"Go on. Continue. I am quite eager to know what this exceptionally important, private conversation is about. Surely, it cannot be so secretive that you would feel the need to hide it from your own father, Diana."

Diana’s posture instantly went rigid.

She glared at her father with a dangerous glint in her eyes. Yet, he showed absolutely no reaction to her hostility.

He merely sat behind her desk, casually resting one hand on the polished wood as if he owned the room, the academy, and everything within it.

Sensing the rapidly escalating storm, Mei set her teacup down with a soft click. She offered a knowing smile and slid gracefully out of her leather armchair. Turning her dark eyes toward Kurt, she gave him a subtle, inviting tilt of her head.

"Well, young man, it seems the atmosphere here has grown rather... familial. What do you say we step outside and let the father and daughter catch up in peace?"

Diana’s head snapped toward the foreign principal, "Rosie isn’t going anywhere, Mei. Do not test me."

Her father let out a dismissive huff, not even deigning to look at Kurt standing beside his daughter. "Actually, Principal Chihara, your suggestion is a fine one. Please, take him away. This office is no place for a common vagrant to be loitering."

Something inside Diana audibly cracked.

The ambient mana in the room violently compressed, causing the crystal chandelier overhead to rattle under the suffocating pressure of her aura.

"Never. EVER. Address my Rosie like that ever again, Father. Otherwise–"

"Otherwise what?" he interrupted, not even flinching at her oppressive aura. "I am your father, Diana. The head of House Valentine. What I say takes precedence over the whims of an F-rank nobody. You would do well to remember your place."

Diana snapped.

SHWOOSH

She materialised directly over her father, her hand blurring as she drew her crimson odachi from its spatial pocket.

The blade sliced downward in a lethal strike meant to cleave through anything in its path.

But her father was already moving. With a speed that defied his mature frame, his right hand blurred toward the hilt on his belt where his own crimson runic blade rested.

CLANG!

A metallic ring echoed through the office, kicking up a shockwave that blew the paperwork off the desk and sent the glass behind them shattering into glittering pieces.

Diana’s father hadn’t even stood up.

With a single hand, his one-handed blade clashed perfectly against Diana’s much longer odachi, holding her back effortlessly as the two weapons ground against one another.

"You dare raise your blade against your own father, girl? Have you entirely forgotten who gave you life?"

"I don’t care if you are my father! I will not allow you to dictate my future! I will not allow you to take my Rosie away from me! I would rather tear the entire Valentine house down to the ground!"

Before the situation could spiral into a catastrophic, bloody duel, a warm hand gently pressed down onto Diana’s shoulder.

"Ana."

Diana flinched under Kurt’s touch.

The chaotic mana swirling around her odachi instantly flickered and died.

She looked back at him with wide, trembling eyes, before slowly pulling her blade away. She took a step back and lowered her weapon, planting herself firmly beside Kurt.

Her father slowly lowered his blade, though he didn’t sheathe it.

A look of genuine surprise crossed his stern features as he stared at his daughter. He had raised Diana to be a fiercely independent, prideful, and unyielding force of nature – a woman who bowed to no one.

Yet, with a gentle touch and quiet word from an F-rank adventurer, she instantly compiled.

"Hmm... I have never seen you display such obedience, Diana. Tell me, F-rank, are you controlling my daughter with some sort of forbidden dark magic? A cursed artifact, perhaps?"

"FATHER!!"

Kurt smoothly stepped forward, his eye locking directly onto her father’s grey gaze. The two men stared each other down, the air between them growing heavy as they silently felt each other out.

Kurt didn’t back down. He didn’t show fear, nor did he show unnecessary aggression. He simply stood his ground like an immovable mountain.

Slowly, he reached his right hand out over the desk and offered a formal introduction. "My name is Kurt Rossana."

The father looked down at the calloused, slightly scarred hand extended toward him.

He didn’t move. He didn’t reciprocate the gesture.

He simply stared at it with cold disdain before looking back up into Kurt’s eye.

"Rossana? A peculiar surname. I am well-versed in the genealogy of every major and minor aristocratic bloodline across the continents. I have never heard of it. Tell me... are you a noble?"

Kurt slowly lowered his hand. "No. I’m not."

"Hm. Then tell me this. Have you been blessed by the Goddess? Do you possess a divine crest or a high-tier lineage trait that justifies your presence in my daughter’s life?"

"Some people have called me that. Personally, I don’t really know what it means, nor do I care."

"Hmm~" From the side of the room, Chihara Mei made a distinct, audible sound of intense interest, her eyes narrowing slightly as she analyzed Kurt’s dismissive answer.

Diana, already at her wits’ end, turned her head in blinding fury toward the principal.

"Get out, Mei! Now! Before I make sure you never leave Eldoria alive!"

Mei raised her hands in a mock gesture of surrender as an amused chuckle escaped her lips.

"Very well, very well. I can take a hint. Do try not to kill each other before the opening ceremony tomorrow."

With a graceful swirl of her kimono, she turned and slipped out the office, leaving the room heavy with a suffocating, silent tension.

The father slowly stood up from the principal’s chair and finally sheathed his blade.

He walked around the desk, his boots stepping over the glittering shards of broken window glass. He stopped a few feet away from them, towering over the space with the absolute authority of a patriarch.

"I will be direct with you, Kurt," he stated coldly. "I do not approve of this relationship. It ends today."

Diana’s face contorted with anger, but before she could scream, Kurt stopped her to ask, "And what exactly is the problem?"

