Even the Female Lord Would Frown at Himeko's Coffee

Himeko took a white porcelain saucer from the storage compartment beneath the coffee table.

She held the saucer in her left hand and lifted the copper kettle with her right.

The spout tipped slightly.

Dark brown liquid flowed into the white porcelain cup.

It made a thick, muffled sound as it poured.

It sounded less like water than asphalt that had yet to set.

Several strange purplish-black bubbles churned on the surface.

They swelled larger and larger before bursting with a pop.

The air filled with the smell of burnt motor oil.

Beneath it lingered a sour, over-fermented stench.

It smelled nothing like a drink. It was more like an interstellar ship's engine had sprung an oil leak and scorched the rubber insulation.

The Herta puppet standing in the corner covered her nose in disgust.

She turned her back and fiddled with her mechanical fingers.

Still sulking, she showed no sign of turning around.

Himeko set the cup firmly on the saucer.

Holding it in both hands, she bent slightly and offered the purple-smoke-wreathed drink to Su Chen.

The red-haired woman's smile was flawlessly gentle.

She had even thoughtfully provided a little silver spoon.

"Please, have some."

Behind the sofa, cold sweat slid from Welt's forehead to his chin.

It ran down his neck and dripped inside his shirt collar.

He knew all too well what Himeko's coffee could do.

Even Pom-Pom, the greediest member of the Astral Express Crew, would hide in the ventilation ducts at the first whiff and refuse to come out.

And she was serving that biochemical weapon to someone who had just crushed a Doomsday Beast to death?

Welt's throat tightened as though someone had him by the neck.

He wanted to stop her.

The tip of his cane scraped dryly against the hardwood floor.

But he didn't dare.

The Stellaron Hunters' sorry state was still imprinted on the carpet by the door.

The blood Kafka had coughed up had yet to dry.

The Fourth Seat's temper was unpredictable, and she didn't even care about the universe's fundamental laws.

If he spoke out of turn and spoiled her mood, or she took it as a provocation from the Astral Express Crew...

Welt swallowed against his dry throat and forced the words back down.

The veins stood out on the back of the hand gripping his cane, his knuckles deathly pale.

Su Chen lowered his gaze.

His golden eyes fixed on the cup of purple-smoke-wreathed liquid.

That was definitely not normal coffee.

The viscous brew clung to the white porcelain, slowly trickling down and leaving a dark brown streak.

Alarm bells blared in his head.

Would this stuff burn straight through my intestines?

Su Chen wanted to knock the cup away and tell Himeko to take it back.

But Rex Lapis's persona wouldn't allow it.

Refined. Composed. Able to appreciate all things without turning a hair even if a mountain collapsed before her.

That was the dignity of a god.

He had just dismissed Herta's hundred million as "mortal possessions" and raised the bar for his image as high as it could go.

If he couldn't even accept a drink offered to a guest, wouldn't the Divine Court's Fourth Seat look terribly unsophisticated?

Su Chen drew a deep breath.

He forced himself to ignore the numbness in his legs from keeping them tense for so long.

Here goes.

It's only a cup of coffee. Surely a god-tier Avatar can withstand that much poison?

The Female Lord raised her fair hand.

Jade-like fingertips pinched the handle of the porcelain cup.

She lifted it from the saucer.

The cup gave a faint clink as it left the tray.

Welt stopped breathing altogether.

Himeko watched expectantly.

Su Chen brought the cup to his lips.

The burnt, sour stench shot up his nose, ten times sharper than three-day-old stinky tofu.

He held his breath.

His cool red lips brushed the rim.

He tipped his wrist slightly.

A small mouthful of viscous dark brown liquid slid into his mouth.

Boom.

It was as if an antimatter bomb had gone off inside Su Chen's head.

His taste buds gave up in the first second.

The bitterness was so deadening he couldn't put it into words. It mingled with the metallic tang of shavings and the fermented sourness of old, filthy socks left soaking in muddy water.

Su Chen's own consciousness nearly leaped straight out of this body.

It was awful.

So awful he wanted to summon Order on the spot and smash the coffee table and the entire space station to pieces.

At last, a crack appeared in the Female Lord's eternally icy expression.

Her usually unruffled golden eyes widened sharply.

Her brows drew together.

Her left eyebrow twitched violently twice.

Her fingers tightened around the cup.

Crack.

Fine fractures spread across the fragile porcelain handle.

Su Chen bit hard on the tip of his tongue.

The taste of iron spread through his mouth, barely masking some of that dreadful burnt flavor.

He summoned every scrap of willpower he had and forced his throat to work.

He swallowed the mouthful of poison.

It felt like a handful of burning blades scraping all the way from his throat to his stomach.

Su Chen set the cup down heavily on the coffee table.

Its base struck the glass with a loud clang.

He fought down the churning spasms in his stomach.

The Female Lord kept her back perfectly straight.

She remained silent for a full ten seconds.

No one in the room dared breathe.

At last, her red lips, now slightly darkened by the coffee, parted.

Her voice came out hoarse, as though forced through clenched teeth.

"This..."

Su Chen paused, desperately searching for what few words remained in his head while trying to maintain a god's tone.

"Has a depth beyond the grasp of mere mortals."

Welt's shirt was soaked through at the back.

Leaning on his cane, he drew a ragged breath.

Even a powerhouse from the Divine Court had lost control of her expression after drinking it. She had called it "beyond the grasp of mere mortals."

Had Himeko's coffee grown so terrifying that even a god found it difficult to handle?

A strange trace of sympathy crept into Welt's reverence for the Imaginary Divine Court.

Faced with a biochemical attack of that magnitude, he would probably have collapsed on the carpet convulsing after the first sip.

But Himeko took it entirely the wrong way.

The red-haired woman's eyes lit up with delight.

She had made coffee so many times aboard the train, only for Pom-Pom and Dan Heng to turn up their noses at it.

Today, she had finally found someone who understood.

"You can taste the depth in it?"

Himeko's smile widened. In her excitement, she even took half a step forward.

"It's a new Blue Mountain variant I roasted, with a little special spice to sharpen the mind."

She reached for the copper kettle.

"Since you like it, let me top you up..."

Top me up?

Su Chen's scalp prickled.

At the sight of the spout, acid threatened to surge up from his stomach again.

Inside his sleeves, his knuckles cracked as he clenched his fists.

He was about to lose his temper, consequences be damned.

Bang!

The heavy airtight door of the VIP Lounge was slammed open from outside.

It struck the wall with a deafening crash.

A dark-skinned boy covered in blood stumbled inside.

Arlan, head of the Security Department, buckled at the knees.

Thud.

He dropped to his knees directly before the Female Lord's high-heeled boots.