Himeko's attention instantly shifted from "Kiana" to the man at the door.
"Su Yu! Where did you run off to?! Leaving Kiana home alone in the middle of the night!"
Sirin felt the hand gripping her arm finally let go.
Her stiff shoulders sagged a couple of inches, and her whole body went limp, like she'd just been fished out of water.
"Get this woman out of here, now."
Sirin's voice was pressed very low, squeezed out through her teeth.
She didn't look at Su Yu; her gaze was fixed dead on the can of beer on the coffee table that Himeko had drunk dry.
Su Yu glanced at the "Kiana" on the sofa, then at Himeko swaying unsteadily toward him, and his mind spun through a quick calculation.
"Sister Himeko, you've had too much. I'll take you home."
"I haven't had too much! I'm perfectly clear-headed!" Himeko slung an arm over Su Yu's shoulder, dumping her full weight onto him, the reek of alcohol on her breath nearly enough to knock a person out. "Su Yu, listen to me, my dad today he…"
"Okay, okay, okay, tell me on the way, tell me on the way."
Half-supporting, half-dragging her, Su Yu steered Himeko toward the door. Her high heels scraped out a grating screech across the floor, and she was still mumbling something about a sea-view apartment and a dowry.
The door closed behind them.
From the hallway came the sound of Su Yu knocking on the door across the way, then Himeko's even louder complaining, and after that the muffled thud of another door opening and shutting.
Footsteps came back down the hall.
A key slid into the lock, the handle turned.
The moment Su Yu walked in, Sirin's back went taut as a drawn bow.
She didn't turn her head.
If this man discovered that Kiana was unconscious, what would he do?
Last time, in the consciousness space, this lunatic had been killed by her countless times and still managed to climb back up and keep charging at her.
If she let him find out the state Kiana was in now…
Sirin made a swift judgment.
She shrank her body deeper into the sofa, turned onto her side, and used her arm to cover half her face, leaving only a head of disheveled white hair showing.
"I'm sleepy."
Three crisp, clean words, the tone carrying an obvious note of impatience.
Su Yu stood in the entryway, his hand still resting on the door handle.
He looked down at his own collar—the scent of that custom perfume of Eden's still clung to it, so strong he could smell it himself.
"Kiana" hadn't pressed him about where he'd gone.
No interrogation.
Su Yu let out a long breath in his heart.
"Um… I'm going to take a shower."
The white-haired girl on the sofa gave an "Mm," not even lifting her head.
The bathroom door closed.
The sound of running water came through the crack in the door, splashing away.
Sirin held her side-lying posture, not moving a muscle.
Her ears were pricked, catching every faint sound from the bathroom.
The water ran for about fifteen minutes, then came the rustle of a towel rubbing, and the hair dryer hummed briefly before stopping.
The footsteps moved from the bathroom into the bedroom.
The bed frame creaked once.
Then came a long, total silence.
Sirin waited another five minutes.
There was no movement at all from the bedroom.
The breathing grew even and drawn-out—the rhythm that only comes with deep sleep.
Sirin slowly sat up, her golden eyes glowing faintly in the dim living room.
"Detestable Kiana… detestable Su Yu…"
Her voice was very small, as if she were afraid of waking someone.
"To think they'd make This Queen suffer such a disgraceful humiliation… dragged into a full half-hour of nagging by some blind-drunk human woman…"
Halfway through the sentence, her stomach let out a sound.
Not that vague, ignorable kind of growl.
It was the righteous, full-bodied roar of an entire abdominal cavity in protest.
Sirin looked down at her own stomach, the expression on her face freezing.
She hadn't experienced hunger in a very long time.
As a Herrscher, the needs of the flesh were to her just a string of negligible data.
But now, Kiana's body had been wrung dry in the Sea of Quanta, every reserve of energy bottomed out, and this shell was demanding resupply in the most primitive way possible.
"…This Queen will absolutely not eat human food."
Her stomach cried out again.
Louder than before.
Sirin clenched her back teeth.
She stood up from the sofa and walked barefoot toward the kitchen.
Kiana's slippers were right beside the sofa, but she disdained to put them on.
The soles of her feet met the icy tiles, the chill making her toes curl up.
She didn't dare turn on the kitchen light, afraid of disturbing Su Yu in the bedroom.
By the faint glow of the streetlamp filtering in through the window, she pulled open the refrigerator door.
The white cold light from inside the fridge fell across her face, illuminating those golden eyes and her tightly pressed lips.
