"Rita, you have a new mistress to serve. Are you happy?"
"What are you talking about, Gita?"
Rita never expected to come home after visiting her parents for two days and walk into such explosive news.
She had just stepped through the door when Gita delivered the message, causing the professional part of her brain—which was just gearing up to resume taking care of 04—to grind to a halt.
Gita watched as Rita, whose face was identical to her own, wore a look of utter astonishment. She was delighted.
She loved seeing Rita surprised, mainly because Gita couldn't normally see her own face.
She especially enjoyed interacting with the original owner of her face.
Rita took a deep breath, beginning to wonder if Noldrei really did have some kind of special kink. But he didn't seem like the lecherous type. She had no idea who had been dragged into his schemes this time.
Could it be "Sa," the being they had captured a while ago?
'Isn't Sa supposed to be something like a Cocoon? Don't tell me he'd even get his tentacles on something like that?'
With this thought, Rita returned to her post. As she entered the room, she saw Bronya with a smaller Bronya, saying happily, "04, say Mama..."
"Mama!"
The little 04 looked and sounded just like Bronya, and even called Bronya "Mama." Fresh from the "factory," she already had a mother, completely unaware of how dangerous a situation this was.
Bronya said cheerfully, "Alright, alright, I'll take you to the fighting tournament to watch them brawl right now."
'Bronya, what are you doing? If you keep this up, you're going to start an imperial civil war!'
Rita's eyebrow twitched. She wasn't sure if she should intervene.
But then she considered that everyone else in the house could hear Bronya, and yet Bronya was still perfectly fine. It was clear that everyone had basically accepted this outcome.
'Oh, whatever. Noldrei created her directly anyway. If she doesn't have parents, I guess she can just adopt whoever.'
Rita turned her head and saw another woman lying on the sofa, one who looked a little different.
'An outsider? No, she doesn't look like one...'
Rita realized that every time she came to Noldrei's house, she found some new curiosity. She began to wonder if she should bring Sirin back from Fu Hua's place.
After all, letting Sirin handle civil engineering projects all the time seemed a bit... excessive.
And since Noldrei had no intention of joining Sirin out in the field, it seemed likely Sirin would be staying with Fu Hua for a very long time.
"Rita, you're back? Elysia hasn't been doing her job properly lately. That woman is busy dealing with the Herrscher of Origin. You'll be in charge of taking care of her for now."
A tentacle extended from behind Kiana, holding a cup of coffee. She seemed a little out of it, and Rita had no idea what she'd been busy with.
"Of course, leave it to me. But... how should I address this one?"
"Address her?" Kiana tilted her head and thought for a moment. "Formally, I suppose you could call her the Imperial Granddaughter? Informally, just call her 04. We haven't figured out a good name for her yet, and she seems to be particularly fond of Bronya."
"We gave her a nickname. Just call her Ducky."
'What a completely random nickname,' Rita thought.
Rita didn't know how to react, but she was used to Kiana's casual approach to life.
This was far more haphazard than Otto's lifestyle, completely lacking any rhyme or reason.
"Ducky? Then her mother is... oh, I mean, why does she call Bronya 'Mama'?"
Rita asked for a few more details, just in case she was about to step on any landmines.
"Oh, that doesn't matter. You can have her call you Mama too, if you want. We can all be her mother. When I first came from the factory, I never thought I'd have a mother. It's such a shame... I hope she gets to hold onto a mother's love for a bit longer."
Kiana felt a pang of regret for the past. In truth, she hadn't spent much time with Cecilia, and that distance only grew after she realized Cecilia wasn't her biological mother.
Kiana had never received enough motherly love from Cecilia; she hadn't even been privy to the fake historical records.
Her feelings for her mother, Cecilia, were weaker than those for her father, Siegfried, and were tinged more with a sense of guilty admiration.
'Don't treat motherhood like it's such a trivial thing!'
Rita internally criticized Kiana's attitude, but she couldn't demand a girl who had lost both her parents at a young age to have a deeper understanding of parental emotions.
"However, I'm not the one who loves her the most..." Kiana hesitated for a moment before continuing. "It's actually Dr. Einstein. Every time Dr. Einstein visits, she brings lots of wonderful things she's made herself. Even when Ducky breaks them, she never scolds her. I get the feeling Dr. Einstein sees Ducky as something incredibly special."
Overhearing their conversation, Bronya explained, "Dr. Einstein's former lover was a Herrscher of Reason. She probably sees 04 as a legacy left behind by her lost love. It's the same way she treats Mr. Welt."
Thinking for a moment, Bronya added, "Also, her lover was killed because of Otto."
Rita fell silent, gaining a deeper understanding of the lingering harm Otto had left behind.
"Dr. Einstein thinks 04 has great potential for scientific research, which is another reason she's so fond of her," Bronya said, picking up the small, self-like 04. She pouted. "Ducky clearly likes me the most, but so many people are trying to steal the role of her mother from me."
Kiana immediately shot back, "Bronya! You'd better really just want to be the little one's mom, and not be trying to become my stepmother!"
Bronya glared back at Kiana, equally annoyed. "Where does this possessiveness over your adoptive father and this jealousy toward other women even come from?! I haven't done anything to wrong you."
'Mei? Where's Mei? We need a mediator, stat!'
Rita scanned the room for Raiden Mei, only to spot her in the yard, sunbathing with the ponies.
As she basked in the sun, Mei said lazily, "See that? That is the ugliness of jealousy. You must never become people like that! We ponies believe in magic and friendship. We must never become selfish, nasty creatures who only think of themselves."
Ana and the others, who were always following Mei around, nodded in agreement. For the ponies, sunbathing was a mandatory group activity.
"You're amazing, Mei-Nee!"
"Mei-Nee is right!"
Seeing this scene, Rita could only let out a long, helpless sigh. She had gone home for a vacation, only to return and find that absolutely nothing had changed.