"Kiana? Are you all right?"
Theresa asked worriedly.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." She hurriedly waved her hands.
She did not want Theresa to discover the wild thoughts she had just been having.
In truth, whether her parents' marriage had been political, or whether Theresa had been involved with her mother, was mostly hearsay and her own wild speculation. There was no evidence to support any of it.
Of course, perhaps her parents' marriage really had involved political considerations.
But she felt that her mother had met the right person.
There was no evidence for it. It was simply a gut feeling.
"You're fine? Good. Here, try some more of this."
Theresa scooped up another spoonful of cake and held it out to her.
Though she felt a little awkward, she did not actually dislike Theresa.
Even though Theresa was also an Apocalypse, she did not inspire the same urge Bishop Otto did—the urge to charge him the moment he dared show a health bar.
"Aunt Theresa..." Looking at the little girl who appeared to be only around twelve and was not much taller than herself, she found it truly difficult to call her Aunt.
She wanted to call her Little Sister Theresa instead.
"You can call me that."
Theresa had clearly noticed her hesitation. She nodded and accepted the form of address.
"...Can't you take me out of here?"
"Yes. I'm terribly sorry."
Theresa lowered her head. Even though she desperately wanted to protect the Kiana before her—
She knew there was nothing she could do.
"I'll do my best to find a way. Can you wait for me?"
Theresa lowered her voice, a bitter smile appearing on her face.
Siegfried, Kiana's father, had once tried to take Kiana out of Schicksal.
But he had failed.
As a result, Siegfried became a traitor to Schicksal.
Kiana, meanwhile, had been locked away by Bishop Otto on the grounds that he was honoring Cecilia's will and the girl's own wish to become a Valkyrie.
Naturally, Theresa did not believe in that supposed will, but Bishop Otto had used it to silence the other two great families that had protested.
"Wait for you?"
Seeing Theresa lower her voice, she naturally leaned forward and whispered into Theresa's ear.
"Aunt Theresa, do you have some kind of plan?"
"How did you know?"
Theresa asked in surprise.
Seeing the stunned expression suddenly appear on Theresa's face, she silently mocked her terrible acting and naturally did not place much faith in her plan to rescue True Kiana.
Or rather, she thought Theresa's plan was a long shot.
For all she knew, Bishop Otto might pull some trick, and instead of getting True Kiana out, they would end up taking her—the experiment subject—or another experiment subject away.
Thinking of how Bishop Otto had deliberately reinforced the impression that she was Kiana Kaslana, she felt it was highly likely that he was raising her as True Kiana's replacement.
"I don't think your plan is reliable. Bishop Otto might have known about it already."
She could not help reminding her.
Then Theresa might believe she had rescued True Kiana, run away with this fake, while Bishop Otto could continue experimenting on True Kiana to his heart's content.
He would not even have to worry about his granddaughter keeping her in mind.
"Grandfather knows? How could he know? This..."
Theresa hesitated.
She had originally wanted to snap back. After all, how was her plan unreliable?
She had found an incredibly capable outside helper.
But when she met K422's gaze, she suddenly felt that her plan seemed riddled with holes, as though it really was terribly unreliable.
"Aunt Theresa, if you truly want to take me away, make sure you investigate exactly where I am. Bishop Otto made two clones, and perhaps more... One of them is being raised by Bishop Otto as my substitute."
Although Theresa seemed unreliable and her plan might have problems, that did not stop her from treating Theresa as one of her own.
Anyone who could help True Kiana was naturally one of her own.
It was just that she could not reveal that she herself was a clone, so for now, she could only pretend to be True Kiana and speak in True Kiana's name.
Life Is a Play, and Everyone Is an Actor
She and Theresa talked in the garden for a long while.
Although floating surveillance devices surrounded them, both kept their voices low as they whispered to each other, breaking into laughter from time to time.
From the outside, they looked like a pair of close sisters making each other laugh.
"...Reliable."
Listening to the silvery sound of laughter, Theresa nodded to herself.
After this conversation, she had gained some understanding of just how reliable K422 was.
Of course, at this point, she believed the girl was True Kiana.
When she heard that her grandfather had made two clones, Theresa naturally thought of her own origins.
After all, she too had been born from a similar experiment.
Thinking of Kiana's suffering, Theresa's eyes reddened, and she nearly failed to keep up the act.
Fortunately, she was quick-witted. She immediately hugged Theresa and pleaded sweetly, "Aunt Theresa, don't go, okay?"
