For a moment, I felt my consciousness abandon my body. The words simply defied all situational logic.
Barely tethering my drifting soul back to reality, I replayed what Bianca had just said, trying to process the data.
Wait, what? She's in the middle of a divorce right now?
And did she really just ask if a married woman with a daughter was within my 'strike zone'?
...Haha. No matter how much I run the numbers, I have no idea what Bianca is playing at.
Even if I look at it from every possible angle, I must have misheard her. It's the only logical conclusion. Yet, for some reason, the memory remains etched into my brain with terrifying clarity.
What is this? Some kind of elaborate hidden camera prank?
Reacting to my stunned silence, Bianca let out a faint smile, as if she had anticipated this exact response.
"Well, it doesn't matter if you didn't catch that. The time is coming, regardless."
"...What?"
With those cryptic words, she told me we'd settle the rest of the conversation face-to-face later and hung up the phone.
I stared blankly at the disconnected device before slowly turning my head to look at my wife and Fu Hua.
"...What do you two think?"
I asked with desperate eyes, clinging to the sliver of hope that my hearing had simply failed me.
The Class Monitor averted her gaze instantly. My wife simply let out a heavy sigh and shook her head.
My head dropped in pure despair.
I clutched my temples, the image of Bianca flashing through my mind—a woman who basically announced her divorce and practically proposed to me in the same breath the moment she heard about my situation.
"How did things end up like this?"
No one could answer that question.
Ever since I got married, I've been meticulously drawing lines with the other Valkyries who keep approaching me without hesitation. I don't understand why they're so fixated on a married man.
And above all, why now?
If this had happened before I started dating my wife, I might have been overjoyed. In my previous life, my age was essentially equal to the number of years I'd spent single.
But I'm not single now. I'm not even just in a relationship. I am a married man.
To put it bluntly, their actions are no different from trying to dismantle a happy family. If we weren't in Schicksal, my household would have been torn apart a long time ago.
Though I suppose the current chaos isn't much better.
Sigh... I just wanted a peaceful life with my wolf-like wife and my rabbit-like child. Why do these situations keep escalating? Did I perhaps sell out my country in a past-past life?
Because I'm fairly certain my previous life was as ordinary as it gets.
"Father, this is your granddaughter, Selene. Come on, 'Lene, say hello to your Grandpa."
"Hello! I'm Selene!"
"Furthermore, I'll be moving into his house. We're planning to get married as well, so... would you give us your blessing?"
""...K-Kagh!?""
...Correction. I didn't just sell out my country in a past life; I must have actively destroyed the world. As I watched Siegfried and Kiana clutch their chests and collapse as if spitting up blood, I pressed a hand to my throbbing forehead.
For the record, Cecilia and Senior Mei quickly moved to catch the two falling bodies before they hit the floor.
Wait, Kiana, why are *you the one collapsing? I'm the one who wants to pass out right now.
More importantly, what is this nonsense about marriage? I never agreed to any of this! And Senior Mei? When did she even get here?
Adam told me she was supposed to be on a business trip until today.
"Um, Cecilia?"
"Yes, dear?"
"You... don't seem surprised at all."
Cecilia covered her mouth with a hand, offering a graceful, knowing smile.
"Well, that's because I already knew."
"...Pardon?"
"To be precise, I've known since Selene was still in Bianca's womb. And I was well aware they got married later, too."
My consciousness almost checked out and hopped on a flight to the Andromeda Galaxy again. Honestly, if I think about it rationally, it's more bizarre that she didn't* know. It wasn't like Bianca never brought the child to Schicksal HQ. She even walked around in public. It's hard to hide a secret like that from family for long.
"...Wait? Then why were Siegfried and Kiana left in the dark?"
"Kiana was away on a mission back then, and as for Siegfried... well, the moment he heard, he simply broke."
"...Huh?"
"It was quite a mess, truly."
Watching Cecilia sigh with a slight tilt of her head, her hand on her cheek, I felt a bitter taste in my mouth. That same Siegfried—a man who would resurrect like a phoenix from any shock, charging forward even while drenched in his own blood—actually 'broke'?
Anyone who knows the man would dismiss that as a ridiculous joke, but since the words were coming from Cecilia herself, I couldn't just brush it off.
"He started throwing a tantrum like a toddler, crying out 'I hate you, Siegfried!', and then he spent weeks rot in a corner of the room, growing literal gloom-mushrooms. I really didn't know what to do with him."
"...But he seems perfectly fine now?"
"That's because we erased his memory."
"...Come again?"
What did she just say?!
"No matter what I said, he wouldn't snap out of it. I was at my wit's end when Rita came up with an idea."
"...And that idea was memory manipulation?"
"There was no sign of him getting better otherwise. Conveniently, Rita happened to have a feather from Fenghuang Down with her. Or perhaps... she brought it anticipating exactly what would happen."
Watching Cecilia nod to herself in understanding, a chill ran down my spine.
Rita had a Fenghuang Down feather at just the right time.
But the Class Monitor told me she gave Rita the feathers during my retirement ceremony. If Rita had known about the pregnancy back then, the timeline was far too long for her to still be carrying a feather around—unless it was intentional.
If I base this on what Fu Hua told me, Rita must have used the Fenghuang Down on *me. That's the only way to explain how two hours felt like two minutes.
But Fu Hua had warned me about one thing regarding the Divine Key's usage.
Using Fenghuang Down on someone with a strong will and mental fortitude requires a massive amount of Honkai Energy. She said that even for me, in my current powerless state, it would require at least one full feather to trap me in a hallucination.
If that's the case, Rita shouldn't have had any feathers left for Siegfried. Our initial hypothesis was starting to fall apart.
...Wait? What is actually going on here?
"So, who is Selene's father? Don't tell me it's that bas— I mean, that gu— I mean, him*?!"
Siegfried ground his teeth, barely suppressing the string of insults as he glared at me with murderous intent masked by a strained smile. It would have been less terrifying if there wasn't literal blood seeping from his eyes like a horror movie.
Thankfully, Cecilia had already taken the children into another room to look after them, otherwise, this would have been quite traumatizing for the kids.
Regardless of his intensity, Siegfried's question hit the center of the mystery I, Bronya, and Fu Hua had been trying to solve.
Is Selene actually my daughter, or not?
Everyone fell into a heavy silence, their eyes fixed on the only person who held the absolute truth: Bianca.
Under the weight of everyone's gaze, Bianca didn't show even a flicker of nervousness. She opened her mouth slowly, her tone calm and steady.
"Selene... is not his daughter."
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