"The problem... is that you are a complete and utter nobody. You might possess a surname, but you carry no noble blood. You hold zero political power, you have no wealth to your name, and you are currently registered as a pathetic F-rank adventurer. You bring nothing but shame and scandal to House Valentine."

He turned his cold gaze toward his daughter.

"Furthermore, Diana, your future has already been decided. You are to be betrothed to Everette Herst. His bloodline is pure, his status is immaculate, and the alliance between our houses will secure our family’s dominance for the next century–"

"I am NOT engaged to HIM!" Diana screamed as her voice cracked with raw anguish.

Tears of fury finally welled up in her crimson eyes, spilling over her cheeks.

"I have never agreed to be betrothed to anyone! And I will never allow you to separate me from Kurt Rossana! I love him! I love him and only him! And I swear to you, Father... if you try to get in our way, if you try to touch him or force me into that disgusting marriage, I will kill–"

BANG!

"Diana, stop!"

Before the words ’kill you’ could fully leave her mouth, the office doors violently flung open.

Julianne barged into the ruined room with panic. Behind her, Wendy rushed in, her eyes wide with deep concern.

Julianne marched straight through the office and crossed the distance between them in a heartbeat. Before anyone could react–

SLAP!

The echoing sound of a hand striking flesh cut through the room.

Diana’s head snapped to the side. Her platinum hair flew wild as her mother’s hand connected firmly with her cheek.

The strike wasn’t hard enough to cause physical damage, but the emotional weight of it was devastating. Diana froze, completely stunned, as her hand slowly rose to touch her stinging, reddened cheek.

She stared at her mother in heartbroken betrayal.

"Don’t you dare say that to your father," Julianne gasped, her own voice trembling as tears welled in her eyes, her chest heaving with terror at the words her daughter had been about to utter.

"How could you say something so horrific, Diana? Have you completely lost your mind?!"

Distraught, overwhelmed, and completely broken by the sudden rejection from both of her parents, Diana didn’t fight back.

She let out a soft, choked sob, turned around, and threw her arms violently around Kurt’s neck, burying her face deeply into his chest.

SHWOOSH

In an instant, they both vanished from the office, leaving nothing but a lingering breeze and a shower of fluttering papers behind.

Julianne stood in the center of the ruined office, her hand still raised.

The heavy silence of the room collapsed in on her. Slowly, her eyes filled with tears, and she turned around to face her husband.

"Reuben... Why...? Why did you have to handle it like this? Why did you make our daughter feel this way? Why couldn’t you have come straight to me first, so that we could discuss her choices together before you confronted her like a tyrant?!"

Reuben didn’t answer her.

He didn’t even look at her.

He turned his back, stepping up to the shattered window frame and looked down at the bustling courtyard below.

There, he could see Everette smoothly interacting with a group of cheering students, while a hooded Emelie stood nearby, looking thoroughly irritated by her brother’s antics.

Reuben narrowed his eyes in an unreadable expression. Slowly, he turned around and rested his hand casually on the hilt of his sheathed sword.

He walked right past his weeping wife and the silent Wendy without uttering a single word of comfort.

"Follow me, Julianne. We’re going home. We have nothing left to discuss here." With that, he marched out into the hallway, his heavy boots echoing down the corridor.

Wendy quickly stepped forward and pulled a clean, silk handkerchief from her apron. "Madam... please." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"Thank you, Wendy... Oh, Diana, I am terribly worried about her. Where could she have gone? What if she does something reckless?"

"Do not worry, Madam. Master Rossana is with her."

Julianne paused, looking up at the loyal maid. She swallowed past the lump in her throat and nodded faintly. "Yes... yes, you’re right. I believe... I believe he is exactly what she needs right now."

With a heavy heart, Julianne smoothed down her elegant robes and followed her husband out of the office. Wendy walked closely behind her as they left the ruined office behind.

.

..

...

SHWOOSH

Far away from the drama, Diana and Kurt materialised at the shore of the familiar, isolated island.

Kurt stumbled slightly as they landed, but he instantly stabilized his stance, wrapping his arms tightly around Diana’s trembling frame.

She was clutching the back of his shirt so hard her knuckles turned white. Her shallow breathing sounded muffled as she buried her face in his chest.

Kurt held her back with everything he had, securely resting his hands against her back and the back of her hair.

"It’s ok... I’ve got you, Ana," he murmured protectively to her. "I’m right here. I’m never letting you go. Do you hear me? Never."

The moment those words left his lips, the last of Diana’s defenses completely shattered.

She broke down in his arms.

A muffled, agonising sob escaped her throat as she fully started to cry, her entire body shaking violently against him. "Rosie... Rosie... please..."

"I’m here. I’m right here," he whispered, kissing the top of her head as her tears soaked through his shirt.

"I hate him... I hate my dad... I hate Everette... I hate all of them! Why can’t they just leave us alone?! Why are they ruining everything?!"

As Kurt listened to her heartbreaking cries, the gentle, relaxed demeanor he usually maintained completely dissolved.

A terrifyingly murderous look settled deep into his eye. He raised his head and gazed out across the vast expanse of the sparkling ocean, clenching his jaw so hard the muscles in his neck turned rigid.

’How dare they... How dare those arrogant, high-born bastards push her to this point. How dare they make my woman cry.’

He tightened his grip around Diana, holding her securely against his chest as the dark fire in his eye burned with an unyielding promise.

Reuben and Everette had no idea what kind of monster they had just provoked.

And Kurt was going to make absolutely sure that both of them paid dearly for every single tear she shed.