(Where is this...? I remember...)
As her fading consciousness returned, Bronya opened her eyes to see an unfamiliar ceiling.
"Finally awake, little one."
"!!!"
At the sound of Elias' voice, Bronya instantly became alert. On reflex, her hand reached into her clothes, attempting to draw the concealed pistol—
But, as expected, she came up empty.
"Relax. I've already confiscated all your weapons. Your mission has failed. The great Silver Wolf of the Urals has been defeated. So now, let's put that hostility away—we're no longer enemies."
"...The mission was assigned by my organization, not by Bronya. When they realize I've lost contact, they'll send more people after you."
"That's fine. Already taken care of."
"Eh?"
Bronya looked stunned as Elias waved his communication device.
Just earlier, he'd contacted Raven. After identifying Bronya's organization, they'd already gone and wiped it out.
"By the way, you've officially been removed from the mercenary roster. I left your dog tags at the scene and added a little blood for effect. As far as the underworld is concerned, the Silver Wolf of the Urals is dead. So... congratulations, Bronya Zaychik. You're free."
"F-Free...?"
Bronya froze for a moment, her dim gray eyes widening ever so slightly.
Freedom came too suddenly.
And for someone who had been trained as a child soldier from the start, Bronya didn't even know how to face something like 'freedom.'
"Why... didn't you kill Bronya?"
She stared blankly at Elias.
It was the only question that remained. She had been taught: fail the mission, and you die. Treat enemies with no mercy. That was the rule.
Elias frowned at her words.
"How could an adult ever harm a child? Children are humanity's treasures. The most unforgivable crime in this world is harming them. And enough with all the killing and dying. Life is something precious. You should treasure it."
"...Bronya... does not understand."
Her eyes were filled with confusion.
Cherish life? No one had ever taught Bronya that. The brutal reality she had lived through told her life was cheap.
With just a pull of the trigger, it could be extinguished.
Whether it was the life of an enemy... or her own.
All of it was so fragile.
"Tch, looks like your entire worldview needs correcting."
Elias sighed.
This version of Bronya was clearly broken. Kidnapped as a child and raised as a weapon, her lifeless gray eyes were devoid of light—numb, empty, dead. Like a soulless doll.
"Such a pitiful child."
"..."
"Alright! Decision made. From now on, you're under my care. Time to start a new life, Bronya."
"Are you... planning to be Bronya's new master?"
The girl tilted her head in confusion.
Her first reaction to Elias' words was that she had been handed off to another organization. Surely, new missions would follow.
But Elias shook his head and gently ruffled her silver-gray hair.
"There are no 'masters' in House of the Hearth. Everyone here is family. Starting today, you can call me Papa. Or Father."
"Papa...? Father...? What does that mean?"
"If you're willing, you'll understand soon enough. But for now, it's time for you to make a choice."
Elias raised his left hand—in it, he held one of Bronya's handguns.
At the same time, he lifted his right hand—which held a Homu plushie.
Bronya looked at both hands in confusion.
Some part of her instinctively understood: this was an important decision.
At first, she moved to take the gun with an almost automatic reflex. But just before her fingers touched the weapon, she stopped.
Her eyes were drawn to the Homu plushie in Elias' right hand.
She didn't know what to choose. Bronya Zaychik couldn't even imagine what kind of future awaited her depending on which one she picked.
But...
After every mission, Bronya always felt a part of herself growing emptier. Every time she eliminated a target, it felt like something precious was being lost. Her soul felt like it was being shaved away, piece by piece.
If this kept going, Bronya feared she would no longer be herself. She didn't want to feel that way anymore.
Bronya Zaychik... no longer wanted to pull the trigger on anyone.
"Well done, Bronya."
Elias smiled with satisfaction as he watched the girl tightly hug the Homu plushie to her chest.
"Did Bronya... choose correctly?"
"Of course. I'd love to tell you that—but really, only your future self can answer that. For now... welcome to House of the Hearth, Bronya."
"Yayyy—!" xN
A deafening cheer erupted as if the roof might blow off. Bronya jumped in surprise, only to see girls pop out from the windows, doorways, ceiling, even under the bed.
They were all girls from House of the Hearth—around her age—now overflowing with joy at the arrival of a new family member.
Seele clapped her hands in excitement.
