5| Like Father Like Daughter

For the first time in his life, Lennox was furious with Celestia.

'How dare she destroy Melissa's belongings!'

The rage burning inside him was so intense that he didn't care how the staff and guards stared as he stormed toward the memorial like a madman.

His blood pressure spiked. He thought he knew his daughter, but this? This was beyond comprehension. Who could have imagined she harbored such a cruel streak?

The Duchess's memorial was preserved with magic that halted time itself, a sanctum just steps away from his office. He hesitated to enter. The place was filled with memories of Melissa, and every visit reminded him of her absence, which made him feel more and more empty.

But anger overpowered hesitation. He strode in with determined fury, his eyes landing immediately on Celestia, who stood beside a damaged artifact—one of Melissa's creations.

"What are you doing?!" he roared, his voice reverberating through the room.

"Ah, you're here, Father. I was waiting for you," Celestia replied, her tone flat, her face wearing an expression of utter boredom.

Lennox froze for a moment. This wasn't the sunny daughter he remembered, the one who had always greeted him with a smile. Who was this cold, disrespectful young woman standing before him?

But his shock was fleeting. He quickly regained his composure. "Do you have any idea what you've done, Celestia?" he demanded, his tone stern.

Celestia didn't respond. Instead, she ignored him entirely and began channeling her mana into the damaged artifact.

"Celestia Aster, I asked you a—" Lennox's voice faltered mid-sentence as he heard the voice that his soul always longed for. A voice whose owner was long gone.

"Husband, guess what I made today?"

Lennox's head whipped toward the source of the voice. A shimmering screen of light hovered above the artifact where Celestia had poured her mana. His breath caught as he saw the moving image within: Melissa. His wife.

The sight of her radiant smile rendered him motionless. He took a step closer, his daughter completely forgotten.

On the screen, Melissa paused before speaking again, her voice as bright and lively as he remembered.

"I invented something new. It's an artifact that can record and store whatever we do! Although, it can only display the stored content when I inject my mana into it… Don't worry, I'll figure out a way to make it usable for everyone. Maybe it just needs another artifact to complement it?"

Melissa tilted her head thoughtfully, a familiar gesture Lennox hadn't seen in years.

"Oh well, it'll be fine. When have I ever failed to come up with a solution?" she added with a laugh that was pure music to his ears. "I'm hiding this from you because I wanted to surprise you!"

She laughed again, a sound Lennox had longed for in the silence of his grief.

"I can't wait to see your face when I show this to you. I made it so we can watch our younger selves when we're old and wrinkly. Oh!" Melissa suddenly exclaimed as a little girl jumped onto her back.

"Tia, how did you get here?" she asked in surprise, lifting the child with ease.

"I sensed your mana!" the young Celestia said, her voice bubbling with excitement.

Melissa chuckled, pinching her daughter's nose gently. "How are you so clever? Who do you take after, hmm? Definitely not your father."

"I take after you, Mommy!"

Melissa laughed, the sound bright and full of love. "Yes, you do. Now, say hi to Daddy." She pointed toward the screen.

"Huh? Is Daddy in there?" the little girl asked, tilting her head curiously.

"Yes, he is!"

Celestia's wide eyes sparkled with innocence as she waved at the screen.

"Hi, Daddy!" she called out in a high-pitched, cheerful voice, earning another laugh from Melissa.

"Off you go now. Mommy's busy, but I'll come get you for dinner," Melissa said, kissing Celestia's forehead before setting her down. The little girl giggled and scampered away.

Melissa turned back to the artifact. "Ah, since this is my first time recording, the artifact is draining mana too quickly. I'll have to fix that in the future. I guess I have to stop now." She blew a kiss to the screen before the image flickered and disappeared.

Lennox collapsed to his knees in front of the artifact, tears streaming down his face in silence. For a long time, he knelt there, consumed by grief and memories, as the echoes of Melissa's laughter lingered in the air.

—-------------

Celestia let out a breath of relief she didn't even realize she had been holding. She had quietly slipped away halfway through the recording, giving her father some privacy.

Still, she couldn't deny that she had been scared as hell earlier—she had never seen her father so furious. For a brief moment, she truly believed that if she provoked him further, it might have been off with her head.

'I really risked my life just to gain his favor. Wow,' she thought, shaking her head in disbelief.

After taking a few deep breaths and pacing nervously, Celestia decided to take advantage of her father's absence and returned to the mansion.

The memory artifacts were the only reason she'd dared to tamper with her mother's belongings, even at the risk of incurring her father's wrath. She had no regrets—those artifacts were invaluable.

In the novel, it was said that her youngest brother had discovered a single artifact containing a recording like this. The boy, whose mana was identical to their mother's, was able to activate it and witness a memory she had recorded with their father. That moment led to a reconciliation between father and son.

Recalling that scene from the novel, Celestia groaned and banged her head lightly against the table.

The description of the memory artifact in the novel had triggered her memory.

A few days before giving birth to Skye, their mother had called thirteen-year-old Celestia over and handed her a box filled with polished, brightly glowing pearls.

"Tia, this is Mom's gift to you. The men in our family are too dim—I'm counting on you to continue my legacy," her mother had said, hugging her tightly.

At the time, Celestia hadn't understood what she meant.

Now, warily eyeing the "night pearl" sitting on her table—a pearl she'd been using as a portable light source for years—Celestia felt a wave of embrassment and sadness.

'Fuck me.'

"Mom, I'm sorry," she muttered, burying her face in her hands. "But it seems like I inherited Dad's genes because I am just as dense as he is."

She banged her head against the table again, only to wince in pain and let out a hiss of frustration.