Chapter 3050: Her Day

Emery had barely stepped back into Neo Terra Palace before his thoughts were already turning toward his private chambers. Half-formed plans for seclusion were already taking shape in his mind, along with thoughts of the two scaled scriptures he had just acquired and the insights they might contain.

He had barely made it three steps down the corridor when Klea intercepted him.

"No."

She planted herself directly in his path, arms crossed firmly over her chest.

"Not today. Today, you’re spending time with your daughter."

Emery opened his mouth to protest. His mind was still filled with thoughts of cultivation, the Superior Gene Elixir, the clone technique, and everything he needed to accomplish before the coming mission.

Then he noticed the small figure peeking out from behind Klea’s skirt.

"Daddy."

The moment he heard that tiny voice, every thought of seclusion disappeared.

The little girl’s smile was sincere enough to be its own kind of mental attack, and against it, even Emery’s seven-tier spiritual pagoda would have stood no chance.

"Alright."

A helpless smile finally appeared on his face as he crouched down and reached toward her.

"Guini’s going out with Daddy today."

She immediately brightened and hurried into his arms. Emery scooped her up easily, settling her against his shoulder. She was four years old now, yet she still felt so small in his arms that it was difficult for him to believe how quickly the years had passed.

The morning began with breakfast already waiting for him, prepared with far more care than Emery would have expected from a four-year-old. There was tea, along with a small plate of cookies that Guinevere had clearly needed help baking but insisted on arranging and serving herself.

"Let’s eat, Daddy"

She carefully poured the tea with both hands, moving with such deliberate concentration that Emery couldn’t help watching her for a moment.

The difference between his two daughters was becoming more obvious with every passing year. Where Shinta moved through a room like a small storm, Guinevere possessed a quiet precision that seemed almost unnatural for her age, carrying herself with the same calm, measured tone regardless of what she happened to be saying.

After breakfast, Guinevere took Emery by the hand and led him into her playroom. He had already prepared himself for an afternoon of dolls and children’s games. There were a few dolls scattered around, but they were clearly not the main attraction.

Instead, Guinevere immediately began building something with her shape blocks.

Piece by piece, she arranged them into an elaborate and increasingly questionable tower, pausing between each addition to examine the structure carefully. Once she seemed satisfied, she placed a small doll directly at its center.

Emery stared at it for several seconds before finally understanding what he was looking at.

She wasn’t really building a tower.

She was trying to build a formation array.

Or, more accurately, her four-year-old interpretation of one.

The design was obviously copied from watching her mother work, but there was enough structure to it that Emery could recognize the underlying concept. The moment the tower collapsed under its own weight, Guinevere simply frowned, gathered the scattered pieces, and began building another one.

She worked with quiet determination, refusing to become frustrated even after the third attempt collapsed.

Finally, she stepped back and looked up at him.

"I’m done. What do you think, Daddy?"

Emery looked at the crooked tower, then at the tiny doll sitting proudly at its center.

"It’s very good, sweetheart."

Guinevere’s face immediately brightened, as though those four words had just given the entire formation its final energy.

After lunch, Emery took Guinevere beyond the palace grounds and into the city itself. The moment they passed through the gates, she insisted on walking on her own, one small hand wrapped tightly around his sleeve as she stayed close to his side.

Neo Terra had grown considerably since the last time Emery had wandered through its streets without some urgent destination in mind. New towers rose throughout the eastern district, many of them unfamiliar even to him, while the central market had nearly doubled in size. Halfbloods carrying a dozen different bloodlines now moved shoulder to shoulder with ordinary cultivators, merchants, and craftsmen, the diversity so commonplace that hardly anyone seemed to pay it any attention.

It was a very different city from the one Emery remembered only a few years ago.

The moment people recognized him, however, the ordinary rhythm of the streets changed slightly. Merchants straightened behind their stalls, while a pair of young guards instinctively snapped to attention before catching themselves and replacing the rigid salute with a more natural bow.

An elderly woman selling dried herbs even pressed a small paper charm into Guinevere’s hand, refusing Emery’s attempt to pay and quietly telling the girl how proud the city was to have her father walking among them again.

Guinevere seemed completely unconcerned by the attention.

Her focus remained on the shops around them, and when they passed a flower stall, she immediately stopped and carefully selected a small bundle of flowers. She insisted on carrying them herself, explaining that they were for her mother.

Further down the street, a group of children playing beside a fountain suddenly froze when they noticed Emery. Their game forgotten, they gathered together and began whispering excitedly until a small halfblood boy finally gathered enough courage to approach.

"Is it true you fought a dragon?"

Emery considered the question for a moment before glancing down at Guinevere, who was watching him with obvious interest.

"Yes."

The children’s eyes widened.

Emery smiled and left out the more frightening details that might have given either the children or their parents a reason to lose sleep that night.

All the while, Guinevere listened intently to the story, a clear look of pride shining in her eyes.

They stopped at a dessert stand soon afterward, where Emery bought Guinevere something sticky, colorful, and entirely too sweet. He expected at least a little mess, but somehow she managed to eat the entire thing with remarkable care, sitting properly at the table with her napkin tucked neatly in place and not allowing even a single drop to stain her clothes.

She even paused halfway through to remind him to do the same.

Emery couldn’t help but smile.

Afterward, while Guinevere happily chatted with a spirit-bird vendor about the different creatures perched in his cages, Emery found himself watching the city around them with a quieter expression. Neo Terra was thriving, perhaps more than it ever had before, but he knew better than most how fragile such peace could be. A city this alive could not remain untouched forever, and probably not even for very long.

Still, perhaps it could last long enough.

The rest of the afternoon passed without anything particularly urgent demanding his attention. They wandered from street to street, visiting small shops and stalls while Guinevere pointed out anything that caught her interest. By the time the sun had begun sinking behind the rooftops, however, she had exhausted herself completely.

Her voice suddenly faded, her head resting against his shoulder as sleep overtook her, one small hand still tightly gripping his sleeve.

Emery carried her back through the palace gates that evening and found Klea in her study, looking thoroughly exhausted by whatever mountain of administrative work had occupied her entire day.

Her expression immediately softened when she saw Guinevere sleeping peacefully in Emery’s arms.

She carefully took the girl from him, adjusting her position against her shoulder before lowering her voice.

"Anything of note?"

Klea let out a tired breath and settled back into her chair. "Queen Phyllis sent a gift."

Emery raised an eyebrow. The Alliance had only agreed to grant the Insectoid race a share of the facility’s production the previous day, yet their response had apparently been almost immediate. It seemed the Insectoid race had become considerably more politically active over the past few decades than he had previously realized.

Klea continued through several smaller matters, most of them routine, but her expression gradually became more serious as she reached the final issue.

"We’re missing some goods. Nothing catastrophic.. I’ve already had Nyx looking into it."

Their current assumption was that opportunists were testing Neo Terra’s defenses while so many of their strongest forces remained deployed on the frontlines.

Once the next batch of trainees completed their training in a few months, the city would have enough additional personnel to properly reinforce its security.

"Thank you for your hard work" Emery said.

Klea glanced down at Guinevere, who remained peacefully asleep in her arms, then looked back at him with a faint smile.

"You too."

Emery leaned down and pressed a light kiss against his daughter’s forehead before finally turning toward the seclusion chamber.

Three months remained until Tartarus.