Early the next morning, Xiyue lay with her eyes wide open, staring blankly at the ceiling.
Remembering last night’s tutoring session, her body shuddered all on its own.
For the one being tutored, Kiana, it had unquestionably been agony—because Kiana genuinely could not understand academic subjects.
For the one doing the tutoring, Xiyue, it had been agony too—because every time she explained something, Kiana would twist it into some other “knowledge.”
The moment the session ended, both of them couldn’t help sighing inwardly.
Being a teacher / a student is so hard!
Thank goodness for Fu Hua, or Xiyue figured she’d have gone mad.
Once again she understood the meaning of that nickname, Paramecium—right now, the only things in Kiana’s head were eating, sleeping, and cuddling Mei!
A hopeless case, for the moment.
It took a good while before Xiyue snapped out of it.
But the Cook lived up to her name—the food she made was just that good.
Remembering the dinner Mei had cooked last night, Xiyue’s mouth practically watered.
She resolved to eat at Mei’s dorm every single evening from now on!
If she could freeload off the Cook, why wouldn’t she?
As for Kiana—she’d just have to thoroughly torment this little Paramecium on stream.
With that, she propped herself up, switched on her two phones, and started streaming.
The system invited two new viewers every broadcast.
As she entered the game screen, she greeted the chat.
“Morning, everybody.”
“Did y’all miss me?”
Miss Pink Elf♪: Yuexi-cutie, I waited a whole 24 hours, 24 minutes, and 24 seconds for you to go live~ Making a beautiful maiden wait is very naughty behavior, you know~
Kitty Snuggles: Yuexi-boss, stream, stream!
I wanna know who that voice in Kiana’s head is!
Wants to Buy an Island: Cliffhanger dog—may you die a horrible death!
No Exams Thanks: Ugh, tutoring is such a pain.
Watching the enthusiastic chat, Xiyue smiled as she replied.
“Easy now, everyone.
This stream we’ll go all the way to main-story Chapter 6!
Big servings, all you can eat~”
“But before we start, let’s welcome two new viewers—World’s Cutest and Definitely Not Embarrassing~”
As Xiyue said the first handle, she couldn’t help laughing out loud.
The ID was way too easy to guess—who else but Theresa?
As for “Definitely Not Embarrassing,” that one she couldn’t place.
Could it be the Embarrassment Herrscher, Wendy?
She shook her head—too little to go on.
Still, Xiyue’s laughter carried to every viewer, and especially to the ears of a baffled Theresa.
In the principal’s office at St.
Freya, Theresa—who’d brewed some bitter-melon juice, set a complete manga collection beside her, and settled in for a full day of reading—was thrown by the stream that had appeared out of nowhere.
Just as she was about to investigate it.
Hearing Xiyue call out her name and then laugh, Theresa felt thoroughly offended.
Her fair little face flushed crimson in an instant.
Whatever this stream was, she rapidly typed.
World’s Cutest: What are you laughing at?
“Nothing, nothing—I just figured anyone who’d pick a name like that must be really cute in real life too~”
Hearing Xiyue’s praise, the red clouds on Theresa’s face slowly faded.
World’s Cutest: Well, of course I am!
No Exams Thanks: Stu… Auntie?
World’s Cutest: Huh?
And you are?
No Exams Thanks: I’m your bestie’s most awesome daughter~
Seeing this comment, Theresa narrowed her eyes.
Kiana?
But when she went to type out Kiana’s name, she got a warning.
No matter—once this stream was over, she’d go find Kiana and ask what was going on.
Watching the two converse, Xiyue had expected as much.
There were only so many Valkyries who’d been boarded onto the Hyperion in Honkai.
Setting aside the Elysian Realm crowd and the ones who couldn’t be boarded, she recognized just about all the rest, big and small.
It was perfectly normal for them to share a single stream.
The more, the merrier—after all, in the arcs to come, plenty besides the main trio would be protagonists too~
“All right, let’s get this stream going.”
And while Xiyue was streaming, in the Oceania Valkyrie Branch Laboratory, a girl with short hair—black on the outside, teal within—sat on an examination table.
Tens of thousands of researchers in white coats surrounded her, hands ceaselessly recording something.
Toward these people, the girl’s teal eyes were numb and vacant; deep within them flickered a sliver of hatred, though no one noticed.
Only when she watched the stream before her, the game footage, did a faint spark of life return to the girl.
In the game’s story, a lively, mysterious voice rang out in Kiana’s ears.
“Welcome back, Kiana Kaslana.”
