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Chapter 350 The Butterfly Effect Reveals Itself
?Erich stared at Tia as if she had gone insane before yelling at her for her recklessness.
"Tia! What the fuck did you just do?"
Tia was trying to calm herself. She had clearly panicked upon thinking about the potential of losing her Master's love, and acted rashly. Despite all of her intelligence, she was not immune to emotions overriding her sense of reasoning.
Perhaps if Tia was only a moderate level Artificial Intelligence this never would have occurred, but she had emotions just like any biological being, and because of this, she was prone to failures such as this.
It took Tia several moments to calm her nerves, and think of a rational solution to the mess she had just created, and once she did so, she pointed her tranquilizer gun towards Erich, and apologized to him before sending him to sleep with the pull of a trigger.
"Sorry master, but none of you can be allowed to remember that this happened... Especially you, master..."
Erich felt the tranq dart hit him in the neck, the powerful sedative sending him to the floor and into a deep sleep. Whereupon waking up, Erich found himself in his personal quarters with Tia's robotic form lying by his side, clinging to him almost like a cat as she did so.
He did not realize it, but while he was asleep, Tia had altered his memories, making sure he didn't have any recollection of her yandere rage, or the chaos that ensued after. Like Erich, Lunaria and Celestia both had their memories altered in a way that suggested their meeting with Erich was nothing but cordial and informative.
Whatever progress Erich had made in securing Lunaria's affection was immediately undone by Tia, perhaps in a fit of jealousy. Whatever the reason, Erich, Lunaria, and Celestia only remembered a professional debriefing on the existence of Tia, and the Naraku threat that lied outside the galaxy.
Instead, Erich had a memory of parting ways with Lunaria and Celestia, where he partook in the ceremonies of the Germanic Star-Empire, who revealed that the strategies employed to emerge victorious against Terminus were all devised and implemented by Erich himself.
Erika blushed red in embarrassment. She had just gotten out of the shower and was dressed in her pajamas. Her hair was still wet, giving the bubblegum pink color a nice sheen to it. She couldn't believe that Erich had messaged her and was quick to respond to him.
"Is it really you? I never thought you would actually message me, even after my embarrassing confession. I mean... You can have any girl you want as your bride..."
The young woman waited patiently for a response, before Erich laughed at her comments and responded in a way that almost sounded as if he knew her despite being a total stranger.
"Lord have mercy... I'm sorry, I don't mean to laugh, but it's just that I never thought I would ever see you act so humble... I mean, you and I both know that you are the most desired woman in the Empire. Why are you pretending as if you are a nobody?"
There was just one problem: Erika wasn't pretending... In her past life, when Erich married her, she had behaved like such a brat because there was a mutual disdain between the two of them. But the circumstances of this disdain failed to manifest themselves in this life.
And with Erich becoming a well-known war hero at the beginning of this timeline, something that was the most desirable position for a man in the Empire, Erika couldn't help but fall for him early on.
Because of this, she was not pretending to be humble, as her meagre achievements as a woman in the entertainment industry failed to compare with the General who defeated the Naraku, let alone the man chosen to become the next supreme leader.
Thus, from her perspective, it was Erich who was being too humble, and she felt incredibly embarrassed responding to the man with the message she sent them.
"It's just that... You're my hero... For you to be speaking to me like this, it's like a dream come true..."
Erich was stunned by this statement. It became abundantly clear to him in that moment, this was not the stubborn and bratty pain in his ass that he had been forced to marry in his past life, and learned to tolerate, and perhaps even love, despite her faults.
No, this was an entirely new Erika. One who had a different upbringing, thus changing her personality to be more appealing. After all, during the past timeline, Erika developed in her formative years with a bitter hatred in her heart towards Erich. This had caused her personality to become much more combative.
But in this life... She had gone through her teenage years with an intense admiration and infatuation with Erich. One that compelled her to adapt her personality to fit the "ideal image of a Germanic woman" as proselytized by the Empire's propaganda department. After all, if she was the ideal woman, then clearly Erich would notice her, wouldn't he?
It was only now, after thinking these things through, and communicating with Erika for the first time in this new life, that Erich realized just how large of a butterfly effect he had caused by changing the events of his early career in this timeline.