"Well, it looks like you have been participating in something 'interesting' behind my back" Kenshin spoke with a calm voice to Frederica. He didn't mind it that much, in the end the decision would be their, and even with all of Frederica's 'help', it was Jean the one he will be in a relationship with him, so it was Jean's opinion the one he needed.
No one would force him to marry, and no one would force Jean to marry him.
"Of course" Frederica, with a hand on Kenshin's shoulder, spoke without any shame. "I need to ensure my daughter's happiness".
"Maybe you should let your capable daughter look for it herself" Kenshin said while pointing in a direction. He remembered that the scene on this cliff was marvellous, and using the marks the Shuuumatsuban did with the special ink, he recognized it.
"I would if she knew how to do it" Frederica said, sitting in the place Kenshin pointed. Her voice got unexpectedly vulnerable.
"Need to talk about her?" asked Kenshin quietly. "I understand that every parent has some worries about their kids, my parents will die in 10 years just because of how much I worried them, but I think Jean is a good person. I don't think you need to worry that much about her".
Frederica kept her silence, and Kenshin let her organize her thoughts. Frederica finally sighed.
"I know she is fine, and I'm extremely proud of her. But I sometimes worry about the price she paid. I was in a vulnerable moment after divorcing my ex-husband, and I fear that in my anguish, I unconsciously pushed everything into her. I trained her in politics, economy, art, chivalry and even in combat" she confessed.
It was the little thorn she felt every time she looked at her excellent daughter. She knew her daughter was an excellent person, but at what cost?
"I understand what you mean" replied Kenshin. He couldn't see the landscape, but the memory was engraved in his mind. Just like all Inazuma was, he loved his country after all. "You fear that she exchanged her childhood for her excellence in some way".
"Yes" Frederica nodded, absent-mindedly noting that the scenery wasn't bad at all. "Even if I was practically impulsing the whole Contract, I just worry for my daughter. I am worried she will end up alone, regretting losing one of the best years of her life due to my actions, I just want to 'secure' a place in this, so she can decide for herself when the moment of truth arrives."
"I think, that while that may be true to some degree, it's fine" replied Kenshin after thinking for a while. "I met your other daughter, Barbara. She has the childhood Jean probably didn't have, but in my opinion, she doesn't seem to be that much happier than Jean".
"What do you mean?" Frederica said quietly. She found that Kenshin had an interesting way of thinking.
"Jean enjoys being able to help people, and I think that's something natural to her, not something you hammered into her. She is happy now because she has the power to do it. If she wasn't as capable as she is now, she wouldn't feel satisfied. So while your training may have been hard, she wholeheartedly feels that the training was worth it. I wouldn't have written a novel based on her if her 'good nature' was something fake" replied Kenshin.
"You think so?" Frederica thought about it from a new angle, one that Kenshin let her see.
"Of course" Kenshin nodded without hesitation. "I don't know what she thinks about the training, but I know she is happy to be in her current position. But the only way to know for sure what she thinks is by hearing it from her mouth. Maybe it's time you have a good talk with your daughter".
"Maybe" Frederica nodded.
"Then go and look for her, bring her here, and tell her what you have just told me" said Kenshin, standing up. "This festival is supposed to make everyone feel that Inazuma is a good place, and having a good talk looking at this landscape will make it unable to be forgotten".
"That sounds like a good idea" Frederica nodded, recovering her usual confident persona. "Thank you for the talk".
"No worries. Something tells me you had a very important hand in making Jean agree to this lunacy of a plan" replied casually Kenshin.
"Yes" Frederica smirked, not telling Kenshin how he and Jean were already 'married'.
They left for the festival location, and they saw Jean, who walked towards them with a panicked expression.
"Kenshin, are you alright?! I'm sorry for what my mother could have said" Jean really didn't trust her mother more than she would trust a hilichurl not to throw a rock in his hand.
"My daughter, you and I are going to have a talk" ordered Frederica with a stern voice.
"Goodbye" Kenshin waved at them, seeing that they were returning to the place he and Frederica had just been in. Hopefully, some wounds could be closed for good this time.
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'Too much drama, I need to have fun or I will start convulsing' Kenshin thought, looking for some souls he could mess with. "Hmm, that will do".
"Hello, may I offer you some specialties from Inazuma" Kenshin greeted a certain person with a bright smile. "Every single one has fowl, and one even has crane meat we bought from a merchant. I assure you they are delicious".
"...." Cloud Retainer looked dryly at Kenshin. "Are you having fun?"
"Yes, for the first time in a while" replied Kenshin, still smiling. "Believe me, I found about a dastardly plan concerning me, so I had to clarify a few things. A plan that your student is somehow in".
"Do you think this one approves of it?" asked an incensed Cloud Retainer. "This one tried to dissuade her, but as always, she is too stubborn to listen".
"Ah, sorry for that" Kenshin scratched the back of his head. "Believe me, my stubborn girl is probably worse, she almost destroyed her own country. So I can understand how dealing with a wall-for-person can be".
Cloud Retainer nodded in approval. Someone understood how much trouble it was, so she felt that she was not alone.
"Still, I don't understand it" mused Kenshin. "All I sent her are pretty offensive letters, and I'm the one saying it. How did this happen?"
