---o---
The girl named Kiana stood in the center of the research lab, her expression somewhat lost as she surveyed her surroundings.
In her field of vision, a group of researchers was busy organizing experimental data and transferring it to the Schicksal database.
The research project concerning "Kiana Kaslana" was hereby terminated.
Just moments ago, that message had been sent from Schicksal HQ.
The Overseer, who had been so interested in the power of the Kaslana family, had suddenly issued such a command for reasons unknown.
And so—
This laboratory was now facing the fate of being decommissioned.
The researchers, who had gathered here to study the power of the Kaslana bloodline, would be reassigned to new posts to serve Schicksal.
"So, where do I go?"
The girl, whose appearance was identical to Sirin's, save for her sky-blue eyes, asked the researchers—likely some of the few people in the world who knew she was the real Kiana.
"We don't know."
The researchers, busy sorting through their materials due to the abruptness of the order, gave a concise reply.
It seems I'll be going to the next research lab, then, Kiana thought.
Being shuttled between different laboratories as a test subject was an absolutely agonizing experience.
Schicksal was not Anti-Entropy; they had little regard for compassion when it came to their experiments. Every year, a number of Schicksal's test subjects died as a result of human experimentation.
Compared to those who had died, Kiana was lucky.
Her father was Siegfried, a man who had displayed power exceeding that of a Herrscher. Her mother was a Saintess meticulously modified by Overseer Otto.
As the inheritor of her parents' bloodline, her value as a test subject was simply priceless.
Moreover, she was one of a kind.
Therefore, during experiments, if her body showed any adverse reactions, all the researchers would panic and immediately take remedial measures.
But she was also unlucky.
Her research value was far too high. As a result, the number of experiments conducted on her had reached a staggering figure.
Kiana hated the experiments.
Even though she was a priceless, unique specimen, and the researchers would always choose the least invasive procedures possible... the least invasive procedure still had an impact, causing the test subject discomfort, or even pain.
But—
Kiana didn't hate the laboratories or the research institutes.
Although her memories of these places were not pleasant, she didn't despise them.
The girl with the sky-blue eyes stood quietly beside the researchers, watching them pack up their things.
Letting the little princess of the Kaslana family just stand beside them like this was actually quite a dangerous thing to do.
Kiana was already sixteen years old. The power granted by her Kaslana blood had already begun to manifest. If she wished, she could twist the heads off this group of researchers—whose necks were certainly not as tough as an Emperor-class Honkai Beast's—as easily as twisting a bottle cap.
But the researchers were not worried about this.
In a world where only a handful of people even knew she existed, would anyone kill the very few who knew her name?
Kiana didn't know the answer.
But she knew that she wouldn't do it.
And the researchers knew it too.
The name "Kiana Kaslana" had been given to another by her fath—no, by Siegfried Kaslana. Everything associated with that name no longer belonged to her.
All she had was a room in a research lab and this group of scientists who studied the power in her veins.
The girl waited quietly for the director of the new research institute to arrive.
As if she had foreseen it, the sound of a young man's voice drifted from a distance, growing closer.
"Is the little princess of the Kaslana family in here?"
The title "little princess of the Kaslana family" naturally belonged to Kiana.
Although... she herself wasn't particularly fond of it.
Hearing the words, the girl couldn't help but turn her head toward the source of the voice.
She saw a young man who appeared to be no older than herself.
He had black hair, and his eyes were a crimson-gold, reminiscent of a setting sun or perhaps surging magma.
Standing behind him was a maid.
Kiana recognized that maid. Her name was Rita, one of Overseer Otto's trusted subordinates.
Anyone who can stand in front of Rita must also have some connection to Otto, Kiana thought.
After a brief conversation with the institute's director, the young man stopped and began to study her.
His gaze was strange.
It was different from the way a researcher looks at a valuable object, and different from Overseer Otto's seemingly warm but secretly cold stare.
All it held was curiosity and... a transferred affection, a fondness born of his love for another.
"What... are you looking at me for?"
Feeling that this newcomer was acting rather strangely, Kiana took an uncomfortable step back and asked the question.
"Because I want to."
Li Zihan looked at Kiana, whose appearance was identical to Sirin's, and gave an answer that said everything and nothing at all.
Is this guy insane?
The corner of Kiana's mouth twitched.
Then, the seemingly deranged man's next words reached her ears.
"It would be strange not to want to keep looking at a beautiful girl, wouldn't it?"
He's looking at me because I'm good-looking?
Kiana was stunned.
In all her life, it was the first time she had ever heard such an answer.
"Beautiful girls just tend to attract the male gaze more easily."
The young man, who likely held a high position in Schicksal, said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
A peculiar feeling welled up in Kiana's heart.
This was probably the first time in her life she had been acknowledged for her own charms, rather than praised for her research potential.
But she quickly shook herself free from that strange feeling.
She had to be wary of anything related to Otto. Anyone who could become one of Otto's confidants was naturally just as untrustworthy as Otto himself.
"Who are you?" Kiana asked, her tone exceedingly cold as she addressed the young man who seemed so different from everyone else.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Director of Chaldeas, Li Zihan."
The young man stated his name in a light and cheerful tone.
Chaldeas? A newly established research organization within Schicksal?
The girl, who was used to being moved between different research organizations, thought to herself as she heard the unfamiliar name.
"So, am I supposed to go to your organization next to undergo new experiments?"
Hearing this, the young man was taken aback. A troubled expression flickered across his face as he muttered, "Spare me. If Sirin found out I took you away to conduct human experiments on you, she'd absolutely claw my face off."
Not human experiments?
Kiana froze.
If he wasn't here for human experiments, then what did he want with her?
"You know what a trip is, right?"
As if seeing through Kiana's confusion, the young man grinned.
"I'm here to invite you to travel with me."