"Your dad... He's not real."
"What?"
All three of the kids said it at the same time, all looking a little confused by what she meant by it.
"Mom, what are you saying? What do you mean Dad is not real?" Sophia questioned.
"He's... How do I put this? He's not human... I mean, he is as human as someone can be, but he's not real."
Seeing Katherine struggling to explain it, with all three of the kids looking just as confused, Amelia intervened.
"Your mom's husband is a golem created by the guardian. Actually, no, he's not even a golem.
He's actually a sophisticated spell she devised in the form of a human to help Katherine escape from the emperor.
But as you all know, your mom accidentally fell in love with him, and his death was just him running out of mana."
The bombshell news shocked all three of the kids, especially Alex, who knew the whole backstory from the beginning.
"Is this why the guardian said I would thank her?" Alex thought to himself as the other two kids had completely different thoughts.
"Wait... So we don't have a dad?" Mary suddenly asked.
"Obviously, no. Your dad is still that mana creation that existed in the past, or else you wouldn't be here."
Amelia calmly answered before Katherine could, who fell into silence as she was about to say the same.
"What Katherine said earlier is misleading. Your dad is still Paul... Katherine, you had sex with him, right?"
The question caught Katherine off guard, but she shyly nodded in agreement.
"It doesn't matter if he's a spell created by the guardian or not. What matters is you all are siblings, and your mom is still your mom.
Paul's teachings are still his independent thoughts. I'm still your aunt, and you are still part of Reid's bloodline."
Amelia's answer relieved the weird feeling inside the three kids' minds towards their dad.
Although they felt their mom had been scammed, they couldn't really criticize the guardian when Katherine herself didn't seem to be angry.
"Mom... Are you fine with it?" Sophia asked, breaking the silence in the room.
"I'm fine... I don't regret it at all. You all are the only thing I care about now, okay?"
Seeing Katherine looking back at them with a smile, they could tell she didn't move past it at all.
"Stop looking at me like that. I'm happy it happened. At least get to spend time with someone I loved.
Unlike somebody who's still stuck on the same level as me and is still forever alone all these years."
"Hmph! Whatever, I'm going back to my room."
As a portal appeared, Amelia jumped right in before it closed, leaving the four of them in Alex's room.
"Sophia, Mary, what did the guardian talk to you guys about?" Katherine asked.
"She taught us a lot about magic... Oh, and she gave us this necklace, Mary and me."
As Sophia pulled down her pajamas slightly, she could see a silver necklace with a little white crystal.
Looking over to Mary, she had a similar necklace, except hers was black crystal instead.
"That's nice of her."
"You can't tell the difference at all, can you?" Sarah asked as Alex stopped halfway.
"What difference?"
"He's just a clone... Your mom asked the same thing when she met with me.
She instantly recognized the Paul I created was just from all of your memories."
Alex sat back down in disappointment, watching the Paul clone she created vanish from the room.
With a silence falling back into the room, Alex lifted the cup to take a small sip.
"Is that all you wanted me to be here for? Just to talk to me?"
Alex suddenly asked, his face looking a little annoyed by the way she talked and her attitude.
"Yep... I'm just kidding. You forgot your first-place reward?"
Alex didn't say anything back, staring back at her as if he had been expecting her to say what it was.
"Okay, I'll stop playing with you."
As she snapped her finger, their surrounding suddenly changed from a small little house to the middle of nowhere.
"Your reward is getting to train your fighting skills with me. Isn't that fun?"
Once again, Alex didn't say anything. But he tilted his head slightly as if he were questioning her intelligence.
"Okay, you caught me. I was just kidding again. You're actually fighting someone else."
As the chair and table disappeared, Sarah took a step back before waving her folded hand.
"Bring it."
Alex immediately threw a quick wind blade at her before running as far back as he could.
But within seconds, Sarah had already blocked it as she directed a fireball flying right towards Alex.
Rolling to the side, Alex threw another round of wind blades at her before casting a fireball of his own.
This time, Sarah didn't block the wind blade, running straight through it as she read through his fake spell that didn't do any damage.
Seeing her just a few steps away, Alex was forced to direct the fireball prematurely.
The slow speed allowed her to dodge it by turning to the side before she fired a light orb he couldn't dodge.
"You lost," Sarah stated as she squatted down right before him, watching him bleeding on the floor.
"I know I lost. Are you going to help me, or are you just going to watch——"
Just as Alex was about to finish complaining, the wound and the pain all disappeared as if the spell had never hit him.
Even the blood and all the trace of it ever happening had disappeared.
If it weren't for the extreme pain he felt for the first time earlier, he would have thought it was just an illusion.
"Get up. The fight isn't over until you wake up... Which is still several hours away."
"Fine!"
Alex quickly got back up from the ground, patting his legs to remove all the dirt from his pants.
But this time, he watched Sarah stand still as he took a few steps back, not throwing her a spell until he was fully ready.