"She thought that you wrote those insulting letters to her inner self" replied grimly Cloud Retainer. "And she thought that you would think the opposite about her".
Kenshin tried to remember the letters he sent, and how could have Shenhe interpreted them.
"Well, fuck" he settled for. "Am I not the most gallant being in existence then?"
"*Sigh*, that's why I'm worried" Cloud Retainer said shaking her head. "I don't want her to find out about the fact that you never thought of her that way".
"More than not thinking about her in a determined way, I didn't think about her at all" confessed Kenshin. "For me, I was trying to have fun mocking her sealed self".
Cloud Retainer frowned in worry. She knew how attached Shenhe was to Kenshin, and hearing this truth would crush her. It won't be as hard as losing her family all those years ago obviously, but it wasn't that far, that's how much her student thought of Kenshin.
"Don't worry that much, I am not someone who enjoys hurting people" commented Kenshin seeing the worry in Cloud Retainer's soul. "Morax and Guizhong advised me to take this whole mess slowly. I will try to get to know her outer personality a bit better, and whatever happens, happens".
Cloud Retainer felt relieved hearing that, but Kenshin continued.
"But if I think it's not going to work, I will 'break up', even if it pains her" Kenshin didn't want to treat Shenhe as someone he didn't consider her to be. Shenhe didn't deserve that.
"Kenshin".
"I wonder how many times is this situation going to repeat itself" muttered Kenshin with an exhausted face. "Yes, dear Shenhe?".
She didn't say anything but gave him something he couldn't see. He extended his hand, and Shenhe put the box in it, making Kenshin fall to the floor instantly.
"What the hell is this thing?" he asked trying to lift the box with both hands, but couldn't do it. If he tried to exert more force, he feared something else would escape from his ass.
"The letters you have been sending all these years" replied tiredly Cloud Retainer.
"Are you telling me I can't lift some papers? I didn't write that much" Kenshin gave up trying to lift the box and felt insulted seeing the ease Shenhe had been carrying it.
"The box is special" wryly revealed Cloud Retainer, seeing how Shenhe picked up the box and worriedly checked for some possible damage. "It is made from a special metal Azdaha, an old friend, gave us as a present. It's extremely heavy but equally resistant, probably that box would stay unharmed even after receiving a meteorite from Morax. So Shenhe, stop fussing over it".
"I didn't know that kind of thing existed" Kenshin couldn't imagine something surviving a meteorite impact. See to believe. "And you used that treasure to keep some letters?".
"The letters are more important than the box" naively replied Shenhe.
'Isn't she too cute?' thought Kenshin. He never knew someone could appreciate insulting letters that much. 'You, on the other side...'.
"Shenhe, I will talk with that other girl inside you okay?"
Shenhe nodded, and Kenshin touched her forehead, noting how cold she was.
"There you are, you fucking mole" alter Shenhe said seeing Kenshin again inside this place for the first time in years.
"Hehe, looks like you ...are...fine" Kenshin had a wide open mouth seeing the scenery in front of him.
Shenhe had grown over the years, and the bindings, that he put in a peculiar position all those years ago with the innocent mind of a child, were showing the most indecent thing Kenshin had ever seen.
The 'turtle' bondage was now making Shenhe's already enormous chest even bigger, and her angered look was only making the contrast even more exciting to the eyes.
It was also the first time Kenshin had seen the grown Shenhe. He was able to more or less see faces, but he never expected that quiet and small child to grow up to be 'this'.
"What are you looking at?" alter Shenhe had a frown on her face.
"Well...." Kenshin was too absorbed by the landscape to answer. Those mountains were majestic.
And he shared a 'hot' kiss with Arlecchino a few hours before, only to be interrupted by Miyuki. Thinking now about it, he will need to think about Yae. They were in an awkward situation.
But anyway, he was bothered by being blue-balled and seeing Shenhe like this was making the erection he had worked hard to make disappear, shining with all its glory again.
Alter Shenhe's frown deepened, but she had no idea of what made Kenshin so stunned that his ever-bullshit-spewing mouth didn't move. But she had an idea.
"Hehe, you are captivated by my body" she mockingly laughed, making her breast tremble.
"Yes" Kenshin was an honest person sometimes.
"Then let me down. We can help each other" she said with a smile that couldn't hide her murderous intentions.
Kenshin gulped and quickly released her.
Alter Shenhe couldn't believe it, but slowly rose, being able to move freely her members for the first time in years.
She then did what she had dreamed of doing countless times. She lunged at Kenshin with a bloodthirsty smile, intending to end this miserable life that was the only thing between her and freedom.
SLAP!
"I can't believe you forgot how you got into that situation to start with" mused Kenshin. "I thought that you were smart, but maybe I should change my opinion of you".
"You tricked me!" roared Alter-Shenhe from the floor, now remembering about this waste of space's ability.
"How? I freed you only because I knew I could beat you. How is that deceiving you?" asked a curious Kenshin.
Alter-Shenhe didn't reply and stood on the floor with a frown thinking of some way she could make this annoying guy suffer.
"Even if I knew I would need to slap you to the ground, I still freed you right?" asked Kenshin with a malicious smile that made Shenhe shudder. "You need to help me for a bit".