"You have your mother's exact stubborness. And you are a workaholic as well." He added while walking back towards his desk, rounding it to reach his high-back chair. He pointed a flat palm at the chair at the side of his desk. "Have a seat."
She stared at his hand, then at the armchair beside it. The offer was nice, given that she went through all that chaos to finally speak about that doubt.
"I am sorry... But I am not certain if I truly am Seraphina's child. I grew up on Earth." Aefia spoke, her voice extremely low.
Chronos took a look at her reluctant face, and asked a question. "Then since they claim you are my daughter, and you are still standing here—occupying my time—then how about you do my work for me?"
As if on beat, "sure. How much should I get done with and when do I start?" In her mind, she thought, I did take his time up. I better compensate for it. I am always doing work, so some extra is alright.
He let out a deep sigh in reply. "How about right now?" He placed a few papers on the table at the side of the armchair, and placed a bottle of ink and quill in front of her.
Aefia immediately walked over and took her seat. Regardless of whether she was the third Aethalgard or not, she still swallowed her pride and lifted the pen. The tip of it hovered mere inches away, when the ink bottle suddenly shifted.
She looked up in question, but didn't say any word.
"Your way of thinking... Is also similar to that do your mother's." He answered her doubts, leaning his palm flat on the table and looking down at her with a stern face. His fingers reached out to take the papers and the pen off her fingers. Then he took of his glasses, and set them on the table.
He extended a small container towards her, pulling off the lid. "Take one, I made it myself," he offered. "While you eat, we will discuss about this matter."
Aefia stared at the box of cinnamon rolls in front of her, and hesitantly took one. Satisfied, he lowered his tone of voice.
"Do you think... That a parent don't know who is their child and who is not? Even a blind will understand..."
Aefia stared up in disbelieve.
"Whether you were raised by abusive parents—or people who think you are useless if you don't bring money and fame—I expect you to understand that." He stated. "No child of mine will grow to understand the policies of a parent who sells them off to death like that."
Parental love must have been different in the Guardian Realm...
"I... don't... get it." She muttered under her breath. Her mind racing miles an hour, trying to figure out something—anything. She dropped the roll back on the lid to seperate it from the others. She needed to think.
"Your grandmother, Vespera, died out of overworking when her daughter was only four. While your mother died due to it—right after having you... I prefer that my own daughter is the one to break the cycle." He answered while folding his arms. "It might seem strange, but I will tell you once and for all... I am your real father, and your mother was Seraphina."
It was obviously too much for her to take.
She stood up abruptly, her chair skidding backwards in the force as she stumbled backwards in shock. Her knees buckled and she leaned with her right elbow against the armchair while her left covered her mouth. Her pupils turned into pinpricks.
She felt like she was about to throw up. The colours draining from her face.
So then... How did they know?
"Are you wondering why?" The Guardian of Time walked over to her place, offering her a hand to help her up. "Because Seraphina and I were married secretly at twenty-two. It was kept hidden because her step-mother, Victoria and the Guardian of Silence were behind her. You might have also felt it weird that I was still chasing her for two-and-a-half decades. Do you think any sane person stays put that long?"
"No..." She answered while shaking her head. She still didn't reach out to take his offered hand, and he didn't retract it either.
"I know you read those few diary pages that she put at the back of her journal. You know why?"
She looked up at his face, her eyes already answering for her.
"She had a hope that if anything happened to her like her mother, those pieces of written memory would somehow reach you... Even if I never told you." His eyes welled with silent unspoken tears. He tilted his head back for a short while before looking back down at her. "I may not seem like it... I am actually glad you survived all that..."
His eyes drifted to her hair with the silver edges—the result of the overconsumption during the first fight with the Guardian of Silence.
"And I am also glad you managed to get out of those women's reach before they could effect you. I am hoping you will stay that way."
She hung her head low. Afterall, those were people who took her mother away.
But up until now... Her family tree truly was twisted.
"I understand..." She replied while reaching her fingers out to take his hand and help herself up.
"You might be wondering how I know of how the others know..." He added while pulling the armchair back for her. "Seraphina was twenty-five when she suddenly realized she was with a child. It was unwanted to her, but I was actually quite happy. I thought that maybe we could do something to raise you while keeping you hidden. However, she was always aware of her surroundings before anyone else.
"Back then, she was incredibly active and she could solve cases within minutes—just like you—and during one time, she found out about the basement. That was when Victoria's attention was diverted to dividing the factions. She found the missing guardians long ago, and was actively taking care of them. Using a bit of Astraea's magic, she was able to unlock the gates. She was thinking that after figuring out her life, she would work on having the Guardians released. Back then, it was only Khione and Athena.
"Since it was right below the Death castle, she didn't need to travel far. Given the two Guardians were like mentors to her, she decided to take some advice from them. They told her to keep you of course, and she tried to argue, stating her problems. Much time had passed with disagreement, and she only accepted that the child wasn't going to be a lose for the both of us in the future. Even when with all that problem, she deemed her best to figure out a way to keep you away from the eyes of Victoria and the Guardian of Silence. Of course, she had the most safest way and the most riskiest way.
"So when she finally decided to keep you, she made all arrangements to travel to Earth and leave you there. Since it was the start of the Great Yearly Catastrophes for this world, it was easily possible. Like you already know, dungeons open between worlds and if you can coordinate it right, you can safely go and head back without a single trouble. Seraphina took advantage of that, and dropped you off.
