"Brat, take your hand off my daughter!" Friedrich swore he had never roared so forcefully in his life.
His precious daughter, whom he hadn't seen in ages, suddenly appeared only to be hugged around the waist by some unknown blond guy walking straight toward his home.
No father could accept this. Friedrich was already overheating.
Suddenly shouted at by a complete stranger, Shun instinctively let go. From what the man said…
He was Ana's father? Shun suddenly had a very bad feeling.
"Dad?" Ana's surprised voice came from beside him.
"Ana, is this really… your dad?" Watching the twisted figure charging madly toward him, Shun asked uncertainly.
Ana silently nodded without speaking. The answer was already obvious.
"It's over!"
Things had developed more or less like this. After learning the situation, although Ana's father didn't chase him away, he still slammed the door shut while Shun was still outside.
Leaving Shun now sitting on this plastic folding chair full of power, pondering life.
"What exactly are 'ordinary' and 'natural'…"
Shun felt someone pat his shoulder. He tilted his head, and Ana's stunning side profile came into view.
"What's wrong? Ana, are you kicking me out?"
Ana let out a soft "pfft" laugh at Shun's words and said, "No, silly. My mom and dad said they want to see you."
Ana pulled Shun, who was slouched in the folding chair, to his feet and led him toward the house.
"Dad was just too angry earlier. After all, any father would be furious seeing his long-absent daughter suddenly held in the arms of a strange man…"
"Though Dad is still very angry now, Mom is actually quite interested in you. Dad can't beat Mom, so she sent me out to get you."
Listening to Ana, Shun paused. It seemed a lot more had happened inside the house during this time than he imagined.
And his yet-to-be-met mother-in-law had apparently conquered his father-in-law through sheer violence? As expected of a Valkyrie family.
Ana led Shun through a long corridor lined with various artworks until they reached what looked like a sitting room.
"Mom, I brought him back." Ana pulled Shun forward and spoke to a mature woman with the same chestnut long hair as hers, seated on the sofa ahead.
Following Ana's gaze, Shun's first sight was Friedrich glaring at him intently. Beside him was the mother Ana mentioned.
This was basically an enlarged version of Ana! Just with a bit more… assets, but the charm in her brows and eyes was identical.
She appeared more mature and composed than Ana, with every gesture exuding elegant charm. Most striking were her slightly curled locks clearly professionally styled making her look even more fashionable and captivating.
"You must be the Shun that Ana mentioned. Please, have a seat. I'm sorry for Friedrich's earlier behavior he's just overly protective of his daughter. Ana, you sit next to Shun too."
Shun had no objections. He chose a nearby sofa and sat down; Ana promptly sat beside him.
"Pardon the introduction. I am Ana's mother, Elena Schariac." Only after they were seated did Elena introduce herself.
"The one beside me is my husband, Ana's father, Friedrich Schariac. You've probably already met, though it wasn't exactly pleasant."
"It's Friedrich von Schariac." Friedrich seemed particularly insistent on the "von," emphasizing it deliberately.
At that moment, Ana quietly leaned close to Shun's ear and whispered, "Dad's just like that. Don't mind him."
Shun nodded to show he understood, but inside he was already sweating buckets. His father-in-law seemed like the stereotypical rigid old European noble, and he had just happened to badmouth nobles right as he passed by.
"Still adding 'von'? Look at how much territory the Schariacs have left now." Elena said helplessly to Friedrich. Apparently, this couple had long disagreed about that "von."
Perhaps centuries ago during the Holy Roman Empire era, there really was a Schariac duchy but now it was dust of history.
Shun wasn't very familiar with European history in the Honkai world, but if it could make his father-in-law so nostalgic, the Schariac duchy must have once been a major power in Germany.
Shun's inner Germaniac soul stirred a little. "Unc… Uncle, do you think the Holy Roman Empire was actually Roman?"
Friedrich glanced at Shun, surprised to hear this kid suddenly mention the Holy Roman Empire. He was about to open his mouth and start debating.
But Elena immediately shut him down to prevent another long lecture.
"Alright, alright the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire. Settled." Elena declared the matter closed, ignoring Friedrich's muffled "mmph mmph" protests.
With that, the topic was dropped, and the atmosphere improved somewhat.
"I've heard from Ana that you're a very good young man, and you've received His Grace the Bishop's blessing. I trust His Grace's judgment of people, so I don't really have much to interrogate you about."
Elena's mouth fired like a machine gun, leaving Shun stunned. Was his mother-in-law really this easygoing?
"But I do have one request." Elena's tone shifted. Shun instinctively sat up straight, thinking:
There really was a bigger one waiting. Knew it wasn't that simple.
"I hope you can always be good to Ana." Elena's final words were simple and direct.
"I…" Shun instinctively wanted to say, "Of course I'll always be good to Ana does that even need saying?"
"Shh don't promise with words so easily right now. Promises spoken lightly are the cheapest. I hope you keep it in your heart." Elena said calmly, as if entrusting not her daughter's life, but something trivial.
"How is it 'mother-in-law' already? I'm still…" Friedrich tried to jump up again but was immediately pinned by Elena.
Ana was also nervous at this point. She gripped Shun's hand a little tighter, her expressive pink eyes looking at him as if asking for his answer.
Shun returned a reassuring look, signaling Ana to relax. This kind of question didn't even need asking.
Shun might seem like this on the surface, but deep down he was starved for love. Give him a little, and he'd return tenfold or a hundredfold.
He, Shun, would absolutely never abandon Ana. Or rather he had rushed into this relationship and flash-married Ana precisely to bind their lives tightly together and remove the death flags hanging over her.
(Ellipses: Digging up memories, digging up Qi's memories, digging up death retention)
Seeing Shun's reaction, Elena already had her answer in her heart.