Chương 88: Chapter 86 – Demonic Reunion

"Father," the demon woman announced from outside the tent.

"The human has returned. He brought friends and wishes for an audience."

"Let them in," a deep voice replied. The moment Chelsea heard it, some of the tension she'd been carrying for days eased. The voice was warm in a way she hadn't expected. Reassuring. It reminded her of sitting beneath a pile of blankets on a cold day. She felt a deep need to hear it more. Gerard lifted the tent flap and stepped inside. Chelsea followed behind him and immediately found herself staring. The king looked young. Far younger than she had imagined.

If she had seen him walking through Junstruce, she would have guessed he was somewhere in his twenties. The resemblance to Celeste was not obvious, though. Everything was… off. He looked nothing like Chelsea imagined. The king looked between Gerard, Adriane and Chelsea before settling his attention on her fully.

"Gerard, you believe this is her?"

"No, Your Majesty. I know it is. I confirmed it." The king studied Chelsea in silence.

"Celeste?" Chelsea shifted awkwardly.

"There is a story behind that. My name is Chelsea, and Celeste and I share this body." His eyes narrowed slightly as he continued examining her.

"You resemble her," he said.

"Not perfectly, but enough. It is as though someone took my daughter and aged her several years." Chelsea nodded.

"Would it be possible for me to speak with Celeste directly?"

"Of course." Chelsea hesitated.

"I should warn you first. She isn't always very pleasant." The king glanced toward Gerard.

"Is this a joke?"

"No, sir." The king looked back at Chelsea.

"Of course she isn't pleasant. She's a female demon." Chelsea furrowed her own brows. What did female have to do with it? Were females more rude? She switched titles. As soon as she did, Celeste began pounding on the Instinctive Control button in the back of Chelsea's head begging to be let out. Chelsea smiled and let her out.

"Father." The king stopped where he stood. For several seconds, he simply looked at her. Chelsea could feel Celeste preparing herself for an argument. The princess had spent the last week complaining about her father. She had called him overbearing, controlling, stubborn, and a dozen other things. Yet now that he stood before her, all of those prepared words seemed to have abandoned her. The king approached slowly. There was no caution in his movements, only a touch of uncertainty.

His eyes searched her face as though he were trying to reconcile what he was seeing with what he knew to be true.

"How do I know you're Celeste?"

"You and mother created me using the child of that human slave you fancied in your youth." He breathed in quickly through his nose.

"You really are her," he said quietly. His hand rose toward her face before hesitating. For the first time since Chelsea had let her out, Celeste acted unsure of herself. The king finally rested his hand against her cheek and let out a long breath.

"You really are her." he repeated. Celeste looked away.

"Apparently I died? Then a god stole my body after," she said.

"That is why this happened." The king gave a small nod.

"So I have been told." His voice became gruff and angry for a moment.

"Your sister admitted to using your body in an attempt to summon a Champion." His hand remained where it was for another moment before he lowered it.

"When Gerard arrived, I thought it was some cruel joke. He mentioned speaking to a demon child matching your description in a god's domain. Though, I spent most of the journey here preparing myself to be disappointed." A faint smile appeared on his face.

"I am very happy to have been wrong." Celeste's jaw tightened. Chelsea could feel the emotions she was trying desperately to suppress.

"You are making this weird, Father." The king laughed softly.

"You have been saying that to me since you were seven." The smile never left his face. For a few moments neither of them spoke. The king eventually shook his head.

"You know, after you disappeared, I kept expecting someone to find an explanation. A witness or a clue. Something." He sighed.

"One day you were there, and the next day you were simply gone. It wasn't until several days later, Gerard pried the answer out of Rosaline." The princess looked down at the floor.

"I am sorry to worry you Father." The apology surprised everyone in the tent. Most of all the king. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"I know." He replied. He reached over and brushed a loose strand of hair from her face.

"I am not angry with you, Celeste. It is good to see you. I am beyond happy to see you." Celeste rolled her eyes, but there was far less force behind the gesture than usual.

"It is tolerable seeing you as well."

