Aleph decided not to think about it further.
{"The distribution of collateral damage compensation is currently underway…"}
The jade abacus in the form of a wide-screen projection showed Xianzhou's recent news. The couch where he sat remained as soft as ever.
He looked at his surroundings and found nothing had changed.
Five days after his formal appearance to this world, Aleph chose to return to the courtyard given to him by Jingtian.
Fortunately, it has three rooms. Hua was shy in that regard, thus she slept in the other room. Senti originally wanted to sleep with Aleph but was pulled back by her.
"Mn… Heavenl…"
Looking at the sleeping Senti with her head on his lap, he could not help but give her a brief pat.
'Is this a reward for everything?'
That thought made him relax entirely. Without the pressure of the Cocoon and Terminus, this brief period of relaxation was a sweet reward. It also helped that he was debugging the [Realm of Infinite Light]. It was basically a retirement life handed over to Aleph.
This moment was interrupted when he heard the opening of a door upstairs. Hua's hurried footsteps came to a stop when she saw Aleph sitting on the couch. She then saw Senti sleeping on his lap—a power bestowed when her Sphere Boundary reached a high level. It allowed her to see through all obstacles as if they were nothing.
"{I got too preoccupied with the special realm I was building. Sorry.}"
Aleph's voice rang on Hua's ears.
The latter walked towards his side before she whispered:
"I will bring her upstairs."
"There's no need. Let her sleep. Five days isn't enough to fully explore this flagship, after all."
His words made her nod. These days were spent entirely on exploring the Fanghu. Aleph served as their guide. He was also the one responsible for tampering with the residents' cognition.
After all, both Hua and Senti bore striking similarities to their Marshal Hua. Instead of causing trouble, he might as well take action for them to observe Fanghu properly.
"I will talk to her later. Staying late at night tends to develop other bad habits."
Hua remarked after seeing Senti's actions the past few days. Although sleep was no longer necessary for people like them, it is still connected to discipline. At the very least, Hua thought that Senti should develop a good mindset.
"Well… I am pretty sure she won't agree."
"..."
"It's not a big problem for me, either. I think we should let her be. Her naughtiness is in sharp contrast with yours."
A tinge of red appeared on Hua's ears.
'Five days…'
Senti was essentially Hua, but with another personality. The latter's memories, promises, regrets, and obsessions also went to the former.
Unfortunately (or not), Hua's biggest obsession was Aleph. Hence, it did not come off as a surprise that Senti acted intimately with him.
Due to her straightforwardness, the past five days were enough for Senti to spam kisses on his cheek—a bold move on her eyes.
Long story short, they are currently in a competition.
"She still hasn't accepted it." She muttered before saying, "I will prepare breakfast. This place bears many semblances to my hometown."
"Alright."
Aleph knew the meaning behind her words. His vision was caught by the sleeping Senti who, at this time, faced his side. Some of her drool fell on his black pants.
He patted her messy hair once again.
'The dilemma is still here…'
The original conflict between Hua and Senti lied in their circumstances. When Hua was "killed" by Otto, a new Herrscher Persona emerged—Senti.
She took on Hua's memories and determined herself to be the original Hua. A lot of things happened while clashing with the original Hua, which ended up in the latter's victory.
Aleph was aware that his existence changed everything.
The switch occurred during her death on the hands of her disciples. That was resulted by her weaker mental state than the original, plus the Cocoon's influence.
Senti was born the moment Aleph separated her from Hua. She inherited Hua's memories, but with a completely different outlook in life.
For once, she was far less mature. She had the knowledge, but not the wisdom to execute. She messes up whenever encountering some things she could not deal with.
Consequently, Senti was also blunt when it came to her closer friends.
As for Hua…
It was best described as a love-hate relationship. The root of the problem stemmed from Senti's insistence that she was the better Hua—a funny conflict in Aleph's eyes.
Although Hua gave way and conceded every given time, Senti took it as her being insincere. As such, she carried on with this competition up until now.
'They really chose me as the judge, huh.' He shook his head with yet another wry smile. 'Hua isn't taking this seriously…'
Aleph was chosen as the judge as to who the better Hua is. It was the reason why Senti spammed kisses to his cheek. That wasn't enough to shake Hua yet, though.
Yet.
"Did you smell breakfast?"
As soon as Aleph spoke, Senti's eyes opened.
"H-how did you know?"
"Look up for memories about Sphere Boundary."
"Isn't that for concealment?"
"Its endgame is to turn your surroundings into your world. You can sense everything in it."
"Oh…"
When she browsed her memories, Senti found it out to be the case.
'This..!'
"It must have felt silly, but it is what it is."
A visible blush could be seen on her face. She was much more inexperienced when it came to keeping her nonchalant look.
Senti ended up turning her head and watched the news instead.
"Oh?!"
Her interest reached its peak when she saw Marshal Hua appear on the screen.
"That's another me!"
Aleph remained silent while she moved her head around his lap. She moved frequently to the point that her head touched something else.
That was enough to make her freeze.
'...Well.'
The loneliness that Aleph felt before disappeared upon the two's arrival. In turn, it also brought him the same awkward dilemmas as before.
Swoosh-!
Senti stood up from his lap swiftly. She sat in an extremely upright manner, not minding her messy hair nor her blue pajamas.
All she could think of was the thing she accidentally touched. Her already blushing face deepened even further.
"...It's big."
Her words caused Aleph to choke.