System: Daily login!!, jackpot on the first day!!!-Chapter 490 - The Retruns [ll]
The Verdant Star pulsed once.
A deep, resonant thrum like the first heartbeat of creation.
Light swelled, bending around Taufik's hand.
Not ordinary radiance, but raw genesis, warping the throne hall as if the world itself were being inhaled into his palm.
Thalia's breath hitched.
Ardyn stumbled back, armor clattering.
Cealir shielded his eyes with both arms, ears flattened, while Elaria froze with pupils dilating... caught between reverence and horror.
Even the Dawnmother rose from her throne, fingers digging into the armrest, her composure fracturing for the first time.
The Law of Creation wasn't responding.
It was awakening.
Like a titan stretching after an eternal slumber.
Taufik glanced back casually.
"Hang on"
Thalia grabbed his arm instantly, reflexively, trusting, without a heartbeat of hesitation.
Taufik spoke:
"...Bring me home.... Back to where my family is waiting"
The Verdant Star cracked open.
A blossom of blinding green split the world apart, pure creation bursting outward like a newborn sun.
The floor trembled.
The air screamed.
The roots of Yggdrasil convulsed across realms, shuddering with ancient memory.
Then... Silence.
A single, impossible stillness.
And the universe snapped.
The throne hall disappeared.
Álfheimr disappeared.
The light disappeared.
All at once.
--------
A soft wind brushed his cheek.
The scent of morning dew. Warm sunlight. A weight in the air that no other realm could imitate.
Earth.
Saranjana.
The D'Archy Castle.
The teleportation had not ruptured space. Had not pierced dimensions. Had not broken anything.
It had simply overwritten reality, replacing one truth with another.
One breath they were in Álfheimr. The next, they were standing in a quiet castle corridor, right outside the dining hall door.
Thalia blinked hard, her pupils wide and unfocused, as if her senses were struggling to catch up with what just happened.
"…W-We're here?" she whispered.
"Mm," Taufik replied. "Instant"
A faint tremor ran through her, excitement, nerves, and a deep, aching nostalgia stitched together.
"This is Earth…" she murmured, brushing her fingers over the golden wall motifs. "It feels warm. Just like I remember…"
Taufik pushed open the door.
Inside... Time froze.
Not metaphorically.
Not emotionally.
Literally.
Every heartbeat in the room halted mid-pulse.
Taufik stepped through the threshold.
Thalia lingered at the doorway, the silence pressing against her like a physical weight.
Only now did she fully understand...
The heavy air.
The unspoken ache.
The single chair that had remained untouched for years.
Taufik's gaze swept across each face.
Slow.
Intentional.
As if absorbing every expression he had longed to see.
Then he walked toward the empty master seat, the seat that had waited for him, untouched, unwavering.
Thalia stayed by the door, hands clasped in front of her chest, heart pounding in reverent quiet.
Taufik sat.
The first breath he drew in his old seat was slow… heavy.
Weighted not with exhaustion, but with years of silence, memories left unfinished, and a home that had waited far too long.
A sound slipped from his chest.
Barely audible.
Not quite a sigh.
Not grief.
Not fatigue.
A sound that simply meant:
I'm back.
His eyes opened. Clear. Steady... Certain.
And time resumed.
The frozen steam above the teapot unraveled upward again.
A spoon clattered as it finished its fall.
A platter vibrated softly as the sound it had been holding finally escaped.
Life surged back into the room like a dam breaking... Yet no one breathed.
Taufik scanned their faces.
His children.
His wives.
His parents.
His grandmother.
All suspended between hope and disbelief.
Then he smiled, not wide, not dramatic, just a small, familiar curve of lips that looked exactly like the portrait hanging in the halls.
"Ohh~ all of you have grown, huh?" His voice was warm, light, almost teasing.
But no one moved.
Even though time inside the room had resumed… Time for the D'Archy family had not.
He tilted his head slightly.
"Well~ this is awkward. Should I say... I'm home?"
The words broke the silence.
Jenn gasped first, hand flying to her mouth, tears welling so fast they spilled over.
Tina jolted, her fork slipping from her numb fingers and clattering onto her plate.
Marzuki shot to his feet so violently that his chair toppled backward with a sharp crash.
Linda pressed a trembling hand to her chest, whispering his name... softly, disbelievingly, as if afraid saying it too loud would shatter the moment.
Kiara's lips parted, breath caught halfway.
Litani's eyes filled instantly, overflowing before she even realized she was crying.
Anggana, usually composed, precise, unshakable, exhaled in a broken stutter, the air leaving him as if something inside had finally given way.
And the room... The room trembled with a hundred emotions that had been buried for far too long.
