EN | Chilumi Week 2022

𝟹. ✧ Warm night to kill

Prompt: Assassins (Modern AU) [~1900 words]

Mondstadt, summer.

The heat was unbearable, so much so that all the common people slept with their windows open in an attempt to get even a bit of coolness in their homes. This unexpected heat wave had surprised absolutely everyone, which is why all the inhabitants were on edge, making stupid decisions.

It was under these circumstances that Lumine, a renowned assassin in the business, was put in touch with a client who wanted to sink the monopoly of the wine industry. And what better way to sink it than to kill the manager, Diluc Ragnvindr?

Lumine wasn't picky when it came to the requests of clients whose lives and motives she had learned not to care about. Keeping her mouth shut and getting the job done to get the agreed-upon sum was all she cared about. So, she put on her black outfit to be as unnoticed as possible under the starry night, armed herself with all her usual equipment, namely daggers, revolvers, and other smaller blades hidden in unmentionable parts of the body, and went out to carry out her mission.

The high temperature was stifling. Her deliberately tight-fitting outfit clung to her skin, sweat beading on her forehead as she sucked in hot air that only amplified the unpleasant heat.

When she finally saw the Dawn Winery, this wealthy man's splendid estate, surrounded by perfectly tended vineyards, Lumine was in a sweat. The atmosphere was heavy, as if trying to dissuade her from the murder she had planned. But it wasn't the heavens that would make her turn back. Lumine was afraid of nobody.

Once the building was several hundred meters away from where she was stationed, Lumine decided to put on the last bits of cloth she had delayed so as not to be further burdened by the oppressive temperatures. Reluctantly, she put on her black leather gloves and put on a black mask covering her eyes that she had stolen from the local mafia, the Fatui. This way, if she was ever spotted, her assailants would think of an attack from this mafia, which would keep her off the radar.

Passing a hand to the back of her neck, free of her hair in a small ponytail, only some recalcitrant hair fell back into her neck to unite with her skin. Usually, she preferred to leave them loose, more especially as they were almost too short to keep them raised, but this day, by the current temperatures, it was an exception.

Step by step, she set out to enter the wealthy property of this merchant, before approaching one of the first floor windows, belonging to the kitchen according to what Lumine had memorized from the plan of the mansion that had been provided to her. Unfortunately, it was closed. Lumine could have broken a tile to infiltrate, but in this heat, she was convinced that a window was open, she just had to find out which one.

So she went around the house, eyes directed towards each glass reflecting the weak gleams of the moon that was being timid, until she spotted what she was looking for: an opening.