Since she wanted to shape herself into the real Kiana Kaslana, the first thing she had to do was fool Theresa's eyes.
Once Theresa, who had been Cecilia's close friend, believed she was Kiana Kaslana, no one would question her identity.
Naturally, she felt quite regretful about not being able to hear Theresa's gossip.
But she was also looking forward to meeting Theresa.
Then, under Amber's arrangements, she met Theresa in the sky garden at Schicksal Headquarters.
Then...
Then she stared blankly at the twelve-year-old girl before her, who introduced herself as "Theresa."
Theresa and Cecilia (Revised)
The loli who looked about twelve suddenly rushed forward and hugged her tightly after giving her name as Theresa.
She smelled rather nice~
"Thank goodness, it really is Kiana..."
Theresa tightened her arms, feeling the little girl's presence.
"???"
Naturally, she was utterly confused by Theresa's enthusiasm and struggled slightly in her embrace.
Perhaps realizing that she had been overly enthusiastic and troubled her, Theresa quickly released her and stepped back half a pace. Then she reached out and rubbed her head. "Grandpa kept refusing to let me see you, so I was worried something had happened to you."
"A few days ago, I heard that you participated in the Valkyrie Experiment, but an accident during the experiment caused you to lose quite a few memories. I didn't know whether you still remembered me. Your mom and I were best friends. Cecilia even wanted me to be your godmother. Don't be so reckless in the future. You'll definitely become a Valkyrie like your mom."
The joy on Theresa's face was impossible to conceal.
After so many years, being able to hold Kiana again naturally made Theresa incredibly happy.
So...
This brat really had something going on with her dear mom?
"W-Wait a moment, Lady Theresa. Are you really Lady Theresa?"
Theresa suddenly hugging her had indeed made her forget her initial shock at seeing Theresa.
According to the information Amber had provided, Theresa had been born in 1972, and it was now 2006. That meant she was at least thirty-four years old.
Judging from the data alone, Theresa had been close in age to her mother, Cecilia, which was why they had become close friends.
In her imagination, even if Theresa was not as beautiful as her mother Cecilia, she should at least have been a mature beauty.
The kind with a full figure and especially perky curves.
That was why she had completely frozen once Theresa gave her name.
Yet the legal loli before her was far too different from the mature beauty she had imagined.
This was fraud!!!
"Yes, I'm Theresa. You've really grown up. When I saw you before, you were only this tall. Do you remember? I even held you back then. You were so tiny and incredibly adorable."
Theresa immediately brought out the sort of thing relatives only said during Lunar New Year in her previous life.
At the same time, she used her hand to indicate Kiana's former height.
Probably about the height True Kiana had been at two years old.
She imagined what True Kiana must have looked like at two and nearly got a nosebleed from the cuteness.
Theresa withdrew the hand that had been resting on her little head and turned to Amber.
"You may leave."
"As you command, Lady Theresa."
Amber did not fail to take the hint after being dismissed by Theresa.
She knew Theresa had an issue with her.
Perhaps it was the rejection between a finished product and a defective product of the same clone model, or perhaps it was because she was Bishop Otto's assistant.
Knowing she was unwelcome, Amber immediately left.
However, after leaving the sky garden, Amber remained outside. There was no way she would leave the two of them alone without keeping watch.
After sending Amber away, Theresa became even more uninhibited. She took her hand and led her to an open-air dining table in the sky garden, where delicious pastries had already been laid out.
"Kiana, do you really remember nothing?"
"I'm sorry, Lady Theresa. I truly don't remember anything. Bishop Otto said my memory loss was caused by the experimental accident. Perhaps it will recover in the future."
In truth, Bishop Otto had never said that.
She and Bishop Otto had only met a few times. Although he loved embellishing things, it had been done to deepen everyone's impression that she was Kiana Kaslana.
Besides, how could memories that had never existed possibly be recovered?
Theresa said sadly, "I'm sorry. When you needed me most, I wasn't by your side."
"...This isn't your fault. This is really delicious."
She picked up a pastry from the table and took a bite.
The pastry was wonderfully sweet, making her unable to resist taking another bite.
The sliced fruit atop the pastry burst in her mouth with a pop, rich juice instantly filling her mouth.
"If you like it, eat more."
Theresa did not mind her ravenous appearance in the slightest.
"Don't eat so quickly. No one's going to take it from you. Have some black tea."
"Thank you, Lady Theresa."
Feeling Theresa's concern, she humbly accepted it.
She admitted that she had developed a prejudice against Theresa simply because Theresa shared a surname with Bishop Otto. She had even thought Theresa was a bastard like Bishop Otto.
Just look at True Kiana's current situation.
No matter what proof Bishop Otto produced, it could not change the fact that he had nearly driven True Kiana insane.
"...Then, Lady Theresa, what exactly did you want to see me for? Or did you truly just want to meet me?"
"I promised your mother I would take care of you, but I broke that promise."
At the thought of Cecilia, Theresa's expression immediately darkened.
"Your personality has changed so drastically. It seems Grandpa really did many terrible things to you. But you don't need to be afraid anymore. I'll spend more time with you from now on."
