I Am the Saintess of Destiny Chapter 21

The white-haired little girl's application had been approved by him, so Otto naturally knew what her goal was.

Otto also knew about the rumors circulating recently among the Valkyries and trainees.

To be honest, Otto hadn't expected such rumors to spread so quickly among the Valkyries and trainees, and with such fervor.

It had directly caused many secret clubs to spring up like mushrooms after rain.

The three screens on the monitor naturally displayed the brainwaves of the three subjects under surveillance.

"As expected, only after K422 fell asleep did Kiana and K423's brainwaves begin to converge toward K422's."

Otto subconsciously tapped the desk.

Earlier, he had arranged for K423 to participate in the experiment precisely to test the true nature of their connection—whether they possessed the ability to communicate with each other.

He had even deliberately made the experimental process terrifying.

Yet True Kiana and K422 both acted as if they had no knowledge of the experiment K423 had undergone.

Of course, Otto believed they must have known about K423's ordeal; the monitors had detected fluctuations in Honkai Energy at the time.

Unfortunately, that fluctuation had only lasted for an instant.

Even if recorded by the monitors, it couldn't prove the connection between them.

After all, both True Kiana and K422 had behaved exactly as usual.

The only exception was K422's desperate intensity during training.

Otto had once thought that after K422 learned about K423's situation, she had chosen to strengthen herself, knowing she couldn't avenge K423.

But K422's performance happened to perfectly match the persona he had crafted.

To be honest.

If it weren't for the fact that K422's persona was entirely his own creation—every bit of it fabricated—even he couldn't help but feel a twinge of sympathy.

He fully understood why so many people at headquarters wanted to become her mother.

The persona had been crafted very successfully.

A little girl with a tragic background who trained with extraordinary diligence.

In just half a month of training, she had already been sent to the infirmary seven times after collapsing from exhaustion.

If he hadn't personally overseen K422's growth, Otto would have truly believed that this hard-training little girl was Cecilia's daughter.

At the very least, her performance surpassed that of the real Kiana.

And precisely because of this, Otto found himself with a headache—he had even lost several strands of hair these past few days.

A successful persona combined with K422's outstanding performance—how could she not attract attention?

The Kaslana Family had expressed willingness to take this Kiana home in recent days. They didn't care that she had a disgraced father; they were willing to teach her the Kaslana Family's Gun Kata.

On the other side, the Schariac Family had also made their stance known these past few days. Previously, because Otto had pitted Kiana Kaslana against Maria Schariac over the Black Abyss White Flower, relations had soured, and many clan members had taken out their anger on this daughter of the previous Schariac Saintess.

But after the rumors about Kiana reached the Schariac Family, their attitude did a complete one-eighty. They even hoped Kiana would change her name to Kiana Schariac, having no objection to her inheriting the Black Abyss White Flower. Even if she inherited it, it would still belong to the Schariac Family.

The relationship between the Schariac Family and the Black Abyss White Flower was rather unique. If Kiana truly took the Schariac surname and inherited the Black Abyss White Flower, she would become this generation's Schariac Saintess.

That meant Maria Schariac, who was about to become the Schariac Saintess, would lose her position.

Of course, the Schariac Family explained that an exception could be made—this generation's Schariac Saintess could be shared by two people, with Kiana as the primary and Maria as the secondary.

The acting head of the Schariac Family, Cecilia's mother and Kiana's grandmother, had even personally come to the Schicksal headquarters to demand Kiana.

It had to be said, a persona too successful was also a headache.

"Your Eminence, the acting head of the Schariac Family hopes you can find time tomorrow."

"Tell her I'm busy!"

"The head of the Kaslana Family wishes to invite Kiana to visit their home."

"Tell that old man to get lost."

Otto felt exhausted.

Amber had contacted him on behalf of both family heads, naturally for Kiana's sake.

But don't think these two families truly cared about Kiana.

In the end, it was because Kiana had shown potential.

After all, these two families hadn't known that Kiana had awakened the Schariac Family's Bloodline Power before, and they hadn't cared about this daughter of a hero pushed forward by Schicksal.

So what if she was the child of the former Schariac Family head and the former Kaslana Family head?

Cecilia was dead, Siegfried had defected—Kiana's background had long ceased to matter.

Even because of Siegfried's defection, the Kaslana Family had been unwilling to accept Kiana.

That was why, during the time Kiana mysteriously disappeared, neither family had bothered about it.

Even now that Otto had pushed forward K422, this impostor, neither family had reacted.

Not until Otto crafted K422's persona and added the detail that Kiana had awakened the Schariac Family's Bloodline Power.

Kiana naturally now had both potential and drive.

