Knock, knock, knock! Knock, knock, knock! Knock, knock, knock!
Okhema, Hall of Respite.
While Lumina and Herta were lying on the sofa, scrolling through their phones just as before, a knock sounded again.
"Hmm?"
"Oh, has it really been that long?"
Hearing the urgent knocking, Lumina briefly used her Perception and discovered the person at the door was Stelle, who seemed to have just left.
Confused, Lumina glanced at the clock in the room.
Only then did she realize several hours had passed since Stelle, Dan Heng, Castorice, and the others had departed.
It wasn't Lumina's fault she'd lost track of time; the captivating sensation of Herta's small feet was simply too mesmerizing.
After Stelle's group left, Lumina and Herta had returned to their previous activity.
They lay on opposite ends of the sofa, their small feet occasionally brushing against each other with a silent rhythm before pulling away as if shocked.
This cycle repeated endlessly, over and over.
Lost in this game, time flew by at an astonishing pace.
Only when the knocking sounded again did the two snap back to reality from their time-warping trance.
Feeling the lingering warmth on her own small foot, Lumina felt a pang of regret.
Not only was it a shame, but it also left her wanting more.
If only I could hold Herta's small foot in my hands...
Ahem.
What am I thinking?
As the image of a shy Herta placing her small foot in Lumina's lap, allowing her to play with it freely, flashed through her mind, a faint blush crept onto Lumina's cheeks.
She shook her head, quickly banishing the slightly perverted thought. Regaining her composure, Lumina sat up from the sofa.
She glanced at Herta, who wore a completely expressionless face.
Herta acted as if she hadn't noticed their feet constantly brushing against each other for the past few hours.
Her nonchalant demeanor made Lumina feel a little embarrassed.
Scratching her head, Lumina didn't say anything. She simply offered Herta a smile before getting up and walking toward the door.
"..."
The moment Lumina stood up and turned her back, Herta's fair face flushed crimson at an astonishing speed.
Once the blush reached its peak, it vanished just as quickly, returning her complexion to normal.
This entire transformation took only a few seconds.
In the time it took Lumina to even begin opening the door, Herta had already gone from blushing furiously to regaining her composure.
How Madam Herta managed such a lightning-fast change of expression was a mystery.
If Lumina had seen it, she would surely have been astonished and begged Teacher Herta to teach her the technique, right?
After all, mastering such a skill would be incredibly useful for Lumina and the beautiful girls... um, useful for Lumina to befriend the beautiful girls.
Unfortunately, Lumina didn't see Herta's fleeting blush.
She still believed Herta hadn't cared at all about their small feet touching on the sofa for the past few hours...
Arriving at the door, Lumina opened it.
The first thing she saw was Stelle's extremely authoritative face.
A hint of anxiety creased her brow, suggesting some urgent matter had arisen.
"Stelle, what's wrong?"
"Don't worry, take your time and tell me."
Unsure what had happened, Lumina offered a calming word before asking with some confusion.
Stelle looked anxious.
But...
Not that anxious?
The anxiety on Stelle's brow was already faint, and what little remained vanished completely the moment she saw Lumina.
This left Lumina momentarily confused. Was Stelle genuinely worried, or was she faking it?
What on earth happened?
Or... did she just miss me?~
Lumina naturally hoped for the latter.
The moment Stelle saw her dear Sister Lumina, all the negative emotions in her heart were healed.
I want... I want... I want to make Sister Lumina my trophy.
Gazing at Lumina, Stelle's thoughts drifted back to the past.
Back to her battle with Sister Lumina on the Xianzhou Luofu.
If only my strength had been just a "billion" points stronger back then, I could have made Sister Lumina my personal trophy...
Hmm... oh, and there's March 7th.
Then I'll make Sister Lumina a shared trophy for me and March 7th...
As these thoughts raced through Stelle's mind, her expression remained utterly impassive, betraying none of her inner turmoil to Lumina.