"Now that sounds much more like my daughter." That earned a small laugh from several people in the tent. The tension that had followed them from Junstruce seemed to evaporate some. Only after the moment had passed did the king finally take a step back and properly look over the rest of the group. His eyes moved from Passion, to Adriane, to Ivy, then finally settled on Chelsea.

"I do have a few questions," the king said, still looking at Celeste as though he expected her to vanish if he stopped paying attention.

"Is it because of the actions of this foolish god that you are up and walking around?"

"Well yes, but..."

"And going on grand adventures like you used to dream of?" Celeste's jaw tightened.

"Shut up, Father." The king gave her a patient look that made it clear he had been on the receiving end of that tone many times before.

"Has this Chelsea beaten you? Or harmed you in any way?" Celeste looked away.

"Well… not… her, no. But…"

"It seems you are being as unthankful as ever," he said, though there was no real bite behind the words.

"But it is good to see you are alive. We will return to Dryscape as soon as we can gather what we need and prepare the convoy." Celeste gave a mocking laugh.

"That won't be happening." The king's expression hardened.

"You don't wish to live amongst these humans and this..." His eyes moved to Ivy, then narrowed in confusion.

"Why is there a dirty elf here?"

"No. I don't really get that choice." Celeste gestured toward Passion.

"This exotic-looking monster here is the Valkyr of Passion. After our meeting today, I am to head to Valhalla. My class is the Valkyr of Havoc."

"No," the king said, leaving no room for negotiation. Chelsea felt Celeste stiffen their shoulders.

"You will return home at once," he stated.

"This is not a choice, Celeste. This world's prejudice toward our kind is too strong. You will be killed or hunted for nothing more than what you are."

"Chelsea has made it this far, and that entire kingdom back there loves her. Like actually loves her without any sort of ability. I shit on her for being nice, but it seems to be working for her."

"I don't care if the king offered his prince for her to marry. You will return home."

"Actually, he did offer the prince to..." Ivy started to add. The king turned toward her immediately.

"Why are you even here, elf?" His voice filled the tent, and Ivy went still. The change in Celeste was immediate. Chelsea felt the irritation sharpen into something more protective, which felt strangely odd from Celeste who supposedly hated Ivy. The king seemed to notice it too, because he drew in a breath and changed his tone.

"The Valkyr dare not cross our borders," he continued, more controlled now.

"Once you are safe within our walls, you will no longer need to worry about them coming to collect you." Celeste stared at him. Chelsea took back over and curtsied.

"Sir?" The king's expression hardened immediately.

"Bring her back. I was not finished speaking with my daughter." Chelsea nodded.

"I know, sir."

"Then do it."

"She can hear everything we're saying," Chelsea replied.

"She's still here."

"That is not… Just… I want to talk to her, not you, nice demon." Chelsea gave him an apologetic smile. Because the truth was that she understood why he was angry. If someone took Beatrix or Dewey away from Adriane, Adriane would probably carve a path through kingdoms to get them back.

"You're looking at this like we have a choice in the matter," Chelsea said.

"we don't." The king frowned.

"You always have a choice."

"No sir. Not always." Chelsea gestured toward her white wings.

"I didn't choose to become a Valkyr. Not really. Sure, I got to choose my class but the other two options weren't… umm… I chose the class because it was the best option available to me." She clarified. She pointed toward Passion.

"The Valkyr are here because of that choice. Valhalla is calling because of that choice. The title and therefore, we, belong in Valhalla. The path is already laid out." The king remained silent. Chelsea continued.

"Sir, if Celeste had survived, would she still be lying in bed right now?" He stared at her hard. He stared at her but not with hate. It was still the new face of his daughter.

"Would she still be confined to the palace?" His expression darkened.

"Of course."

"Would she still be spending her days listening to tutors and nobles argue?" The king sighed.

"That is our life. What's your point." Chelsea nodded.

"That is my point. The Celeste who died is gone. The one sitting here now has changed."She tapped her temple to emphasize she was still listening.

"She would be miserable, still." Chelsea gave control back over.

