Looking at the faces of my family, I could easily tell that Aria must have been quite the handful these 2 days. After all, knowing my mother, she would definitely take Aria to the mansion. And knowing the other two, they would definitely come to know of it. Today, when I was having my tryst with Grace, she already spoke to me about the things between Aria and the rest.
"Be kind, darling. They are my family."
I said with an indulging smile as I started to pat Aria's head. This one skill seems to break through all layers of defense that Aria holds. Her childlike mind melted as she spoke with a pout.
"Bu-But..."
"No buts. In this case, be a good girl, okay?"
I spoke, placing a small kiss on Aria's cheeks, which once again made the 'little' girl agree to my words. Having coaxed Aria, I turned to my family, where all three of them were looking at me in a daze. The funny thing was that the expression on their faces was the same as the one Clara had on her today.
'Well, I don't need to read minds to know what's going through their heads.'
"Cough... so what will you do when she regains her own self?"
Grace suddenly spoke, defusing the atmosphere that was getting weird. I even got the feeling that the three of them might take me to the bedroom now itself to get pregnant, thankfully they didn't.
"Well, it's not my fault. What else am I supposed to do when she throws herself at me? With her power level and current mind, if I don't do this, you all can guess what will happen, right?"
My words brought a frown to the faces of the other three. All of them looking at Aria with a complex gaze, no doubt their minds still being rattled at the fact that one of the most powerful women in the world behaving like this.
"But then again, you still seem to hold many secrets, brother. Who knew you had Aria Dramoon as a daughter?"
Nora said, the last of her words teasing, but I still detected the hint of sadness in her voice. Seeing this, I turned towards Grace, who nodded her head. While Grace had spoken of my situation with Aria to both of my sisters, she hadn't spoken about the Hero things I discussed with Grace to my sisters.
"Sigh... Aria, why don't you go and sit with your mother? I have something important to deal with."
Hearing my words, Aria pouted, her hands lightly wrapping around my neck as she responded.
"No, I want to be with Daddy!"
Seeing this, I turned towards Grace, who smiled and started to speak with a saddened voice.
"Sniff, it would seem that my daughter doesn't want me anymore..."
"No!... Mommy...!"
Seeing Grace's acting, Aria panicked, her eyes traveling between me and Grace. Seeing so, I gave Aria a push by placing a kiss on her cheeks, getting her to remove herself from my lap and run towards Grace, taking a seat on her lap. My eyes then moved towards my sisters who kept looking between me and Grace with very confusing gazes. I didn't let that sit for long as I spoke.
"Take a seat close to me."
Saying so, Nora moved closer as I caught her hand between mine, and Elda, without a stop, jumped onto my lap, snuggling close. Seeing so, I started to tell the 'truth'.
...
"So you have a chosen duty by your ancestral bloodline?"
Nora asked with narrowed eyes.
"Yes," I replied.
"There is great danger approaching, one you can only deal with but you can't say that to us?"
Nora asked again, and I replied.
"Yes."
"So big brother's ability to remove the corrupted energy would be something that will lead the world to a greater future...?"
Elda asked with narrowed eyes, her words specifying from the story I spoke.
'Sharp as always...'
"You can say so."
I responded in a vague manner, making both the girls narrow their eyes.
"So all this time you were missing, you were trying to protect the world?"
Nora asked, her voice sounding gentle yet heavy. This time my expression flashed with pain, becoming complex as I replied.
"It's part of the reason."
As I said so, Elda snuggled in closer, placing a kiss on my cheeks, while Nora's hand held me tighter. Both of them looked at me with a great amount of concern and love.
"Why do you keep hiding more and not tell us all of the past?"
This time Grace spoke, the answer to the question known to everyone in the room. Her question caused me to lean against the sofa with a tired sigh as I responded.
"It was to protect you all. I thought that if I stayed away, if I didn't jump in anymore, then perhaps if I die in my line of duty, then maybe, maybe I might be able to reduce the pain that all of you might feel."
"Austin..."
Nora spoke with a betrayed yet sad expression. Seeing this, I leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead, after which I placed another one on Elda's, a wry smile filling my face as I spoke.
"But it would seem that I failed. Not only did I not stay away, we somehow ended up becoming closer than we ever should."
My light banter improved the mood a little as three of them gave me a light blush on their cheeks.
"If you wanted to stay away from us, then why did you return? Why come to the academy at all?"
Elda asked, her hands getting tighter around me at the prospect that I might have never come back.
"Well, let's say that along the way, I understood how wrong the path I was walking. And then there is the fact that the academy was in danger. Knowing you two were here, how could I stay back? Plus, some lost beings were planning on reaping lives and sowing conflicts here."
As I spoke, I lightly patted Elda's hair, making her relax. While the last of my words made the three women smile a bit, though they are still pissed at me.
"That's why you sent all those friends of yours here..."
Nora spoke in an understanding tone, to which I nodded my head.
"Is it in this hunt of yours that you became close to the DarkNight?"
Nora asked, as she did all the eyes of the women focused on me.
"Indeed, along the quest for answers, I came to know of the dark powers going after DarkNight. Back then, I was somehow able to stop the darkness from taking over DarkNight. And in that process, I ended up being an integral part of them."
My words made the three of them frown, but they didn't say anything else, not till I took out a document and passed it along to the three of them. Elda turned her body around to put her back to me as she, along with the rest, started to read the document. A few minutes passed by till an extreme level of killing intent started to come out from both Nora and Grace, while Elda too didn't have a good look at her.
"These bastards dare..."
"Mom!"
I called out to Grace as I pointed at Aria. Understanding, Grace reeled herself in as her eyes turned toward me.
"I will contact you, grandfather. By tomorrow, not a single person from this family will be alive."
Hearing this, I shook my head.
"We can't, mother. Not yet. I already have a plan to deal with this. We can't just end them. I need more information on this darkness lurking around, and for it, everything has to go as planned."
As I said so, I could still feel the rising killing intent in the room. It was natural, after all, the file that I gave the three of them contained the plans the Hillcloud family had in for my family. Ones despicable enough to make any woman feel disgusted.
"This commander he disappeared from our family estate a while ago..."
Grace said with narrowed eyes as she looked at me. The one she was referring to was the one put onto my family to seduce my mother, who suddenly went missing.
Hearing my mother's question, I kept my gaze on her as I spoke.
"I dealt with him, took the help of DarkNight."
My words didn't surprise them as they expected it after Grace spoke.
"Pity, I would have tortured him to hell."
Nora spoke with gritted teeth. The atmosphere in the room was dreary, but I didn't let that continue for long as I spoke, my voice gentle yet strong.
"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to either of you. Even if I have to give up all laws of the world, I will keep my family safe."
My words brought a smile to the rest, their eyes turning gentle and full of love as they looked at me. No doubt my words and situation made their hearts beat faster than anything. While their love was surely increasing for me, something which I thought wasn't possible.
+1000 affections
+1000 affections
+1000 affections
+1000 affections
+1000 affections
+1000 affections
'I guess it's beyond my level of worries now...'
