"Not at all. I really wanted to apologize."
Theresa's tone was filled with sincerity, her tear-filled eyes seemingly pleading innocence.
Honestly, this aunt was adorable.
But she wanted to keep training. She wanted six-pack abs...
However, Theresa was far more difficult to deal with than she had imagined.
No, it should be said that Theresa was exceptionally skilled at using her cute appearance.
In other words, acting cute and throwing tantrums suited her perfectly.
Even if she wanted to get angry, half her anger faded when faced with Theresa's round little face.
"Fine, I'll stop training here for today."
With a sigh, K422 could only make up for this loss by kneading Theresa's cheeks.
"Yay~ Kiana, come play games with Auntie."
"O... okay, but don't do this again tomorrow..."
Naturally, her early end to training prompted a burst of cheers from the Assault Team members, while the Valkyries and trainees outside the training grounds, all worrying like mothers, showed relieved expressions.
She always felt like these people had it out for her abs.
Her demands were not that high. Just six-pack abs, plus the combat ability of someone one meter sixty tall.
Of course, she felt that she should be able to grow to one meter sixty.
After that, she spent the entire morning playing games in Theresa's room.
By noon, she naturally had lunch with Theresa.
However, in the cafeteria, she spotted Sister Himeko, who had dressed up carefully.
Because they trained together, she had a fairly good relationship with this newcomer to the Assault Team.
When she saw the youthful and beautiful Himeko standing beside a dark-blue-haired man with a shy expression, even though she was still a child, she could not help revealing a gossiping look.
In fact, the surrounding Valkyries and trainees were the same.
Theresa also wanted to sit closer and listen in on the gossip.
Unfortunately, the seats around Himeko and that man were already filled with Valkyries.
Honestly, even the heads of certain conglomerates or important national leaders would not have so many Valkyries around them.
The conversation between Himeko and the man was very ordinary. Clearly, they were not in the kind of relationship everyone imagined, though most people could tell that Himeko was interested in him.
However, the man only regarded Himeko as a student.
He even hoped that Himeko could continue her previous scientific work.
But Himeko clearly wanted to rely on Schicksal's position. The path of a scientist was no longer suitable for her now.
Seeing that he could not persuade Himeko, the man felt deeply regretful.
At the same time, he politely declined Himeko's invitation to take a walk in St. Fountain that afternoon.
After lunchtime ended, many people went over to comfort Himeko.
After all, they could tell that the man only had teacher-student feelings for her.
Seeing Himeko's dejected expression, even though the other party gave her the impression of being a big shot, she still felt a bit hostile toward him.
She had thought she would not see that man again today.
Yet just after she finished her afternoon classes, Theresa ran over and told her that the man named Joyce wanted to see her privately.
"...I see. A lolicon, huh?"
After thinking for a moment, K422 reached her conclusion.
"???"
Theresa looked utterly bewildered.
Even Welt Yang, who had just arrived at the door, wore a puzzled expression.
"He rejected Sister Himeko's invitation, yet chose to meet privately with a little girl like me. Doesn't that prove there's something wrong with his preferences? I need to warn Sister Himeko to be careful around perverts like him."
"..."
Welt Yang suddenly began to doubt whether his decision had been correct.
He had merely wanted to meet her because, even if she was not the target he sought, she was still an experiment subject created using the Second Herrscher's DNA.
But now he had been labeled a lolicon?
Why was this little girl's way of thinking so strange?
"Is that true, Mr. Joyce?"
Theresa asked warily.
Because of what had happened that morning, she was now beginning to doubt her own judgment of people.
Thinking about it carefully, she was not especially close with this man named Joyce. He merely owed her a favor of middling importance, yet after she extended the invitation, he had agreed to join this Medical Research Group.
She had roughly investigated the man's background. With his level of knowledge, he could have joined Schicksal through official channels without any trouble.
Therefore, Theresa ruled out the possibility that he wanted to curry favor with Schicksal.
Since that was not possible, and the favor he owed was not especially significant, yet he accepted her invitation and even declined the invitation of a curvaceous beauty like Himeko... Just as Kiana had said, once every possibility had been ruled out, the most unlikely remaining answer was the truth.
He was a lolicon.
And he had his eyes on her, the world's cutest loli.
Now, he had even made Kiana his target.
At that thought, Theresa shuddered and suffered a heavy blow.
Sure enough, she had no eye for people. Such a handsome man was actually a lolicon!
"Mr. Joyce, if you cannot explain why you accepted my invitation, I'm afraid I'll have to lock you up."
"I wanted to repay a favor..."
"That's impossible. The favor you owe me isn't worth this much."
"I really do just want to repay a favor." Welt Yang did not know whether to laugh or cry.
