𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓 || 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵 • 𝘣𝘯𝘩𝘢

eight.

Venti tried to ignore the rising bitterness within himself and maintained a smile. "Why, I happen to meet her on her walk, so we spent some time catching up~"

Diluc did not remove his usual glare. His eyes wandered on Venti's vision on his hips and the lyre hidden behind him.

"Thank you for bringing her back, but you should go."

Diluc started closing the door in Venti's face, only for the latter to prevent it from closing. "My, won't you offer me a place for the night?" he asked hopefully. He did not want to be homeless tonight. Besides, he also wanted to watch over Hana.

Diluc scoffed and slammed the door shut. "No. Goodbye."

"Not even a bottle of wine?" he asked. The door remained shut and Venti let out an annoyed huff and pouted, turning around and starting to walk away. His mind raced as he thought of ways to bully the red-head in the near future. He clicked his tongue, "Tch, who's he to act so protective of Hana? They just met!" Venti complained.

Diluc grunted as he trudged up the stairs. Hana was really healthy, and he assumed it was from rigorous training and experience. She was quite built, but still had the curves in the right places.

He opened the door to Hana's room and gently laid her down on the bed before tucking in the blanket over her to keep her warm. Diluc saw the hairpin and decided to remove it for her comfort as she slept. However, the moment his ungloved hand touched  the glaze lily pin, his hand burned so coldly.

"What the—" Diluc muttered, staring at his fingers where there was a burn mark from his touch.

Strange, he thought.

At that moment, the petals glowed bright green. Diluc immediately knew it was the work of an Anemo vision holder. It just so happens that he recently met one with anemo vision. Was it his work? Why can't Diluc remove the pin? Some sort of divine thing for protection?

Hana shuffled in her sleep, bringing her gloved hand to scratch her eye. It was then when Diluc noticed strange, black veins protruding from the edge of her gloves.

He decided to ignore it for now. He could ask his questions later. Right now, all he wanted to do was sleep. Staying awake until dawn to finish his work, with worries about a specific girl lingering in his mind, he couldn't really sleep earlier than he intended.

Diluc left the room after looking out the window to make sure no one outside was suspicious. Can't hurt to be more sure, he thought.

The door shut not before Diluc heard the snores of the woman in the room. A smile broke out on his lips, though he did not know. Still, he could not believe that she was the one the Fatui was after. Though he has yet to see her true capabilities, her true potential, he just knew Hana is a powerful woman.

↶*ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊ-

The next day, Aether came knocking on Dawn Winery's mansion. He had come across with Kaeya that morning after talking to Katheryne and welcoming him to the Adventurers' Guild. Kaeya told him that Hana spent the night here, which did not settle well in Aether's stomach. The door was opened by one of Master Diluc's servants. Already known to be one of the heroes of Mondstadt, the servant let him and Paimon in without hesitance.

"Is Hana awake?" he asked, taking a seat on the couch. Paimon floated behind him.

"Not that I know of. Master Diluc ordered us to not awake her," the servant said before leaving.

Aether huffed as he waited. They were supposed to finish early with their task, but Amber dragged him out in the city for some weird reason, and Lisa left them right after finishing. He had no choice but to accompany the red bunny woman.