"Miss Rita, are you sure you don't need to head back with us to rest?"
Einstein's gaze was becoming increasingly strange. Her eyes flickered back and forth between Lin and Rita; she began to suspect if the gossip she had compiled out of boredom was actually true.
After the "wine party" concluded, Einstein prepared to return to the settlement to rest, planning to discuss how to repair the Star Gate and Rita ship the following day.
Lin intended to continue monitoring the rift, so Einstein suggested Rita return to the settlement to rest with them. To her surprise, Rita said she would stay with Lin? She claimed she needed to observe the status of her ship.
Although she knew Lin certainly wouldn't do anything... Einstein felt that this "certainty" was no longer quite so certain.
"I appreciate your kindness, but Rita shall rest here," Rita said, as if seeing through Einstein's thoughts. She smiled comfortably, her ash-gold hair shimmering like a sea of stars under the moonlight. "A person who is drunk has no capacity to exercise those sorts of functions. If they do... it means they harbored ill intentions from the very start. I do not believe Mr. Lin is that type of person."
Einstein froze for a moment. Having said those exact words herself, she let out a long sigh of relief. "Alright then."
Einstein left with the ELF. After a brief period of contact, she believed Rita indeed harbored no malice. Even though both she and Lin suspected Rita hadn't come here only because her ship broke down, even if they wanted to ask, Rita might not be willing to say.
A person whose smile is always composed is the hardest to deal with.
Soon, only Lin and Rita remained in the night air, where the evening breeze had chased away the warmth.
Lin spread a mat on the ground, tested if he could lie on his side, then nodded to Rita. "You sleep here."
Rita smile froze.
She looked at the simple mat and blanket on the ground, then at the warm tent where Lin was casually taking off his shoes, preparing to crawl inside.
"Are you saying... I should sleep here?" For the first time, a crack appeared in her smile.
"Didn't you say you wanted to observe your ship?" Lin face looked exceptionally innocent. "Then sleep there. There's no cover; if you lie flat, you can observe it constantly."
He couldn't be retaliating for the misleading things she said earlier, could he?
"You really are..." Rita left the second half of her sentence unsaid. She restrained herself, then gave a proper smile. "Very well..."
"Then let's rest."
Zip.
The tent was closed without hesitation.
"..." Rita brow twitched.
Inside the tent, Lin pulled up the blanket but did not close his eyes. He pondered things in the darkness.
Yama was dead, but she had left him with a mountain of questions.
Who was the person who locked Yama and him in that world bubble and gave them the Monkey's Paw?
Who was the person who occupied his body?
And who was the "He" in Yama's final warning, "Don't trust him"?
Were these three the same person? If so, what was his objective?
If Yama's target hadn't always been Lin, her threat would have been far greater than a Herrscher's. At the time, using the Oath of Judah was the only way to turn the tide in one go, but in hindsight, it felt too coincidental. His pseudo-Herrscher core had an authority similar to Judah's; not only could they resonate, but he could also use abilities that Yama couldn't.
It felt... like a scripted play.
Could this be "His" doing?
Dealing with Yama alone was enough of a headache for Lin. Now there was an unknown "He" with no physical form. Must he face both the Honkai and a threat from beyond the world?
"Mr. Lin, are you asleep?" Rita voice drifted in from outside the tent, interrupting Lin thoughts.
Lin replied expressionlessly, "I'm asleep."
"..."
This maid was also a person full of suspicion. According to her, her ship's technology was the same as the Oath of Judah's—meaning that battleship was actually a Divine Key.
There were far too many suspicious points; it was best to remain as wary as possible.
A moment later, Rita voice spoke with a slight tremble. "It is quite cold out here."
"..."
"I am only wearing a maid outfit. Beneath the skirt, it cannot block the wind..."
"..."
"It feels like there are insects... crawling by my ear..."
Her pitiful tone sounded like a complaint she didn't dare make too obvious. Just listening to it invoked a sense of fragile vulnerability that would make anyone feel pity.
Lin sighed. He got up and unzipped the tent...
And a pair of beautiful legs in stockings stood right before him.
Lin gaze slowly traveled upward, meeting an exquisitely beautiful smiling face.
He had heard that Lamia would call out people's names from atop walls, using their glamorous appearance to bewitch hearts. If Rita were a Lamia, probably no one could resist her charm.
...The feeling of her calling your name and then coming to eat your flesh at night was also present.
Lin knew he had been tricked the moment he saw her smile, but he still crawled out of the tent and said coldly, "You go in and sleep."
But Rita didn't go in. Instead, she tilted her head, her thin lips curling into a playful smile. "Mr. Lin, I wonder if anyone around you has ever said this."
"What?"
"A frigid personality actually easily arouses the desires of others—for instance, the desire to conquer, and..."
"..."
"Of course, I am just joking. I couldn't sleep and wanted someone to talk to." Rita chuckled softly. "You'll be understanding, won't you?"
Lin leaned against the table they had used for drinking. He looked up silently at the rift—the thing that had taken him from that world and sent him here.
"Are you... thinking of someone right now?"
"..."
Rita saw Lin expression and giggled. "I can tell, you know."
Then, a hint of complexity entered her eyes. "Because I, too, often think of someone."
"That companion?"
"Yes."
There was a hint of memory in Rita eyes. She knew she shouldn't look back, but many things are not easily cast aside.
A person's past is a wolf that has caught the scent of blood; it hunts a person for a lifetime.
"I was supposed to accompany him until the end of my life, but neither of us could keep our promise."
"...What kind of person was he?"
"A fellow with a bit of a wicked sense of humor."
"..."
"Although I'd like to mention some virtues, the thing that left the deepest impression on me was his wicked streak hidden beneath an innocent appearance." Rita couldn't help but purse her lips and smile. "Aside from that, he was, for the most part, a perfect person."
Rita gazed at the full moon in the night sky. "He wouldn't get too close, nor would he stay too far away. He made it impossible to understand what he was thinking. But at least I knew he was always working to change something... and I was willing to follow him in that change."
"Until he truly changed..."
The story ended there. Before Lin could hear the rest, he heard the sound of the tent zipping shut.
He turned back, silently staring at the closed tent.
"..."