Rozaliya and Liliya raised their hands in celebration.
Even Sin Mal cracked a smile.
"Alright, kids. Quiet down now—you're scaring Bronya."
Elias clapped his hands to settle the room.
"I understand how you all feel. A new family member deserves a proper welcome and celebration. So let's work together! Seele, take Bronya to the bath and help her get cleaned up. I'll prepare a big dinner."
"Okay, Papa Elias! Seele understands."
"Then we'll help you cook, Papa!"
"Rozaliya, Liliya—um, you two go with the others and get Bronya's room ready. Let's use the one next to Seele's."
"Rozaliya, got it!"
"Liliya, roger that!"
Seeing the excited twin sisters dash off, Elias subtly motioned to the other kids with his eyes. They all nodded seriously—clearly ready to keep those two in check.
Meanwhile, Bronya stood in a daze. The warm, lively atmosphere of House of the Hearth was just too different from the cold, merciless organization she came from.
She would need time to adjust to this new home.
"...Home."
The girl murmured the word, and for some reason, a strange, indescribable emotion welled up in her heart.
Elias gently patted her head with affection.
Bronya needed time to heal. If it were just emotional suppression caused by physical trauma like in the original timeline, Elias could have healed her directly using the Herrscher of Death's powers.
But in this case—where her emotional walls came from painful experiences—only time could heal that wound.
Perhaps, in order to survive in such a cruel environment, Bronya had unconsciously frozen her own heart. But as long as she could once again feel the warmth called love, that frozen heart would eventually melt.
"Bronya, no one will hurt you anymore. From now on, a new life awaits you."
"...A new life?"
Her eyes were still clouded with confusion, but in that moment, surrounded by warmth and Elias' kindness, a faint light flickered in Bronya's eyes.
(Finally, our little duck has arrived. I absolutely have to cook up a feast tonight to celebrate.)
In the kitchen, Elias was already hard at work, expertly preparing ingredients with the cooking skills he had refined over the past two months.
He was still a step behind a true culinary master, but at the rate he was improving, even Mei's spot as Honkai's #1 chef might soon be in danger.
"Borscht is a must, of course. Oh, and I remember Mei's potato chicken wings recipe—seems like the perfect time to try it out. Let's add some egg dishes too. She's still growing after all—if she doesn't eat well, how's she going to become the great big duck of the future?"
Just as Elias was getting into the rhythm of cooking—
BOOM—!
"Huh~ Which little troublemaker is it this time?" Elias sighed, setting down his knife.
In the blink of an eye, he teleported to the door of the room prepared for Bronya. Taking a breath to prepare himself, he opened the door—only to be greeted by a scene that made him want to laugh and cry.
As expected, the culprits were none other than House of the Hearth's infamous problem children: the twin sisters Rozaliya and Liliya.
The two lay sprawled in a comically awkward position on a collapsed single bed. Upon seeing Elias, their faces instantly paled.
"Papa got here too fast! Liliya didn't even have time to come up with an excuse to blame it all on Rozaliya!"
"Right?! Wait—Liliya, what did you just say!!"
"Ahem... Can someone explain what happened here?"
Elias cleared his throat, smiling darkly as he stared down the vodka twins with full parental authority. The girls trembled, huddling together.
Another girl raised her hand to explain.
Apparently, Rozaliya and Liliya had wanted to perform a little welcome show for Bronya. Their chosen stage? A single bed. The performance? Jumping up and down on it. The result? Catastrophic.
"Papa Elias, we're sorry!"
"Yeah! If you have to punish someone, punish Rozaliya—it wasn't Liliya's fault at all!"
"Liliya, how could you! I declare that it was all Liliya's fault! If Papa's going to blame someone, blame her!"
Truly the infamous plastic sisters of House of the Hearth.
In moments of crisis, they had no problem selling each other out for survival. Apparently, that's what sisters were for!
Elias let out a helpless laugh and picked them up—one in each arm—from the wrecked bed. After checking them carefully to make sure neither was hurt, he sighed in relief.
"Alright, alright. No more fighting, you two."
"Papa / Papa Elias!" x2
"Why would I be mad at you? Rozaliya and Liliya only broke the bed because they were trying to welcome Bronya, right? Just be more careful next time. If either of you got hurt, it would break Papa's heart."
