Watching the silent wardrobe, Otto knew perfectly well that the two girls inside were anything but calm.
What a mess.
After this, Theresa would definitely nag him endlessly. What a headache.
Honestly, if he had just let Kiana leave in the first place, none of this would have happened.
You could say that when a man's mind turns to lust, his brain turns to mush.
He didn't dwell on it. If Theresa became too annoying, he could just have Fu Hua use Fenghuang Down on her. It wouldn't be the first time she'd experienced it, anyway.
He truly was a good grandfather, always looking out for the children's well-being.
With that thought, Otto went to the door and pulled it open.
Standing in the doorway was Yae Sakura, dressed in her nun's habit.
As I thought.
Seeing the familiar face, Otto had already guessed it would be her. At least he didn't have to worry about anyone else showing up. Fu Hua and Mei weren't here, and Himeko was unlikely to knock on the Overseer's door in the middle of the night.
"Come in," Otto said, unconcerned about anyone seeing Yae Sakura in his room.
It was a perfectly common occurrence for a secretary to visit her boss's room at night.
Besides, the only people who would care were already in the room.
"Yes. I am very sorry to disturb you this late," Yae Sakura said softly. She had hesitated in her own room for a long time before making up her mind. Seeing that the light in Otto's room was still on, she had decided to come over.
Inside the wardrobe, Kiana gritted her teeth when she heard Sakura's voice.
A secretary who comes to Otto's room in the middle of the night is definitely not a proper secretary!
Theresa, her mind a complete mess, paid little attention to Sakura. To her, Sakura was just a stranger she had met today. What she couldn't figure out was why Kiana was in her grandfather's room in the first place.
Grandpa said he'd let Kiana choose for herself... was it because he'd already fed her some kind of love potion beforehand?
For once, Theresa's intuition was sharp.
Dammit! My sweet niece, you can't let Grandpa snatch you away!
Right now... I only have you.
Although her grandfather had told her in the past that the real Kiana Kaslana was recuperating at Headquarters, Theresa didn't quite believe it.
Perhaps, she had long since...
Theresa pressed her lips together, her left hand tightly gripping Kiana's clothes.
---o---
"What can I do for you?"
Otto sat in his chair and asked with a smile. He felt quite popular, having so many girls come to see him in the middle of the night.
Yae Sakura stood before him. There was only one chair in the room, and unlike Kiana and Theresa, she would not presume to sit on Otto's bed.
"Theresa..."
Sakura spoke Theresa's name, causing the previously distracted Theresa to perk up her ears. Kiana was also puzzled as to why this secretary would mention her great aunt.
Could it be!
Is Theresa actually the granddaughter of Otto and this secretary!?
"What is her relationship to Kallen? She looks far too much like her," Yae Sakura asked, the question having been nagging her ever since she first saw Theresa.
Kallen?
The eavesdropping Kiana grew curious. Otto had also mentioned that name when he was talking with Theresa earlier.
And the surname was Kaslana.
Could she be some distant relative of mine?
"Of course she looks like Kallen." Otto chuckled. "Little Theresa is a test subject created from Kallen Kaslana's DNA. In terms you can understand, the same blood as Kallen's flows in her veins."
"And it is for that very reason that I adopted her as my granddaughter. Oh, and I have another secretary named Amber. She is also a clone of Kallen. In terms of seniority, she's actually Theresa's older sister."
Yae Sakura frowned slightly, some of the terms in Otto's explanation being difficult for her to grasp.
For Kiana, however, this was a massive bombshell.
She looked at Theresa inside the wardrobe. She never would have imagined that her great aunt, who was always smiling as if she didn't have a care in the world, was actually someone else's clone.
This...
Kiana gripped Theresa's hand.
She must have suffered so much.
If something like that happened to me, I don't think I could bear it.
Kiana looked at Theresa with concern, but the other girl's expression didn't change. Because Theresa had known from the very beginning that she was Kallen's clone, A-310.
But her forty years of life were not fake.
She was A-310, but she was also Theresa.
"What's wrong?" Theresa whispered, a little confused by Kiana's attitude, completely oblivious to the fact that Kiana was pitying her.
