"It's just that the little one is dead."
Lumina: ???
Inside the Vortex of Genesis, hearing the words from Herta's mouth, a huge question mark slowly appeared above Lumina's head.
It's just that the little one is dead...
Why did this sentence sound extremely serious, yet also extremely casual and completely matter-of-fact?
When Herta spoke such an extremely serious sentence in this kind of tone, Lumina for a moment was completely unable to judge what kind of state Stelle was in now...
"What are you saying? Is Stelle actually alive or dead?"
Lumina's face fell, and she spoke with a face full of speechlessness.
Lumina was familiar with Herta. She wasn't some ruthless, heartless, and unreasonable person.
Since she spoke such words in this kind of tone, it must not be a big deal.
Since it wasn't a big deal, besides speechlessness, Lumina didn't generate any worried emotions.
And this wasn't a big deal in the first place. Even if she died, Lumina could revive her.
Compared to this, Lumina was more curious about what happened to Stelle inside.
"She's alive, but she's already dead."
"She's dead, but she's still alive."
Lumina: ???
Herta's words, spoken like a bard, made a huge question mark appear above Lumina's head once again.
"Are you a poet?" After a moment, Lumina couldn't help but use a popular internet meme to roast Herta.
Herta's words were just beating around the bush.
How was this any different from nonsense?
After rolling her eyes in speechlessness, Lumina also gave up on finding the answer from Herta.
Just like Herta, she subtly and imperceptibly released a wisp of her aura, quietly flowing into the Water Altar to observe the situation inside.
"..."
"Oh~ I see."
After a simple observation, Lumina understood what Herta's "nonsense" meant.
It was actually meant literally.
Stelle was actually already dead, now existing only in the form of a memory.
But this couldn't be called death either, so saying she was still alive wasn't a problem at all.
Although she was dead, she was still alive.
"Do you still think I'm a 'poet'?" Herta, who had been observing Lumina's expression the whole time, snorted and asked a rhetorical question after seeing the look of sudden realization on Lumina's face.
Herta naturally understood the meaning of the word "poet."
She wasn't some experiment-obsessed maniac who was disconnected from the internet and only knew about experiments all day.
She was quite familiar with some popular internet memes.
Hearing this, Lumina turned to look at Herta and winked with a smile, "With Madam Herta's literary talent, you are definitely a poet~"
"But if you say you're not, then you're not~"
"After all~ your most important identity is still being my wife~"
Lumina once again unleashed this move that dealt super-effective damage to beautiful girls.
"Ugh..."
The move landed squarely on Herta, instantly causing her face to flush red as she couldn't help but avert her gaze.
It's too unfair... using this kind of move when interacting with a beautiful girl, what difference was there between this and directly using hacks or a dimensional strike?
Herta couldn't help but grumble in her heart.
A surge of fluttering emotion continuously spread within Herta's body.
The thumping heartbeat grew faster and louder with each beat, leaving Herta, a [ Genius ] and an [ Emanator of Erudition ], completely unable to react in time.
Lumina's wink offensive was one point, but it only accounted for fifty percent.
The other fifty percent lay in that single word, "wife."
When this word came out of Lumina's mouth, combined with her tone and phrasing, it ultimately achieved an effect where 1+1 was greater than 2, dealing a heavy blow to Herta's heart.
And it even triggered a critical hit, dealing critical damage...
Not only that...
Lumina also reached out her hand and gently caressed Herta's cheek.
Feeling the soft touch on her palm and fingers, Lumina's heart also trembled.
But on the surface, no change could be seen; she still wore that expression as if everything was completely under control.
While gently caressing Herta's cheek, she softly said, "My dear Herta wife, why have you stopped talking?"
"Are you just naturally not fond of speaking?"
This was another internet meme, and a mocking one at that.
Clearly, after successfully landing a critical hit on Herta, Lumina used this opportunity to launch a Follow-Up Attack.
"..." Although Herta's mind was a complete mess right now, she still heard Lumina's words clearly.
