There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 749: Side Story 4. Endless Journey - 32

For a second, Zein felt his vision go dark. But he scolded himself immediately—it wasn’t the time to think about himself when his daughter was there looking distressed.

He reached out to caress her cheek and asked gently. "Would you like to go to the couch and talk it out with me?"

"You..." Lucy raised her anxious face. "You believe me, Papa?"

"What are you talking about, baby?" Zein frowned. "Have I or Daddy ever not believed you?"

Just like that, the distress vanished from the girl’s face, and Zein realized it wasn’t the ’past life’ that was troubling her--it was his reaction.

"You won’t think I’m crazy right?" she asked again, and Zein couldn’t help but sigh.

Would he, if he didn’t know about it beforehand? At that moment, Zein felt thankful that he knew what he knew to not make his daughter unnecessarily worry. The girl had been isolated enough from girls her age--there was no need to make her feel isolated from her family too.

"I won’t," Zein replied with a smile, caressing her cheeks still. "But do you mind explaining it to me, baby?"

"Can I...can Lu sit on your lap, Papa?" the girl asked shyly, mainly because she was the one refusing it in the past, breaking her Dad’s heart.

Zein chuckled and patted his thigh. He could feel how much his daughter had grown by the added weight and the fact that she didn’t have to crawl and climb to his lap anymore. She had a simple light jump and sat on his thigh, sideway, and put the book she had been carrying on her lap.

She seemed to be obsessed with the book these days, so Zein was rather intrigued. He wondered if the book had anything to do with her sudden conclusion. For all he knew, the girl still thought her dream was a future vision last time--which was last month if Zein recalled correctly.

And it seemed like Zein thought correctly this time because Lucy held the book again before speaking. "Papa...don’t laugh, okay? But I read this novel and...and it’s about this boy--no, this man--who died in another world, and then woke up in a boy’s body with all his memories from his past life intact!"

"Interesting..." Zein raised his brow, wondering where these authors got this kind of imagination. He tilted his head to look at his daughter. "So...is there a dead man inside of you, my daughter?"

"No?" Lucy shook her head incredulously. "I’m still Papa’s Lucy, but..."

"...but?"

Lucy put the book on her lap again and sighed as she leaned on her father’s shoulder. "But these dreams that I kept seeing...they are very clear, Papa, not like usual dreams--you know, when everything feels sluggish and blurry?" the girl squinted her eyes and twisted her lips--a habit when she was thinking. "Those dreams are so clear and always continue. It feels like...oh! It feels like that virtual simulation game Uncle Shin let me play the other day!"

"...Shin let you play a virtual simulation game?"

"Hu-huh?" Lucy blinked innocently while letting out a nervous laugh. "Umm--anyway! Oh, right!"

"Don’t dodge my question, Young Lady--"

"Reflection!" Lucy clasped her hands. "Lu saw the reflection on one of the swords, but it didn’t look like Lu!"

Zein ignored the way his daughter acted cute to get out of trouble for now. "By reflection, you mean your reflection?"

"Ung!" the girl nodded eagerly, feeling glad that she dodged a bullet. "It should be Lu, but it didn’t look like Lu, because it’s a man! An adult!"

"Like me?"

She shook her head. "Younger--like, umm...like cousin Cliff, but short hair!" she clasped her hands again. "Oh, but his eyes are like Lu and Papa!" freewebnσvel.cѳm

"I see..."

Lucy turned her head to look at her father’s slightly tensed expression. She bit her lips and snuggled into his hug. "Papa..."

"Mm?"

"Do you think...do you think it’s really Lu’s past life?" the girl muttered, fiddling with Zein’s necklace. "There’s this one boy in the book who also remembers his past life, and his past life was a bird. So...so Lu think if a bird can reborn as a boy, maybe a boy can be reborn as a girl like Lu..."

"Ah..." Zein nodded. No wonder she suddenly thought that it was her past life after reading the book.

It was rather funny--or was it ironic? It was an amazing coincidence anyway, as if the world was giving her hints about her identity. Zein wondered if he should tell her about it, or just let the event take its own course.

"If...if Lu were the boy who woke up knowing he used to live in another world as someone else...will Papa...will Papa still love Lu?"

Zein frowned and held his daughter’s face. "Baby, we will always love you no matter what," he looked at the blue eyes, a copy of his, and said with utmost sincerity. "No matter what kind of person you were in your past life, it won’t change the fact that you are Lucy--my Lucy. Your Daddy’s Lucy. Your brothers’ Lucy. Right?"

