Chapter 166: The Mission

At that time, during the morning hours, on the opposite side of the Celestial Continent inside the Starry Empire, one of the main Oster family palaces stood grandly amidst the morning light—sprawling and opulent, fit for a noble house of such immense renown.

In one of the rooms—or rather, inside a massive suite nearly the size of a full house—Amelia sat upon a small child-sized chair. Her aunt, Roselina, stood behind her. Roselina’s hair was in a state of disarray after a long day, yet she gave little care to her own appearance; instead, she brushed her niece’s hair, applying a few hairpieces with meticulous care to make it look even neater and more beautiful.

A short while ago, Roselina had been the one to pick out an exceptionally lovely outfit for Amelia to wear, and now she was personally styling her hair. Meanwhile, Amelia sat before her with her head slightly lowered, looking as though she lacked even the desire to gaze into the mirror ahead.

Roselina spoke in a gentle tone as she continued brushing her hair:

"Don’t be sad, Amelia. I was told that your father appeared at the main palace today alongside your mother. It seems they have genuinely reconciled—in fact, they are officially in love now! Everyone even noticed the matching ring between them as well. Isn’t that something to be happy about?"

Amelia didn’t know how to respond.

At this precise moment, she felt almost identical to how her new friend Kathy felt—whose parents were frequently far away from her. Although Amelia certainly felt happy that her parents had reconciled and were finally together, that sense of joy tangled inside her with something else she couldn’t shake off.

A feeling akin to loss.

In the end, her mother had won her father’s heart after all this time.

As for her—who had lacked a real chance from the very beginning—she had been trying, one way or another, to compete with the ultimate beast in her father’s life: her mother herself. It was as though she wanted to prove she could be the better person, the one closest to his heart.

Yet the entire notion seemed absurd now.

For even if she tried to present herself before her father as better than everyone else, and even if she gave everything she had to become the most important person to him, her mother would ultimately step in and utterly crush her in this competition without even expending any real effort.

And now, her father and mother were embarking on adventures together without her, while she was left sitting here, trying to convince herself that everything was fine.

Amelia exhaled quietly, attempting to steer the topic away:

"I am fine, Aunt. I know this came as a sudden shock to you, especially since you’ve become responsible for the organization and the duchy’s affairs right now due to Father’s departure these days. So please, don’t be sad that Father kept this a secret from you... Anyway, how is your pregnancy coming along?"

"Haha, no worries, my little one... My pregnancy is progressing very well..."

Roselina smiled upon hearing her little niece’s words. This child was remarkably considerate despite everything going on around her. She was nothing like that despicable bastard who possessed a heart of stone and dared call himself her father—the man who had vanished after promising his little girl that he would take her on a solo training trip with him.

Yet instead of returning to check on his child afterward, he went off to another location entirely, without anyone even knowing where he had vanished to this time—as though his perpetual disappearances had become a standard habit that didn’t even warrant an explanation.

Nor was this the sole issue stoking Roselina’s fury toward him.

After being brought here to care for Amelia at the request of her brother’s organization members, they had informed her that they were currently preoccupied with hunting down a criminal who had murdered several of their organization members. That in itself was troubling enough, but they hadn’t stopped there; the organization members believed that Amelia—having witnessed someone murdered right before her eyes... well, not merely murdered, but completely butchered into pieces—might suffer from nightmares or psychological trauma from the incident. Thus, they brought her here so Roselina could assist in dulling the shock.

Frankly, Roselina needed no additional excuse to curse her idiot brother in secret.

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

At that moment, a brief knock echoed against the suite’s door. Roselina raised her head slightly, while Amelia didn’t even need to look toward the door to know who stood behind it; both of them knew the owner of those knocks all too well.

Roselina spoke as she put the finishing touches on Amelia’s hair:

"Albert... come in."

Indeed, the door swung open moments later. Yet when the person who had been knocking appeared, the figure before them was not the ordinary child Albert.

Rather, a creature bearing a distinct hybrid form between dragon and human stepped into view. Short dragon wings sprouted from his back, accompanied by a pair of horns atop his head. Yet those horns—which were supposed to be imposing and fearsome—now appeared closer to something adorable due to his size and frame, while his eyes possessed narrow vertical slit pupils that rendered his appearance even more unusual.

Despite that hybrid dragon-human form, both Roselina and Amelia recognized him as Albert instantly.

In fact, they knew full well that this was his true nature, rather than a mere disguise used to conceal his identity. Albert did possess a full dragon form, but he always claimed he felt far more comfortable utilizing this hybrid state, leaving him with no real reason to remain in his full form all the time.

Albert stepped forward slightly, looking at Amelia as he spoke in a natural tone:

"Lady Amelia, our friends say they are waiting downstairs. Let’s head to the ice cream shop."

Amelia gazed at him for a few moments, remaining silent.

Well...

She had no choice but to wait for her father’s return.

Yet at that exact second, without any warning, a familiar interface popped up right before her eyes, causing her facial expression to completely shift.

[System reinitialized... Repair completed... Host, please complete the System Sign-In Mission before mission expiration.]

Amelia’s eyes widened in utter shock as she stared at those words.

This screen...

Wasn’t this the exact same system interface that had appeared before her back when she was with Roger?