"I would be." Celeste agreed, giving a scowl to the open air, obviously meant for Chelsea. Chelsea smiled, taking back over.

"See?" The king fought the urge to smile back. She shook her head, "What you're asking for isn't really possible anymore. Even if I agreed to go with you, she wouldn't be the same person who left Dryscape. She's seen dragons. We have the blessing of the demon god. She's traveled through other kingdoms. She's made friends." Chelsea gave control back, after pounding on the ability "I haven't made fr… Well Bea is alright," Celeste muttered. Chelsea took back control and continued.

"She has stories now. Things she wants to see." The king rubbed his forehead. Chelsea pressed forward.

"You keep saying you want your daughter back, but she's sitting right there. She's talking. Arguing. Insulting people." A very small smile appeared despite his best efforts. Chelsea waited until it faded.

"Sir, she's alive. Really alive. And living a life. Not just surviving in her bed. Not trapped in a room waiting to die." Her voice softened.

"I know you're afraid of losing her again." The king tilted his head. Chelsea suddenly knew she had found the real issue.

"You got her back for one afternoon and now it feels like she's being taken away again." The king looked away. For the first time since entering the tent, he didn't have an argument ready. Chelsea continued gently.

"I'm not taking her from you. The world is just bigger than Dryscape now."

"You don't think I know that, nice demon? I knew she was on death's door for weeks. Her disappearance gave my family no closure. Now, you're telling me because you want to go train, I don't get to have my daughter back?"

"Unfortunately? yes. This isn't your daughter's story, sir. She is along for the ride. She was there when we slayed a greater dragon. She watched as I eviscerated over twenty bandits with my bare hands and ate human for the first time. She is living more now than she ever did when she was alive. Don't try to cage her like a bird again. Because that's not why we came to this tent. Don't let this meeting of getting to talk to your daughter again be consumed with arguing over coming home. Enjoy her. Talk to her.

Engage."

"Uh," Celeste said. Chelsea felt her eyebrows furrow.

"Yeah, that. What Chelsea said." The king's face was unchanged. He still stared at Celeste with anger.

"Fine," he finally said through gritted teeth.

"But I will require weekly letters from you... both. With an update on both of your well-being. Additionally, you will need to come to Dryscape. Not now but... sometime." Chelsea nodded.

"I have no objection to that." She agreed. Celeste groaned "Seriously? Weekly? Fine." She crossed her arms out of annoyance.

"But you better write us... Or... me, I mean."

"Of course." He replied, having gotten his way, he pushed forward.

"You killed a greater dragon?"

"Well, Adriane did most of the work," Celeste admitted.

"Adriane Wixx." She gestured to the woman wearing a blue dress.

"By the way, she adopted us as her kid. Insane, right?"

"Adriane Wixx? Adopted a demon? I don't believe you," he said, eyeing Adriane.

"No, really. She's actually not as evil and twisted as the stories back home say." The conversation continued for a few hours. Celeste sounded more communicable to her father than she had been since Chelsea first used the ability. The conversation centered around one thing: Chelsea's exploits. She claimed she hated Chelsea and her niceness, but when talking about it so casually with her father, it didn't come across as hate at all. Was Chelsea inadvertently breaking through with Celeste?

"Your Highness, my apologies, but we do need to return home soon," Adriane said.

"Celeste and Chelsea need to prepare for their trip to Valhalla." The king eyed her and slowly nodded.

"I suppose you're right. We need to prepare for our return trip," he said.

"I will miss you, daughter." He gave her a hug, and Celeste awkwardly tried to squirm out of his grasp.

"You mentioned you will be returning to Junstruce for evaluation in three years for evaluation."

"I will do what I can, father," she replied.

"Chelsea," he said.

"Yes, sir?" she replied.

"Watch after my daughter. Keep yourself and her safe. Please. And also, thank you for this. It is a relief to know my dear Celeste is not only alive, but… living."

"Of course, sir," she replied.

"It's my pleasure." A mischievous smile crossed her face, "Quick personal question, does Dryscape happen to have a branch of the Merchant's Guild?"