying, "When this matter is over, daddy will buy you chocolates to eat."
Speaking of this, Aiden felt a bit melancholy, because he knew once this ended, little Cereza would be sent back five hundred years.
"Mm, Miss Cat, do you still have lollipops on you?" Thus, Aiden looked toward Bayonetta, who had an expression of helplessness.
The black-haired witch pressed the barrel of her gun to her brow, helplessly saying, "I do… but… are you really that happy?"
"Because… she called me daddy!" Aiden lifted little Cereza high, saying proudly.
"What's there to be happy about, it's not me calling you daddy, and besides, she's not your biological daughter." Bayonetta curled her lip in disdain, but still took out a lollipop and handed it to little Cereza.
'Actually, it is you calling me…'
This sentence, of course, Aiden wouldn't say. He pulled little Cereza back into his arms and said to Bayonetta, "How about we first go back to that ice cream shop and buy her some ice cream?"
Speaking of it, Bayonetta's childhood was not good. As a forbidden child, she probably never enjoyed fatherly or motherly love, and later even slept at the bottom of the lake for five hundred years.
Now that there was this chance, why not let her experience the childhood she should have had.
"Mommy, I want to eat ice cream." Although little Cereza was from five hundred years ago, her era's Europe already had ice cream; upon hearing this, her eyes lit up and she shouted loudly.
At this point, Bayonetta had already accepted the title "mommy," though mainly because she saw Aiden liked little Cereza so much that she had no way around it.
While muttering inwardly that she must have such a cute daughter in the future, she nodded, "Alright then, let's go back and have ice cream."
"But, you have to behave, no crying at every turn, or I'll throw you away and your daddy won't be able to save you, got it?" Bayonetta pointed at little Cereza's nose and said.
Little Cereza, holding the lollipop, nodded hard, "I got it, mommy, Cereza will be good."
Then, she turned her head, gave Aiden a sweet smile, and imitating his earlier action when he kissed her, planted a firm kiss on his face, giggling, "Thank you, daddy."
Children are just like this, whoever gives them treats is their parent. From earlier resistance to now acceptance, it only took a few simple words and a small benefit.
Afterward, Aiden held little Cereza and walked side by side with Bayonetta out of the church. Because little Cereza also had black hair and black eyes, the three of them really looked like a family.
Only, just as the three were about to walk out of the church, a loud noise suddenly sounded from behind.
Hearing the commotion behind them, Aiden and Bayonetta immediately turned around, only to see a massive, translucent head smash through the church's stained glass window.
The angels, after all, couldn't help but act in a place without people.
"Mommy!"
Although little Cereza was a witch, she was too young, and in the human world couldn't see clearly the appearance of monsters, she was just startled by the noise of the stained glass shattering.
Still, she remembered her "mommy" Bayonetta's words and didn't burst into tears, only using the Cheshire Cat plush in her arms to cover her mouth.
"Miss Cat, you or me?" Although in the human world, Aiden could barely see the angel's head shape. He turned his head to glance at Bayonetta and asked.
"Protect our… 'daughter.'" Bayonetta emphasized the word "daughter."
"I understand, you be careful." Aiden nodded, carrying little Cereza out of the church.
And just as he had carried her outside, fierce gunfire erupted inside.
Although one couldn't see what was happening in Purgatory Space from the human world, one could hear the sounds from inside.
Hearing the gunfire, little Cereza's face turned pale with fright, and she cried out in fear, "Daddy, will mommy be okay?"
"Mommy will be fine, and besides, there's daddy here." Aiden said this, but his gaze was unusually solemn, having left the church, he could now barely see the angel's full form.
It was an angel whose body was made up of one massive head and two others resembling dragon heads.
And this was also an existence that had slaughtered large numbers of witches in the great witch hunt battle five hundred years ago.
While he was thinking this, powerful demonic energy erupted from inside the church, and then, right before Aiden and little Cereza's eyes, the church exploded outward with several massive holes, from which huge fragments of stone pillars flew out.
Though called fragments, each piece was as big as a small car, and facing the chunks hurtling toward them, Aiden immediately entered his Tempter profession state.
Although in normal human form, even if hit by several-ton stones not a single hair of his would be lost, for little Cereza's safety, he still had to be cautious.
And at the instant he switched professions, the spaces to his left and right suddenly shattered; two pitch-black giant hands emerged from countless overlapping spaces, swatting the stones aside like flies.
["We have awaited this moment for a long time."]
At the same time, a cold voice sounded in Aiden's ears.
'Hi!' Aiden immediately greeted it.
Unfortunately, he received no reply; this unspeakable existence seemed to have a somewhat cold temperament.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.
https://discord.gg/bYAfGyp98y