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Mr. and Mrs. White could already be considered extremely 'resilient' based on the fact that they hadn't freaked out when they first learned that their 'real daughter' was actually somewhere else, and Emilia was a different person.
After all, since Danielle would be back with them soon, and the girl they'd long since treated as their own seemed to have done everything she had for her sake, what right did they really have to scold her?
It was a bitter pill to swallow, but it was true that they had been truly oblivious to the fact that Amos had been deriding their daughter and ruining her reputation before Emilia's arrival.
With how powerful and cunning Mr. Black had been, perhaps if not for the crimson-haired girl's interference, not to mention just their daughter, maybe even their whole family would be doomed.
But even if they understood that Emilia wasn't 'really' their daughter, and that they had little right to stop her from leaving if that was what she really wanted, it was still impossible to accept a 'permanent parting' like that.
"Why 'leave'? I-It's not like we restrict your movements or force you to do things you don't want, right?"
No one could refute their words. In fact, if the couple could be blamed for something, it would be allowing her 'too much' freedom. They'd supported her through hostile takeovers and wars alike, after all.
Obviously, Emilia could tell that they didn't fully believe her and Sam's claims of them being able to leave the world, or the fact that she didn't belong to this one in the first place. 'They think I'm someone who just hid Danielle and swooped in to help, and now just wish to go off their radar, huh? Well, there's an easy way to fix that.'
Because she'd gradually changed her usual form to match her original one, it would be difficult to convince anyone with her beauty alone that she wasn't human.
After all, people had a frightening ability to get used to things, and after looking at Emilia's face regularly, Mr. and Mrs. White were already quite 'immune' to her charms.
Luckily, even those who partially 'awakened' their latent abilities like Dixie didn't have any external manifestations, so Emilia felt that convincing her parents that she wasn't a native of this world should still be easy.
Ding!
Skill shapeshift has been used!
Cooldown: 8 hours.
Since there was unlikely to be an emergency that would require her to change into a form that was not stored in one of her 'stacks', Emilia had no reservations about going 'all out' this time.
Anyway, it had been a while since she saw Crystal, Dixie, and Sam going all starry-eyed. Maybe she would even catch Noelle off-guard this time, who knew?
Under the effects of her skill, Emilia's skin gained an ethereal glow, her beautiful crimson locks turned even longer and started moving, seemingly with a will of their own, and four giant, feathered wings sprung forth out of her back.
She smiled. "If you still have doubts, I can always take you out to fly?"
'Wow…'
'I-Is that her real form?'
Of course, even if they wanted to deny it further in their hearts, the couple had to accept that Emilia was an 'alien', though one with very human features.
Well, there had been something 'inhuman' about her appearance even before she moved her hair around like that and grew wings, but under their 'prejudice', they simply hadn't noticed it until now.
Naturally, as Mr. and Mrs. White cared for her, they wouldn't make Emilia expose her 'real form' to the public like that without good reason.
Everyone in the empire might like their daughter, but the world wasn't such a happy place. As the Federation's attack had made it clear, so long as there was enough value in the prey, predators were never afraid of getting a little hurt in the process.
Losing their daughter would definitely be far worse than simply having her leave.
Once they came to terms with the fact that they couldn't stop her from 'returning home', Mr. and Mrs. White were both remarkably understanding, though still sad at the fact that they would be losing one of their daughters at the same time as they would be getting one back.
Emilia was just about to explain to them that Sam would also be leaving with her, but her older sister hurriedly stopped her with a pinch to the back of her palm.
Seeing her confused expression, the taller girl quickly leaned in to whisper something in her ear.
The crimson-haired girl obviously didn't want to delay the matter further, though, but when even Crystal gave her a nudge and shook her head, seemingly supportive of the older girl's thoughts, Emilia could only give up.
"I'll leave 'that' to the two of you, then."
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The older couple was naturally reluctant to leave Emilia alone for a while after discovering that she wouldn't be in this world for long, and their daughters seemed more than happy to accompany them on various 'sightseeing' tours around the capital of Blue Dawn.
They had to admit, the country had really been completely transformed in just a few years, and a place they would never have even bothered looking down on looked no worse than the most flourishing cities of Phoenix. And it wasn't just the infrastructure that changed.
Everyone who saw them greeted them with a smile, and she could even see many people crowding around the periphery of their vision, not even leaving when they were scolded by the security. Some were even daring enough to try to sneak past them.
What was even more outrageous was how Emilia allowed many to come to her with a smile and even let some 'shake' her hand, much to the dismay of the people responsible for keeping her safe, unnecessary as it might be.
'Wouldn't it be bad if she just disappeared on them…?'
Of course, they were aware that such worries were probably needless. Emilia had repeatedly shown how clever and sharp she was, and even destroyed foes that used to give them nightmares seemingly with little effort.
It was better to just enjoy their time together than waste it worrying about things that she must have already figured out anyway.
Mrs. White suddenly smiled. "You know, while in Phoenix, I heard a rumor of a 'museum' dedicated to the Empress of Blue Dawn here in this city… is it true?"
Emilia blinked in surprise. "Is it…?"
Clearly, this was the first time she was hearing about such a thing.
Dixie seemed just as clueless as herself, but her older sister seemed to know about it.
"You wanna go see? Though it wasn't my idea, I actually helped them build it." Sam puffed out her chest with pride, completely missing her parents rolling their eyes. "I knew Noelle would scold me if I tried to get her help, so I did it behind her back."
Noelle groaned. "Why are you so proud?"
Mr. and Mrs. White couldn't help but sigh. 'This child is hopeless…'
Meanwhile, Crystal could only look away in embarrassment. 'No one has to know that I encouraged Penny to go to Sam with that idea, right?'
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