Siegfried didn’t really resist—after all, the guy next to him was an even crazier daughter-lover than he was. He patted Raiden Ryoma on the arm, signaling him to let go.

  After Ryoma released him, Siegfried looked into his eyes and said seriously:

  "Raiden Ryoma, you should know—I don’t trust Anti-Entropy. They deceived me, and that led to me losing the one I loved most. The only one I can trust now… is you. If we talked over the phone, they could be listening. Face-to-face is better."

  “You trust me that much? What a shame. I don’t like you one bit, you damn flirt. You've groped every Valkyrie in Schicksal—tsk.”

  Ryoma took a step back as he spoke, widening the distance between them.

  "That was a rumor made up by Shigure Kira to get revenge because I married Cecilia. You actually believed it?"

  “I might not be part of Schicksal, but I know well enough that nobody from Schicksal denied the rumors. In fact, plenty of people rushed to say you groped them. With your lecherous face, honestly? I believe it.”

  “My mom believed it too—almost led a Kasna cn crusade to Schicksal to ‘cleanse the bloodline.’ I never imagined all those Valkyries liked Cecilia that much. They didn’t even care about their own reputations if it meant tarnishing mine.

  They thought if my name got ruined, Cecilia would leave me. Never expected Cecilia didn’t care at all—she even gave birth to our adorable daughter. You should’ve seen their faces when they found out she was pregnant. Every one of them looked like Otto had just died.

  But then, as you know, not long after that… the Second Eruption began.”

  Siegfried’s voice grew heavy with sorrow. Ryoma patted his shoulder—damn bastard just had to remind him of his own wife too. Both of them were men of misfortune… But at least he still had a daughter. Siegfried, all he had left was a bottle of booze.

  “Enough chit-chat. Tell me what you dragged me out here for—I need to get back soon.”

  At the mention of serious business, Siegfried’s expression sharpened. He ran a hand along the Heavenly Fire on his back, ready to draw it.

  “The girl around Kiana—is she from your Anti-Entropy, or did Schicksal send her?”(Sad Siegfried still thought the protagonist was a girl.)

  “Kiana? Are you out of your mind?! Tes and the others asked you to give that clone a name, and you gave her your own daughter’s name?!”

  Ryoma looked utterly shocked. “What the hell’s wrong with you? You miss your daughter so bad you’ve finally lost it? Damn, took you long enough!”

  “Watch your words. Even if she’s not my biological daughter, she’s a true member of the Kasna family. I’ve already come to see her as my real daughter.”

  Siegfried smiled faintly, a fire burning in his eyes.

  “If she’s from Anti-Entropy, then you guys are finished. The Herrscher of the Void awakened and Schicksal’s forces showed up on the scene within minutes—meanwhile, you lot only just now send someone in?

  But if that girl really is from your side… I’ll be having a nice long chat with Walter about just how powerful Heavenly Fire can be.

  You’ve already betrayed me once and caused me to lose the person I loved the most. If you’re pnning to make a move on Kiana now—then let’s all go down together!”

  Ryoma raised both hands, exasperated, and looked Siegfried in the eyes:

  “Don’t forget—our leader is a Herrscher too. If another one woke up, he’d definitely have sensed it. But since he didn’t issue any orders, we didn’t take any major action.

  The radicals might’ve done something, though. Give me more details—what girl are you talking about?”(Walter: Brother Ryoma, you really overestimate me. I’m still ying low and recovering.)

  “Purple hair. Red eyes. Looks about fifteen or sixteen… Very high Honkai adaptability. Physically, not much different from Kiana…”

  Before Siegfried could finish, Ryoma grabbed him by the neck mid-sentence—clearly losing control.

  As Ryoma mentally went through potential suspects based on the description, his expression worsened.

  “High Honkai adaptability, and physically on par with a Kasna? Siegfried, you son of a—

  Do you even realize I gave up a whole week of time with my daughter for this?! Anything Anti-Entropy does nowadays requires people like me and the boss to personally act, and you think we’d have a Valkyrie candidate that good just lying around?!

  And you couldn’t say this over the phone?! You made me fly from the Far East all the way to frickin’ Siberia just to hear this nonsense face-to-face?!”

  Then Ryoma flipped Siegfried two middle fingers, took a deep breath, and finally calmed himself enough to analyze the situation.

  “First off, she’s definitely not one of ours. The conservatives wouldn’t send some random girl to get close to you, and the radicals? Please. They’re all talk in meetings and can’t actually do anything.

  I control the budget. They don’t even have the funds or the personnel to pull off something like this.”

  Ryoma suddenly remembered something and looked at Siegfried with a complex expression.

  “Your Schicksal Overseer Otto—he did something recently. Just like how he once held little Cecilia’s hand and personally officiated her Valkyrie ceremony, he held the hand of a blonde little girl and did the same thing.

  I’m guessing that girl around Kiana is one of Otto’s. He’s the only one with enough resources—and obsession—to py this ‘raise-a-girl’ game. Every Valkyrie in Schicksal is basically a product of that.”

  Siegfried thought for a moment, then finally let go of his weapon. He pulled out two bottles of liquor, handed one to Ryoma, and started drinking.

  “If Otto sent her… I might actually feel a bit more at ease. Otto wouldn’t act against Kiana just yet.

  You know… back then, when Anti-Entropy betrayed me, I ended up meeting Otto one st time.

  I really wanted to kill him. But this world can’t do without Otto.

  Otto despises betrayal more than anything. Especially since I betrayed him—twice. He wanted to kill me so badly.

  But in the end, he let me and Kiana go. He told his people it was because my mother is still kneeling at Schicksal HQ even now.

  But he whispered something else to me: ‘Love can change a Herrscher.’ And that I… was one of his gambits.”

  “Otto really is a bastard. He could’ve just kept me in the dark, let me follow his pn blindly without knowing anything.

  But he knows me too well—knew I’d never be able to kill Kiana. And even less likely to kill him.

  So Otto told me everything. Because with your Herrscher leader in Anti-Entropy, Otto became even more convinced that human love could overcome any obstacle.

  Even the Honkai could be affected by human emotion. Otto believes in the ideal that humanity can triumph over Honkai through the power of love.

  That’s why he allowed me to stay with Kiana—why he let her live a peaceful, happy childhood.

  So that when the Herrscher of the Void eventually awakened, she would kill me… and everyone else Kiana held dear.

  And through that, awaken the suppressed human personality beneath the Herrscher’s will—allowing Kiana to truly control the Herrscher of the Void’s power…

  And become a Herrscher who fights for humanity.”