The favor he owed Theresa was indeed neither small nor large, but the person he had truly come to Schicksal Headquarters to repay was a father who had lost his daughter...
During the Second Eruption, he had admired that man. It was precisely because of that that he wanted to do something for him.
He had come holding onto a sliver of hope, intending to repay a favor... and yet he had been mistaken for a lolicon.
Looking at Theresa and the other little girl, both watching him with guarded expressions, Welt Yang felt utterly stifled.
Then What the Hell Was That About?
Welt Yang looked helpless, but he still took out a small box.
"...This should count as proof of my identity."
Welt Yang opened the small box and displayed a familiar badge inside.
It was a small emblem made up of a sword and a shield.
"The Kaslana family crest? You know Siegfried?"
Theresa was extremely surprised, but the moment the words left her mouth, she regretfully covered her mouth and immediately turned her gaze toward the classroom surveillance camera.
"You don't need to worry. The cameras have already been covered with fake footage. I do know Siegfried Kaslana. I came this time to repay him a favor."
K422 naturally noticed Welt Yang's gaze shift onto her.
She smiled and pretended not to know anything.
After all, her current persona was that of a pitiful amnesiac girl.
As for Siegfried Kaslana, she did know of him, but everything she knew about him stopped at the fact that he was True Kiana's father.
Schicksal had clearly treated the defected Siegfried Kaslana as a stain. Even her little maid was unwilling to mention him much.
In truth, she had no feelings toward Siegfried whatsoever.
It was different with Cecilia. The instant she saw Cecilia, she had been captivated by her aura and appearance, and from the bottom of her heart came the desire to become this woman's child.
Although she had no memories of her past life, her past self had also longed for a mother's love.
So even though she knew Cecilia had already passed away, she still wanted to regard Cecilia as her mother.
If Cecilia had not died, perhaps she would have only thought of her as her mother in her heart.
After learning that True Kiana was Cecilia's daughter and had been imprisoned by Bishop Otto, the first thing she thought of was rescuing True Kiana.
The more she learned about Cecilia's life, the more she wanted to protect the things Cecilia had wanted to protect.
A large part of why she disliked Siegfried was because True Kiana had been brought to Schicksal Headquarters at the age of two and was now eight, yet he had not come to Schicksal Headquarters even once in those six years...
Whether True Kiana forgave that man was True Kiana's business, but she had no intention of forgiving him.
In any case, she was only a clone. She had no need for fatherly love from Siegfried.
"Repay a favor to Siegfried? You actually know that guy who only knows how to chug booze all day?"
Theresa was still stunned.
"Yes. We fought together during the Second Eruption, so I owe him a favor."
The dark-blue-haired man revealed how the favor between himself and Siegfried had come about.
"Joyce... Joyce, Welt Joyce!! Wait, you're Welt Yang, the Alliance Leader of Anti-Entropy?"
If Theresa still did not know his identity at this point, then she really would be a complete idiot.
Seeing Theresa's reaction, K422 also realized that this man had quite an impressive background.
Unfortunately, she had no idea just how impressive that background was.
After all, Bishop Otto was currently focused on giving her indoctrination lessons, hoping to establish the image of Schicksal as righteous in her mind first.
"I never thought you would infiltrate Schicksal Headquarters!!"
Theresa immediately assumed a guarded stance.
Although Schicksal and Anti-Entropy had worked together during the Second Eruption, and Siegfried and Anti-Entropy's Alliance Leader had gone to the moon together and fought the Second Herrscher together...
Schicksal and Anti-Entropy were still enemies.
"What exactly is your objective?"
Theresa demanded, stepping in front of K422 at the same time.
"I hope to help Siegfried rescue Kiana, but..."
Welt Yang's gaze passed over Theresa and landed on K422 behind her.
He hesitated, unsure whether he should tell Theresa about the clone, especially in front of the clone herself.
Welt Yang was worried that revealing the truth would hurt this clone.
However, Welt Yang did not know that the little girl before him had long known she was a clone.
She had even pretended to be the real thing while eating cake with Theresa at St. Fountain, secretly revealing Bishop Otto's plan to create clones to Theresa.
It was because of this that Theresa had become more cautious and had secretly begun investigating the locations of the other clones.
"Rescuing Kiana may be difficult. Schicksal Headquarters is heavily guarded, and once the operation fails, there won't be a second chance. Besides, Kiana's identity is unusual. Perhaps the Bishop has prepared a substitute for her..."
Welt Yang ultimately chose a more cautious way of putting it.
Of course, this explanation did not conceal anything from K422.
She was extremely surprised that he had discovered she was a clone.
So Theresa, who had failed to see that she was the real deal, was kind of embarrassing.
"The Bishop prepared a substitute for me? I really didn't know that."
K422 still chose to play dumb.
Before you continue