"How's your father doing?" Rel asked suddenly.
"…!"
Valencia blinked, surprised by both the question and the relief she felt at having the silence broken.
"He's been great, actually. He's been taking over some dungeon subjugations since the last time I saw him." A small, genuine smile formed on her lips.
"That's all I can really remember after these past months being here..."
"That's good to hear," Rel nodded, his eyes distant as if processing this information against some internal metric.
After a moment, he followed with another question.
"Does he ever feel like he misses someone by any chance?"
Valencia tilted her head, studying Rel with newfound curiosity.
"That's an odd question. Why do you ask?"
"Just curious," Rel shrugged, maintaining his casual demeanor.
In reality, he was carefully monitoring for signs of the inevitable transformation that would turn her father into one of the story's key antagonists.
