The Spider Queen

(Alpha Star System- Planet Gaia)

(N'rean City- National History Museum)

"Senor Valseuq is perhaps one of the most talented painters in modern times!" Cleo exclaimed with admiration in her voice.

"His out of the box thinking and ability to display complex ideas using only simple brushwork is pure genius!"

"Usually, his paintings can only be seen at high end auctions or in private collections, so I'm really surprised that one is in a public museum."

Sophie furrowed her brows as she stared at the painting in front of her. No matter how hard she looked, she only saw a single red dot in the middle of a blank canvas.

Complex idea?

What in god's name was complex about a dot?

The hybrid girl channeled qi to her golden eyes to enhance her vision to see if there was something that she missed.

Nope.

The painting really was just a single red dot.

"Look babe… that's just a spot of red… I mean… anyone can paint that…" Sophie hesitantly spoke as she turned to face Cleo.

"A spot of red?!" Cleo gasped in shock and clutched her chest in disbelief.

"This painting is a work of art unlike anything that the world has ever seen!"

"Senor Valseuq went to art school for twenty years in order to gain the technical skills to paint such an impressive piece of work."

"To insult him is to insult all artists!"

The princess covered her mouth so that her girlfriend would not see the mischievous grin on her face.

"My bad… my bad…" Sophie raised up her hands in mock surrender and smiled helplessly.

She was about to apologise some more when she realised that there was a certain twinkle in Cleo's eyes that she recognised immediately.

"You…" Sophie giggled softly as she stepped forward and removed Cleo's hands from her face and saw the wide grin beneath her palms.

"Sorry you should have seen the look on your face," Cleo teased cheekily as she stood on her tip toes and pressed a light kiss against Sophie's bottom jaw.

"So, is that painting really impressive or not?" Rachel asked in confusion.

Cleo shrugged her shoulders and replied nonchalantly,

"I mean… it looks a bit stupid… but I have seen similar paintings to it in around the palace so who knows…"

Sophie stroked the side of her girlfriend's cheek before lightly pinching her soft flesh as payback for her little prank.

The three girls wandered from painting to painting in this strange room where everything was completely white except for the canvases on the walls.

Some of the paintings were just singular dots while others were merely splashes of colour on a canvas seemingly at random.

Sophie knew that she wasn't exactly the most cultured noble, but she just could not understand the appeal of such strange works.

For example, the painting in front of her just had the word 'Wealth' written on the canvas in what looked like ordinary ink.

And yet a crowd had gathered around the painting and were chatting amongst themselves in hushed tones.

"Brilliant a true work of art!"

"I wonder what the hidden message of this painting is…"

"Magnificent! Truly something that the world has never seen before!'

Sophie could not help but wonder if they were staring at the same painting as her. Unlike Cleo the crowd in front of the painting were entirely serious.

"Should we move on to another room?" Rachel asked with a yawn as she looked at the paintings with a bored look on her face.

The saintess was feeling quite underwhelmed by the quality of the art in the room and was eager to continue the tour to another place.

"I don't mind… how about you babe?" Sophie asked gently.

"Yeah, this place is a bit too pretentious for my tastes," Cleo replied with a soft click of her tongue.

They made their way back to the glass elevator and not before long they were once again standing in the long corridor.

Cleo walked over to the floating holographic map and hummed lightly as she checked out the different exhibits that one could visit.

Meanwhile Sophie and Rachel made small talk as they relaxed on one of the benches that were placed along the side of the corridor.

"So how is life in the church?" Sophie asked curiously as her eyes drifted to the holy long sword attached to Rachel's hip.

"Honestly… kind of shitty at the moment. We had new converts enter the church so there is some tension between the two factions," Rachel explained as she played with her fingers.

"And it doesn't help that the other saints hate me… I swear it's actually getting quite irritating how they lecture me whenever we meet."

"Oh? Why do they hate you?" Sophie asked with confusion evident on her face.

Rachel was such a cheerful and sweet girl that she couldn't imagine anyone disliking her personality.

"They say that I'm 'too sinful' just because I occasionally have romantic flings," Rachel rolled her eyes and explained.

"Wait… but I thought that saints of the Nephilim Church could marry…" Sophie furrowed her brows and spoke.

"Yeah, we can… but having a series of one-night stands is seen as immoral by those stuck-up assholes," Rachel sighed heavily as she spoke.

Sophie placed a warm hand on her shoulder and whispered a few words of comfort.

Yep, if half of the stories that Rachel shared with her in private messages were true then she could understand why some of the saints were not happy.

Still, it wasn't as though Rachel had spent those nights with people without their consent and she wasn't hurting anyone.

Plus, there was zero risk of contracting any sexual diseases since her true form was a puddle of liquid biomass.

The two girls chatted some more and as the conversation went on, Rachel's unpleasant mood gradually faded away.

She really enjoyed having a friend like Sophie. The hybrid girl was very pretty and yet Rachel oddly enough never saw her as anything more than a sister.

Cleo eventually returned and sat down next to Sophie on the bench. She raised up her hand and pointed at one of the doors at the end of the hall.

"There is an exhibit about life on ancient Earth if you all want to check it out," Cleo said casually as she leaned against Sophie's shoulder.

"Ancient Earth? That sounds exciting!" Rachel exclaimed as she quickly got up from the bench.

"Yeah. It should be interesting to see what historians think about the time before humanity became an interstellar race," Sophie thoughtfully added.