The night had fallen at St. Freya Academy. Moonlight spilled like liquid silver outside the window, draping the student dormitory in a thin, shimmering veil.
Warm light filled the living room, reflecting off the polished wooden floorboards.
The atmosphere was cozy, cheerful, alive with warmth.
At the center sat a finely crafted rosewood table, covered with steaming dishes that filled the air with tantalizing aromas.
Smiles bloomed across every face, and even for Kurumi and Inori who still new to this world—couldn't help but be swept up in the welcoming mood.
The Herrscher of Rice (or perhaps more fittingly, the "Herrscher of Food") couldn't defend her domain forever.
When faced with the heartfelt plea of "I want to cook a few dishes myself… for my daughters" from Cecilia and Alexandra, Mei had no choice but to yield and let them into the kitchen.
The girls were all close friends, and their mothers quickly became just as familiar with one another.
Even Raiden Ryoma, whose blood pressure always seemed to drop when Mei was around, found himself settling into the warmth.
At the table, a white-haired girl with braided pigtails sat quietly, appearing the very picture of good behavior.
But under the table, like a mischievous little cat, her delicate hand crept forward.
Two slender, pale fingers inched cautiously like tiny scouts, pausing now and then as if to survey enemy territory.
Her mismatched blue-gold eyes narrowed slyly, a lock of hair falling to disguise her intent.
Then, in one smooth motion, her small hand slipped up over the table's edge, stealthily reaching for one of Cecilia's mouthwatering dishes.
Just as her lips curved into a triumphant smile, another hand snatched hers mid-act.
The heiress leaned forward with a bright smile, gazing down at her culprit.
"Kiana—!"
By age, she was actually younger than this girl, but the sharp authority in her eyes and tone carried the weight of an elder.
"Eek! S-sis, big sis!"
Caught red-handed, the little tuna shrank back, braids drooping, her face twisting into an exaggeratedly pitiful expression.
She tried to bluff her way out with all the power of cuteness.
"U-uh, I'm hungry! Just a teeny bite! Just one bite, pleeease!"
"No!"
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[Sirin]: You little brat! Stop using my name to pull stunts like this!!
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The voice rang indignantly in her head.
Thanks to the dream Nagami created during the Second Eruption, and the shared resonance of Sirin and Kiana's souls, the two now carried overlapping memories.
In the end, Sirin reluctantly acknowledged the "sister" identity of her parallel counterpart.
But she was still the proud and invincible Herrscher of the Void!
And this… this worm was using her name and their shared body to act cutesy?!
Where was her dignity as a Herrscher?!
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[Paramecium]: Don't you want to taste Mom's cooking before anyone else?
[Sirin]: F-food like this…
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Her voice grew smaller, weaker.
The tuna smirked inwardly as her other self suffer.
So much for the mighty Herrscher of the Void—one mention of food and she folded instantly.
If she really wanted to stop her, why not just seize control of the body? It wasn't like she couldn't.
"Kiana, let Sirin have a taste. It's fine."
Wearing an apron, Cecilia stepped out of the kitchen with another dish, placing it lovingly between True Kiana and her.
Cecilia smiles radiated warmth and maternal affection.
"…Fine."
The Paramecium's grin burst forth like sunshine.
The heiress Kiana sighed and released her hand, watching as Cecilia fed her daughter with the same patience and tenderness as always.
Two different mothers, yet both overflowing with love.
The heiress's own mother had never spoiled her like this—she had raised her to carry herself as a proper noble daughter.
But thinking about everything Kiana and Sirin had gone through, Cecilia's protectiveness made perfect sense.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the table, C.C. was casually dabbing sauce from Inori's lips with a napkin, one arm draped around the pink-haired girl's shoulders.
The heiress's brow twitched slightly.
She knew Inori's situation, and True Kiana, through their shared bond, picked up her thoughts.
For a girl still learning to process emotions, it wasn't something to fuss over.
