Honkai Star Rail: I must live a peaceful life

"Alright, alright, let me ask the next question." Eureka was starting to get a bit mischievous, her questions becoming more direct. "Question: Before you came here, who was the person closest to you? Must be female."

"My former boss," Milo admitted, his face darkening with obvious reluctance.

"Question: So why did you run away?" Eureka asked, face full of curiosity.

"Because I thought the pay was too low, the work was too much, and it was bound to fall apart eventually." Milo's expression grew even darker. Who could understand the feeling of having a powerful boss who holds your weaknesses and doesn't do any work, just knows how to exploit you?

Though in reality, he had only wanted to temporarily jump ship for a vacation, but who could have predicted that right after he jumped ship, his boss would come ashore.

"Question: During your time together, what scene left the deepest impression on you?" Eureka persisted, still trying to find some romantic subplot to obsess over.

"Me dealing with piles of work while my boss played games and made snarky comments," Milo replied in a flat tone. Though in truth, it was because they were both busy and had few official reasons to interact, so they rarely met. That's why his boss would slack off like this whenever she had the chance.

Plus, this boss paid overtime - albeit in goods rather than money, but the value wasn't much different. Otherwise, he would have turned himself in to Security and taken her down with him long ago.

So those days weren't actually as bitter as his words suggested. If someone really wanted to find something sweet in there, they could. But Milo deliberately used strategic wording to conceal the truth.

After all, that person had now become an existence that could be referred to as "Their Majesty," and the effects of the complete Near-Divine inheritance had exceeded his expectations, throwing off all his timing.

Imperial emperors rarely had chances to take action, especially during the period right after ascending to the throne. Even during the Third Succession Conflict that sparked the Capital Uprising with hundreds of participants, all conflicts were resolved after the heir appeared.

When Milo had studied that period of history, he had assumed it was the deterrence of imperial authority, plus the elder power players controlling the situation. But in reality, he had gotten one premise wrong.

What made the true power holders among the various factions stop fighting wasn't - or wasn't only - respect for imperial authority and sentiment for the previous emperor. It was because the complete Near-Divine inheritance could display Near-Divine power immediately after succession, without any adaptation period.

To use gaming terms, the incomplete Near-Divine inheritance possessed by Fourth-Rank Dukes was like a main quest with a built-in walkthrough - the inheritor's rank wouldn't increase directly, at most it was like changing to a hidden class. This was a clear and smooth path to godhood, but people could still fail to reach the end due to stamina or other reasons.

But the complete Near-Divine inheritance held by the Imperial family wasn't like that at all - it directly imposed a high-level template on the inheritor, synchronizing all attributes instantly. Putting aside the consequences, even if the inheritor was just an ordinary person, they'd get a few seconds' worth of Near-Divine experience card.

So Milo chickened out. Originally he had planned to drift around outside for two years, then sneak back to the Capital before the planned operation, and decide his next move based on the situation.

If the situation was favorable or his addition would ensure success, he'd jump out with "Dear friend, your reliable support has returned!" or "My lord, this servant will spare no effort to complete the organization's grand plan!" or "Your Majesty, when will you grant this subject the promised position of Eastern Territory Governor?" - directly hitching a ride on the success and lounging around enjoying the benefits of his elder statesman status.

If the situation was unfavorable, naturally it would be "What connection could there be between the rebel accomplice, former Skelo Institute Chief Milo Woodworth, and me, Tom Riddle, the Venus Archbishop of the Cosmic Chant?"

Mr. Mi had flexible options... or that was how it was supposed to be.

But after his fake death, Milo's boss immediately had an emotional breakdown, achieved instantaneous breakthrough to Fourth Rank, and then directly activated the recently completed arrangements to launch the plan two years ahead of schedule.

Rash, radical, arrogant, blind - by common sense, almost every negative evaluation fit this decision, but... she won.

Damn damn damn these metaphysical monsters in the Mental System really can't be reasoned with, weren't you supposed to take two more years to reach Fourth Rank? What are you doing, Teresa!

Even if extreme emotions help with Mental System advancement, I was only missing and potentially dead, why would you completely lose emotional control, Your Majesty!

Milo didn't understand, and he didn't dare to understand, but he knew one thing: High-ranked Mental System users could do whatever they wanted to supernatural beings of lower ranks than themselves. Whether it was memories, emotions, cognition, or anything else, it was all like data in a programmer's hands, ready to be twisted and molded at will.

So Milo absolutely didn't dare to go back now. After all, subordinates can't talk back to their superiors, men find it hard to reason with women, normal supernatural beings can't understand high-ranked Mental System users' abilities, and emperors can be unreasonable whenever they want.

And his running away was intentional.

So for Milo, getting close to Teresa was no different from asking an ordinary person to approach a temperamental dragon bare-handed. And that person had previously stolen the dragon's gold coins... the chances of coming out unscathed would be nothing short of miraculous.

If it were just this, Milo could still beg for mercy based on his past contributions, even turn it around and accuse her with "Don't make me get down on my knees and clutch your legs begging!" But,

The worst part was that there wasn't just one such dragon, and they were hostile to each other!

So what could Milo do? Coming clean was impossible, absolutely impossible in this lifetime, so he could only use careful wording to avoid the important parts and pretend they didn't have much of a relationship, just to maintain the appearance that life was still somewhat manageable.

Milo's answers were boring, but Eureka had her ways.

Her next question was even more direct. "Question: In your past life, who do you miss the most?"

"Someone who often hired me with good pay. My research funding back then relied entirely on that person to maintain stable supply," Milo answered nostalgically. Sugar daddies- no, patrons like Norton who had lots of money and few demands were hard to find.

"So you mean it was a sugar daddy situation?" Miss Jessica asked with a deliberate smirk.

"You're thinking too much, that person was male," Milo said wearily with his eyes closed, his tone full of casual indifference.

Then he felt the air suddenly become very quiet, and the atmosphere turned strange. Milo opened his eyes to see the two people opposite him staring at him with incredulous expressions.

Along with the brightly glowing red lie detector marker.

???!!!

End of Chapter