Saga of Atlantis

...Because...

...Valeria, Zaira’s mother, stood there, her gaze fixed on me.

She looked the same as I first met her few years ago, plain but beautiful and graceful.

I also looked back at her gray eyes, which held emotions that I couldn’t understand.

"Eden?" Aeloria called me, as I wasn’t replying to her, and she followed my gaze.

But because Valeria was in her disguise, she wasn’t able to identify her.

"Who is she?" She asked me as we both kept staring at each other.

"Valeria," I mumbled softly as I broke the eye contact.

"Huh?" Aeloria stiffened in her place at Valeria’s name as she slowly turned her head to look at her.

"E-Eden, I will see you later, bye." Stuttering, she tried to run away, but I quickly grabbed her hand.

"Where are you going? Let’s go meet her," I said as I practically dragged her back towards our seat, ignoring her struggles.

"Daddy," as I sat down in my seat, Zaira quickly found her place on my lap without me saying anything, and I wrapped my arm around her to prevent her from falling.

"Should I bow down to her, or should I act casually?" I ignored Aeloria’s mumbling as she took a seat beside Emily and Angilina, while taking sips of her drink.

As all of us sat down, Valeria also walked towards us, her gaze still on me, and unlike last time, I wasn’t shying away from her gaze and I don’t plan to from now on.

The last time I met her, I was afraid of her, and understandably so, because the woman I knew from the game was far more dangerous than the one who was in front of me.

"Mama!" Zaira exclaimed as she noticed Valeria coming towards us, but she didn’t move from my lap.

Angelina and Emily also looked at her, while Aeloria was trembling in fear as tried her best not to make eye contact with Valeria.

"How was your day, baby?" Valeria asked with a beautiful yet soft smile as she gracefully took the seat beside me.

"It was good!" Zaira replied as she snuggled into my arms, "Daddy brought me a lot of things."

"Cough..."

I looked at Aeloria as she coughed lightly at Zaira’s words.

Valeria glanced at me, but she didn’t comment on her calling me daddy.

"So, you are her mother?" Emily asked a little suspiciously as she looked at Valeria.

Well, she was right to be suspicious as they both didn’t match much because Valeria was in disguise.

Valeria just nodded without saying anything.

"Yeah, and the one sitting beside her is a moth—ow." I quickly kicked Aeloria under the table as she again started with her sarcasm.

She quickly covered her mouth with her hands as she understood her blunder.

"Would you like something to drink?" I asked, looking at Valeria.

"No, I’m fine," she replied, shaking her head.

"Where were you anyway? I found Zaira alone in the streets," I said as I looked at her.

"I had... something to do, so I left her beside you," she replied, nodding softly while a little taken aback by my behavior.

"Don’t do it next time, just hand her over to me directly," I replied as I made Zaira drink her strawberry shake.

"Yes," she whispered as she looked at Zaira.

"Daddy," I looked at her as well as I brought the strawberry shake close to my lips.

"Don’t worry, I have my own," I replied as I smiled at her behavior.

"Hehe, it is yours," and my smile turned stiff as she replied cutely.

Did she just finish hers and was drinking mine?

"Ouch."

I took a sip of the shake while I pinched her cheeks, making her wince in pain. Damn, her cheek’s are soft.

I let go of her cheeks as I leaned on the chair.

"Mama!" I looked at her in horror as Zaira passed the same shake towards Valeria after I took a sip from it.

"....."

Everyone present at the table turned silent as Valeria lowered her head and took a sip from the shake.

"It is delicious, isn’t it?" Zaira asked, looking at her mother.

"It is," she replied, glancing at me.

Stop, don’t look at me please.

I quickly turned my head, not looking at her or at the girls sitting in front of me.

"I am gonna tell Grace," Aeloria mumbled, breaking the silence.

Don’t threaten me, you damn masochist.

"Ahem, Zaira, don’t do things like that, it’s awkward for the adults," Angilina advised, looking at Zaira.

"Why?" The little girl asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"It just is. You will understand when you grow older," she said again with a smile.

"But they are my mama and daddy," Zaira mumbled with a pout as she looked at Angilina.

"Could you teach your daughter to stop calling him that? It will cause misunderstanding later on," Angilina said as she now looked at Valeria.

"Anna," Aeloria grabbed her hand to stop her, but she kept looking at Valeria.

"....You must be special to him for you to get irked by it."

I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but the way Valeria said it, I felt sarcasm from her words.

"Does it matter?" Angilina didn’t back down as she asked again.

"Anna!" Aeloria raised her voice as she tried to control Angilina.

"Nothing lasts forever, girl, and neither will her innocence. It won’t last forever, and when she grows up, she will understand it herself. Until then, I don’t plan to take away her happiness," Valeria replied as she touched Zaira’s cheeks.

"Yeah... nothing lasts forever," Angilina mumbled as she quieted down as well.

"Really, why?" Unexpectedly, Valeria asked as she continued to look at Angilina.

"....I was just being agreeable," Angilina replied with a small pause.

"Hmm.... Her father didn’t settle for one woman. I hope you don’t find someone like him," Valeria said again, looking at all three of them but not before glancing at me.

And again, for some fucking reason, I felt like her words had deeper meaning.

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Was she really hoping that they find a person who just loves them?

"Eden is a one-girl guy, aren’t you, Eden?" Aeloria asked, shifting everyone’s attention towards me.

"Yeah... I am," I replied, trying my best not to look in their eyes.

Fuck, I’m pretty sure that masochist must be laughing in her mind by dragging me into this mess.

"Anyway, we should return home, Zaria," Valeria said as she stood up from her seat.

"It’s still afternoon though," the little girl grumbled as she clenched onto my shirt.

"Don’t worry, you will see him soon enough," Valeria said with a smile as she looked at her daughter.

"It’s goodbye for now then," I said as I placed her down and got on one knee to hug her, which she returned as well.

"Yeah," she replied softly.

"When we meet next time, I will bring you some more ice cream," I said, and her eyes twinkled in response.

"Yeah!" she exclaimed as she moved towards Emily to hug her.

I stood up as Valeria stood in front of me.

We both looked at each other in silence for a while without saying anything.

As she was now smaller than me, it was me who was looking down at her while she was looking up.

Then she slowly extended her hand.

"..... You want a hug as well?" I asked, not understanding her gesture.

"Zaira’s backpack.. idiot," she replied, glaring at me.

"Yeah... right," I mumbled as I took out Zaira’s backpack and all the shopping items from the inventory, passing them to her.

She raised her brows in response but took them without saying anything.

Then she turned towards Zaira, who was saying her goodbyes to the three girls.

"Hey," I called her as Valeria glanced back.

Then I extended my hand and patted her head. At first, she didn’t respond, but after patting her once, she closed her eyes, letting me do it.

"It was good to see you again," I mumbled after patting her head a few more times.

She slowly opened her eyes, looking at me with a mesmerizing smile. She replied, "Yeah."

"Let’s go, Zaira." Then she picked up her daughter, and they both walked out of the cafe.

I stood there for a while as I calmed down my beating heart.

I wish to see her again both the mother and the daughter...

"Eden?" Aeloria called me as she arrived beside me.

"What?"

"Was it only me, or was she really irritated by Angilina? And is she really the woman we

know of?" She mumbled, looking at me.

"...."

Yeah, Valeria was oddly perceptive towards Angelina.

I also noticed it as well, but I don’t understand why.

"It must be only you," I replied as I moved towards Emily.

"See you tomorrow, Emily," I said as I looked at her.

She nodded her head as she smiled. "Yeah, see you tomorrow."