I Grant You Evolution and Power

"Your struggles and cries can only be heard by us here in this Holy Land."

A calm male voice, tinged with languor, suddenly rang out in the vast, cold laboratory hall.

Makino shuddered and whipped her head around.

Accompanied by steady footsteps, a man slowly approached.

He was extraordinarily tall and imposing, yet the contours of his muscles were not bulky. Instead, they were lean and balanced, displaying almost perfect proportions.

But what truly stole her breath was his face, as though a god had personally sculpted every detail. He was strikingly handsome, with a lethal charm that could draw anyone under his spell.

Makino swore that in all thirty years of her life, she had never seen a man so beautiful, or so intimidating.

The instant their eyes met, even her mind, muddled by despair, briefly went blank.

"Daddy!"

A moment earlier, Shirahoshi had loomed over Makino, tormenting her like a demon. The instant she saw the newcomer, the cold mockery on her face melted away like snow.

Her graceful figure, over two meters tall, immediately bent down as she trotted to the man's side like the most obedient of daughters and affectionately linked her arm through his.

Hearing Shirahoshi's sweet, innocent address, Makino's breath caught.

During the earlier confrontation at the tavern, she truly had not known Shirahoshi's exact identity.

Perhaps Beckman and Shanks had mentioned it in their anger, but Makino's mind had been so consumed by emotion that she had remembered none of it.

But she distinctly remembered the honorific "Palace" attached to Shirahoshi's name.

It marked a genuine Celestial Dragon, a title reserved for the rulers of the World Government.

And now, a man whom a Celestial Dragon of the highest standing addressed as Daddy with such filial affection...

She needed no time to think.