'I don't want Lith suffering Phloria's same fate. Neither of them deserves such treatment, but at least she has several powerful households supporting her. I'm just a farmer who lives in the house my son built and cultivates the lands he bought.

'Aside from my unconditional love, there's nothing I can offer to him.' Raaz thought.

His disappointment was in good company, but it turned into confusion after Lith asked Zinya to take Leria and Aran home with her. The confusion was replaced by amazement less than a minute later when Selia knocked on their door.

No one had seen the huntress for five years, since her sudden and mysterious disappearance during Lith's fourth year at the White Griffon academy. Not only did she seem to not have aged a day, but she was also in the company of a red-haired giant who she introduced as her husband.

"Oh Selia, I'm so happy to see you again." Elina said while hugging her long-lost friend. "You had me worried sick. How could you leave like that, without saying goodbye or even leaving a note?"

Selia Fastarrow was supposed to be in her late-thirties, yet she looked to be barely past her mid-twenties. She was still 1.7 (5'7") meters tall and her skin was tanned from the years of long exposure to the sun.

Her black hair was now longer than the last time Elina had seen her, reaching her shoulders and giving her a gentler look. She wore a heavy fur coat over a cream-colored dress and snow boots.

Lith was amazed seeing Selia's sharp eyes become veiled with tears of emotion, but even more by seeing her wearing a skirt for the first time in his life.

'She never wore a dress nor make up for you.' Solus thought. 'Selia must be really desperate to make a good impression on your family. After all, if they have trouble accepting your hybrid nature, there's no way she can fit back in your lives.'

"I'm so sorry, Elina. I really hope you can forgive me for what I did." Selia said amid tears.

"Of course I can, Selia. The only thing that really matters is that now you're home now." Elina's surprise grew, noticing how emotional the huntress was.

Not even Selia had predicted how many memories returning to Lutia after so many years would have stirred inside her heart. Everything was different yet identical to how she remembered it.

The fields covered in snow, the scent of the Trawn woods carried by the wind, and the voices of the only people she had ever considered like her family made her guts tie in a knot.

Elina welcoming Selia home had been the final blow that made her emotional walls crumble. The fact that their respective houses were nearly identical didn't help her keep her cool either.

"I can't believe this oaf lacks even a spark of originality." She sobbed harder as all eyes moved on the oaf by her side, waiting for an explanation to the odd remark.

"She speaks the truth. I don't." Ryman scratched his head in embarrassment.

After he had found a proper place where to settle down, equally distant from Faluel's lair and from a human settlement, Protector wanted to give his wife the perfect home. He had received so much from Selia, and after forcing her to leave Lutia, her happiness was his first priority.

The problem was that he had no idea what made a human home comfortable, so he had built their love nest based on the projects stored inside Lith's memories. The only changes made to the original design were those Selia had requested him.

While the rest of the family welcomed Selia, half shocked and half moved from the sudden reunion, Lith shook hands with Protector.

"How do you feel, Lith?" Ryman asked with his usual stoic voice.

"Calm like someone who is about to be chased by an angry mob armed with pitchforks and torches." Lith replied, hiding behind his best poker face.

"That makes the two of us." After all that time, Ryman was still amazed by how scary those small people that he could break with one hand were.

They couldn't harm a hair on his body, yet they could easily break the heart of the woman he loved and hurt their children. The cruelty of humans never failed to impress him.

"Your face looks familiar. Have we met before?" Raaz was curious about the familiarity his son displayed with Selia's boyfriend.

Lith smiled a lot in public, but those were just an act. Seeing Lith without his mask despite the presence of a stranger made a good impression on Raaz.

"Yes, I lived in your village for a short while, but that's a long story and it's not for me to say it." Ryman replied.

"Is this baby spit?" Rena asked after recognizing the familiar smell coming from Selia's clothes.

"Gods, I was certain to have cleaned it up. I really have to learn how to use magic." She had fed Fenrir before leaving and the burp had left a stain that Selia had hastily tried to remove.

"Congratulations!" Rena hugged her sister-in-arms. Motherhood was a fierce battle that had cost her most of the clothes Lith didn't Forgemaster. "Is it your first?"

"Third, actually." More congratulations ensued while Senton and Raaz patted Protector's shoulders.

Between Lith's approval and Selia trusting him enough to start a family with him, the stranger had to be a good man.

After hearing from Rena about her triplets and sharing with her a few anecdotes about her own children, Selia started to explain to Lith's family how she had met Protector and the reason that had forced them to leave.

At first, they had moved from Lutia to a nearby village just to avoid Lith discovering that Protector was still alive, but after Lilia's birth, they had relocated to a safe place after the scared neighbors had tried to harm the baby.

Everyone now remembered the stranger that had lived with Selia before her disappearance and Protector was still dearly mourned. The members of Lith's family knew how deep his bond with the allegedly late Ry was and honored his sacrifice to protect the students of the academy from Balkor's monsters.

Accepting that they were actually the same person and alive at that, shook their nerves quite a bit.

"He- I mean, you- Oh, gods." Elina was so shocked that she was incapable of coming up with a coherent sentence.

Everyone kept moving their eyes from Selia to Ryman, expecting them to say it was all a joke at any moment. Yet nothing happened. Kamila was sitting next to the huntress, holding her hand to give Selia strength and courage.

Even Tista didn't know what to say and she was on friendly terms with several Emperor Beasts. She looked around the room, looking for something to say that wouldn't sound incredibly rude.

Then she noticed that neither Lith nor Kamila showed any hint of surprise on their faces.

"You knew?" Tista was glad to change the topic. "For how long?"

"I knew that he was an Emperor Beast from the beginning, but I only discovered that Protector was still alive less than a year ago." Lith replied.

"I never told you because I knew it would have been hard to accept and because it wasn't up to me revealing someone else's secrets. I asked them to come here tonight because Selia would like to return to Lutia and I got something to tell you."