Even Aksara, the current King of Saranjana, a man who never showed anything, bit his lower lip, gripping the edge of his sleeve to stop his hand from shaking.
And Askara… Askara didn't move. He didn't breathe. He just stared.
Like a child looking at a miracle, he was terrified that it would dissolve into smoke the moment he reached for it.
Taufik's gaze drifted toward him. A faint smile touched his lips, familiar, painful, impossibly real.
"…Aska"
That single word shattered something inside the boy.
Askara's breath stuttered.
His fist curled tight on the table.
His throat bobbed as he swallowed, hard.
For a heartbeat, he looked like he would break down right there.
But the D'Archy blood in him forced the tears back down his chest.
"…Father," he whispered.
Not shouted.
Not exclaimed.
Spoken with a weight so raw it cracked through the room like lightning.
Taufik opened his mouth, but before he could say a single word… The entire family moved at once.
Chairs scraped back.
Feet stumbled forward.
Voices broke.
His wives were the first to reach him.
Jenn practically threw herself at him with a sob.
Tina clung to him like she was scared he'd vanish again.
Rani pressed her forehead against his shoulder, trembling.
Kaela grabbed his sleeve with shaking fingers.
Anugerah whispered prayers of gratitude, voice unsteady.
Gaia wrapped her arms around his back, eyes closed, grounding herself in his presence.
Marzuki clasped both hands onto his son's shoulders, gripping him with the strength of a man terrified of losing something twice.
Linda touched his cheek, gently, motherly, as tears rolled freely down her face.
Taufik let it all wash over him.
Quiet. Steady... Present.
He didn't pull a single person off him. He simply rested one hand atop Jenn's hair and the other on his mother's shoulder.
Letting them anchor themselves to him.
Behind the wall of family, Thalia stood frozen in the doorway.
She didn't move.
She didn't try to intrude.
Her ears drooped.
Her fingers tightened around her travel bag strap.
A sting bloomed in her chest, strange, tender, aching.
"…So this… is his home," she whispered.
Warm.
Chaotic.
Overflowing with love.
And nothing like any royal court she had ever seen.
As the family slowly pulled back, still touching Taufik in small ways, as if afraid he'd fade again... Taufik lifted his head.
His eyes moved straight to the door.
Straight to her.
"Thalia," he called gently.
Her breath caught.
"... Come in"
Every head in the dining hall turned toward her.
The elf girl who suddenly looked like she'd accidentally walked into a sacred chamber.
Thalia swallowed, heart pounding.
She took one step forward. Then another.
Taufik watched her with calm confidence.
But his family?
They watched her like she had just declared herself the future Empress of Saranjana.
The pressure was unreal.
Still... She walked.
Because Taufik had called her.
Because she wanted, quietly, secretly, to be part of his world.
Taufik gestured casually.
"Everyone," he said, tone light. "As you can see…" He motioned toward Thalia. "I brought a guest"
Silence.
Prolonged, loaded silence.
Jenn blinked.
Tina's eyebrows rose.
Kiara whispered, "She's pretty…"
Rani narrowed her eyes, evaluating, not hostile.
Anindha bit back a knowing smile.
Lavanya leaned forward like she smelled premium gossip.
Great-Grandmother's eyes sharpened, immediately analyzing lineage, mana, and potential.
And Askara?
Askara stared with pure, innocent confusion.
"…Guest?" he repeated, because that word explained absolutely nothing.
The atmosphere thickened with many unspoken assumptions.
Taufik blinked once.
Absolutely unaware of them.
Thalia, sweating internally, attempted a smile.
"…Um. H-hello"
Every woman in the room zeroed in on her instantly.
Jenn tilted her head. "Thalia? You're Thalia, right?"
Rani chimed in, "Ahh~ now that you said it, she's the elf back in Japan, isn't she?"
Anugerah nodded. "Tokugawa family's girl, right?"
Kaela frowned lightly. "But didn't Taufik send her back to her world?"
Kaela's words lingered in the air like smoke.
Taufik only chuckled, the kind of quiet, tired, impossibly warm sound none of them had heard in so long it hit twice as hard.
"…Well~" he exhaled, leaning back just a little, shoulders relaxing as if finally allowed to breathe. "If you want to know why she's here, you all should hear my journey story first"
Every head instinctively leaned a fraction closer.
"But first…" He spread his hands slightly, as though presenting the chaos, the tears, the trembling hands still touching him. "Let me bathe in this atmosphere"
It was a simple line.
Yet it froze everyone, because it wasn't poetic or dramatic.
It was honest.
He wanted this.
He wanted them.
For the first time in years… he let himself want to be home.
....
... 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶
..
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