THE ALMIGHTY SYSTEM IS JUST A LEWD GIRL-Chapter 37: After the Feast offer.

They led them through a short corridor into a room that smelled of citrus and oil. A low couch sat by a wide window. Silk drapes hung heavy and a small table was already set with fruit and wine.

Guards posted outside the door, their helmets dented and ugly.

Eiji dropped onto the couch and watched the courtyard below. The fountain still rippled,men and women walked the stone paths like insects.

Vesper lingered near the entrance, eyes darting once to the guards, then the ceiling’s carved edges. She didn’t sit,she pressed her palm against the doorframe as if measuring its thickness, her silence louder than speech.

Alma’s voice unfolded in his head,clean and familiar.

[ System core active. Status: online.]

She was back, maybe or not, the voice had the same reckless ease it started with. For a moment he felt relief like a warm wash..but she wasn’t talking to him still.

Neither Borath nor his supposed mother had made mention of her, which meant she had been there but had made sure he hadn’t seen her.

Melchior studied the shutters, then the landing walls. He hadn’t eased his guard since they left the throne room.

He recognized the palace design..hidden exits, a sweep of guard routes,corridors that narrowed to kill groups. He looked at Eiji for the barest beat.

"You shouldn’t trust their words," Melchior said quietly as he moved to the far corner. "When they mean feast, they mean watch."

Rhea paced once and stopped by the table. "If she favors theater, we expect rules. If she favors the hunt, we prepare to run."

Selendra lounged near the window as if it were her own; she kept her tail wrapped and eyes moving. She smiled at Eiji in a way that tried to be casual and landed hard on awkward. He wanted to look away but didn’t.

Vesper moved past them, brushed the curtains aside slightly, and peered into the courtyard below. "Too many guards in the inner ring," she murmured. "And none looking tired. They’re not here for ceremony...they’re expecting blood."

Alma hummed beside him

[Integrity 72 percent. Borrowed sets node active. I detect ambient lewd energy. Probability: rising.]

Eiji’s throat tightened,the word inside his head felt both joking and serious when Alma said it. She was only speaking in his head and refusing to speak directly to him; he hated how easy she made it to notice things he wanted to ignore.

"Alma," he said aloud at last, because he wanted something he could pin. "What happened back there? Why did she call us guests? Why does her son act like a pig?"

Her tone was light, almost amused.

"He’s fat and careless. Their household runs on indulgence. The woman in white is not indulgent. She is restraint wrapped in silk, and restraint irritates chaos."

She paused for a second. "Also, the shard we found hums differently near her. It picked up alarm tones, not pleasure."

Eiji swallowed. "Can she see? She had that blindfold."

Melchior answered before Alma could. "She sees in patterns, not with eyes. I’ve met a few who use sight like that..they read space like music."

Rhea’s reply was a half-grunt. "If she can read the room, she already knows everything we did and did not do. That puts us at a disadvantage."

Vesper shifted closer to the wall and tapped it twice. "Then we let her read silence," she said. "Noise gives them rhythm. Silence kills rhythm."

A servant knocked once and pushed a tray through the door. The guard outside stood stone-still like he’d been carved from the same marble as the hall. The servant bowed and left without looking back. The fruit on the tray looked ripe enough to be poison in a different story.

Melchior leaned in close to Eiji, voice low. "You have a system..that marks you. Systems are tools,some people collect tools. Some people worship them, but both are dangerous."

Eiji swallowed and touched the charm under his shirt, where the core between him and Alma sat like a coin under his skin. He had slept with it, breathed with it. Now the weight of it seemed heavier. Alma’s voice threaded through his head, softer for a second.

"I’m here. I felt cold being pulled from the charm. The demon’s pulse in that inn... when it touched you, I felt the current. That pushed me to eighty percent. I hibernated to save myself. I regained it because your life tasted like an alarm. It’s basic...you matter. That’s inconvenient and useful."

"Useful for who?" Eiji asked, not sure he wanted the answer.

"You and me," Alma said. "And anyone who can read the ledger of power. For now do not try to talk to me like I’m near you. The king’s mother can already sense something."

