Chapter 372 Her Long-Lost Father
Hadn't the Holy Sovereign and the Holy Consort fled together back then?
If Owen was the Holy Sovereign, then the Holy Consort should have been around as well.
Owen's expression dimmed. "Something happened. She couldn't withstand the suppression Earth's laws placed on her, and she passed away."
Even after all these years, grief still overwhelmed him whenever he mentioned his late wife. Her death was also one of the reasons he had spent so long living under an assumed identity.
Zara looked at him. "What happened?"
Owen slowly shook his head, his voice growing hoarse. "It's all in the past."
He clearly did not want to talk about it, so Zara did not press him.
Instead, she asked, "Did you sense something tonight? Is that why you came to Magior looking for me?"
Now that Owen had already revealed the most important secret, there was no reason to hide this from her.
"I sensed your uncle using something he should never have touched."
Although Owen had fled to this world, he was still the rightful Holy Sovereign.
People believed power could be stripped away, but once someone inherited that position, certain things could never be taken from them.
As the Holy Sovereign, he could sense Valerius using a forbidden object and what he intended to do with it, even from another world.
When Owen detected that unusual presence, he feared something might happen to Zara and hurried to Magior.
Zara frowned. "What did he use?"
Owen sighed, sounding thoroughly disappointed. "A forbidden relic of the Imperial Clan. He actually tried to use it to imprison you. He's completely lost his mind."
The price of using such a relic was enormous.
The fact that Valerius had dared to use it meant he had paid an unimaginable cost.
And the worst part was that it had not even worked.
That, however, was not what concerned Owen most.
"He really has lost his mind," Zara said indignantly. "What kind of uncle does something like that to his own niece? I'm furious. I'll go settle the score with him later. There's no way a few hundred million will be enough to make this right!"
Owen stared at her in shock.
Had he heard that correctly?
Zara did not elaborate. "So you only came here to check on me? You seem to be on your own now. How about I take you somewhere? You can stay with Ember and give Earth's scientists some useful information while you're there."
Owen fell silent.
They had only just acknowledged each other as father and daughter, and Zara was already trying to recruit him. She wanted the Holy Sovereign of another world to start helping Earth.
Wasn't that a little... inappropriate?
But after considering it with a complicated expression, Owen nodded.
"All right."
He had spent so many years hiding that he was already exhausted.
He had come to Magior prepared to make certain changes, though things had unfolded rather differently from what he had imagined.
He had pictured meeting Zara countless times, but he had never imagined she would grow up with a personality like this.
The two headed toward the base in silence.
Zara was honestly mortified. Aside from that inexplicable sense of closeness, she did not seem to have any other feelings toward Owen.
A tearful father-daughter reunion?
Not happening.
She had no idea how to talk to him. Even the realization that she suddenly had a father felt utterly surreal.
How did she have a father?
Tsk.
Still struggling to process everything, Zara texted Lucian from the car: Lucian, it looks like my long-lost biological father has come looking for me.
Lucian replied almost immediately.: Are you sure? He's really your biological father?
The problem was that this was not exactly the kind of thing Zara knew how to handle.
There was no point asking her younger brothers for advice. Owen was not their father, after all.
The only person she could think of consulting was Lucian.
Lucian's Beloved Zara: Yeah, he's really my biological father. This is so weird. It's my first time having a dad.
Lucian: You only get one father to begin with, okay?
Lucian had completely lost faith in Zara's ability to use words properly.
Owen glanced at her. "Do you have a boyfriend?"
Zara stared at him in shock. "Haven't you been living in the mountains? How do you even know about that? And he's not my boyfriend. He's my fiancé."
Owen looked even more stunned. "You're... already engaged?"
Earlier, he had only seen the man holding Zara and assumed they were close.
He had not expected them to be that close.
Whatever occurred to him next seemed to shock him even more.
Zara waved a hand. "Oh, not really. I..."
She had been about to explain that she was not actually Lucian's fiancée, but then reconsidered. They had only just met. Telling him everything right away did not seem wise.
After a brief pause, she said, "Yeah. I'm not that young anymore. I'm twenty-three."
Owen fell silent. "Right... Twenty-three. It's already been twenty-three years."
The car lapsed into another painfully awkward silence.
Then Lucian sent Zara another message.
Lucian: You shouldn't trust him that easily. Get a DNA test first and make sure before you accept anything.
Lucian: For all you know, this could be another scheme from the other world.
Lucian: Based on your identity, wouldn't your father be the Holy Sovereign? How is he supposed to prove that's really who he is?
Lucian's Beloved Zara: I can feel it.
Lucian: ...
Lucian had been about to tell her that no one could possibly determine paternity by instinct alone. Then he remembered that Zara herself defied every known law of science.
That kind of feeling...
Forget it. This was not something he could manage for her.
The car soon reached the outskirts of the base. Zara called Allen and asked him to send someone out to meet them, but she did not mention whom she had brought.
Allen came out shortly afterward. He had expected to pick up Zara, only to find an unfamiliar middle-aged man standing beside her.
He stared in surprise. "Who's this...?"
Zara answered immediately, "My long-lost biological father."
Allen fell silent.
So did Owen.
Allen was so shocked that he started stammering. "Your... your biological father?!"
Good Lord. How had Boss Lady Zara suddenly acquired a father?
He looked Owen over again.
The man was unremarkable, with unusually dark skin that nearly blended into the night. He was broad, rugged, and built like someone who had spent his entire life doing hard labor.
This was Boss Lady Zara's father?
The genetics did not seem to add up at all.
Owen knew his current appearance was not particularly convincing, so he merely smiled without explaining.
Zara did not see any need to elaborate either. "Yeah. We just found each other. Let's go inside and talk. By the way, that woman is going to be a problem. Where are you keeping her?"
"She's locked up," Allen said. "We were waiting for you to come and tell us what to do with her."
The woman had openly used supernatural powers in the middle of a public street. She was clearly dangerous, so they needed Zara there to keep her under control.
Owen considered the matter before saying, "Her identity is complicated. You may need to handle her differently."
Allen looked at him in surprise. "Sir, you..."
His tone became noticeably more respectful without him even realizing it.
Zara immediately said, "Allen, from now on, you don't have to come to me whenever something happens. My dad knows a lot more than I do."