Hearing that voice, Theresa shot to her feet.
The colossal Oath of Judah materialized behind her, her gaze brimming with alarm, her whole body radiating a terrifying aura, her eyes locked on the screen as she breathed in disbelief.
“Sirin?
Impossible!”
Hearing that nostalgic voice, Xiyue—who used to instinctively assume it was the Queen—knew the Queen’s voice wasn’t like this.
The Queen would never be this polite, after all.
If it were the Queen, the first word out would be “ants”!
Then again, she couldn’t rule out the Queen mimicking Sirin—though the two were one and the same to begin with.
At that moment, the Queen within Kiana’s consciousness heard the voice and felt a faint sense of foreboding.
This was her next move; if her plan got exposed ahead of time, would she still succeed?
Toward this stream, a sliver of cold flashed through the Queen’s golden eyes.
Looks like she’d have to change some of her plans.
No Exams Thanks: Who’s she?
Xiyue ignored Kiana, though, and pressed on with the story.
Kiana: You… what do you want?
Let me show you how fierce a Kaslana is!
I’m Schicksal’s strongest Valkyrie—well, I will be in the future!
“Kaslana?
Valkyrie?
Hahahaha—seems you know nothing about who you really are.”
“You’re nothing but an orphan abandoned by her father, who never even saw her mother’s face.”
“Aren’t you curious about your own origins?”
The voice, full of temptation, rang out in the story.
And in reality, the bug—eating her breakfast—heard that voice and her eyes dimmed, sinking into silence.
Miss Pink Elf♪: Hugs for the cutie-tuna~
World’s Cutest: Stop talking already!
Chlorinated Kiana: Heh.
Sirin’s words went on.
“Your life, from beginning to end, has been nothing but lies~”
Most of Chapter 2’s story was the Queen setting a trap, hoping to plant a seed in Kiana’s heart so Kiana would lose her conviction—and then the Queen could seize her body.
It also used the plot to explain the setting to players.
Sirin introducing herself in such a roundabout way really was a piece of work.
Still, it let Elysia learn the backdrop of this era.
“Fourteen years ago, during the Second Eruption, with the world plunged into crisis, Schicksal sent out a Valkyrie to subjugate the Herrscher—the only S-rank Valkyrie.”
“That was your mother, Cecilia Schariac~”
“And your father was Siegfried Kaslana.”
Hearing this, Kiana understood why she’d never seen her mother.
So that was it.
Kiana didn’t want to dwell on it.
Thinking of Theresa, she asked in the chat.
No Exams Thanks: Auntie, is what she’s saying true?
World’s Cutest: We’ll talk later.
Kitty Snuggles: Kiana’s mother feels so amazing—taking on a Herrscher all alone.
That’s something I couldn’t even imagine.
Wants to Buy an Island: Schicksal, the organization.
Heh.
Miss Pink Elf♪: Why does this suddenly feel so tragic?
Yuexi, didn’t you say this was a warm, healing game?
Seeing Elysia’s comment, Xiyue couldn’t help breaking into a cold sweat.
As expected of Elysia—the plot had barely gotten anywhere and she could already smell the knives.
Xiyue hastily explained.
“No, no—Miss Pink Elf-san, you’re overthinking it.”
“That was just filling in the game’s setting!”
“This is a game about a girl and the righteous path—a story of growth, companionship, and beautiful things, the kind that makes you feel healthy, wholesome, and uplifted!”
“How could there possibly be any tragedy?”
Miss Pink Elf♪: Is that so?
Deceiving a beautiful maiden earns you a punishment, you know~
Seeing Elysia’s threat, Xiyue thought nothing of it.
Elysia, you’re fifty thousand years in the past right now—how exactly are you going to come punish me?
Even from the Elysian Realm, there’s no getting out.
She did want to meet Elysia, but there was nothing to be done—unless she could worm her way into the Elysian Realm in this world.
“If I’m lying to you, then Miss Pink Elf can punish me however she likes!”
Xiyue replied, brimming with confidence.
What Xiyue didn’t know was that, the moment her answer arrived, a prompt appeared in Elysia’s eyes.
〖System〗 Friendly notice: When the host’s stream alters a plotline from how it was originally meant to unfold, you will receive an “Offline Meetup: One-Day Trip” (note: no upper limit).
After reading the prompt, Elysia dashed straight into Mobius’s Laboratory, came up to Mobius—who was mid-experiment—pinched her cheek, and then bolted just as fast.
As she fled, an enchanting smile spread across her face.