The corners of the cute lips turned down like a bow as the pretty face scrunched up. She hugged her father tightly and nodded. "Ung..."

"If it’s really your past life, and someday you remember everything...you’ll still be our Lucy, right?"

"Ung!" Lucy nodded eagerly, tightening her hug while her father stroked her back in reassurance.

Her warm Papa. Even if he was scary sometimes. Lucy was very glad that her Papa was her Papa. And that her Daddy was her Daddy. She was happy that her family was her family, and she was sure that even if she experienced things like that boy or that bird in the book, she would still be herself.

She would still be Lucy, her Papa and Daddy’s daughter, her wonderful brothers’ sister. She would still be the youngest princess in their family. The only one.

She nuzzled on her father’s warm shoulder. "Thank you, Papa."

"Of course, baby," Zein patted the platinum hair, combing the long wave, and pinched the pink cheeks until she gradually giggled again. "But, Lucy..."

The girl froze. Lucy? Lu-cy? Her Papa did not call her ’baby’? She blinked and looked up nervously.

"...yes, Papa?"

Zein held the book and said dryly. "You know that this book is not suitable for your age, don’t you?"

Lucy let out a single, surprised hiccup. "T-that’s...Lu don’t know!" she shook her head defensively. "Sister Nari read it, so..."

"Liar," Zein flicked her forehead mercilessly.

"Uu..." Lucy clasped her stinging forehead and made a regretful face. "Sorry, Papa..."

The corner of Zein’s eyes twitch. How could she look exactly like her Dad when she made this kind of face? Did she copy Bassena when the esper was being all clingy? Zein groaned inwardly, and in the end, only let out a soft sigh.

"I’ll forgive you this time," he said, before adding a warning. "But you can’t read something not meant for your age anymore."

Lucy looked at him in horror. "But children’s books are so boring!"

Look at her whine--she was exactly like Bassena. Again, Zein let out a sigh. "...you have to bring those books to me first, and I’ll decide if you can read them or not. And--" He looked at her sternly. "You can only read them with me or your Daddy."

Lucy gasped. Not only could she still read something that wasn’t children’s books, but she could also spend more time with her fathers? That’s a total win! She nodded eagerly before her Papa changed his mind. "Okay!"

Zein raised his brow at the response, which was more enthusiastic than he expected. Had he...been neglecting her? Well...he did start going into his work more after Lucy was old enough not to need constant supervision.

Perhaps the lesser frequency compared to her toddler days made her feel lonely. After all, unlike her brothers, she did not go to school. Her basic education was given by one of the Iron Shield members, who used to work as a teacher before Zein came.

Hmm...this reading plan was unexpectedly a good one. Maybe he should speak with Bassena about finding more friends for Lucy. Once Nari awakened, she would lose another close friend to a school far away--because Zein was almost certain that the girl would enroll in the same academy as the twins.

Maybe Bassena knew someone who had a child or two. Ah...

"Baby," Zein looked at her daughter again, who was still grinning happily.

"Yes, Papa?"

"Do you mind if I tell Daddy about this?" Zein asked. "Or do you want to tell him yourself?"

The girl took some time to think about it. "Hmm...Papa can tell Daddy," she decided after two minutes of contemplation. "But I think I’ll tell Brothers myself."

Zein raised his brow. So she wanted to tell her brothers too? Maybe she wanted more reassurance from them. "Alright, we’ll do that," he nodded.

"Will they come home next week, Papa?"

Zein chuckled and tapped his daughter’s nose. "They won’t miss your birthday, even if it’s an exam session."

"Hehe..." Lucy grinned. "Oh, but...they won’t get bad grades because of it, right?"

"Don’t worry," Zein scoffed. "They are used to things now."

In fact, the twins were already bored of the stuff they had to learn. Being Bassena’s and Zein’s children, they already came with enough basic and were quite advanced for their age group. Not to mention, there was an inevitable pressure for them to do better than their peers. Because of that, they could pass their exams even without studying.

Unfortunately for them, Kar couldn’t get out before he got his license at eighteen, and Asa had to wait until he was twenty-one.

Even geniuses had to abide by the law.

"Hehe...I can’t wait to see them!" Lucy twisted her body in a little dance.

"Yeah?"

She nodded and spoke in a sing-song tone. "What will Brothers give me this year~?"

"Pfft--because of that?"

They laughed until Bassena came and whined because they always had a nice little time without him.