"And not just anyway, she replaced a mother's dead child with you."
The words echoed back and forth inside her mind. "A dead child..." She repeated while smiling, her head hanging too low for him to see it. "And they were still arrogant?"
"I can't say anything about them... But I will tell you about this part of the story first." He answered back. "Seraphina came back to the Guardian Realm a little later, about two-and-a-half years. By then, you were already a month old there. I am not being one-sided her, but she was incredibly sad that she couldn't keep you by her side.
"The next seven days, she stayed locked inside her room. Even forgetting about her work, just grieving about losing her only child and feeling agony for Victoria and Silence. Then about another six months later, her close friend, Francesca, was terrorized by Silence who was already showing off her powers. That led to a constant feud between an already unstable Seraphina and Silence, which then resulted in a battle and her death."
Aefia stayed speechless for a minute. "So... My... Mother died... Six months after having me?"
"Although I want to lie about it... That is the truth," he grimly replied. "Everyone here is sad for her death, but it is unchangeable right now."
The word 'unchangeable', triggered something inside her mind. She immediately stood up.
"Can't you have turned time around?" She asked... Rather calmly.
"I could have... But that won't make the person you are today, would it?"
This was the why... She didn't rage. They both knew that a slight change in a spoon direction, can change the entire world in the future.
She slowly slumped back to her seat. "Why can't life be like a novel?"
"If it were, it would be easier." He answered while stepping up beside her. He rested his hand on her head, and she didn't pull back. Her focus was nowhere, and her mind was roaming with more and more questions.
"I have seen you survive on your own, in this world, for nearly two years. I can say that as a father, I am more than just proud of you." He added. "I also know that you have had a hard time back on Earth too, and trust me... I really wanted to head over and take up back. But, I wanted you to find your way back. So that you will be well-trained to handle this situation. And... After you came to this Realm, I had already wanted to tell you about all this... Maybe not in a day you would have been in a good mood—but I swore that I would come close about it. Now it is your decision... I will not force upon you anything."
For Aefia... Hearing all that in one day was tiring.
She tried to stand up, but when legs gave out under the pressure. She collapsed sideways, her sense of gravity was gone.
A dead child.
The words echoed over and over inside her head, louder than the ticking of the clocks surrounding the room.
All those years... the beatings since she was four, the bleeding scalp, the broken bones, the lock on the bedroom door, and her mother standing at the entrance saying, "She isn't worth the money we are raising her."
It wasn't just that she had a terrible life on Earth. She was never even meant to be their daughter in the first place. She was placed there as a substitute for a baby that had already died—dropped into a home that treated her like a burden, just so she could be hidden from the monsters of this realm.
I was just a replacement...
Before she could hit the floor, Chronos reached out, his arm catching her around her shoulders and easing her back on her chair. He didn't say anything as a single tear fell off her eyes and rolled down her cheek. Which he immediately reached his thumb out to wipe it away.
Her head leaned against him, and it also felt heavy for him to know that his daughter was at his arms only after seventeen years after the time he held her in front of her mother. Both of them knew that maybe if Seraphina was alive, they may be a complete, happy family.
And maybe, Aefia would have gotten that motherly love she had always desired in her life.
"You know..." Chronos interrupted her thoughts, a smile on his face. "It is still funny to think that when you were younger... You were laughing and giggling everytime he saw me, but now you are crying... I am wondering what went wrong, Sofia."
She let out a laugh while using her palms to wipe her eyes. "It is common for daughters to be a father's weakness... But not with distance measured in light-years."
"True. Looks like we will have to catch up by seventeen years... And I have got to say, you are not fully like your mother though."
"Why not?"
"Your height and that childish part of your mind is from me."
"That is nice to know." She smiled. That moment... She wished she had a supportive father like him through her childhood.
"Also..."
"Hm?"
"That blonde guy that trails you... Who is that? Precisely..." He asked while pointing at her window where Helio was walking down the path while carrying papers. She craned her head to look over at him, then smirked while pulling back.
"He is my partner. We have been together for a few months now." She answered honestly.
In answer, he looked dissapointed a bit. "And now I wonder how my daughter is already all grown-up."
***
A short while later, the heavy obsidian doors creaked open just a sliver.
Khione, Athena, and Pandora poked their heads inside, eager to see if the tower had been turned upside down or if a shouting match had broken out between the two stubborn workaholics.
Before any of them could utter a single word, Chronos raised his hand, placing a single finger over his lips.
"Be quiet," he whispered, his eyes narrowing at them in a strict warning. "Do not wake her."
Athena blinked, her usual loud grin instantly melting into a softer, almost gentle expression as her eyes fell on the small girl curled up asleep in the chair.
"Sofia is exhausted," Chronos added under his breath, using the name he had chosen for her seventeen years ago—the name Athena and Khione had known long before she was sent away to Earth.
"Let her rest."
Pandora smirked softly from the doorway, crossing her arms, while Khione let out a quiet, relieved sigh. Without making another sound, the three of them slowly backed out into the corridor, gently pulling the heavy doors shut behind them.
Chronos looked down at Aefia after the door closed. He stood up, carrying a stack of papers towards the otherside of the room.
But before he walked there, he leaned down to kiss her head—like how he had done when he had first seen her after her birth.