Would that girl do something strange while she wasn't around?
After finishing what she had been working on, Herta found her thoughts drifting to Kiana, who had just gone to rest.
Rubbing her chin, she moved without hesitation. Once something crossed her mind, she acted on it. Since she had thought of Kiana, she might as well go take a look.
It was only a few steps away anyway.
When she reached the lounge, what she saw was Kiana curled up on the sofa, one hand pressed against her forehead, her expression hidden from view.
"What are you sitting there for?" Herta frowned and walked over. "That's quite a unique way of resting."
It was Herta's voice.
At this hour, no one else would be here but her.
Kiana's muddled mind slowly began to function again. She lowered the hand covering her forehead and looked up at Herta, who had approached her.
She didn't look like someone who was about to rest.
Herta's frown deepened. She glanced around, then her gaze landed briefly on the phone Kiana had tossed aside.
She had only been gone for a moment—how had Kiana become this listless?
And getting worse?
There was no response.
Herta bent down slightly, leaning closer, narrowing her eyes as she studied Kiana's dazed, almost blank expression.
"Come on, let me perform a little magic—snap out of it."
Before Herta could do anything, Kiana suddenly grabbed the hand she had just raised. A flicker of clarity appeared in her eyes.
Was she pretending?
Herta hadn't even done anything yet.
Thinking of Kiana's past antics, it wasn't impossible. Maybe she just wanted to scare her.
"You tell me..." Kiana began, her voice hoarse and unfocused. "What is divinity?"
That was quite the question.
Herta was curious about that herself. She had even planned to ask Nous about it.
Looking Kiana up and down again, Herta said, "I leave you alone for a moment and you surprise me like this."
She didn't answer the question.
Kiana finally snapped out of her daze. Seeing how close Herta was—and realizing she was still tightly gripping her wrist—she instinctively let go as if burned, her expression becoming lively again.
"I was just asking casually."
She forced a laugh and looked away, avoiding Herta's gaze. If she hadn't been curled up on the sofa, she would have definitely tried to put some distance between them.
It wasn't that she disliked Herta.
It was just that, in her hazy state, she had suddenly found a face of breathtaking beauty right in front of her—and she had been gripping that person's wrist tightly.
That kind of situation made anyone feel guilty.
She did like Herta's looks, but she didn't really know how to interact with her.
Touching her slightly burning ears, Kiana couldn't help but feel a bit regretful. Why had she been thinking so much for no reason?
If she had just continued sleeping, none of this would have happened.
"You..."
As if avoiding something untouchable.
The way Herta looked at her changed noticeably. "Am I some kind of spiky cactus?"
She grabbed the same hand Kiana had just used and pulled her closer, saying, "You touch me and then back away? Did you forget what our relationship is now?"
That was true.
No matter how it had come about, the fact remained unchanged—their fates were now tied together. From now on, they would likely remain connected.
Back in the Stigmata space, she had seemed more agreeable. Now she was just infuriating. Infuriating enough that Herta had considered several times whether she should just take it all back.
Kiana stared blankly as Herta pressed her forward, gripping her hand and pinning her onto the sofa.
She could read Herta's expression.
Although she didn't understand Herta as well as Acheron or Ruan Mei did, Herta was easy to read. She said whatever she thought, never caring what others thought.
"This is too close..."
Where Herta held her, she could feel her warmth pulsing through her veins, flowing toward her heart. Trapped within such a small space, Kiana's voice grew softer. That warmth coursed through her body, making her cheeks flush.
For no reason at all—
She thought of what had happened in the Stigmata.
She thought of that kiss at the brink of death.
"You're blushing?" Herta raised a brow, somewhat intrigued, and touched her cheek with her other hand. "Don't tell me you're shy."
Of course not!
Kiana grabbed her hand and tried to sit up to prove it, but when she struggled slightly, she realized she couldn't pull her hand free from Herta's grip.
Just as she was startled by how firmly Herta was holding her, she suddenly felt a weight on her shoulders. A force pushed her back onto the sofa.
Herta's knee pressed into the sofa between her legs as she half-knelt over her, pinning her down.
This situation felt... off.
Kiana couldn't help but think too much.
"What are you doing?"
Her voice lacked confidence. She knew what this posture implied—she just hadn't expected Herta to actually do it.
Looking down at Kiana, who was pinned beneath her, all her earlier momentum gone, appearing somewhat pitiful and helpless, Herta let out a soft laugh.
"If you were like this from the start, wouldn't that have been better?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean..." She lifted Kiana's chin, looking into those blue eyes that reflected her own face. "You look much more obedient with this expression."
What?!
Before Kiana could say anything, Herta leaned down and pressed her lips against hers, cutting off whatever she had been about to say.
These past few days, Herta had been wondering whether she had made her decision too quickly—whether she should have thought it through more carefully.
Because interacting with Kiana gave her a headache. Even though their conversations went smoothly, an invisible barrier remained between them.
Neither of them had brought it up.
Now, Herta took the initiative.
She wanted to break that barrier—and through this contact, confirm whether her feelings were the same as they had been in the Stigmata world.
She just... kissed her?
Kiana's pupils widened slightly. She could clearly feel Herta's soft body pressing against hers, clearly feel the warmth that differed from her own.
And that soft kiss.
Herta's words could sometimes be sharp, even unpleasant—but her lips were incredibly soft, and her movements carried a hint of inexperience.
Completely different from that somewhat rough, blood-tinged kiss back then.
Wrapped in Herta's warmth, the tension in Kiana's heart finally eased, grounding her in reality.
Like someone who had been walking on clouds finally stepping onto solid ground, she felt a reassuring sense of stability.
But that feeling didn't last long.