During Schicksal's early formation, its structure had relied on a religious framework. Its leader was called the Grand Bishop and governed through centralized authority. Even after centuries of development, when the organization's religious elements had greatly faded, Schicksal's leader was still called the Grand Bishop and still ruled through centralized authority. As Grand Bishop, Otto naturally possessed supreme power.
But even though Schicksal was an organization that fought the Honkai, there were still many within it who did not share Schicksal's ideals.
Theresa had learned a few clues from those who disagreed with Bishop Otto's methods and beliefs.
As Schicksal's Grand Bishop, Bishop Otto rarely conducted experiments personally anymore. Yet according to the clues those people had provided, Bishop Otto was still carrying out horrifying experiments in his private laboratory. This time, he had even experimented on Cecilia's daughter, Kiana.
That was something Theresa could not tolerate.
It was also why she had repeatedly asked Bishop Otto to let her see Kiana.
Thinking of how a little girl who had been as cheerful as the sun at two years old had become like this, Theresa's heart ached terribly.
"If you're willing, I'll ask Grandpa to let me take care of you from now on."
As she spoke, Theresa scooped up a piece of pastry with a small spoon and brought it to her lips.
"Ah~ Cecilia used to feed me like this too."
The fragrance of lilies washed over her.
"..."
She had a feeling this confirmed that her mother Cecilia and Theresa really had something going on.
Watching the little girl before her open her mouth and eat the pastry from the spoon, Theresa was naturally filled with emotion, her expression dazed.
It was as though she could see Cecilia feeding her pastries in the past.
Very few people knew about that.
Theresa also remembered the smile Cecilia had worn back then.
Though she was now the one doing the feeding, seeing the satisfied smile on the little girl's face after she ate the pastry made Theresa suddenly realize that, just to see that smile again, she would surely do many things she knew she should not.
At that thought, she suddenly laughed at herself.
She had once made a similar vow, yet in the end, she had failed to protect everyone she wanted to protect.
Unreliable Theresa (Revised)
Theresa was extremely enthusiastic.
Her concern for her far exceeded the bounds of what one would expect from her mother's close friend.
It made her seriously wonder whether her dear mother and Theresa had been true love, while her father—whom she had never met—had only been chosen to produce the next generation.
The Little Maids had said that her mother, Cecilia Schariac's marriage had been a political one, a powerful alliance between the Schariac Family and the Kaslana Family.
And speaking of the Schariac Family and the Kaslana Family, one naturally had to mention the Apolcalis Family as well.
Schicksal was supported and operated by three great families.
They were the Apolcalis Family, which represented the Bishop; the Schariac Family, which represented the Saintess; and the Kaslana Family, which represented the knights.
Among them, the Schariac Family possessed the ability to manipulate Honkai Energy, while the Kaslana Family was born with excellent resistance to Honkai Energy. Only the Apolcalis Family, which governed Schicksal, lacked the ability to directly fight the Honkai like the other two families.
Yet Schicksal's actual ruler was undoubtedly the Apolcalis Family.
More precisely, Otto Apocalypse.
The union between her mother, Cecilia Schariac, and her father, Siegfried Kaslana, had been arranged by Bishop Otto.
Just as the Little Maids had said, it was a political marriage, a political union between two of Schicksal's three great families.
Even without her memories, she could tell that Bishop Otto alone held absolute power in Schicksal.
After all, without enormous authority or control over Schicksal, how could he have committed such an atrocity as imprisoning Kiana Kaslana?
One had to know that Cecilia and Siegfried were respectively the heads of the Schariac Family and the Kaslana Family.
Kiana Kaslana, who had inherited both their bloodlines, was extraordinarily noble. She might even have become the next head of the Kaslana Family or the next head of the Schariac Family.
Hmm, Kiana Schariac sounded rather nice.
It seemed she did not need to fight True Kiana for the name either.
She reined in her wandering thoughts slightly.
After all, going from her mother having an affair with Theresa to the political marriage between two great families that the Little Maids had mentioned was indeed a bit absurd.
But once she started thinking in that direction...
Her imagination simply could not stop running wild.
In fact, just judging by Theresa's appearance, she had initially thought Theresa was her older sister.
Both her white hair and blue eyes looked very much like theirs.
If Theresa had not given her surname as Apocalypse, she would have thought Theresa was a Kaslana.
So... how likely was it that True Kiana was actually her mother and Theresa's child?
Should she call Theresa Mother? Or Father?
Although her head was empty now and she had no memories of her previous life, the fragments of knowledge from that life that occasionally surfaced in her mind did mention that, once technology developed to a certain level, two women having a child would no longer be fantasy. There had already been similar theories in her era.
Of course, she was not deliberately slandering the father she had never met.
It was simply that, according to the Little Maids, Siegfried, the head of the Kaslana Family, was a playboy. His union with her mother Cecilia had made countless Valkyries shed tears in sorrow.
Countless Valkyries who admired her mother had wanted nothing more than to make cursed straw dolls.
She simply could not stop her imagination from drifting away.
Before you continue