Chapter 1176 Foster Care
Rychard stood almost frozen…
Had he just lost 20% of his Sixth Dimensional experts… For no reason?
Aina's mind wandered. This time, she didn't need to hide how she was feeling. It was surprisingly easy for her to separate out emotion and logic when it came to her father. Of course, she lacked the emotional maturity to truly understand why that was.
It could have been because her father had always encouraged her to do so. It could be because her father simply didn't mean as much to her as he should have. It could have even been because the weight Leonel held for her was even heavier than that of the man she shared so much blood with.
The truth was that with her personality gone, many of the baggage and emotional scarring that came with it had vanished as well. The good news was that this had allowed Aina to heal from many things. Of course, the bad news was how these series of events was playing out.
To Aina, she had always attached a lot of this baggage to her father, but most of it wasn't love. It was duty, it was respect, it was an unwillingness to let him down… But on the list of emotions she attached to her father, love was very, very far down the list.
When Aina lost her personality, she essentially lost the ability to contextualize her memories. The things that weighed of heavy importance were often things she had the most and fondest memories of. But, with how long it had been since her father left her side, how could she have many of him to begin with?
The result was this.
Aina didn't feel worry, sadness or anger… She hadn't even asked how her father was doing or if he would survive the beating they had likely given him.
Maybe if Miel could peer into his daughter's mind, he would realize that he had faltered somewhere along their path. As for exactly where, it would be up to him to grasp and understand this.
That said, Aina herself was hardly considering this at this moment. As they walked through the Viola estate, following flowery reefs and paths of delicate rose petals, her mind seemed to be somewhere else entirely.
No one else…
According to Aina's memories, she had felt like Savahn had for a very long time. In fact, she had felt it for longer. There was a period in her life before her father returned with Yuri that she was completely ignored.
The orphanage system of the Ascension Empire was very good. No children were starved or abused, at least not in the normal way. There was no yelling from their overseers and there was always food on their plates. There were even plenty of opportunities to have fun and live life.
Unfortunately, being adopted was something that almost never happened.
With the advancements in medicine, sterilization or impotency was practically non-existent. Even in the people that it did, the treatments were fast, affordable and easily administered, as was most health care beneath Emperor Fawkes' rule.
Of course, there were still kind hearted couples, not to mention same sex couples, who had it within them to help or start families for themselves. But, each of these had hurdles of their own.
In the case of same sex couples, the options for surrogacy and sperm donation was so high class that many would choose to have their own children anyway. Surrogacy didn't even need a living human anymore and would only need an egg donor, while the Gene Analysis Exam ensured that any and everything was known about the sperm and egg donors.
Then there were the kind hearted couples, heterosexual or otherwise, who thought to adopt as a good deed to society.
The first issue was that the foster care system of the Empire was so good, that often the treatment of the children was even better than what these kind hearted couples could provide, so much of the incentive one might have was not there.
Then there came the issue of class disparity. Those on the surface of Earth were often too busy trying to maintain their status into the future generations to worry about adopting while those on Paradise Islands often lacked the resources to even begin the process.
Then there was the biggest and largest issues: The fees that came with adopting a child depending on their Gene Analysis Exam varied wildly. The more talented the child, the more expensive it was to the point where even many nobles couldn't or refused to afford it.
This was done on purpose by Emperor Fawkes. Children wouldn't understand the underlying system, all they would understand is that their government cared for them since they were children when their parents couldn't and even when no one else wanted them…
With her Five Star Evaluation, Aina was doomed to never be placed with a family. Every time she made connections with a new friend, they might be adopted the next day, leaving her alone again.
She closed herself off and focused entirely on her training. She had no one else but herself…
Until her father returned with Yuri, giving her a sister and confidant that she had always wanted. But, her father didn't spend any time with her, leaving her soon afterward to vanish toward parts unknown…
But Yuri never truly treated her like a sister. To Yuri, she was more like a master to serve and cater to. She took care of all of Aina's needs, but it just wasn't the same.
Aina knew it wasn't Yuri's fault. Aina was human but Yuri wasn't. The way the latter viewed and interacted with the world was very different.
Unfortunately, due to the way Yuri was, Aina ironically felt even more isolated from the world than before, even more alone…
The world was repetitive and the same in those days.
Rise. Go to school. Study. Train. Eat. Sleep. And repeat…
Until, that is, she finally reached the end of the foster care program and was allowed to go to high school along with everyone else.
It was there she met two people that changed her life… Leonel and Savahn.