"Papa / Papa Elias!!" x2
The twins were immediately overwhelmed with emotion. They launched themselves at Elias in a bear hug, inwardly swearing that from now on, they'd be good girls who never troubled Papa again.
...And yet, in the very next second—
"We'll set this aside for now, but I'm seriously wondering—our beds aren't anything fancy, but I picked each one carefully and made sure they were good quality. How did you two manage to break one just by jumping on it?"
"Uh..." x2
Rozaliya and Liliya averted their eyes at the same time, a nervous drop of sweat forming on their foreheads.
Elias reached out and pinched their chubby cheeks, then lifted each girl slightly as if weighing them in his arms. His golden eyes narrowed.
"You've gained weight. Quite a bit, actually—at least five or six pounds each. Come to think of it... the snacks I've been putting on the pantry shelf have been disappearing faster lately. You two wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"
"I-It was all Rozaliya!"
"It-It was all Liliya!"
"Oh? Excellent~"
Elias' smile grew brighter. The twins' faces grew more terrified. They now stood trembling, fingers tightly interlocked in fear.
"Starting tomorrow, Rozaliya and Liliya are banned from having any snacks. If you don't lose the extra weight and return to your original sizes within half a month, the ban gets extended by another two weeks."
"Nooo! Papa Elias, please spare us! Rozaliya will die without snacks for a whole month!"
"...You've already accepted that it'll be a whole month, huh."
Elias sighed, facepalming in resignation. He wondered when the day would come that these two would be as worry-free as Seele. Clearly, it was time for stronger measures.
"Sin Mal, to me!"
"Present!"
"I'm giving you a critical mission. Starting tomorrow, take these two for morning runs around House of the Hearth. Minimum five laps per day."
At those words, the twins' faces turned ghostly pale. Of all people, why did it have to be Sin Mal—House of the Hearth's #1 certified problem child?
"Liliya... I don't think we'll live to see next month. Waaa..."
"We're doomed... If I'd known this would happen, I would've eaten less... There's no way Rozaliya can get up early in the morning!"
"Heh heh heh~ Since it's an order from Papa, of course I'll do it properly. Rozaliya, Liliya—tomorrow at 7 a.m.—no, 6 a.m., be ready to run!"
"Noooooo~~~!" x2
Elias ignored their pitiful wails. Kids who sneakily stole everyone's snacks deserved no sympathy!
Just as he was about to return to the kitchen to finish up the last steps of the celebratory dinner—
Seele came running in, clearly panicked.
"P-Papa Elias, come quickly! Bronya—Bronya-sis, she...!"
"Seele, what's wrong? Slow down. Breathe."
"I-I don't know how to say it—just please come look right away!"
"Alright!"
Seeing how close Seele was to tears, Elias didn't hesitate. He leapt from the second floor directly to the first-floor bathroom. He feared Bronya had slipped or injured herself while bathing.
But in reality, nothing of the sort had happened. Bronya was simply sitting quietly in the bath, soaking in the warm water.
However, the moment Elias laid eyes on her—he immediately understood why Seele had been so shaken.
"...Those bastards. What the hell did they do to you."
"Are you angry?"
"Of course I am! Just look at your body—how could they leave you like this?!"
Elias trembled with fury.
Bronya's snow-pale skin was covered in scars—gunshot wounds, knife wounds, deep bruises, and signs of frostbite. While some might call scars a warrior's badge of honor, such words should never be said about a girl this young and fragile.
Elias had never seen such a battered body—well, no, he had. Back in the Babylon Laboratory, the scars on his own body outnumbered Bronya's many times over.
"Do they still hurt?"
"It's nothing serious. Bronya's combat capability won't be affected by these."
"So... they still hurt, right?"
"...Yes."
Bronya nodded slightly. These wounds were proof that she had walked through countless battlefields.
To become the Silver Wolf of the Urals—number one on the mercenary ranking—was not something achievable through talent alone. She had faced more life-or-death crises than she could count on both hands and feet.
Even the scars that had healed still throbbed. Like curses etched into her flesh, they clung to her without mercy.
"Come on. Lie down."
"What are you going to do?"
"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to heal you."
Elias spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world. The Herrscher of Death's power bloomed from his fingertips.
As his fingers gently traced over each of Bronya's scars, they vanished—one by one—as though every curse had been purified.
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