"Let's forget the unpleasant past." Sarah said the words Evander didn't expect. "If I do something that makes you proud, say 'I'm proud of you, Sarah'. If you feel like telling, say 'I love you, daughter.'
And if you want to say something, say it. Don't let your embarrassment stop you."
Even though she said that, her ears were red. Saying those words, she was clearly embarrassed herself.
Evander was dumbfounded.
Was this really his daughter?
"D-Did Anna ask you to say this?" He wondered. But she wouldn't go so far.
"N-No. It's Varian." Sarah admitted, her face blushing even more. "He said you're a T-Tsundere and I should ask you to be honest or our relationship would be long enough to be a 5 year running drama."
Crack!
Evander cracked the high-end tea table as his face twitched multiple times.
Tsundere? Me? Also what the fuck did he mean by drama?
He too watched those shows with Sarah when she was a kid. How could he not know the meaning?
"I'm gonna beat him up!" Evander stood up and raced to the door.
"W-Wait!" Sarah panicked. He looked like he was really gonna beat him up!
Evander didn't stop and was about to open the door.
"Father! If you beat him, I won't talk to you anymore." Sarah threatened.
This too...she learned from Varian. Varian didn't just send a message to Evander, he also sent one to Sarah.
'If master wants to beat me, I'll die. O beautiful, kind hearted, graceful, cheerful...I'm running out words, but anyway, I'm entrusting my life to you.
If he really wants to beat me, say things like [I'll hate you if you do that], [I won't talk to you anymore].
Improvisations are advised. Act with spontaneity.
Oh and put on a sad expression.
Yours truly, an innocent disciple.'
That was Varian's masterplan to save his ass.
And it worked.
"S-Sarah..." Evander turned around and saw Sarah's sad face. She looked at him with red eyes and she seemed to be hurt.
Evander clutched his heart again. This time, it was a KO.
'Bastard! Now my daughter won't even let me hit you. This is so unfair.'
"Isn't he a good person, father?" Sarah flashed an innocent smile at Evander, catching him off guard.
"Y-Yes...I mean, he has several questionable qualities that make me wonder if I should lock him up somewhere but he's really a good person." He said.
"Un. I want him to meet Sia too. He reminds me of her...maybe that's why I talked to him first, but now I realize they're very different...in a good way." Sarah muttered.
"Sia? Which Sia?" Evander arched his brow. "...You asked me to search for someone with that name last year, right?"
"Hm." Sarah sighed lightly. She knew where this was going.
"Sarah, there is no one with the name of Sia registered last year or even the year before that.
I checked even the secret files. The psychics said your memory isn't altered, but hallucinations are possible. I'm sorry...because of me, you had to face such things" He apologized.
"..." Sarah's eyes dimmed.
This was the reason she didn't bring up Sia.
It was treated as a mental illness. An illusion.
One day, Sia was with her and the next day, she vanished.
Everyone around her forgot her.
There were no traces of her.
It was like she never existed.
Sarah kept searching for her, but with no traces of her existence, it was futile.
The psychics even wanted to erase her memory of Sia, but she opposed them.
In the end, she occasionally went to the dungeons they both entered as team 'Siarah.'
Virgin Dungeon was one of them.
She wanted to talk about this to Varian, but in the end she refrained.
'Will he also think I'm mentally ill? But where is Sia? It's because of her my talent improved...but I can't talk reveal it or she'll be in danger.'
In the end, she decided to leave it to fate.
"Now that I think about it, do you want me to find a Psychic to erase those memori—"
Cling!
Cling!
Suddenly, Evander's and Sarah's comm rang.
[Varian's space shuttle was destroyed by Shadow Order. He is no more.]
"Whaaat?!"