If Lumina knew what Stelle was thinking right now, she would surely chuckle and say, "Even though we've left Penacony, even though we've left the Asdana Star System, you're still having such high-quality sweet dreams."
Me becoming Stelle and March 7th's trophy? Isn't that just the sweet dream they'd have right before becoming my trophies?
"Sister Lumina, we have an injured person here."
Stelle pushed aside her thoughts of the past and future. There would be plenty of time for that later.
And so, Stelle quickly snapped back to reality and stated the secondary objective of her visit to Lumina.
That's right, the secondary objective.
After all, Aglaea had already said everything was fine, so it most likely was.
Stelle was just seeking out Sister Lumina for extra assurance.
Of course, even without this incident, Stelle would have come to find Lumina after everything was settled.
So, this was just a convenient excuse.
"An injured person?" Lumina murmured, her gentle face showing a hint of gravity. "What are we waiting for? Let's go quickly."
"Right, Sister Lumina. Come on, they're in a room not far from here," Stelle nodded, turning to leave.
"Hmm... Oh, right, Sister Lumina," Stelle paused after a few steps, suddenly remembering something. She turned back to Lumina and asked, "Isn't Herta in the room?"
"Aren't you going to call her out?"
Although Stelle didn't particularly care what Herta was doing, she couldn't shake the feeling of a faint, almost imperceptible gaze on her.
It wasn't uncomfortable, but... it felt strange.
"Herta?" Hearing this, Lumina turned to look at Herta, who was now sitting elegantly on the sofa with her eyes closed, looking utterly dignified.
Just a second ago, she had been lounging on the sofa scrolling through her phone. Now, she looked the picture of grace. Suppressing a laugh, Lumina asked, "Herta, do you want to come with us?"
"..."
Hearing this, Herta slowly opened her eyes and sat up from the sofa with graceful composure.
"Since you've already invited me, wouldn't it be rather disappointing if I refused?"
Herta crossed her arms, a faint smile playing on her lips.
She looked like a noble lady who, after receiving hundreds of invitations, was finally moved by sincerity and condescended to attend a banquet.
"..." Seeing Herta's dramatic performance, Lumina shot her a speechless glance.
Ignoring her further, Lumina looked back at Stelle and nodded slightly. "Stelle, let's go."
"Right." After a quick glance at Herta, Stelle also ignored her and led the way.
As Lumina left the room, she gave Herta one last, deep look.
Then she strode out and left.
Click!
She even closed the door behind her, leaving Herta alone in the room, lost in thought.
"..."
The Black-Gold Patterned Door had excellent soundproofing. Even after walking some distance away, Lumina could still hear a muffled sound from inside.
But she could only hear the sound, not make out the specific words.
Creak—
Before Stelle and Lumina had gone far, the Black-Gold Patterned Door swung open again.
Revealed within was Herta, her chest heaving, teeth clenched tightly, her face flushed with barely suppressed rage.
-
In the Hall of Respite, Lumina emerged from one of the rooms.
Seeing her, Stelle asked, "Sister Lumina, is Phainon okay?"
"Hmm... It's nothing too serious. His spirit has just been affected by... well, some inner demons."
"He just needs to rest for an hour or two, maybe take a short nap, and he'll be fine."
Looking at the three Chrysos Heirs, Stelle, and Dan Heng before her, Lumina delivered her diagnosis.
She assured them he was fine and simply needed rest, with no further medical treatment necessary.
"Thank you, Miss Lumina... Thank you for your help." Although Lumina had only examined Phainon's condition without performing any treatment, Aglaea felt compelled to express her gratitude for her presence.
"There's no need to thank me." Lumina shook her head gently. "I didn't do anything, just a simple check-up."
She paused for a moment before continuing, "I don't know what his inner demon is, but it must be resolved as soon as possible."
"Otherwise, it could cause irreversible damage to him later on."
