"It wasn't until I was kidnapped and those people sent me to the sanatorium where you were that I realized… we're the same."
She had been abducted and stripped of her freedom. Herta, confined within that sanatorium, was no different in essence.
It was just that Herta's value was greater.
"You said you knew me."
"But I don't even know where I came from, or whether… I'm even human like you."
"What I mean is—" Realizing she had drifted off topic, Kiana hurriedly corrected herself. "When I'm with you, I feel at ease."
No matter how dire the situation became, as long as Herta was by her side, she had something to anchor her spirit. She would not fall into despair.
"So you're trying to turn me into your nanny?"
Herta's brows drew together, then relaxed. So that was it. She had taken a fancy to her abilities. After all, her talent was irreplaceable.
"No, that's not what I meant!" Herta's tone had eased, but Kiana grew flustered instead. Feeling misunderstood, she hurried to explain, "I want to be your friend because I'm happy when I'm with you. I really like you. And you're a good person!"
"A good person? Me?" Herta arched a brow, amused. "To this world, I'm hardly what you'd call a good person."
"They wronged you first. You did nothing wrong!" Kiana shot back immediately.
Right and wrong meant little to Herta. She did not care how others judged her. She only needed to know what she herself wanted to do.
Still, hearing that…
was unexpectedly pleasant.
"Don't you want to save people? To save this world?"
"I trust you!" Kiana looked at her with burning eyes, filled with unwavering faith. "And right now, the thing I want most is to protect you!"
How interesting.
To say something so boldly.
With strength barely worth mentioning—she would be crushed by a passing artificial Herrscher if thrown into the fray—and yet she dared to claim she would protect her.
"What a pity."
"You don't believe me?"
Herta shook her head. What she found regrettable was something else entirely. It was only a fleeting thought.
"If you can't become smarter, then at least try to become more interesting." Herta's earlier indifference faded, replaced with a playful tone. "As long as you're interesting enough—interesting enough to keep me curious about you—then we can be friends forever."
She no longer mentioned only befriending intelligent people. That line had merely been something she'd tossed out when she was in a bad mood.
"Really?"
Kiana brightened, thinking Herta's attitude had softened.
"Don't think so little of me. The only reason I'm standing here, talking to you, is because…" Herta said evenly, "you're interesting enough to deserve some of my time and attention."
"Then what counts as interesting?"
"The unknown is always fascinating."
Unknown?
Kiana pondered the word, though in truth she did not fully understand what Herta meant, nor what standard she used to define "interesting."
She murmured, as if grasping at a goal. "As long as I'm interesting enough, I can be your friend?"
"Not only that." Herta looked at her with a half-smile. "As long as you can bring me enough interesting things, I can give you whatever you want—money, power, a favor from me, or anything else."
"Anything… at all?" Kiana stared at the smile on Herta's delicate face.
Herta nodded, pride unmistakable. "Anything."
There were few things in this world she could not accomplish. She had every reason to speak with such confidence.
"What if I want to stay with you forever?" Kiana asked tentatively, her heart stirring.
In this world, only Herta gave her a sense of familiarity and security. She could not imagine where she would go if she left her.
"Say that again?"
Herta's expression turned strange once more. She thought she really should record that sentence and let Ruan Mei hear it.
That scene would certainly be entertaining.
But she did not.
She was not one who lived for amusement.
"I-Is that not allowed?"
"You want to stay with me forever?"
"…I do."
"Interesting. Very interesting." Herta smiled, though something unreadable flickered beneath it. "I don't mind. But do you know how long forever is? Do you know what that actually means?"
At most, it would be adding another follower by her side.
What was the big deal?
But for Kiana, it was entirely different. Herta could not help but wonder what her reaction would be once she regained her memories and recalled these words.
That reaction would likely be fascinating as well.
A pity she was not one who chased amusement.
"…A couple?" Kiana searched her sparse memories, trying to interpret Herta's meaning. In the shelter, she had heard couples speak of living and dying together, of staying together forever.
The smile froze on Herta's face, replaced by open scrutiny. "A couple?"
"I've heard others say that." Kiana gathered her courage. "If we become a couple, does that mean we can stay together forever?"
Herta neither confirmed nor denied it.
She simply studied Kiana with a peculiar gaze, her expression indescribably strange.
"Do you even know what a couple is?"
"Liking each other?" Kiana ventured. "Because you like someone, you stay together forever?"
Herta let out a noncommittal chuckle.
Was that so?
She did not know. She was no sociologist. She had no interest in such matters, and thus no particular understanding of them.
"Perhaps I should remind you," Herta said slowly, meeting her eyes word by word. "Miss Kiana, you already have a lover."
Kiana's eyes widened. She pointed at herself uncertainly. "Me?"
"Ruan Mei was dragged into this trial world just like I was. You'll reunite soon enough." Herta's smile carried a trace of mockery. "Of course you can stay with me forever. I said it myself—as long as you can give me what I want, I can grant your wish. But before that, I hope you can repeat those words in front of Ruan Mei."
Ruan Mei…
When Herta had nearly failed during the serum injection, she had mentioned that name once before.
Ruan Mei… her lover?
She could remember nothing, nor did she know what kind of person that was. But Herta would not stoop to lying about something like this.
Which meant—
before losing her memories, she truly had a lover.
Her name was Ruan Mei.
Ruan Mei.
Kiana repeated the name in her heart. She could not recall the face that belonged to it, yet when she murmured the name silently, an indescribable familiarity surfaced.
How strange.
Why couldn't she remember anything?