Herta wanted to speak and answer, but the moment her pink and glistening little lips parted, they immediately closed again the next second.
Then she opened them again, and closed them again. Her hesitant look, unable to speak, made the already beautiful and cute Herta even more beautiful and cute.
She seemed to want to say something, but was unable to get the words out.
And Lumina, facing this adorable sight and watching Herta's pink little lips repeatedly open and close, felt a... somewhat ill-intentioned thought arise in her mind.
It wasn't just normal ill-intention, but the kind... laced with a few hints of "lewdness."
Lumina wanted to taste the flavor of those little lips...
Gulp...
As she watched, Lumina silently swallowed her saliva.
It was all Herta's fault...
After forcibly suppressing this feeling in her heart, Lumina silently blamed Herta for the entire reason.
If Herta hadn't always done extremely intimate, extremely prying gestures toward her body, how could Lumina have become like this?
It was all Herta's fault.
Lumina thought to herself very firmly.
With the support of this "anger" and "resentment," if Lumina truly couldn't control herself one day in the future, she would definitely trace back to the cause and source and vent it all on Herta fiercely...
"Ahem."
As she thought this over, a pure white image instantly condensed in Lumina's mind.
Even someone as strong as Lumina, faced with this image, instantly felt her little face flush with a slight blush.
But Lumina was still Lumina. The pure white image in her mind, coupled with the slight blush on her face, vanished without a trace in just an instant, unnoticed by anyone.
Lumina returned to normal in an instant, as if that momentary posture was just an illusion...
The premise being that someone had caught this fleeting moment.
Shaking her head and thinking no more of it, Lumina turned her gaze back to Herta.
Her small hand was still on Herta's face.
And Herta seemed to have not completely recovered from the internal struggle within her mind.
Seeing this, Lumina smiled and decided to give her a hand.
"..."
Lumina's original action of gently stroking Herta's face turned into pinching Herta's cheek, and it wasn't particularly gentle either.
Of course, this "lack of gentleness" was only because the speed of Lumina's pinching was a bit violent.
For ordinary people, this might cause pain, but for Herta, who possessed the body of an [Emanator], this "violent" cheek-pinching action would not cause any feeling of pain.
It was, at most, a bit uncomfortable.
The next second, with Lumina's help, Herta instantly came back to her senses, her small face flushing as she looked at Lumina with a face full of resentment and speechlessness.
"What are you doing?" Glancing at the small hand that was still pinching her cheek, Herta did not try to stop it, but instead spoke these words softly with a blush on her face.
But her face remained flushed, her breathing still hurried, and her words still tinged with a slight tremor, indicating that her heart was not as calm as her surface appeared.
Even though some time had passed, and she had already come back to her senses, Herta seemed unable to emerge from the emotions she had just experienced.
"Come on then." Lumina seemed to not take Little Herta seriously at all, continuing to pinch her small face even after she had recovered.
She seemed to be relishing the action, as if she had found some novel toy.
"Alright." Hearing Lumina follow up on her own words, Herta didn't change the subject and continued along with it.
At the same time, she still didn't stop Lumina's small hand from pinching her face.
"Hmm... come on."
Lumina's hand paused for a moment before she continued the conversation.
"Come on." Herta didn't back down either, urging Lumina to just do it if she really wanted to, instead of just talking a big game.
Talking a big game was easy; anyone could do it. If you say you're coming, then hurry up and come.
Although Herta only said two words, Lumina heard a whole sentence within them.
"Then you come on." Lumina pretended not to hear and egged Herta on to be the one to start.
"Will it be of any use if I come? Won't you just fool me in the end?" Hearing this, Herta snorted coldly.
She was no fool. She had fallen for this trick so many times before. How could she possibly fall for it again?
In the past, every time Lumina told her to come, just as she was about to touch, about to feel, Lumina would dart away and mock her.
In Herta's opinion, this time would be no different.