Melchior’s jaw tightened, he had been quiet too long. "Listen, tonight’s feast will be a stage. People will sing, hands will wander,eyes will judge,don’t make faces, don’t be loud, don’t be seen as a threat. If you are chosen for... entertainment, be useful enough to survive and useless enough to be left alive afterward."

Selendra snorted, a short, high noise. "You make survival sound like a bargain at a slave market."

"It is here." Melchior’s voice didn’t soften. "We pick what to lose."

The room settled under that, and outside, a faint drumbeat began to build...not steady, not distant. It threaded the palace like a low promise.

[Alma ticked through her diagnostics. Signal: lewd node increasing. Nearby emitters: three. Primary: located in the southern pavilion.]

[ Secondary: small, mobile. Tertiary: ambient. I can mask the bond hum for ten minutes if you need it. Host energy low to moderate. Warning: choices will cost.]

Eiji felt his face heat. Ten minutes, he said out loud before he stopped himself. "Why would I need that?"

Melchior’s eyes snapped. "It’s for movement. If someone tries to force the charm, you will need a buffer. Do not let them take it. If they manage to read your sync, they’ll know what you are worth."

Rhea cut a piece from the fruit and tossed it at the table. "Then tonight let’s play dumb. We eat, we drink, we nod. When they go quiet, we move as fast as we can."

Vesper stepped behind her, checked the guard’s shadow under the door slit, and said softly, "And if they come before we move?"

Melchior glanced at her, grim. "Then you do what you always do...buy us seconds."

Vesper’s mouth quirked in something that wasn’t a smile. "Seconds are all I ever get."

Melchior glanced at the window, then at the guards posted outside. "We get one opening. Watch for the bell. If a bell tolls more than once, we move."

Selendra stood and stretched, the movement quick and feline. "And if they drag me into the center for sport?" she asked, voice flat.

Rhea’s hand tightened on her sword hilt, though the blade was far from reach. "Then we make sport of their sport."

Alma’s voice returned quietly. "I will not let them drag you without reason. I will intercept attempts to siphon your energy. But if you trade parts of yourself willingly? That counts as consent in many records. Be careful what you give."

Eiji’s mouth closed at once. He tried to think of some line he could hold, some principle that would stop him from being used as a tool.

Melchior moved to the table and poured wine into a single cup. "Drink something light," he said. "But not too much. Keep your head clear and keep your voice steady."

A knock sounded, then the door opened. A page entered and bowed. "Your rooms are prepared," he said. "The feast begins at dusk." He looked at them with a kind of pity and then turned and left.

The drumbeat grew nearer, footsteps traced the hall outside like a slow march.

Melchior’s face hardened. He stared at Eiji as if measuring him. "You need to know one thing before this night starts..we cannot save you if you hand yourself away on a promise. If someone offers you a shard, a favor, or a quick fix, do not accept. Any quick repair will cost you more than you think."

Eiji fought the lump at his throat. "What if I fail? What if they make me?" His voice was small and brittle.

"You will survive," Melchior said. "You will find a way to survive."

Vesper gave a short nod,a single sound in her throat like a vow. "Then we move when the bell tolls twice. No heroes, no noise."

Alma’s voice brushed his mind like a rough laugh. "You surprise me with your ability to say the worst thing and still live, host. We can do this."

"I will lower the bond hum for five minutes when you ask. Use it once, use it when you move. If they try to see us, I’ll block the line for a short while. But remember... every block costs me, and every trick costs both of us," she added.

The curtain of sky outside darkened with a slow turn, and shadow moved across the courtyard. Lanterns began to glow..not bright but hungry...and somewhere beyond the walls, someone struck a bell twice, a test note that sank deep into their bones.

Melchior rose and laid his hand on Eiji’s shoulder, a quick weight that steadied. "Dress like a fool if you have to, smile like you like it, keep your hands where I can see them, and when the second bell sounds, we’ll move."

Vesper checked her blades, eyes narrowing. "Then it’s almost time."

Alma pinged in his mind, the tone a promise and a dare.

[Lewd emitter active. Host: ready yourself.]

The sound of the third drum rolled, a slow call, someone outside laughed like a bird and then the door opened.

They were ready..or as ready as they could make themselves.