It all began eleven years ago.
Sirius was too exhausted to continue writing his research document, leaving it all open on the shared office spot.
The bright screen glowing across the dimly lit room instantly caught Herta’s eyes.
“Hm?”
She briefly glanced at the sleeping Sirius, and then to the contents of his computer screen.
Her perfect eyesight zoomed onto it, hooking her instantly.
Silent footsteps came from her low-heeled leather shoes.
She took the mouse loosely held by his hand and began scrolling through the document.
The paper on the screen was a study related to the analytical geometry used by navigation systems.
It wasn’t that advanced per se, but its purpose was extremely clear.
Several times, the word ‘space station’ had been cited, noticeably more so on its hypotheses section.
‘A space station?’
The thought of building one sounded very satisfying to Herta’s mind.
The Blue was limited by material and technical constraints.
The construction of a mega-sized space station, as stated inside the paper, wouldn’t be possible without dozens of years of dedicated hard work.
This kind of ‘challenge’ was what Herta sought.
She did not hesitate to close the document, checking Sirius’ file folder for more papers related to it.
She stayed until she read the last document.
Herta felt her back becoming a bit stiffer, though she could care less about it.
A complete blueprint had already been constructed inside her mind.
A mischievous thought arose in her mind.
‘What would this assistant of mine think if I built one?’
It started with a probing approach, and it ended with Sirius’ awestruck look.
Only, he was different from before.
He gained what his past self could not—
Freedom.
To be free from any restraints, imposed by oneself and others.
To be able to do what one really wants to do.
That was how Herta lived, and now, Sirius was the same.
In some ways, he mirrored a part of herself—a what-if.
That was the reason why he caught her eyes in the first place.
Across space and time, Herta saw Sirius flash a concerned look every now and then.
Every tremor felt by the space station was akin to seeing his beloved car getting scratches and bumps.
He cared about the space station more than Herta did!
‘Why is it so?’
Herta could not help but pace around slowly.
The process of understanding Sirius brought something far beyond temporary gratification.
It satisfies her.
Zoom-!
A sharp and high-pitched sound rang on everyone’s ears.
Herta ignored it as if it was a fly buzzing on her ear, but the same could not be said for Sirius.
His ears stung, being reminded of the pain of tinnitus.
His eyes never left the station’s external cameras, however.
He saw the Doomsday Beast’s movements becoming slower before coming to a complete halt.
A gaping hole emerged out of its body, turning it into black particles of light.
The Doomsday Beast, a threat capable of alarming an entire planet, was thus dealt in one blow.
Sirius heaved a sigh of relief.
He was the chief designer of the space station’s security systems.
Herta was the one responsible for actualizing them, bringing out knowledge and technology far beyond his.
She carried his ideals to reality.
If that had failed, he wouldn’t have the face to look at her eyes during their exclusive experimental sessions…
Just then, cold air grazed past his cheek.
His dark-blue long-sleeves lost their meaning as he felt a surge of chilling gaze out of nowhere.
It felt like he was thrown straight to the Antarctic without any thick clothes.
More shockingly, the space station’s lights turned dim.
The virtual screens plastered across disappeared, replaced by the station’s bleak and gloomy look.
‘I can’t move my body!’
Sirius was still holding onto the metallic control panel when the anomaly began.
Incredulously, even his sight remained fixed!
The sense of coldness crept closer despite not a single sound made around him.
Sirius immediately ‘logged out’ of it and called out its abilities in his mind.
At that instant, his thoughts came to a halt.
Unprecedented calmness surged from nowhere.
His thoughts turned more rational, almost frighteningly cold.
It was completely uncharacteristic from Sirius’ own self.
The jarring difference almost broke its hold onto him, barely holding on thanks to the sense of crisis he was feeling.
His thoughts raced extremely fast, far beyond its usual limits.
Sirius felt the back of his eyes turning hot, slight dizziness creeping up, as he experienced the effects of the mental landscape’s ‘mind overdrive’.
Because of it, he was now able to move his sight.
‘What happened?’
‘Was this the work of a Lord Ravager?
Impossible.’
‘Nobody should be as discreet as this.’
‘The Remembrance?
It’s less likely.
Their power is very blatant.’
‘Who is it?’
Although he found himself in such a state, Sirius never felt fear—it was useless.
Just as he had expected, the familiar voice rang out on his back.
It happened that a cold metallic tip touched the back of his neck.
“You dared to put your shabby scalpel on places it should not.” Herta’s power carried a liberating effect, freeing Sirius from his constraints.
“Is this how a senior greets their junior?”
The moment Sirius turned around, he was met with a glaring light.
He instinctively squinted his eyes, barely clearing up the useless information bombardment his brain received.
The origin of this bunch of garbled filters was a mature woman.
Her face remained hidden in a garbled screen, though it could not conceal the elegance etched deeply on her bones.
The scalpel held by her right hand pointed directly to his throat.
‘It’s her..!’
He stood there, frozen.
He naturally recognized who arrived just now.
All of his hours spent on the Simulated Universe and reading parts of his trashy relics’ flavor text paid off at this exact moment.
The woman held so many feats, her presence as elusive as the possibility of Herta getting a buff (Novaflare) prior to his death.
One of the most glaring of them all was—
‘She killed both of the Mechanical Emperors who caused an upheaval in the cosmos!’
Herta’s eyes, which were easy-going, turned extremely serious at the sight of her.