"Who said that?"
"I won't trick you this time. If you dare to come, I dare to give."
Hearing Herta's words, Lumina declared that she would not make a fool of her this time.
"Heh." But clearly, Herta did not believe a word of it.
Raising her head and pushing out her chest, Herta let her arms hang freely at her sides, exposing her chest to Lumina.
Dressed in clothes, Herta appeared as flat as a board.
But if you looked closely, you could still see a slight curve.
And... it was not small. Really not small at all.
After all... Lumina had truly felt it before.
The memory from the Little Forest had planted a seed in Lumina's mind. No matter how Lumina tried to erase it, she could never completely rid herself of it.
Or rather, Lumina could not erase the core of this memory at all...
"..."
"Heh."
Feeling Lumina's gaze fixed on her chest, Herta felt incredibly shy and awkward. Yet, seeing Lumina completely captivated by her body, she couldn't help but feel a surge of pride.
This pride, born from Lumina's reaction, was stronger and more unforgettable than the pride Herta felt after creating an invention that could shock the entire Cosmos.
"Come on."
Suppressing the shame and fear in her heart, Herta urged Lumina that if she wanted to do it, she should just come and do it quickly, instead of acting like a shy little girl.
You're Lumina, aren't you? The one who can walk through a thousand flowers without a single leaf touching her. How could you ever back down?
Just like before, Herta had only said two words this time.
But as they reached Lumina's ears, they sounded like a whole sentence.
She was urging Lumina that if she were a real woman, she should just come and do it, stop stalling.
"You come."
"Haven't you always wanted to do that kind of thing to me?"
"Now that I'm letting you do it, why are you suddenly so cowardly?"
How could Lumina possibly fall for Herta's reverse psychology?
Compared to Herta's constant hints, Lumina was much simpler, directly expressing the thoughts in her mind.
She told Herta to just go ahead and do it; she had already given her permission.
"What? Are you not fantasizing about this sort of thing anymore?" Lumina withdrew her small hand from pinching Herta's little face and spoke with a half-smile.
"Yes, I have." Hearing this, Herta readily admitted it.
Though she said it openly, the blush on Herta's face hadn't completely faded.
"Since you have, then come on!"
"You come on, why should I?"
"Just because you've been fantasizing about it? Now I'm helping you turn your fantasy into reality, and you're still not happy?"
"I'm not unhappy, I just think you're definitely up to no good, so I'm letting you go first."
"Once you come, I'll naturally come too."
"..."
As they spoke, the two inexplicably fell into a turn-based battle, exchanging lines one by one.
"..."
This turn-based battle between the two went on for a while, as if they had already forgotten everything else around them.
Hmm... forgetting the scenery around them was just a minor issue.
The real major problem was that the bickering Lumina and Herta had forgotten Castorice, Hyacine, Tribbie, and everyone else around them.
"Um..."
Just as Lumina and Herta were having their "argument," exchanging lines one by one, a weak voice suddenly rang out.
"Uh..."
Although this voice was very weak and soft, it successfully halted Lumina and Herta's turn-based battle.
"..."
Lumina and Herta's voices stopped abruptly, then they stiffly turned their heads and looked in the direction the voice had come from.
There they saw Castorice, Hyacine, Tribbie, and the others staring at them with confused expressions.
Clearly, they were extremely puzzled and anxious about Lumina and Herta's inexplicably sudden argument.
Lumina and Herta's relationship was so good, so how could they start arguing?
But what had just happened had truly taken place right before their eyes.
Looking at the two arguing, and hearing their incomprehensible words, the group finally glanced at each other, and Castorice spoke up to interrupt them.
No matter what they were arguing about, they absolutely could not let them continue!
This was what Castorice, Hyacine, Tribbie, and everyone else in the group was thinking.
But...
They would probably rack their brains and still be unable to imagine that the so-called "incomprehensible" words the two were using referred to something that could not be spoken of, could not be looked upon, and could not be fantasized about.