She pressed her palm against her forehead, trying to follow that faint sense of familiarity and dig something out of the void. But no matter how hard she tried, there was only emptiness.
"Remember anything?"
Herta's calm voice reached her ears.
Kiana shook her head in disappointment. That flicker of familiarity only confirmed Herta's words. If it were not as she said, why would that name stir something inside her?
But she truly remembered nothing.
Everything before she woke up in the ruins was blank—like a sheet of paper cut cleanly in half.
"Still planning to say things like that?"
"I…"
Seeing her hesitation, Herta let out a derisive snort. "Ruan Mei has a cold personality. She doesn't understand emotions and acts like nothing in the world matters. Why not give it a try?"
With a single sentence, Herta sketched a rough outline.
Cold. Emotionless. Indifferent.
What kind of person was that?
Kiana frowned.
She could not picture it.
"Oh, and there's also Acheron." Seeing her expression, Herta continued, as if remembering something. "But she walks the Path of Nihility. Most of the time she's silent and unobtrusive."
Why bring up another name?
Kiana felt confused.
Acheron? Acheron…
The name did not feel as familiar as Ruan Mei's. She murmured in a daze, "Mei…"
"Looks like you prefer Acheron more."
"I… I can't remember." Kiana closed her eyes, her expression pained. "Why? Why is my memory completely blank? There's nothing there at all?"
Were they important to her?
They must have been.
Otherwise, why would forgetting them hurt so much?
Seeing her complexion worsen and her breathing grow rapid, Herta restrained the teasing edge in her expression.
"Once the trial ends and we leave this place, it'll be fine."
Herta's voice was like a lifeline. Kiana, who had nearly drowned in that empty void, abruptly looked up at her.
Her eyes were filled with sorrow.
Something seemed lodged in her chest. She lifted a hand and brushed the corner of her eye, her voice uncertain.
"I can't remember… but I feel sad. They seem important to me."
It was difficult to describe the sensation.
Without memory to support it, there was nothing she could grasp—only that lingering familiarity circling her heart, leaving behind a hollow ache.
"It's only temporary," Herta said, almost as if comforting her. "This is just a trial. Once it ends, everything will return to normal."
"…How do we end it?" Kiana looked at her for the first time and asked the question outright. "If we truly are inside a trial, what exactly do we have to do for it to be considered complete?"
"That depends on you." Herta met her gaze seriously. "Tell me. What do you want most right now?"
What did she want most?
Was the trial connected to her own desires?
Kiana stared at Herta blankly. Under that steady gaze, the confusion on her face gradually faded as she began to analyze her thoughts carefully.
She wanted to recover her memories.
But Herta had said that might only be possible after the trial ended.
She wanted to end the trial.
But how?
Her desires…
If she set all of that aside, the thing she wanted most right now—was to stay with Herta.
Round and round, she had returned to the same place.
"I want to stay with you and protect you," Kiana said softly, voicing her thoughts. "And help you do whatever you want to do."
The seriousness on Herta's face cracked slightly. She turned her gaze away. The robots were moving at astonishing speed, clearing a wide stretch of land and gathering materials to construct their base.
She thought she had already made herself clear.
"Anything else?"
"No." Kiana shook her head. "There's nothing else I want to do."
After a long silence, Herta turned back and looked at her deeply.
She was probably relying on her instinctively because there were no other familiar faces around.
Once the trial ended, everything would return to normal.
"After the laboratory is finished, I'll give you a full examination. I'll also see if there's a way to help you improve your strength."
"No problem!"
With the help of the machines, an underground base was completed in just a single day.
As for the additional equipment required,
Herta simply relied on the omnipotent Honkai energy.
Thanks to her prior experience researching clones, the examination proceeded quickly. In less than half an hour, she had inspected Kiana from head to toe.
And that was when the problem appeared.
After finishing the examination, the way Herta looked at Kiana became increasingly strange. A thought even surfaced—perhaps she should conduct a deeper level of testing.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Kiana shrank back slightly, a chill running down her spine. "Is something wrong?"
Then she abruptly fell silent, as if realizing something. Unease flickered in her eyes.
"I'm… not human, am I?"
"Mm. A Herrscher. The Herrscher of Finality. I already knew that." Herta frowned at her, scrutinizing her for a long moment.
Kiana's bodily data was almost identical to the data recorded during the examinations at the space station.
Was that normal?
Kiana had lost most of her abilities—and all of her memories. Under such circumstances, her physical data should have changed drastically.
Yet it hadn't.
That was illogical.
Unless…
Unless Kiana's body—or rather, Kiana herself—was not so different from the dolls Herta had created.
Herta narrowed her eyes.
If that were true, then the failure of the cloning experiment—the reason her clones could not become Stigmata vessels and could not bear her power—would suddenly make sense.
Because this body of hers might simply be a hastily molded shell.
In essence, it was not her true form.
Under Herta's intense gaze, Kiana grew increasingly uncomfortable. It felt as though Herta had realized something crucial. Her voice lowered unconsciously.
"Herrscher of Finality?"
"That's not important." Herta put away the instruments in her hand and glanced at her. "I'll perform a small surgery on you later. We'll see if we can stimulate the hidden power inside your body."
Kiana nodded without hesitation, trusting Herta completely.
She thought that if she could gain greater strength, then perhaps she would finally have the power to protect the person she wanted to protect.
Did Ruan Mei truly not know any of this?
A trace of suspicion surfaced in Herta's mind.
Her time with Kiana had been short, and her focus had largely been on the cloning research. Kiana herself had not been especially cooperative in many aspects.
But Ruan Mei was different.
With her capabilities—could she really have failed to notice something like this?
—
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