Kiana rubbed her eyes and looked at Ethan Lane's back, saying, "Sister, I think I fell asleep. I'm sorry." Lost in thought, Ethan Lane quickly turned around and said, "It's okay, Kiana. Children need to sleep a lot to grow up quickly."
"Really, Sister? But I don't want to sleep now. Where are we going to play?" Kiana asked. Ethan Lane thought for a moment, unable to come up with anything, and finally said, "Kiana, how about we go play with building blocks and puzzles?"
"Okay, but let's have a competition to see who can finish the puzzle fastest and whose blocks look the best," Kiana said. Ethan Lane smiled. *You're asking for it. With my university-level intellect, I can't lose to a three-year-old? Hmph.* She confidently put her hands on her hips and said, "No problem. Don't you cry when you lose later."
Kiana said nothing, simply skipping ahead to lead the way. Ethan Lane hurried to catch up. The two arrived at a room in the castle. The room was very large and filled with so many toys that Ethan Lane was dazzled. The majority were not plush dolls, Barbie dolls, or other toys suitable for little girls. Instead, most were hardcore toys like mecha, building blocks, and Gundams.
"As expected of the child of Cecilia and Siegfried, even her toys are this hardcore," Ethan Lane thought to herself. Kiana found several huge puzzles in a box on the side. Ethan Lane glanced at them and was a little stunned.
"What... what the hell are these! If you break these apart, there must be thousands of pieces. Not even a god could put them back together!" Ethan Lane felt like crying but couldn't bring herself to back down to a three-year-old. It would be an insult to her dignity as a university student!
She immediately knelt down, stroked Kiana's head, and said, "Kiana, this puzzle..." Before she could finish, Kiana looked at her and said, "Is this puzzle too easy? Right, then let's get a different one." Ethan Lane's eye twitched as she forced a smile. "Yes, it's too easy..." *I'm about to cry, you know! Damn it!*
Hearing this, Kiana immediately put those puzzles away. Then, she took out one with a dense pattern of at least several thousand pieces. Ethan Lane was dumbfounded, pointing stiffly at the puzzle, "Kiana, are these the games you usually play?"
Kiana nodded and said, "Yeah, Sister. These are all pretty simple, not hard at all." *I'm on my knees, simple... my ass!* Ethan Lane watched, wide-eyed, as she broke the puzzle apart and handed it to her. She took the puzzle pieces, her body a little stiff.
Watching Kiana quickly start to reassemble the puzzle, Ethan Lane gritted her teeth and thought, "I'll bet all my dignity on this. I refuse to believe it!" Then she also started to put the puzzle together.
A minute later, Ethan Lane looked at the puzzle piece in her hand and cursed inwardly, "This is an abstract painting, isn't it! There's no pattern at all. Are you messing with me?" Glancing at Kiana, who had already restored a tenth of the puzzle, Ethan Lane gritted her teeth and started on the puzzle.
Ten minutes later, Kiana finished the puzzle. She looked up and found that Ethan Lane hadn't even placed a single piece. At this moment, Ethan Lane was like a paramecium, her mind flashing alternately with high-level sciences like quantum mechanics, advanced mathematics, and differential geometry.
"Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing? Where did I come from? Where am I going?" At this moment, Ethan Lane had transcended the mundane world, her gaze incomparably profound.
"Sister... Sister... Sister Ethan..." Kiana's voice seemed to come from the heavens, instantly waking Ethan Lane up. She looked at Kiana with deep eyes, patted her on the shoulder, and said, "New talents emerge in every generation. I'm old, I can't keep up with you anymore. Alright, I'll leave the job of protecting world peace to you from now on."
Kiana tilted her head in confusion and said, "Sister, what are you talking about? I don't understand. Is this game not fun? Should we play something else?"
Ethan Lane's confidence was instantly restored. She said hurriedly, "Okay, let's play with building blocks. I admit defeat in puzzles, Sister." "Okay, then let's start." Kiana took out a pile of building blocks and began to assemble them.