Her right hand tightly grasped the small silver scalpel, yet not a single drop of blood spilled on it.
She made a historic weapon, one that fulfilled the purpose of killing Rubert I and II, into a poorly sharpened cutlery.
She wasn’t carried away by this victory, however.
Herta pushed the tip of the scalpel away from Sirius’ throat, prompting the mature woman to put it down.
Sirius snapped out of his shock—something perceived by the mature woman opposite them.
His smallest expression gave him away to this one hell of a cosmic serial murderer.
“It seems like your little boyfriend knows about me.” She halted her words as she faced Herta, before speaking, “I did not expect for you to care much about him.”
Herta concealed the flicker of surprise in her eyes, hiding it well enough to remain unseen by the woman’s gaze.
“No wonder it is his presence that would push you into the Circle.”
“And what of it? Jealous, are you?” Herta scanned her up and down, not bothering to hide her sarcasm.
“Nobody will like a woman whose name was involved in nothing but killing.”
Despite being separated by the filtered mesh, Sirius could ‘see’ the woman let out a chuckle.
It was as if she found Herta’s personality surprising.
She turned back, ready to leave, when she said:
“Don’t think you are an exemption. I won’t mind dealing with a little witch.”
Click-!
The space station’s lightning returned to normal.
The cold air that emerged upon the woman’s arrival disappeared.
The centralized air conditioning worked properly, bringing much needed heat onto Sirius.
He rubbed his eyes with his right hand as he exited his forced rationality state.
His heart began beating frantically, still caught on the near-death experience just now.
He did not conceal his unease to Herta, letting out a deep sigh.
“I thought you would really collect a corpse today.”
“Do you want me too?” She faced Sirius, teasing him.
“No, of course not.” He shook his head before remembering something, “Is this considered a failure?”
“The security test? I suppose not. If you can come up with something against her, I will give you my unreserved praise.”
The two stared at each other for a while.
For reasons they could not pinpoint themselves, their tacit understanding had reached a high-level in the span of a month.
“I can share all of my secrets with you, but I know you would not like it that way.”
“Humn.”
Seeing her nod, Sirius proposed:
“So let’s do it your way. Dig them out from my mouth, as if you would conduct a research.”
A smile formed from her lips.
His words hit her mark.
She never wanted to directly ask him.
Doing so was tasteless for the current Herta.
She found the process more enjoyable than the result itself.
That was why nothing could retain her interest for an extended period of time.
Herta moved from one topic to another, losing interest in the ‘questions’ she had ‘answered’ already!
Seeing her step forward, Sirius’ throat ran dry.
He already has a sliver of an idea on what is about to happen next.
Before long, the distance between the two was less than ten centimeters.
Her leather top pressed onto his chest.
Her hands made their way to his collar, pulling his upper body down.
Fortunately, Sirius cooperated with her, lest his buttoned long-sleeves be torn apart.
The familiar soft lips touched his own.
There wasn’t any physical taste in regards to Herta’s saliva.
It was tasteless, a testament of her perfect oral health.
“Taste” wasn’t limited to that alone, however.
Sirius’ thoughts turned hazy, growing addicted to the ‘sweetness’ that was stuck on his chest.
His arms could not help but wrap around her waist.
The texture of the corset-like leather greeted his touch.
Beyond it was the breath-taking shape hugged tightly by her dress.
It was, at this moment, he truly realized something.
Madam Herta is truly an inimitable beauty.
During the past month, all they did was their ‘dailies’ of lip kisses, and at most, Herta leaving bite marks on his neck.
There was still a sense of distance between the two, as if they were still testing each other out.
Now, it has disappeared.
Herta asserted her possessiveness of him.
Having grown rather ‘bored’ of normal kisses, Herta decided to try something out.
The tip of her tongue stuck out to Sirius’ lips.
That gesture tickled his heart, awakening something within.
Out of instinct, he received it.
He opened his lips, allowing her pink tongue to properly inspect his mouth.
From brief brushing of each other’s tongues, it soon became a ‘contest’ on who could entangle the other more.
The learning ability of a genius could not be underestimated.
Herta’s awkwardness lasted for a mere minute before she turned into an expert kisser.
Every entanglement… every point in his tongue she pressed on made Sirius weak to his knees.
Her narrowed eyes showed a hint of satisfaction upon seeing the reddened mess he had become.
Just as she was ‘reveling’ on her victory, Sirius froze momentarily.
Ring-!
The dull sound of a bell rang on both his ears, along with a string of words.
‘Muscle reflex engrained.’
Although he could not see what it was, the green trait’s activation was obviously related to what they are doing now.
What else could it be but kissing experience?
Sirius did not think twice and tried using it.
He was surprised to instinctively have a grasp over the tongue’s sensitive points.
He fought back against Herta’s one-sided domination, disciplining her overbearing pink tongue.
His entanglement struck at varying angles, causing Herta’s shoulders to slightly jump out of fright.
It was Sirius’ first time seeing her this… startled.
This discovery brought upon something else—a physical reaction.
Due to their close contact, with Herta’s body rubbing against Sirius’, she instantly felt the twitching on his black slacks.
She pulled herself from him, creating thin silver strings between their mouths.
“Your body is much more honest than your words.”
“…”
Sirius felt speechless at her words.
He did not expect those words with double-meaning to come out of Herta’s mouth, much less her teasing look laced with interest.
‘Why does she sound like a female gangster?’