Kiana just shook her head and squeezed Theresa's hand tighter, as if trying to give her strength.
Feeling the warmth from Kiana's hands, Theresa's resolve to keep her by her side only grew stronger.
Otto deliberately didn't mention that he himself had created Theresa. If it were just Sakura, he could have been completely open, but there was still a Kiana hidden in the room.
Now was not the time for Kiana to know these things.
But the moment he could tell her everything was drawing ever closer.
"Then... Otto, your relationship with Kallen..."
It didn't seem like a normal childhood friendship.
Yae Sakura trailed off, finding the situation strange. Kallen died five hundred years ago, yet there were Kallen clones in the present day. This was clearly Otto's doing.
Could it be... he wanted to resurrect Kallen?
In that instant, Yae Sakura vaguely perceived Otto's past ambitions.
Otto looked at her and slowly exhaled.
"Kallen Kaslana was my fiancée," he stated simply.
The hearts of both Yae Sakura and Kiana leaped in their chests. Theresa, however, was unfazed; she had heard the story of Saint Kallen hundreds of times since she was a child.
"But... she died over five hundred years ago."
"There was a time when I, too, wanted to resurrect her. I strove for it endlessly, even to the point of madness."
Yae Sakura listened to Otto's tale. Kiana bit her lower lip, never imagining that Kallen was Otto's fiancée.
For some reason, she felt a complex tangle of emotions in her heart.
"But not long ago, I began to wonder... is resurrecting Kallen really a good thing? Is it truly what Kallen would have wanted?"
"My way of thinking..."
"Was changed by someone."
And that person... was...
Me!
Not long ago, I became the Overseer of Schicksal!
But Otto knew someone would immediately cast herself in that role.
Isn't that right, little Kiana?
"Kallen wouldn't want me to be shackled by a phantom of the past, would she?"
"Speaking of which, back when Kallen was on trial, she once told me—her fiancé—that she had fallen in love with you, when you were possessed by a Herrscher."
Yae Sakura froze.
Then, a look of utter confusion appeared on her face.
Otto saw her expression and continued.
"Perhaps, that was her way of telling me to stop clinging to her. That I should move forward, create a new future, and not be trapped in a nightmare of the past."
"Unfortunately, it was only after a recent encounter with fate that I finally understood this."
His mouth was full of lies and pretty words.
"In the past, I lived only for Kallen."
Otto gave a weary smile.
"Frankly, these five hundred years... I'm tired."
Otto knew that the moment the original Otto resurrected Kallen would be the moment of his death.
Because his life's wish would be fulfilled. He would have lived long enough, with no reason to go on.
By a joke of fate, Otto and Kallen were merely two intersecting lines. Once they met at a single point, they would only grow further apart. For Otto to continue living would only be to prolong his suffering.
"Now, I want to live for myself. For the people I like, and the people who like me."
Otto smiled, a hint of liberation in his expression.
Kiana's heart felt a little heavy. She was realizing that Otto was a man with a mysterious past. His experiences were like a fine wine, something one wanted to savor slowly.
Kiana wanted to savor Otto.
She wanted to peel back his outer layers, to count the scars time had left on him, to taste the vintage that had aged for centuries.
So what if he had a fiancée in the past?
Right now!
The one by Otto's side...
Is me, Kiana Kaslana!
I'm the one who changed Otto!
I'm the one who likes Otto, and the person Otto likes is me!
Kiana immediately cast herself in the role.
"That's good," Yae Sakura said. She could understand Otto to some extent, because she too had lost Kallen. But Otto had already managed to move forward, which made her a little envious.
Perhaps I should move forward as well?
"Overseer, thank you very much for telling me all of this. I understand a lot more now."
Yae Sakura gave a slight bow to Otto, but she was still a little confused.
Kallen loved me?
But...
I just thought of Kallen as my best friend.
How can a girl fall in love with another girl?
The village girl, with her traditional mindset, couldn't comprehend the concept of yuri.
"Mm." Otto nodded. Just as he was about to tell Yae Sakura to go back and get some rest, he suddenly frowned.
It wasn't another knock on the door.
BOOM!
A deafening roar and the sound of an explosion echoed from across the St. Freya campus.
Enemy attack!