But still…
Her eyes narrowed, sharp and cold.
Across the table, Nagami was being fussed over by Mei.
Both the heiress and True Kiana felt a flare of irritation deep in their chests.
The perks of being a "counterpart existence" meant they shared joys twice as strongly as anyone else… but the weight of the "hats" they wore was also doubled.
But since today was supposed to be a happy day of family reunion, both the heiress and true Kiana let out quiet sighs in their hearts.
Their cheeks puffed slightly, yet neither of them made any further moves.
Cecilia, noticing the subtle change in her daughters' expressions, couldn't help but cast a helpless glance at the black-haired boy.
Once you accepted the idea of "one soul, two bodies," the whole situation was… oddly appealing.
Ahem—strange! Definitely strange!
As the Saintess of the Schariac family, and wife to the Kaslana family's, Cecilia naturally knew plenty about the Kaslanas, one of Schicksal's three great houses.
Leaving aside their rare male descendants, the overwhelming majority of Kaslana women had… let's say, very particular tastes: fair-skinned, pretty girls with slim waists, long legs, perky figures, and striking curves.
And that was one of the reasons why the Kaslana bloodline kept thinning out.
In fact, within the Honkai storyline itself, there were almost no significant supporting characters from the family.
Sure, girl-to-girl affection was beautiful—but true love between them came with one big drawback: no children.
Not that many Kaslanas worried much about old age anyway.
What a joke—most of them wouldn't even live long enough to worry about growing old!
Kaslanas were born with special bodies, extremely resistant to Honkai energy.
But precisely because of this, they were always at the very frontlines of battle.
They were the main force fighting Honkai head-on. In such conditions, dying peacefully of old age was practically impossible.
Years ago, Schicksal's Overseer Otto—fearing that this unique bloodline would one day die out—decided to tweak the biotech branch of civilization's science tree.
He did so with… complicated feelings, of course.
After all, he hadn't forgotten that a certain vixen had once put a very personal green hat on his head.
From then on, even Valkyries could bear the "fruits of love" with one another.
But to prevent Honkai energy from escalating further, and to restrict technological growth, Otto deliberately pruned half that research branch.
Thus, children born from Valkyrie-Valkyrie pairings could only be female.
This had two benefits.
First: even male Kaslanas though more resistant than ordinary humans—were still far weaker than females when it came to Honkai.
Men were just too fragile in this world.
Artificial Valkyrie markings couldn't suppress the Honkai erosion in them.
Not only would they corrode themselves, but in collapse they could also endanger those around them.
If a child born male were to die from this, the grief it would bring to the mother would be devastating.
(Siegfried, of course, was a rare exception.)
Second: daughters could continue to be trained as Valkyries.
And so, year after year, Schicksal bloomed into the world's largest and most beautiful yuri garden. And among them, the Kaslanas shone the brightest!
And then there was Nagami—at once a breathtakingly beautiful girl and a refined, dashing young man.
For Kianas, with Kaslana blood in their veins, the "super-beautiful girl" part was their weak spot.
For other girls with more ordinary preferences, his "handsome young man" side was deadly attractive.
Cecilia knew just how exceptional the boy truly was.
So, of course Nagami being so popular was only natural.
She opened her mouth as if to speak, then closed it again.
In the end, when it came to her children's affairs, Cecilia chose to remain a bystander.
Her gaze swept across the girls one by one before settling back on the Kianas.
'Do your best, my daughters!'
As for what everyone else was thinking—well, Nagami himself could only describe his feelings one way:
Sure, being the one fought over by a group of beautiful girls wasn't exactly unpleasant.
But with the tension in the air sharp enough to cut, and the atmosphere practically sparking around him, he didn't dare move an inch.
If it weren't for the parents sitting right here, he might've been able to handle it better.
But as things stood, all Nagami wanted was to finish this dinner as quickly as possible before he got caught on this war...
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