The two major families certainly didn't mind Kiana carrying their names—if she became the strongest Valkyrie, it would only bolster their own power.

Even Otto had started considering the possibility of renaming K422 to Kiana Apocalypse.

"Your Grace the Bishop..."

"What now?"

Seeing Amber contact him again, Otto could only respond with resignation.

It was probably that old-fashioned patriarch of the Kaslana Family demanding he return Kiana.

Now he put on a fine grandfatherly face, but he hadn't lifted a finger to search for Kiana during the time she was missing.

It had to be said—even the Kaslana Family had been corrupted by power, becoming so pragmatic.

"I wonder what Kallen would think of the Kaslana Family now."

Thinking this, Otto waited for Amber's reply.

"Aunt Theresa's medical research team just passed review."

"Send me the list..."

This granddaughter of his was also a handful.

In truth, if he really did rename K422 to Kiana Apocalypse, K422 would absolutely be poached by his granddaughter.

Even this medical research team existed because Theresa didn't trust the Schicksal headquarters staff.

Or him, for that matter.

But the medical research team Theresa had assembled did contain many outstanding people.

Many researchers had once refused Schicksal's recruitment offers—though Otto's gaze quickly landed on the avatar of a man with deep blue hair.

This man was a professor at Caltech, serving as an assistant to one of the researchers on the medical team.

"...Joyce."

Otto rubbed his aching temples.

He seriously wondered if the man's brain had gone haywire—showing up in that appearance, did he even intend to hide his identity?

"Welt Yang, are you curious about K422 too?"

"Or... have you come to see the Second Herrscher?"

The appearance of such an 'old friend' genuinely caught Otto off guard.

"Your Grace, is there a problem?"

"No, nothing. Give them visitor clearance and assign them a laboratory."

After issuing the order, Otto's gaze still lingered on that avatar.

24. Learn to Make Good Use of Your Current Cute Appearance (Revised)

The second morning without the Little Maid waking her up—

She woke on time, but before she could sit up, the small hand hooked around her neck suddenly tightened.

"Ghk—!!"

Her eyes flew wide, both hands instinctively grabbing at the small hand strangling her.

Heaven knew how that little hand had so much strength—her breath was nearly cut off by it.

Because she had never imagined being attacked in her own room, in that instant she had no idea how to react; her mind felt like a lump of paste.

After barely managing to pry the small hand away from her neck just enough to breathe, she finally understood her situation.

She had almost been killed by Aunt Theresa.

Even now, the small hand hooked around her neck was only kept from choking her because both of her own hands were holding it back.

She truly hadn't expected her first crisis to come from Aunt Theresa.

Facing the hand that was still increasing its strength, she could only shout loudly, hoping to wake the soundly sleeping Theresa.

"Hm? Kiana? You're awake?"

Under her shouts and struggles, Theresa quickly opened her beautiful blue eyes, and the strength in her small hand suddenly dissipated.

"What's wrong? Why do you look so scary?"

Woken by the shouting and struggling, Theresa opened her eyes to see the little girl beside her wearing a terrifying expression—she was startled too.

Her drowsy eyes sharpened into alertness.

"...Because I was almost killed by you, Aunt Theresa."

She answered expressionlessly.

Even though she considered herself good-tempered, facing that crisis just now, she couldn't help giving Theresa a sour look.

"Sorry, Kiana. I must have been half-asleep."

Fully awake now, Theresa hurriedly apologized to the little girl who had gotten up with a face so dark it was frightening.

"Even though it sounds like an excuse, last night I really did dream about your mother. I couldn't help myself..."

In that dream, Cecilia hadn't perished together with the Second Herrscher.

Seeing a figure identical to the one in her memories, Theresa simply couldn't control her emotions.

She couldn't resist wanting to give Cecilia a hug.

"..."

Theresa's answer didn't put her mind at ease.

If anything, it only confused her more.

Just how exactly did dreaming about her mother lead to a situation where she looked like she wanted to kill her just now?

What the hell kind of 'couldn't help myself' was that!

She felt like True Kiana's dad was wearing a very fine hat.

She knew about guarding against fire, theft, and close girlfriends... she never thought that saying would apply to the husband's side too.

"Kiana, really, I just wanted to give your mother a hug."

"...A murder hug."

After hearing the answer, she muttered again under her breath.

She wouldn't make a big deal out of this with Theresa. It was just a small accident, nothing that would really put her life in danger.

But it definitely solidified her decision not to sleep with Theresa anymore.

After all, Theresa didn't have much meat on her bones. Even hugging her while sleeping wasn't very comfortable. When she hugged the Little Maids to sleep, they all came with soft pillows.

"I'm so sorry... um, as an apology, let me comb your hair."