Ethan Lane glanced at her and started assembling her own with full confidence. "I refuse to believe it. I lost at puzzles, can I lose at building blocks too!" It seemed she had already forgotten how she had been crushed.
Ten minutes later, Ethan Lane stopped, satisfied. She looked at the horse... or maybe donkey-like animal in front of her and nodded in satisfaction. She thought to herself, "Hmph, I really am a genius. I built such a perfect... uh... mule so easily, hahaha... huh?!"
Ethan Lane's mouth fell open as she looked at Kiana's blocks, her eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. "This... this... how is this possible! You can build a Gundam with blocks?! And more than one!" Ethan Lane looked at the mule she had built, feeling as if the mule's grinning mouth was mocking her.
She silently dismantled the mule back into parts, then looked at Kiana, suddenly hugging her leg and shouting, "Coach, I want to learn puzzles! And building blocks!" Kiana stared blankly at the suddenly neurotic Ethan Lane, not knowing what expression to make.
Just then, Ethan Lane heard the sound of the door latch opening. She quickly let go of Kiana's leg, straightened her clothes, and put on a serious expression.
The one who opened the door was a very tall young man with the signature white hair of the Kaslana family, though Ethan Lane wasn't sure of his relationship with Kiana. At that moment, upon seeing the man, Kiana jumped up and excitedly threw herself into his arms, "Daddy."
Hearing Kiana's cry, Ethan Lane looked at the man in surprise and thought, "He is Siegfried? The difference between the 2D version and reality is quite large. Only the silhouette and hair color are somewhat similar."
Siegfried picked Kiana up and said happily, "Kiana, were you a good girl and listened to Mommy while Daddy was away these few days? Did you miss Daddy?" "I missed you! Kiana is the best at listening to Mommy. Kiana is a good baby!" Kiana said happily.
Siegfried smiled and said, "I knew Kiana was the best." After speaking, he placed Kiana on his shoulders, walked over to Ethan Lane, looked her over a few times, and said, "You must be the one Cecilia told me about, the person who can change all of Schicksal. Hello, I'm Siegfried."
Ethan Lane nodded at him and said, "Hello, I'm Ethan Lane. To say I can change all of Schicksal is quite an exaggeration. I'm not worthy of such praise." Siegfried laughed heartily, "Exaggeration? Haha, if that's an exaggeration, then Schicksal truly doesn't have many people more valuable than you. Honestly, when Cecilia first told me about this, I thought she was joking with me. But when I saw you, it was as if something was telling me that you are very important to our Kaslana family, so I knew you must be extraordinary."
"Uh... is that a thing?" Ethan Lane smiled, not knowing how to reply. Siegfried smiled, then suddenly became serious and said, "Miss Lane, I hope you can become Kiana's mentor. Recently, I can clearly feel that the Honkai is becoming more and more active. Honkai incidents are increasing everywhere, causing great losses around the world and making the Valkyries everywhere on edge. Therefore, I hope you can become Kiana's mentor. I'm not asking you to teach her everything without reservation, only that you can help me take care of her if something happens to us."
Ethan Lane was stunned. She never expected Siegfried to say this to her, although in the story, Siegfried's family did indeed end in tragedy. Without even thinking, Ethan Lane nodded. "No problem. I will teach Kiana everything I know. Also, as long as I'm here, it will be hard for anything to happen to you. Don't forget what my abilities are."
Siegfried laughed loudly, then handed Kiana to Ethan Lane and left the room. "Sister, are we going to keep playing?" Kiana looked at her with an expectant face.
"Uh... I think we should play something else. How about hide-and-seek?" Ethan Lane was truly traumatized and quickly suggested something else. "Okay, but I'll be 'it'. And we can't hide outside the castle." Ethan Lane nodded. Kiana then jumped down from Ethan Lane's arms, turned around, and began to count. Ethan Lane quickly left the room and started to hide.