There wasn't much in the fridge.
The top shelf held a few cartons of milk, a row of Yakult, and half a bag of sliced bread.
The middle shelf was crammed with two cartons of eggs, a bag of frozen dumplings, and a sealed container holding some kind of leftovers she couldn't identify.
In the freezer compartment below lay a few popsicles and a bag of frozen shrimp.
Sirin's gaze swept over these things, and the corners of her mouth turned down.
"Crude."
She reached out and picked up a bottle of Yakult, turning it over and over to look at it.
The little red bottle had a smiley face printed on it, along with a line of Japanese she couldn't quite read.
"This sort of thing… humans actually drink this?"
She unscrewed the cap.
Hesitating for two seconds, she brought it to her lips and took a small sip.
The instant the sweet-and-sour liquid slid across the tip of her tongue, Sirin's eyes flew wide open.
She looked down at the little bottle in her hand, then at the rest of the row left in the fridge.
"…This is merely to replenish this body's energy. That is all."
She finished the first bottle.
Then she picked up the second.
The third.
The fourth.
Five bottles of Yakult were emptied within thirty seconds, the empty bottles lined up neatly on the counter.
Sirin licked the residual sweetness from her lips, her expression still one of disdain, but her hand had already reached for the sliced bread on the fridge's top shelf.
The bread was plain, without any seasoning at all.
She tore off a slice and stuffed it into her mouth; the dry texture made her frown.
"Disgusting."
She tossed the rest of the bread back into the fridge and began rummaging for other things.
In the cupboard beside the fridge, she found a paper box.
The box had the words "Orion" printed on it, along with a picture of a chocolate pie.
She tore open the packaging, broke off a piece, and took a bite.
The chocolate coating shattered between her teeth, and the marshmallow filling inside, softened by her body heat, pulled into long strands.
The cloying sweetness exploded in her mouth, completely different from the sweet-and-sour Yakult just now—a richer, denser sweetness.
Sirin chewed twice, then stopped.
She looked down at the chocolate pie with the single bite taken out of it, her golden pupils contracting slightly.
"…What is this thing."
The second piece.
The third piece.
The entire box of six chocolate pies vanished within two minutes.
The empty box was tossed carelessly onto the counter, crowded together with the empty Yakult bottles.
Her hand didn't stop.
Deep in the cupboard there was still a bag of Lay's potato chips, the original flavor. She tore open the bag, pinched up a chip, and put it in her mouth.
The salty, savory crunch formed a stark contrast with the sweets from before, and her chewing speed noticeably picked up.
"This Queen is merely confirming whether human food is poisonous."
She said this to the empty air.
No one answered her.
Halfway through the chips, she discovered a stick of Pocky chocolate at the very back of the cupboard. The slender biscuit stick was coated in a layer of chocolate, and the packaging had a cartoon character on it who looked very happy.
Sirin tore open the packaging, pulled out a stick, and held it in her mouth.
The chocolate melted slowly between her lips and teeth, mixing with the crispness of the biscuit.
She leaned against the edge of the counter, her bare feet on the icy tiles, sending stick after stick into her mouth.
The streetlamp light outside squeezed in through the gaps in the blinds, casting parallel stripes of light across the kitchen floor.
Sirin, the Herrscher of the Void, the being that had once plunged the entire world into terror, was at this moment standing barefoot in a game producer's kitchen with a stick of Pocky in her mouth, surrounded by snack wrappers and empty bottles.
Crumbs of chocolate clung to the corner of her mouth, and her golden eyes shone in the cold light of the fridge like two little lamps.
"…Next time, tell that man to buy more."
The instant these words left her mouth, Sirin froze.
Then she abruptly shoved the last stick of Pocky into her mouth and bit down hard, as if punishing something.
"I didn't say anything!"
On the counter, the empty Yakult bottles, the empty Orion box, the empty Lay's bag, and the empty Pocky wrapper were arranged in a neat row.
The kitchen was filled with the mingled smell of chocolate and potato chips.
Sirin wiped the corner of her mouth, walked barefoot back to the living room, and lay back down on the sofa.
She pulled a blanket over herself and closed her eyes.
Her stomach finally stopped crying out.
"…Detestable."
This was the last word she said that night.
Inside the bedroom, Su Yu, already sunk into a dream, had no idea whatsoever that the obnoxiously mischievous light-screen flickered at this very moment.
