The Duke's Worthless Daughter Awakens an SSS+ Guide Core

Grand Duchess Celestine Emperion took another unsteady step down the wide marble staircase. The two maids supporting her exchanged deeply worried glances, but neither dared to stop her determined descent.

After spending years trapped in an inexplicable coma, her physical body remained incredibly frail despite the advanced medical treatment she had received during her slumber. Yet, her intense crimson eyes never once wavered or left Merianah’s form. She looked at her daughter as if she were the only person left in the entire universe.

"My daughter..."

Her voice trembled with an overwhelming surge of raw emotion that seemed to vibrate through the entire room.

Merianah instinctively stiffened as the older woman approached her position. In Lyrina’s previous life on a ravaged Earth, such emotional reunions belonged exclusively to other people. Soldiers would embrace tightly after surviving impossible battles, and traumatized parents would reunite with children rescued from infected zones.

She had witnessed those heartwarming moments countless times from a distance while keeping guard. However, she had never been a part of one herself, having lived and died as a weapon of survival.

Celestine slowly descended the final few steps of the staircase before stopping only an arm’s length away from her daughter. For several long, agonizing seconds, she simply stared into the young woman’s transformed features.

Her trembling hand rose cautiously toward Merianah’s face before stopping halfway in the air. She hesitated, looking as though she were genuinely afraid the young woman before her would vanish into thin air if touched.

"You have grown so much."

The words were barely louder than a fragile whisper, carrying a profound sense of grief for the lost years.

Merianah remained completely silent, her expression guarded as she observed the weeping woman. She quickly searched the inherited memories stored within her brain, expecting to find warmth, deep affection, or some sort of maternal bond.

Instead, there was almost nothing but a vast, hollow emptiness regarding their relationship. The original Merianah barely remembered her mother as a living, breathing presence in her life.

When Celestine had fallen into the mysterious coma years ago, Merianah had still been a very young child. Most of her childhood memories consisted of visiting a cold, quiet room where complex machinery constantly monitored the Grand Duchess’s failing condition.

Sometimes the young girl would talk about her day to the unresponsive figure on the bed. Sometimes she would read storybooks aloud, hoping the familiar sound of her voice might break the curse.

Other times, she simply sat beside the mattress in absolute silence for hours on end. The bedridden woman had never once answered her pleas or squeezed her hand back.

Until this very moment.

A heavy tear rolled down Celestine’s pale cheek, catching the light as it fell.

"I am so sorry..."

The unexpected apology echoed clearly throughout the vast space of the Azure Hall, catching everyone off guard.

The entire room froze instantly upon hearing the broken matriarch’s words. Even Grand Duke Alaric looked visibly surprised, his stoic expression cracking for a brief second.

Celestine lowered her gaze, her shoulders slumping under the weight of her immense guilt.

"I was not there to watch you grow into a young woman."

"I was not there to celebrate your birthdays with you."

"I was not there when you truly needed your mother’s guidance."

Her voice cracked with emotion, unable to contain the immense sorrow of a mother who had lost time.

"I remember closing my eyes for what felt like a brief moment..."

"...and now you are already eighteen years old."

The grand hall fell into a complete, suffocating silence as the heavy emotional weight of her words settled over the family.

Merianah looked intently at the weeping woman standing directly before her. Those bitter tears streaming down her face were undeniably genuine, filled with a raw pain that could not be faked.

This woman truly believed she had missed her daughter’s entire childhood because of her illness. And the tragic reality was that she absolutely had.

Suddenly, Lyrina felt an unfamiliar, tightening sensation bloom deep within her chest. It was not her own hardened emotion causing the ache, but rather a residual echo left behind by the body’s previous owner.

The lingering attachment buried deep within this physical vessel stirred quietly, carrying years of suppressed longing that had never truly disappeared. The spirit of the original Merianah seemed to be reacting to her mother’s presence.

She slowly exhaled the breath she had been holding, trying to stabilize her racing thoughts.

"It was not your fault."

The simple, comforting sentence left her lips before she even fully realized she was speaking.

Celestine’s shoulders trembled violently upon hearing her daughter’s forgiveness. Fresh tears streamed down her face, washing away the years of isolation in an instant.

Without any further warning, she stepped forward and gently embraced Merianah, pulling her into a fragile hug. The movement was hesitant and almost fearful, as if she fully expected to be pushed away by an angry stranger.

Merianah’s physical body instinctively tensed up the moment the woman’s arms wrapped around her. Physical affection of any kind was entirely foreign to Lyrina’s battle-hardened soul.

Years spent on the brutal battlefields of Earth had taught her to treat any sudden, unannounced contact as an immediate danger. Her highly trained muscles almost reacted on survival instinct to throw the woman off.

Fortunately, she managed to stop her dangerous reflexes just in time.

Slowly and awkwardly, she raised one hand from her side. She lightly rested her palm against Celestine’s shaking back, offering what little comfort she could muster.

The Grand Duchess quietly sobbed into her daughter’s shoulder, releasing years of pent-up grief. Around them, no one in the powerful family spoke a single word to interrupt the private moment.

Cassian discreetly looked away toward the far window, unable to watch the emotional display any longer. Lucien removed his glasses, silently cleaning the lenses with a cloth even though they were no longer dirty.

Even Aldric’s traditionally stern military expression softened ever so slightly as he watched his mother and sister. The rigid atmosphere of the room had completely shifted into something deeply personal.

Only Grand Duke Alaric remained perfectly motionless at the head of the table. Yet, his sharp blue eyes had shifted completely from analyzing Merianah’s transformed appearance to staring intensely at the woman embracing her.

After a long, profound silence, the patriarch finally spoke, his commanding presence reasserting itself over the room.

"The family physician can wait until tomorrow morning."

His deep, resonant voice carried clearly through the vast hall, brooking no argument from his sons.

"Tonight..."

He paused, looking directly toward Celestine with a look that hints at a hidden complexity.

"...our entire family will have dinner together."

The sudden declaration stunned every single person present in the room. According to Merianah’s inherited memories, it had been many long years since the entire Emperion family had shared a meal under the same roof. This unexpected reunion was changing the very dynamic of the household.