With Sunday and Welt present, the journey was mostly silent.
Herta sat beside Lumina, her eyes closed in feigned rest. She didn't spare Lumina a single glance, looking as if she were sulking.
Lumina paid it no mind and made no attempt to comfort her.
Just a child throwing a tantrum, she thought. It's perfectly normal.
If she wants to sulk, let her sulk.
"Heh," Lumina chuckled softly. She glanced down at the distance between them, her eyes glinting mischievously as the corners of her lips curled into a smirk.
With a slight shift of her hips, she scooted a little closer to Herta.
Herta: "..."
Herta remained perfectly still, maintaining her pose of angry, closed-eyed meditation as if she hadn't noticed a thing.
Seeing this, Lumina grew bolder. In one smooth motion, she pressed her body flush against Herta's.
Herta: "..."
Herta's body visibly trembled, but her face remained a mask of serene meditation.
"Heh heh..." Lumina wasn't about to let her off that easily.
Slowly, Lumina extended a mischievous hand, inching it toward Herta's thigh.
Smack!
Before her hand could land, a fair, slender hand swatted it away.
"What do you think you're doing?" Herta snapped, finally dropping her pretense of angry meditation. "We might be heading into battle soon. Shouldn't you be resting?"
Her brow furrowed in a mix of embarrassment and annoyance as she glared at Lumina.
"Heh heh," Lumina responded with nothing more than a light chuckle.
She stared at Herta's face, finding it captivating even when flushed with anger. After a moment, her gaze drifted downward, settling on Herta's lap.
"Herta, I..."
"Ugh... Fine, just lie down already."
Though Lumina hadn't finished her sentence, Herta knew her well enough to guess what she wanted. She patted her lap, signaling for Lumina to rest her head there.
"Mmm~ As expected of Madam Herta, truly brilliant." Lumina nodded in satisfaction.
Lumina first shifted her body slightly away from Herta's, then gently laid her head on Herta's lap. A look of pure bliss instantly spread across her exquisite, beautiful face.
"As expected of Madam Herta," she murmured, "truly the best pillow in the Cosmos."
Resting on this incredibly comfortable pillow, Lumina wiggled her head slightly to show her delight.
"You... Don't move around!" Herta's lips tightened, and a faint blush, almost imperceptible unless one looked closely, bloomed on her cheeks. She practically ground out the words through clenched teeth.
Lumina had good reason to suspect that if she kept fidgeting, Herta might revoke her "exclusive lap pillow privilege."
"Alright, alright, I'll stop moving."
So, to ensure her exclusive service continued, Lumina obediently stilled herself. She lay quietly on Herta's lap, basking in the warmth of her lap pillow.
"Hey, Herta," Lumina asked after a while, her eyes half-closed, "do you know how to tell stories?"
"What for?"
"Tell me a story. I want to hear about your childhood."
"My childhood?" Herta murmured at the request.
"Yeah," Lumina said softly, still enjoying Herta's lap pillow. "I'm curious if a genius's childhood is different from everyone else's."
"You might be disappointed, then. My childhood was indeed different from a normal person's."
"But... it was uniquely boring," Herta added quietly.
It wasn't that Herta was embarrassed to talk about her past. It was just that her childhood had been so exceptionally dull, she couldn't think of a single interesting thing to tell Lumina.
"It's fine," Lumina hummed, showing she didn't mind. "Go on. No matter how boring it is, I'll listen to the end."
"Hmm... Alright." After a moment's thought, Herta agreed. "If you really want to hear it, I don't mind telling you."
"But..." In the next second, Herta's gentle tone sharpened. "Since I'm starting this, you must listen all the way to the end."
"No matter how boring or tedious it gets, you must listen to the very end."
"If you decide you don't want to listen halfway through, or if you fall asleep, I won't allow it, you know."
"Even if you don't want to listen, I'll keep talking. If you fall asleep, I'll knock on your head until you wake up."
Herta huffed lightly, her threat carrying no real menace.
"Of course," Lumina replied without concern, her eyes still closed as she lay on Herta's lap. "A story about Madam Herta's childhood is more precious than any treasure in the Cosmos."
"As the one chosen to hear Madam Herta's childhood story, how could I possibly get bored? How could I possibly fall asleep?"
Seeing Lumina's ready agreement, Herta said no more and began her tale.
Except...
"I was born on the Blue..."
This "childhood" seemed to start a little too early...
-
"And then, I..."
"Hmm?"
An unknown amount of time had passed, Herta's gentle voice still echoing in the air.
But in the next moment, she seemed to sense something and stopped her storytelling.
She lowered her head slightly, looking down at Lumina, who was still resting on her lap.
Seeing Lumina's breathing grow steady and even, Herta's movements became exceptionally slow and gentle, as if she didn't want to disturb the girl's peaceful slumber.
Hmph, you kept insisting you wouldn't, but you ended up lying after all.
Herta scoffed coldly, silently rebuking Lumina's actions.
But since she only thought these words without speaking them aloud, the sleeping Lumina remained blissfully unaware.
Still... if we're both liars, I suppose it cancels out, doesn't it?
Herta chuckled inwardly, her fingers gently brushing aside a stray strand of Lumina's hair. Her eyes, surprisingly, were filled with tenderness.
Lumina had lied to Herta, promising to listen to the entire story without getting bored or falling asleep.
But in the end, she had fallen asleep.
And Herta had lied to Lumina, threatening to finish the story even if she got bored, and to knock on her forehead to wake her up if she fell asleep.
The final result was obvious.
Gazing at Lumina's tranquil sleeping form,
Herta couldn't bring herself to wake her...