When a warm, moist tongue pried open her lips, Kiana's eyes snapped open in shock. Before she could react, the hand on her shoulder pressed down even harder.
Is this right?
How did it suddenly turn into a French kiss?
She couldn't see Herta's expression. All her senses seemed to have rushed to her face at this moment.
Even the slightest friction made her go weak.
A scorching heat surged through her body, rising higher and higher, as if it would melt her entirely—along with her reason—into a pool of spring water.
I'm kissing her.
That realization became clearer and clearer within that overwhelming heat.
I like her.
Her heart pounded violently because of her.
The kiss lasted a long time. It was just that, and yet Kiana had already lost all strength, her entire body going limp.
When it ended—she tilted her head back, her eyes unfocused as she stared at the ceiling, her lips slightly parted as she tried to catch her breath.
"How was it?"
A hand gently caressed her cheek, carrying a trace of affection. The faint tickling sensation stirred her heart again, which had only just settled.
"Did you like it?"
It was the first time she had seen this side of Herta. It completely reshaped her understanding of her, as if she had come to know her more deeply.
She pressed her lips together. Even though she knew the answer, she still couldn't help but murmur, "Why?"
Why kiss her so suddenly?
Why would she kiss her?
Why...
"Did you think I was playing house with you?" Herta's fingers brushed across her soft, delicate face. Her tone was calm, yet the kiss had tinted it with something else.
Kiana was at a loss for words.
Of course she wasn't... well, actually, she really didn't feel like she was truly in a relationship with Herta. She hadn't figured out how to get along with her either.
In her heart, she felt she didn't understand Herta well enough, nor were they particularly close.
So feeling confused was only natural, right?
Everything she knew about Herta was based on what had happened in the Stigmata world—but could that really be used as a foundation?
She kept saying her feelings were real.
But...
Herta saw through the unguarded confusion on her face and leaned in closer, staring into her eyes.
"I'm not joking."
That lingering doubt—whether she had agreed too quickly—completely disappeared from her world after that kiss.
If she had harbored uncertainties and confusion before, similar to Kiana's, then after this kiss, she fully understood her own feelings.
She wasn't joking.
"I..."
Kiana wanted to say that she wasn't joking either, but under Herta's gaze, the words stuck in her throat no matter how hard she tried.
She had joked with Herta many times.
She had used humor as a way to probe, little by little, what kind of person Herta was, how she should interact with her, and what her true intentions were.
What she wanted from her.
Now, she already had an answer.
"Sorry."
She didn't dare meet Herta's eyes. Awkwardly, she looked away to the side.
"So you were doing it on purpose."
Herta wasn't surprised in the slightest. She had already guessed her thoughts. Even hearing Kiana admit it herself didn't bring her any sense of satisfaction.
Kiana instinctively retorted, "Weren't you also using this chance to confirm things?"
"I'm not the same as you." Herta tucked the strand of white hair that had fallen across Kiana's face behind her ear. "I made everything clear to you from the beginning."
Who knew you were actually that straightforward...
Kiana felt guilty, even more unwilling to meet her gaze. She didn't believe Herta truly had feelings for her. She preferred to believe it was a decision made after weighing the pros and cons—that those words were just meant to facilitate their relationship.
She remembered everything that had happened in the Stigmata world, and the things Herta had said.
But from her perspective, what she had felt from beginning to end was that Herta had no interest in her. No matter what she did, she never seemed satisfied.
Herta had been right to act that way.
Kiana had temporarily lost her memory, but Herta hadn't. Refusing her and giving her no chance had been the correct choice.
And things had indeed unfolded that way.
But what about later?
Later, after she had crossed the line, she still received the response she had always wanted—from Herta.
But why?
Thinking back to that moment, Kiana licked her lips, her thoughts drifting. It had been when she was about to die.
At the final moment when she offered herself to test Herta's hypothesis, losing her life in the process.
A response obtained under those circumstances...
Kiana couldn't help but wonder if it had simply been guilt, going along with the situation.
"Nothing to say?"
Herta didn't let it go. When Kiana fell silent, she pressed further.
Kiana, as if struck critically, seemed to lose all strength and gave up, saying, "Fine, yes, that's what I think. I think you did it out of guilt."
"Why would I feel something like that?"
Kiana looked at Herta in confusion. Saying something like that so confidently—was that really a good thing?
"Besides, that was fake to begin with. Even if you died a hundred times, so what?" Herta continued, taking advantage of the fact that Kiana had no idea about her earlier conversation with Ruan Mei. "If you die in a dream, does it affect you in reality?"
"No!"
"Then why would I feel guilty?"
What could Kiana even say to that?
She let out a long sigh. "You're right."
Was she really right?
Seeing that Kiana didn't seem to care at all about what Ruan Mei had done to her—not even mentioning it—Herta felt a hint of irritation.
She turned Kiana's face back toward her and said, "Continue."
Kiana froze. "Continue?"
Herta's thumb brushed across her soft, moist lips, answering her question through action.
Her lips were still numb from the previous kiss, not yet fully recovered. Kiana struggled slightly. "Wait... mm... wait..."
Wait?
Herta didn't like waiting.
Not only did she not give Kiana a chance to speak, she took advantage of the moment her lips parted and slipped in, completely sealing off any words of refusal.
Those words could wait until later.
Compared to the earlier kiss—somewhat rough, driven by emotion, one that Kiana hadn't responded to, where even her body temperature had been fading—
Herta preferred this.
There was warmth now.
And a response.
Besides, Kiana's mouth wasn't particularly good at saying anything that pleased her.
She couldn't speak well.
But a mouth should still have some use, shouldn't it?
If she couldn't speak, then she could kiss.
That was far more enjoyable than anything she might say.