Siegfried, eyes hazy and face flushed red, held a wine bottle in his hand, swaying as he pointed at Van sitting not far away.
"Y-You brat... don't even think about running! Come on... let's go three hundred rounds more! See if I don't drink you under the table today!"
However, in stark contrast to the already completely drunk Siegfried was the other party involved, Van, who didn't show the slightest sign of drunkenness.
Let alone being as drunk as Siegfried, Van's complexion hadn't even changed one bit.
Looking at the tipsy Siegfried before him, Van could only sigh helplessly in his heart. Let alone the now powerless ordinary person that Siegfried had become. Even back when he possessed power comparable to an S-rank Valkyrie, he still couldn't outdrink Van.
On the other side, under the influence of the alcohol, Siegfried started to ramble incoherently, nearly falling over as he walked.
Seeing this, Kiana quickly came over to support her staggering father and tried to persuade him,
"Dad! Stop drinking, you've had too much!"
"I'm not drunk!"
With the alcohol completely clouding his mind, Siegfried no longer cared.
He broke free of Kiana's hand, staggering again as he tried to grab the wine bottle.
"Today... me... and that brat... one of us... is leaving this dining room lying down!"
As he said this, a flame of fighting spirit suddenly burned in Siegfried's eyes.
"That brat... made my daughter sad... I can't let this go..."
Hearing this, Van awkwardly rubbed his nose.
He thought, in Siegfried's eyes, he really must be the 'villain' who made his precious daughter cry, huh?
Just then, Cecilia appeared at the right time, gently but firmly supporting her husband.
"Dear, you're drunk. Come back to the room and get some rest."
Siegfried, "I... I'm not drunk! I'm not resting... I still need to..... mmf mmf mmf mmf....."
After manually muting Siegfried, Cecilia gave Van an apologetic look and then left with him.
Once the two had left, the dinner party officially came to an end.
Over here, to thank Cecilia for her hospitality, Van, Raiden Mei, and Fu Hua began helping clean up the dining table.
On the other side, Ivana had already pulled Kiana and Sirin over to play video games.
To Sirin, even though everything from before had already passed, being asked to suddenly play together with Kiana, who had once been her "replacement," still felt a bit awkward.
But in the end, seeing Ivana's enthusiastic invitation, Sirin decided to join them.
Of course, not because Ivana had some incredible persuasion skill, but simply because Sirin wanted to build a good relationship with Ivana, who was Van's daughter.
After all, if she wanted to become the stepmother, the daughter's opinion was very important.
A while later, after settling down Siegfried, Cecilia returned to the dining room.
First, she expressed her thanks to Raiden Mei and Fu Hua, who were in the kitchen. Then she walked over to Van, who was clearing the dishes.
"Thank you for your help today," Cecilia said with a sincere, apologetic face.
"And please allow me to apologize again. My husband got a bit childish and caused you trouble. I'm truly sorry."
As someone who had once fought beside Siegfried, Van naturally understood what kind of person he was.
Besides, anyone familiar with the Kaslana family knew well enough what kind of passionate idiots they were.
So Van wouldn't be petty over something like this.
"Mrs. Cecilia, you're being too formal. From my point of view, this was just Siegfried showing his true colors."
Van smiled. "As for thanks, that's even more unnecessary... After all, I got to enjoy such delicious food, I should be thanking you for the treat."
Cecilia shook her head and said seriously, "No, I should be thanking you... for always taking care of my daughter all this time."
To this, Van politely responded, "Mrs. Cecilia, when it comes to taking care of Kiana, it's mostly been Raiden Mei and Bronya. I've hardly done anything at all..."
However, before he could finish, Cecilia interrupted, "No, I'm not just talking about that, I also mean all the things you've done in the past..."
"Whether it was starting from that time in Siberia,
or all the way to when you sacrificed yourself to restart the world…"
"All of it, I'm truly grateful to you..."
Hearing this, Van's hand paused for a moment, and then he looked at Cecilia in surprise. 'So… she had already regained her memories? But… when exactly did it happen?'
Thinking this, Van couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
'No wonder Cecilia suddenly adopted Sirin. No wonder she could effortlessly lift Siegfried...'
As one of Destiny's former strongest Valkyries, this bit of strength really was nothing to her.
Facing Cecilia's gratitude, Van calmly responded, "Those were all things I should have done. They were my comrades, my partners."
"And creating a world without Honkai, where people could live happily, That was my own wish from the start.
"So Cecilia, you really don't need to thank me so seriously..."
Upon hearing this, Cecilia shook her head. "No, even if you say it was all for yourself, I can still feel the affection you have for them hidden in your words..."
As she said this, her gaze suddenly turned a bit deeper in meaning.
"Besides, what you've done for them... goes far beyond just that, doesn't it?"
Van fell silent. Indeed, the feelings he had for them
had long surpassed what could be called simply friendship or partnership.
Just as Van was silent, Cecilia suddenly changed the topic and said, "By the way, I have one more question I want to ask you."
Van, "What is it?"
"As far as I know, whether it's Kiana, or Sirin, or even my prim and proper eldest daughter, Bianca... It seems... all of them have some unclear relationship with you."
"So... can you tell me what exactly your thoughts are about them?"
Cecilia's words made Van's expression freeze instantly. He truly couldn't understand how the topic had suddenly jumped from gratitude to this.
And more importantly, from Cecilia's tone,
Van got a strange feeling of a mother-in-law interrogating her future son-in-law.
Of course, if you looked at the situation, he really was about to run off with Cecilia's daughter... Actually, two daughters... Uh... Possibly three...
Looking at the gentle smile on Cecilia's face, Van felt that if he wasn't careful with how he answered next,
what awaited him would be total annihilation.
Just at that critical, life-or-death moment, Kiana's voice rang out from the yard, "Everyone, come quick! Ai-chan just uploaded another video!"
Van felt like he'd just received a royal pardon and was ready to take the chance to slip away.
But Cecilia pressed down on his shoulder with one hand.
"The video can wait a bit," Cecilia said with a bright smile.
"Let's finish our talk first, alright?"
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