"So it got interrupted, huh? No wonder... The setting clearly says it's the Herrscher of Death, yet the Divine Key made from its core ended up with such an absurd healing ability on the side."
"So that's how my dear waifu Seele's dual authority over life and death came to be?"
Thanks to the shamelessly overpowered interference from the Cocoon of Finality blocking the home-field advantage, Lunelle finally managed to shake off that state of being completely flooded by the Sea of Quanta's consciousness.
After skimming through the major events recorded by the simulation panel and comparing them with her own memory of the game's plot regarding the Herrscher of Death's general abilities, then looking at the two distinct, separately-existing foreign authorities she had unexpectedly gained...
Lunelle couldn't help feeling something was off.
But considering she now indeed had a setup similar to the Black Abyss White Flower—one authority over life, another over death—she decided to set her doubts aside for the moment.
And right now, Lunelle wasn't sure if the Cocoon of Finality and the Sea of Quanta's consciousness had just rushed off to 'duke it out' after their earlier clash, or if it was because both had left their unique marks on her.
In any case, after the two opposing Herrscher authorities—life and death—were installed onto her, that intense feeling of being simultaneously watched by both the Cocoon and the Sea suddenly became much less noticeable.
With the two real heavyweights no longer actively restraining her, Lunelle finally gained a small measure of freedom.
At this moment, her heart was practically screaming with excitement!
Not easy!
It really, really wasn't easy!!!
She'd been killed by the plot so many times, but this was the first run where she actually got a chance to freely explore the simulated storyline!
Faced with this hard-won simulation freedom, Lunelle almost couldn't resist the urge to belt out a song right then and there to vent her pent-up frustration.
But remembering that both of the true powerhouses had left their marks on her, that little desire to let loose was quickly buried deep down.
After all, if she accidentally revealed she wasn't the real Seele, Lunelle had a feeling this simulation—which she'd barely survived through its hellish opening—would probably end right there.
Sure, she'd originally come just for that Safety Net reward.
But with a chance at a higher payout now on the table, who'd want to settle for the bare minimum every time?
Wasn't pulling a rare drop on the first try, or hitting the jackpot with a single shot, way more satisfying?
So, having miraculously survived the nightmare start, Lunelle naturally wanted to make the most of it and figure out exactly what situation the 'Seele' she now needed to play was currently in.
But just as she mustered her fighting spirit, Lunelle ran into an awkward problem: her memory of her dear waifu's life in this simulated world seemed to be a complete blank!
It was like starting a game with zero tutorial.
No guidance at all? How am I supposed to play this?
Fortunately, there's always a way out.
Even without this world's memories, Lunelle soon discovered a diary belonging to this world's 'Seele', her dear waifu.
Sure, secretly reading someone else's diary was obviously not very ethical.
But as her husband, Lunelle just didn't want to embarrass herself while wearing her waifu's body. Reading the diary to understand her waifu's experiences was a necessary evil, wasn't it?
(A/N: Dear readers, please don't go snooping through other people's diaries. The protagonist here is in a special situation and isn't exactly an 'outsider', so reading another 'self's' diary is actually fine.)
Having found a decent enough excuse for this shameful act, Lunelle followed the body's muscle memory and fiddled with the small combination lock on the diary.
While she hadn't inherited all of Seele's memories, many of the muscle memories etched into her dear waifu's body seemed to run deeper than she'd expected.
And judging by the look of it, her dear waifu really did keep a diary regularly, so Lunelle opened it without a hitch—the secret diary of this world's 'Seele'.
Thanks to inheriting her dear waifu Seele's panel stats, plus the gifts from the Cocoon and the Sea, Lunelle's physical abilities were now incredibly enhanced in every aspect.
Things like reading ten lines at a glance or having a photographic memory weren't particularly difficult anymore.
So, it only took Lunelle about ten minutes to commit all the daily info recorded in her dear waifu's diary to memory.
Honestly, just those ten-odd minutes made Lunelle fall in love with her dear waifu Seele's body all over again, in a very physical sense.
Of course, this 'love' wasn't in any creepy, perverted way—after all, as a longtime Seele fan, Lunelle had been smitten with that aspect ages ago.
What Lunelle loved now was the powerful memorization ability that came with inhabiting Seele's body.
Just a casual glance was enough to effortlessly record all the information in her mind!
Though Lunelle understood this photographic memory was probably a derivative ability that activated along with the hidden, terrifying intelligence stat after her dear waifu's Herrscher transformation.
'If I'd had this memory back in school, literature classes would've been an absolute breeze!'
But after this little invasion of her dear waifu Seele's privacy, Lunelle had a clear picture of her recent situation.
Only... this script where her waifu's looks and figure were so outstanding that some privileged young master took a fancy to her felt way too cliché, didn't it?
And from the recent diary entries, it seemed the pressure from all sides had pushed her dear waifu Seele to a dead end, even considering suicide.
As someone familiar with Honkai's storyline, Lunelle could only say:
"Classic. Very Herrscher."
After all, almost every Herrscher born under Honkai's banner turned to the dark side because of various negative emotions.
For instance, the Herrscher of Thunder, the 'housewife', was triggered by school bullying;
The Herrscher of the Void, Sirin, suffered through human experiments.
Behind nearly every Herrscher's birth lay a deeply dark past.
Knowing her dear waifu Seele had been threatened and pressured by these damn capitalist scumbags for so long, it made sense she'd end up chosen as a Herrscher.
"So it seems, all those times I got killed by the plot before... I just had the bad luck to land right in the crosshairs, huh?"
Lunelle finally understood why, the moment she landed in her dear waifu Seele's body, she'd attracted the attention of two top-tier powerhouses.
Turns out it wasn't because her arrival was too special.
But because her dear waifu Seele's talent was too exceptional, and she just happened to be on the verge of collapse and suicide, which was why both the Cocoon of Finality and the Sea of Quanta's consciousness had their eyes on her at the same time, right?
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.