"Come on, show me your belly and apologize."
"Why would I apologize if you're not angry?"
"I've changed my mind. Regarding the matter of you giving me a fake address to deceive me, I'm extremely angry now."
"Heh."
Inside Herta's office on the space station, Clara stood with her hands on her hips, looking across at Herta, who had her arms folded.
"Lady Herta, I'm giving you one last chance. Will you apologize or not?"
"Miss Clara, I'll also say one final time: no!"
"Very well, you've successfully angered me." Clara gave a cold laugh.
"The price of provoking me is something you can't afford!"
"Heh."
To this, Herta merely chuckled dismissively, completely unconcerned, and turned to continue her experiment.
But just as Herta had taken a few steps after turning, a voice identical to her own came from behind.
"Mas… Master, is this comfortable?"
Herta: !
Hearing the voice, Herta swiftly turned her head to look.
She saw Clara watching her with a beaming smile, holding a memory crystal in her hand.
Herta had a premonition that the crystal likely recorded that time when she wore a maid outfit and "served" Clara…
"When did you record this?"
Herta looked at Clara, utterly baffled. Her attention had been entirely on Clara back then. How could Clara have taken out a memory crystal to record without Herta noticing?
"You guess?" Clara hummed lightly, not answering the question.
As for how Clara managed to evade the perception of Herta, an Emanator of Erudition?
It was, of course, [Remembrance]. Emanator of Remembrance, what did you expect?
The footage in the memory crystal was all recorded from Clara's own [memories]. If Herta could have detected that, it would have been downright supernatural.
Holding the memory crystal, Clara walked step by step toward Herta.
"Lady Herta here, surely you wouldn't want this memory crystal in my hand to be disseminated across the entire universe, would you?"
"You wouldn't want everyone in the universe to know that Lady Herta, a member of the Genius Society and an Emanator of Erudition, is, in private, someone's personal maid, right?"
Herta: …
"Sigh…" Herta let out a weary breath.
"You win, I surrender. Tell me, what do I have to do for you to destroy that crystal?"
Herta felt a bit weary inside. Clearly, she was the one representing Erudition, so why did she always end up losing in these confrontations with Clara?
"Apologize to me." The same smiling expression remained on Clara's face as she added,
"Remember to bare your belly. An apology with a bared belly is the most sincere apology."
Herta: …
"This puppet body is wearing a skirt. How am I supposed to bare it?"
Hearing this, Clara instead looked puzzled. "Isn't it obvious?"
"Since the skirt is inconvenient, just take it off. Problem solved."
"…"
'It's just a puppet, just a puppet, just a puppet.'
Herta comforted herself inwardly, then took a deep breath and checked to see if Clara was using another memory crystal.
Seeing that Clara wasn't recording, Herta slowly lifted her skirt, raising it just enough to expose her belly.
The white panties tied with a purple bow were now in full view.
Suppressing the shame in her heart, Herta apologized to Clara.
"Sor… sorry, I shouldn't have tricked you before…"
"This… this should be enough, right…" Seeing Clara remain silent, Herta was about to lower her skirt when Clara stopped her.
"Wait, your apology isn't sincere enough. You didn't state the specific reason."
Herta: …
Huff… Hold it in, I can't beat her, I can't beat her…
Herta offered herself another round of mental consolation, then said:
"Sorry… I'm sorry. I shouldn't have tricked you, shouldn't have given you a fake address, causing you to make a wasted trip."
"I hope… I hope you can forgive me…"
"Mmm~ Not bad, not bad. I forgive you." Seeing Herta's earnest demeanor, Clara chose to forgive her.
Hearing this, Herta's expression instantly changed. The embarrassed look vanished without a trace.
"The memory crystal."
Herta's flat tone betrayed no emotion.
"Here, take it." Clara casually tossed the crystal into Herta's hand.
Catching it, Herta first checked the contents.
Just as she had guessed, the recorded scenes were indeed from when she wore the maid outfit and "served" Clara.
'How on earth did Clara pull this off?'
Confirming the content, Herta grew even more puzzled.
Herta could state with one hundred percent certainty that at the time, there was no trace of a memory crystal in Clara's hands or anywhere in the entire office.
So how…?
"Want to know how I did it?" Seeing through Herta's thoughts, Clara said with a grin, seemingly plotting something again.
"I don't want to know." Hearing this, Herta shook her head without hesitation.
Alright, truth be told, Herta was burning with curiosity. But remembering the conditions Clara might propose, her curiosity cooled significantly.
"Aw, this request isn't hard at all."
"Just take off all your clothes, kneel before me, and pledge that 'Miss Clara is the cutest in the universe,' and I'll tell you."
"How about it? Simple, right?"
"Heh."
To this, Herta only replied with two syllables.
Actually, Herta had a rather bold hypothesis, but because it seemed too far-fetched, she didn't voice it.
The video in the memory crystal might have been recorded from some [memory]... So…
Herta suspected that Clara might not just be an Emanator of Elation…
Herta found it hard to believe that the Interastral Peace Corporation, which had clashed directly with Clara, would mistake the Path she followed…
Therefore, Herta had good reason to suspect Clara was both [Remembrance] and [Elation]…
But how could that be? Two unrelated Aeons bestowing their power upon the same individual simultaneously…
Herta believed one person could attract the gaze of multiple Aeons and thus walk multiple Paths. But… bestowing power was completely different from that…
Never mind how Clara's body or soul could withstand it; the fact that the two Aeons didn't come to blows over it was a miracle in itself…
Forget it, can't figure it out. Herta shook her head, deciding to drop the line of thought.
"Now then, it's my turn to ask. Why did you come to the space station? To help that little hacker?"
Herta asked Clara. Setting other identities aside, she was still a Stellaron Hunter. Her purpose here was likely related to that.
"If you're here for her, then I'll—"
"I think you might have misunderstood something." Clara interrupted Herta, speaking calmly.
"My purpose in coming to the space station is to help you all defeat Silver Wolf."
Herta: ?
Did I mishear, or did you misspeak?
…
T/N: Is it light cone? But light cone is 光锥 not 留影石....
…
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