Amber walked over to Otto's side and lowered her head. She didn't dare to look Otto in the eye, partly because she had done something wrong, and partly because Otto's face had been beaten into a swollen mess, and she was afraid she wouldn't be able to hold back her laughter.
"Lord Otto..."
Otto, who had been beaten into a panda, shook his head and revealed his signature smile.
"No, no, I'm not angry with you. On the contrary, I'm very happy. Only those with selfish desires can be called truly human. And now that you have your own selfish desires, you are finally no longer just my appendage, no longer just A-303, but have truly become the person, Amber!"
"Uhh... I don't understand. Lord Otto, you might as well just tell me my punishment." Amber put her hands behind her back and fiddled with her fingers shyly. She didn't want to become some 'truly human' person; being by Lord Otto's side was enough for her.
Looking at the girlish Amber, Otto was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and shook his head as he walked towards her.
"There's no need for that. I told you I'm not angry with you."
"But if you insist on a punishment..."
Amber's heart pounded as she silently prepared to accept Otto's punishment, but Otto didn't continue.
And then, Amber saw Otto reach out his hands towards her. He...
...took off the visor that covered her face...
Otto looked into Amber's bewildered and uneasy ice-blue eyes.
"When you can truly be called a person, you are no longer a crude substitute..."
And when he saw Amber's true face, Ryn couldn't help but exclaim.
"Holy shit, Kallen!"
Theresa irritably kicked Ryn a couple of times, the mood-killer.
"I'm not Kallen, I'm Amber," Amber happily reminded Ryn.
Amber had never been so happy. Otto had once given her the name Amber Apocalypse, but he had also made her wear a visor, hiding her face ever since.
Because Otto felt that she was a crude imitation, just a puppet wearing the same skin as Kallen...
Although Amber saved up a slush fund and accepted Ryn's money for Otto's sake, who could say that this wasn't Amber's selfish desire for Otto?
"Since I can be called a real person..." Amber looked at Otto's face with a bit of heartache and carefully touched it.
"Then can I try to pursue Lord Otto?"
"Of course, you can. That is the freedom of being a person." Otto smiled, then said to Amber seriously:
"However, Amber, I need to tell you in advance that I will definitely not accept your pursuit."
"Hmph, Lord Otto taught me a phrase, you know." Amber pouted defiantly.
"Oh? Let's hear it, what is it?"
"I love you, and it has nothing to do with you."
Amber silently recited the next line in her heart...
*Even if I stand by your side now, my eyes are still averted, not wanting you to see, letting it hide only behind the wind.*
"Hahaha... A fine 'I love you, and it has nothing to do with you'."
Otto smiled and patted Amber's head, then sighed and left. He knew this poem, and often recited it, but this poem...
Otto would not hinder Amber, just as he would not let anyone hinder his own "I love you, what does it have to do with you..."
Perhaps Ryn had really revived Kallen. Perhaps he himself had already succeeded in reviving Kallen in some experiment.
But Otto had already understood that what he cared about was not whether Kallen was revived or not...
But the regret he felt at the moment of Kallen's death 500 years ago. He had strangled countless "Kallens" because they were not the *her* of that moment.
The so-called revival of Kallen was just a fig leaf for a man named Otto Apocalypse. What he wanted was not to revive a Kallen who had lost hope in the world, whose heart was already dead, but a Kallen who was still sunny and looked forward to the future.
He wanted to revive the complete Kallen, yet he longed for the revival to go wrong, to give birth to a Kallen in her girlhood...
Fortunately, Theresa was born... This was Otto's only salvation after Vera's death.
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After Otto left, Ryn dragged Theresa over and looked at Amber with great curiosity.
"You look so much like Kallen..."
"Mhm, both Theresa and I are clones from Kallen's genes... only Theresa was an accident."
Amber said as she pinched Theresa's little cheek. Although she still disliked Theresa, Theresa was really cute~
"Mhm... an accident."
Theresa let Amber pinch her cheek. Theresa didn't like Amber much either. Although they were once inseparable friends, they eventually drifted apart.
"Did Theresa find the answer she was looking for?" Amber looked at Theresa curiously, asking a question she already knew the answer to.
Theresa had come this time to ask about the whereabouts of the real Kiana, but it seemed Otto still hadn't told her the truth.
"Grandpa won't say who it is... he only told me she's still alive and well at Schicksal, and that I took care of her for a while... How is that possible! If I had taken care of her, how could I not recognize her!" Theresa said indignantly.
Theresa felt that Otto must be lying to her. The real Kiana must be imprisoned in Schicksal HQ. But Grandpa said she was being well-fed and taken care of, so he probably wasn't lying. She just didn't know where she was being held...
"???" Ryn looked at the two of them speaking in riddles in confusion. "There are three people here, and I'm the only one who doesn't know anything?"
"You don't need to know right now," Theresa and Amber said in unison.
"Uhh... since Otto won't say, but Amber knows, why doesn't Theresa just ask Amber?"
Ryn felt that Theresa was being strange. She kept talking to Amber about this, so why not just ask her directly?
At Ryn's words, Theresa's eyes lit up. She immediately hugged Amber's arm and started acting cute.
"Sister Amber~ Please tell Theresa~"
Normally, Amber might have given in, but when it involved Otto... Amber didn't even blink and directly refused Theresa.
"I will definitely not tell you something Lord Otto hasn't said. Give up. But I can give you some information, for example... she has been to St. Freya High School~"
"Huh?! What's the difference between that and saying nothing..."
Theresa's eyes widened. St. Freya High School was Schicksal's backyard; who from Schicksal hadn't been there...
However, Ryn was deep in thought. Amber must have had a deeper meaning in saying that.
"So... the person you're looking for is also a Valkyrie?"
"I don't know anything~" Amber skipped away. She had to prepare some medicine to treat Otto's injuries~
Today was her happiest day. Ryn had returned the money, and even gave her a lot more. And Otto had personally taken off her visor and acknowledged her as a real person.