[Side mission [Tame the Queen] progress increase detected!]
[Current progress: fifteen percent.]
The light-screen flickered a few times, then vanished, melting away into the night.
When Su Yu opened his eyes, the sky was already bright.
Sunlight squeezed in through the gap in the curtains that hadn't been drawn shut, casting a crooked, twisting band of light across the ceiling.
He stared at that band of light for a few seconds, and the things in his head came surging out like water through an opened floodgate.
The mountain switchback road.
The engine hood.
Eden's lips.
The gold card.
The smell of perfume.
He rolled over and buried his face in the pillow, his mind a tangled mess.
"Fenghuang."
From the depths of his consciousness came a brief reply.
"I have some matters to handle. We'll talk in detail afterward."
Her tone was hurried, as if she were busy with something she couldn't step away from.
Su Yu didn't press her.
Fenghuang wasn't the type to vanish for no reason; if she said she had something to do, then she definitely did.
He climbed out of bed and shuffled in his slippers toward the living room.
On the sofa, the white-haired girl lay on her side, wrapped tightly in the blanket, with only a small strand of hair and half an ear showing.
Her breathing was very soft; she looked deeply asleep.
Su Yu's gaze moved away from the sofa and landed on the counter.
Five empty Yakult bottles.
One empty Orion box.
One empty Lay's potato chip bag.
One empty Pocky carton.
Arranged in a row.
Neat and tidy.
Evenly spaced.
Su Yu stood before the counter, looking at this row of empty packaging, his brow furrowing slightly.
Kiana sneaking snacks in the middle of the night was something he'd long since gotten used to. Those things in the fridge had been bought for her in the first place; there was nothing wrong with her eating them.
But the problem was, since when had Kiana become so fastidious?
In the past, after this girl finished eating something, the wrappers could end up flung from the sofa to under the TV cabinet, and potato chip crumbs could be scattered all over the carpet.
Now, of all things, the empty bottles and boxes were lined up like a military parade formation.
"…Fine, whatever."
Su Yu gathered the empty packaging into a trash bag, tied the bag shut, and set it by the door.
At that moment, his phone buzzed.
He pulled it out and took a look.
A WeChat message.
The sender's avatar was a backlit silhouette of a profile, the features indistinct, but that elegant line of the neck and the contour of the shoulders were extremely recognizable.
"Good morning, my little producer."
Su Yu stared at that line of text on the screen, took his phone, and walked into the bathroom.
He turned on the faucet, cupped a handful of cold water in both hands, and splashed it onto his face.
Droplets dripped down his chin, splattering across the sink.
He lifted his head and looked at himself in the mirror.
His hair was a mess, there was a faint blue tinge under his eyes, and there was still a small dry scab on his lips where they'd been bitten last night.
Eden's secret lover.
He, Su Yu—an indie game producer, a pure-hearted little virgin who'd been single since birth across two lifetimes—was now the secret lover of the richest, most beautiful woman in the world.
The man in the mirror didn't look much like someone capable of pulling off something like that.
Su Yu wiped the water off his face and opened his keyboard app.
His fingers tapped a few times on the screen.
"Sister Eden, good morning."
He looked at this line, paused for two seconds.
Then he moved the cursor back and deleted "Sister."
"Good morning, Eden."
Sent.
The other party's reply came almost instantly.
"I'm having breakfast with Elysia right now."
Right after came a photo.
In the photo, Eden sat in what looked like an extremely expensive Western restaurant, with Elysia beside her pouting and making a heart at the camera. Eden herself wasn't looking at the camera; instead she had her head tilted, her gaze falling on her phone screen, the corner of her mouth carrying a faint, barely-there upward curve.
The natural light of early morning poured in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating the collarbone exposed above her silk slip dress to a translucent, jade-white sheen.
At the hollow of her throat there was a small patch of faint red marks, left by the seatbelt during last night's high-speed drive, conspicuous against that fine, delicate skin.
Su Yu zoomed in on the photo for a look, then shrank it back down and locked the screen.
Outside the bathroom, the white-haired girl on the sofa rolled over, and the blanket slipped down a bit.
He tucked his phone back into his pocket and walked out of the bathroom.
At the same time, in a private room of a certain Michelin three-star restaurant in the center of Arc City.
Eden tapped send and flipped her phone face-down on the table.
"Eden, who are you chatting with?"
Across from her, Elysia speared a piece of French toast and cocked her head, looking at her.
