Fu Xuan closed her eyes, her robes drifting as she descended ethereally through the air. Ribbons of talismanic light swirled around her, celestial charm and mystical profundity coalescing like condensed starlight in her gaze.
The moment her feet touched the ground, her expression was frosty.
"Fu Xuan of the Divination Commission, upon her return—"
BAM.
[That's the power of magic!! A flashy entrance like that? Showing off in front of ME?! All that spinning!]
Fu Xuan: ?눈_눈? I HAVEN'T EVEN FINISHED MY LINES!
Fu Xuan soared back up into the air. All the cat-cakes—and even Ruan Mei—instinctively looked toward Herta.
Somehow, Herta had already summoned her little Herta's magic hammer. With a leap, she gave chase.
...
Half a day later...
Ruan Mei and Bailu sat in front of the Star-Gazing Terrace, applying medicine to Fu Xuan.
"I!! What did I do wrong?! Why would you treat me like this?!"
Fu Xuan glared daggers at Herta. Herta stood to the side, letting out a cold snort.
She had been so close. Ruan Mei was just about to be near her. And then that grain of rice—ruined by Fu Xuan's Path power.
"Little Xuanzi. You should be grateful Ruan Mei and Bailu held me back. Otherwise, even if Yaoqing—that General Yaoqing—showed up, I would have made sure to persuade you with reason."
Fu Xuan gritted her teeth. Anyone else—Jing Yuan, Stellaron Hunters—she could argue with, reason with.
But facing Herta? She was outclassed in every way.
Quote classics and argue logic? She couldn't win against Herta.
"Persuade with reason" through Path power? She couldn't defeat Herta either.
Even General Yaoqing, who had watched her grow up, had warned her again and again to never to provoke Herta.
Fu Xuan clenched her little fists. For the first time—aside from her height and her inability to become General—she felt utterly powerless.
"This infuriates me! It absolutely infuriates me!!"
Herta stepped forward, her expression icy.
"Infuriated? I'm the one who should be infuriated right now! Say another word, and I'll have to persuade you with reason."
Fu Xuan blinked. As their eyes met, even with her Matrix of Prescience, she could perceive nothing of Herta.
Herta, however, seemed to easily discern everything about Fu Xuan—her Path, her Matrix, even her past and future.
Sensing that the Matrix between her brows was being affected by Herta's Path power, Fu Xuan felt a rare surge of panic.
"My Matrix... you?!"
Herta let out another cold snort. She closed her eyes and casually smoothed a strand of hair.
"That Machine Head's blessing—that Matrix of yours—the futures it foresees are nothing special."
Fu Xuan lowered her head, clutching her sleeves tightly, maintaining a resolute silence.
Herta was right. Whenever Fu Xuan's divination involved Herta or Ruan Mei, the futures her Matrix showed were exceptionally blurred.
The backlash from the Matrix only intensified. Yet even so, she would never compromise the dignity of the Divination Commission's Grand Diviner.
She would inherit the Lightning Lord. She would become the next General of the Luofu.
So what if she faced an absolute genius of the cosmos!?
"Herta, I will never forgive—"
A wave of cold plum blossom essence—gentle, yet clear—suddenly washed over her. In an instant, the years of pain from the Matrix's backlash were erased.
This clarity was unlike any healing Fu Xuan had ever experienced.
She blinked and looked up at Ruan Mei. The usual proud aloofness in her gaze softened.
"Tha... thank you. Thank you."
Ruan Mei said nothing. She had long since observed everything about Fu Xuan. She understood her suffering, her determination across the Amber Eras.
A Xianzhou native, yet blessed by Nous.
The Matrix brought only pain. It had almost never let Fu Xuan sleep peacefully. Was that why she worked so tirelessly, losing herself in her duties?
"Rest well."
Fu Xuan nodded. Her gaze darted away, a mix of gratitude and pride in her small voice.
"I... how can I repay you?"
Ruan Mei looked toward Herta. Herta was already staring at her.
"Let today's matter fade. Don't dwell on it. But this treatment will only last half a day."
"I... I understand. Still... thank you."
"Rest easy."
"Mm."
In an instant, Fu Xuan's eyes closed. For the first time in years, she drifted into peaceful sleep.
Herta stood to the side, silent. She truly didn't understand. Since when had Ruan Mei become so willing to help others?!
First Tingyun. Now Fu Xuan.
Honestly. Even geniuses meddled in others' affairs? Didn't geniuses respect others' destinies? What—
Herta snapped back to reality. Ruan Mei was wiping her forehead with a handkerchief.
"You... you?!"
"It seems the magic hammer suits little Herta better."
Herta immediately pulled down her magic hat, hiding her blushing face behind it. She pouted, yet couldn't hide her delight.
"What 'little Herta,' 'big Herta'? It's all me. Do you... do you prefer—no, do you care more about the Herta puppets?"
Ruan Mei shook her head slightly.
"Then... then what do you mean?"
"Perhaps exactly what you're thinking."
Herta froze. Even hidden behind her hat, she was utterly flustered.
Ruan Mei knows what I'm thinking?! She... she's terrifying.
No. She must be lying. No one in this universe knows what goes on in the mind of the great Herta.
Herta feigned composure, preparing to explain that she didn't care about this forehead-wiping—that Ruan Mei had simply acted on her own.
Just as she was organizing her words—
Wisteria Cake appeared behind Herta and gave her a shove.
"?!"
Herta stumbled forward—toward Ruan Mei.
In an instant, instinct took over. Herta summoned her magic key (the Finality of Magic) and steadied herself.
Wisteria Cake let out an exasperated meow, whispering so only Herta could hear.
"Honestly! I went out of my way to help! And you dodged on instinct?! Sigh."
Herta snapped back to her senses. But she couldn't very well dismiss the key and fall now. She coughed awkwardly.
"Ahem. The solitary wave algorithm problem is roughly as follows..."
Bailu blinked in confusion. Was Herta really launching into a lecture about her past research?
Algorithms, arcana, imaginary numbers, quantum mechanics, Paths, science—and finally, magic.
Herta confidently smoothed her bangs, convinced she had successfully changed the subject.
"That's the gist of it. Understood?"
Aside from Wisteria Cake, who had listened attentively, the other cat-cakes were yawning, utterly uninterested.
Even Ruan Mei had long since sat down to embroider a starry sleeve pendant.
"Meow. Madam Herta truly lives up to being Madam Herta!! Especially that last part about magic's end and science's limits—it was most enlightening."
Herta looked at Wisteria Cake.
"Excellent. You're the first to sit through my entire lecture. No—first cat-cake. Let me tell you about—"
Bailu waved her hands frantically.
"Stop!! Herta, please, no more! I've been listening all morning. My head is spinning!"
"Sigh. Fine. Wisteria Cake, next time I'll explain quantum transformation."
Just as Herta's gaze fell upon Ruan Mei—
Ruan Mei was quietly embroidering a starry sleeve pendant.
Graceful. Elegant. Utterly absorbed.