I could understand that my father had bad experience with the old king, being betrayed and all, but Christian was not like that. I just wished he could see that.. I was still not planning on discussing that with him yet. I wanted him to answer my questions first.. I needed him to. It was the only way he could somewhat made up for lying to me my whole life. After hearing that familiar 'Come in' I walked inside and found him sitting behind his desk, going through some papers.. He looked up at me and the very second he saw me, the worry on his face was clear.. I closed the door carefully, walking towards his desk. The chairs in front of it were leather and the simple sight of his office brought back all the memories.. All the times he scolded us in front of them, because I apparently accidentally broke Marco's arms when he was ten, and he was a cry baby about it, or because Jack lied about me breaking mom's large ancient vase.. It didn't matter though. Those times were long gone. Now I was going to sit there and be scolded how I was supposed to marry a toxic man that was still a stranger to all of us.. And I was supposed to nod my head and say, Yes, papa, per usual? The thing was, I was not exactly planning on doing that.. Ever. Not to Alexander, not to anyone they arranged for me. I wanted Christian. I sat down carefully and watched him search my face.. I kept quiet until he asked. "What did they do to you?" His voice held concerned in a way of almost sounding week, and he never sounded weak. So I quickly answered. "Nothing. Nothing, dad, they didn't touch me. I had a room and-" I stopped, looking on the side and inhaling a sharp breath. I was repeating myself. I had to get to the point. "They wanted answers, about some necklace." I looked back at him, seeing the frown form on his face. "They had no use from me, but they did sent a message." He wasted no time. "What kind of a message?" "It's nothing that can't wait for later.." I leaned back on the chair and spoke calmly. "There are some other things I found out while there." Silence fell over for a few seconds.. He waited for me to continue. And I did. "I met Amelia.. Your daughter." And I saw exactly what I was expecting flash behind his eyes. Surprise, then shock, and then simply a sudden panic.. He hid it well though. My father had experience. He knew how to mask his emotions. "I don't know what-" "Don't lie to me. You already did that my whole life." He looked on the side, breaking the gaze and proving me damn right. The way he ran his hand down his face showed the exact frustration he must've felt for me ever finding out, and I could only imagine how angry he must've been thinking that the Le Boursiers probably revealed that to me.. I watched him press his knuckles near his lips as he rested his elbow against the wooden desk, like he was lost in thought for a few seconds before he looked back at me with more calmness. "I never lied to you, Lana. And if I did, it was to protect you." Same old, same old.. I couldn't believe that he was still sticking to that motto. Lying to protect me? Didn't he know a better excuse from that? That experience he always mentioned.. Where was it? Why wasn't he using it if he was so damn ready for every situation that comes thrown his way? Why wasn't he denying, masking, giving me true facts that it wasn't true? No instead, he claimed he 'lied to protect'. I stared at him in disbelief for a few seconds. "You knew, didn't you?" Silence.. Silence filled the room. He ran a hand through his hair and mumbled some quiet cuss underneath his breath, looking on the side and through the window again as he leaned on back in his armchair. "You knew all about her this whole time.." He wasn't acting surprised when I told him I met his daughter. No, instead he denied it. Which meant that after the war, he did search for Amelia and Jessica and maybe he gave up after a while, but then somewhere along the way, he obviously found out that Amelia was alive.. Probably even about Jessica too. Of course he did. She was the queen of Venedocia. He probably investigated that far back.. My throat was dry. Yes, I found out and accepted the fact that Amelia was my half sister. I went over it with a little help from Christian of course telling that everything was going to be alright and yes, it turned out fine. So far, my life didn't change much other than the problems I had. The fact that I had a sister however didn't change anything. And I was glad it didn't. Still, at that point, I couldn't believe that he wasn't even admitting his lies and deeds, nor denying them.. He was just looking angry for something that he did himself.. I wouldn't had found out that way if he simply told me. He couldn't blame anyone for me finding out. I had the right to know I had a sister, dammit.