Her long pink hair was loosely tied at the back of her head with a ribbon, a few stray strands hanging by her ears, making that face look even more exquisite.
"A work matter." Eden lifted her coffee cup and took a sip.
Elysia gave an "Oh," and didn't pursue it further.
She put the French toast into her mouth, chewed twice, then suddenly spoke up again.
"Come to think of it, Eden, you seem to be in an especially good mood lately."
Eden set down her coffee cup and looked at the Elysia across from her.
"For a while before, you were always frowning, looking very unhappy." Elysia dabbed the corner of her mouth with a napkin. "And you've been so busy the whole time, so Ellie never found a chance to ask you what was wrong."
She set down the napkin and revealed a smile.
"But seeing that Eden can be happy now, Ellie is very happy too."
Eden's fingers holding the coffee cup tightened a little.
She looked at that smiling face across from her.
Elysia's smile was always the kind you simply couldn't guard against.
Not a deliberate sweetness, not the social-occasion courtesy, but a sincerity that radiated from the very bones, utterly without reservation.
It was as though she really, completely, and entirely was just happy because you were happy.
Eden's stomach turned over.
The furtive, sneaking thrill from exchanging good-mornings with Su Yu just now was, in this instant, washed completely clean.
She was sneaking food behind Elysia's back.
And the food she was sneaking was precisely that man Elysia was also interested in.
Eden, oh Eden, how could you do something like this?
In this instant, she felt a touch of remorse; facing this girl who radiated light from head to toe, what she herself was doing really was a bit too much.
"Eden? What's wrong?" Elysia tilted her head. "Your expression suddenly changed."
"It's nothing." Eden set down her coffee cup and touched her own cheek with the back of her hand. "The coffee might just be too hot."
"Then drink it more slowly."
Elysia speared another piece of toast and happily started eating again.
Eden watched her, her fingers unconsciously rubbing the edge of her phone case under the table.
But thinking about it carefully.
There was no way she could tell Elysia about the Su Yu matter.
The transmigrator.
The childhood ghost.
The Herrscher of the Void.
And the Honkai.
These things were too dangerous.
That world surrounding Su Yu could tear apart anyone caught up in it at any moment.
Eden could bear this kind of risk, but Elysia couldn't.
Elysia only needed to shine and sparkle in the sunlight, and that was enough.
Those dark, dangerous, can't-see-the-light things—she would just have to shoulder them herself.
So.
Eden rapidly constructed a whole set of logic in her mind.
I'm with Su Yu behind Ellie's back in order to throw myself into the game, to keep Su Yu in check, to stop him from doing anything dangerous.
This is protecting Elysia.
Very reasonable.
Extremely reasonable.
Flawless.
I'm merely using this method to help Elysia hold back that death-wishing idiot, and on the day everything is resolved, when Su Yu no longer needs to worry about those things—
then I'll tell Elysia everything. This doesn't count as betrayal; I'm pure and innocent.
Although this "pure and innocent" was probably the kind of "pure and innocent" that means "pure and innocently raising a whole litter."
The Elysia before her had no idea whatsoever that her own best friend had gone through such a brainstorm in the span of just a few minutes.
Or perhaps she actually did know, but seeing Eden's originally tightly knit brows ease open again, that relaxed look made Elysia feel there was no real need to dig deeper either.
As long as Eden was happy, that was enough.
Eden lifted her coffee cup and took another sip.
This time, the bitterness of the coffee didn't seem so heavy.
"By the way, Ellie, this afternoon I'm planning to drop by Su Yu's studio for a bit."
"Oh?" Elysia's eyes lit up. "Then Ellie wants to go too! It's been so long since I've seen Su Yu, and Kiana too—last time we agreed to go together to that newly opened dessert shop—"
Eden's fingers paused for a beat on the rim of the coffee cup.
"…Sure, let's go together."
Her tone was very natural, and there wasn't the slightest flaw in her expression either.
But under the table, her other hand had already found her phone, her thumb swiping rapidly across the screen twice.
A new message was sent to Su Yu.
"This afternoon Ellie and I are coming to the studio together to see Kiana. Don't be nervous, just respond normally."
Pausing for two seconds, she added another line.
"Remember to wash off last night's perfume smell."
Sirin, who had been pretending to sleep the whole time, felt her whole body go stiff, an inexplicable wave of panic rising in her heart.
Children, do you think that after I'm found out, I'll still live to see tomorrow's sun?
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