Of course, even she was shocked by how cutesy her own voice had sounded.
A child acting spoiled did not look all that affected. It even carried a touch of cuteness.
Theresa hurriedly caught on as well. "I don't want to leave either, but I have things to do. Kiana, I'll come see you again after some time."
"Really? Really??"
She looked delighted.
The dejection and sorrow on her face vanished in an instant like the sky clearing after rain, revealing a bright, adorable smile.
Reliable.
That was her assessment of herself, too.
Good thing she had reminded Theresa. Otherwise, following Theresa's original plan—
She would have charged straight into Schicksal Headquarters with her outside helper, fought from the front gates all the way into its depths, rescued True Kiana, then fought all the way back out.
It was practically an attempt to imitate Zhao Zilong charging in and out of Changban Slope seven times.
What a joke.
For all she knew, the moment they rushed into Schicksal Headquarters, Bishop Otto—already aware of their plan—would be waiting for them. And after risking their lives, the one they saved would still be a fake.
"Aunt Theresa, gather as much information as you can before acting. I don't even know where I'm being held."
Pretending to be True Kiana had gone very smoothly.
She had even persuaded Theresa to put her unreliable plan on hold.
Then, naturally, it was time to part.
Just as Theresa had said, their time together had not been long.
Most of it had been spent whispering to each other, causing her to miss too many chances to learn about her mother.
She had wanted to learn more from Theresa, who had been close to her mother Cecilia. But when she saw Amber enter the garden, she knew there was no time left.
"Lady Theresa, time is up."
"I understand."
Theresa said with a frown.
There were actually more than ten minutes left, but Amber's attitude clearly represented Bishop Otto's unwillingness to let her stay any longer.
"I'll leave now... I only hope Grandfather won't delay my next request for so long again."
After saying that, Theresa reached out and patted her head, then left the garden without looking back.
Amber bowed toward Theresa's departing figure.
Although she currently represented Bishop Otto's will, she also knew how much he favored Theresa.
After Theresa left, Bishop Otto naturally summoned her.
He asked what she and Theresa had talked about in the garden.
Naturally, she could not tell Bishop Otto the truth. Though she did not know whether her lies could fool him, she did her best to construct a false scene.
"Aunt Theresa said I look a lot like Mom. She also told me many interesting things."
"Oh? Interesting things? Tell me about them."
Bishop Otto looked interested.
"I don't remember."
She answered with complete bluntness.
At the same time, she did not forget to roll her eyes at Bishop Otto.
Of course, if she could, she would have preferred to smash a brick over Bishop Otto's head.
"Don't jokes end once you've laughed at them?"
As she said that, she looked at Bishop Otto as though he were strange.
It was as though the words, You have no friends, so no one tells you jokes, were written all over her face.
The corner of Bishop Otto's mouth twitched.
He always felt there was something off about K422, yet he could not put his finger on it.
He could sense that K422 had concealed her hostility toward him.
But hostility was nothing surprising.
Since K422 was also an experiment subject made using Kiana Kaslana's DNA and the Second Herrscher's DNA, and since Amber and he believed she might have inherited the Second Herrscher's personality, inheriting the Second Herrscher's hatred for him was only natural.
Rather, the Second Herrscher's emergence had largely been caused by Schicksal's human experiments.
It could be said that Schicksal had created the Second Herrscher, yet Schicksal had also killed the Second Herrscher.
And even death was not the end... Bishop Otto had ordered Schicksal to collect the Second Herrscher's remains and use the Second Herrscher's DNA in experiments.
As both the chief culprit and Schicksal's Grand Bishop, he was naturally the target of the Second Herrscher's deepest hatred.
Seeing that he could get nothing more from her, Bishop Otto simply told her to return and rest.
"Kiana, go back and rest first. I'll have Amber accompany you. If you need anything, you can ask Amber."
She nodded and did not refuse.
She was under someone else's roof. How could she dare not bow her head?
Even if Bishop Otto really showed his health bar, it would be a full ten bars with a row of buffs. With her tiny arms and short legs, she definitely could not beat him right now.
Amber nodded beside her. "Understood, Otto. Lady Kiana, this way..."
After she left, Bishop Otto brought up the garden surveillance footage.
From the footage, after Theresa fed her cake a few times, she had clearly opened K422's heart very quickly. The two soon began chatting, their relationship becoming close enough for them to whisper into each other's ears.
Before you continue