"Thank you for the warning. We will be mindful of it." Although Lumina was gentle and approachable, and had even asked her to treat her like a friend...
...Aglaea found herself unable to comply.
"Agy, if you keep being so formal, I'm really going to get angry," Lumina said, seeing Aglaea's deferential posture and knowing exactly what she was thinking.
She then feigned anger, letting out a cold snort.
If you keep this up, she thought, don't blame me, Lumina, for getting rough with you!
Since Aglaea couldn't bring herself to be informal, Lumina decided she would force her to.
Forcing beautiful girls wasn't part of Lumina's usual code of conduct.
But if said beautiful girl was being stubborn, Lumina wasn't above using a little "force" to get her way.
Of course, this "force" wasn't about making Aglaea do anything to her.
It was about forcing her to stop being so respectful, forcing her to treat Lumina like a normal person, a normal friend.
"...You'd better be actually angry," Herta muttered from the side, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes at Lumina in exasperation.
Lumina, angry at a beautiful girl?
What could she possibly get angry about?
Her temper?
Oh, with her 'been-through-a-thousand-flowers' mindset, she probably couldn't even muster a spark of anger.
Herta grumbled silently, having seen right through Lumina's act.
But Aglaea didn't see through Lumina as clearly as Herta.
Though her golden threads detected no trace of anger in Lumina's words, Aglaea still lowered her head and apologized. "Sorry, Miss Lumi... Sorry, Lumina. I was being inconsiderate."
"No..." Aglaea paused, seemingly searching for the right solution.
After a moment, she slowly continued, "Lumina, I was being overly cautious."
"From today on, we're friends, right?"
Though still unaccustomed to the idea, Aglaea managed a faint, sincere smile.
Previously, she wouldn't have offered such a genuine smile. After all, Lumina's true purpose for coming to Amphoreus remained unknown.
Lumina claimed she was looking for someone, but since arriving in Okhema, she hadn't made any effort to search.
She said she was sightseeing, yet she never left Okhema... This left Aglaea utterly baffled, unable to comprehend why Lumina and Herta had come to Amphoreus.
Based on their actions so far, they seemed to harbor no ill will toward Amphoreus.
Even so, Aglaea dared not offend them.
Their power was too immense. A single misstep, and all of Okhema would be destroyed...
So, even now, despite knowing they meant no harm, Aglaea had to treat them with extreme caution.
But... after hearing Lumina's "threat" just now, Aglaea understood something.
They had always asked her to act normally. If she continued to treat them with such excessive reverence, wouldn't it be counterproductive and only earn their disdain?
In that case, she would follow their wishes and treat them as friends.
That should solve the problem, right?
Aglaea reached this conclusion in her mind.
But... it wasn't just that.
She didn't know about Herta, but Lumina... Lumina made her feel a special warmth, a desire to be closer, a longing to...
The comfort she felt when with Lumina was incredibly soothing.
Aglaea didn't know why, but she knew it had to be related to Lumina.
Could someone who made her feel so warm truly be a bad person?
So, after careful consideration, Aglaea decided to make a choice—one unbefitting of her status, but befitting of a friend.
"Sister Lumina... May I call you that?"
Having regained some of her humanity, standing before this "friend" who made her feel as warm as a mother's embrace, Aglaea felt that "Sister" was the most fitting title.
Her power is so immense, her age surely isn't low.
Even if she's young—even if she's younger than me—it doesn't matter.
Who says someone younger can't be a 'sister'?
"..." Hearing Aglaea's request, Lumina was visibly stunned.
Aglaea making such a plea was completely unexpected.
But unexpected was one thing...
Lumina hated unexpected scares.
Unexpected surprises, however? Lumina felt she could handle a hundred of those a day!
So, for this unexpected surprise, Lumina gave a very expected reply.
She placed her open hand over her chest, tilted her head, and smiled at Aglaea.
"Of course you can, my little sister Agy."