Having done chores already early in the morning, i decided to go and have breakfast before i missed it. Opening the door then entering, the view had me stunned for a moment. I looked back and forth wondering my eyes were working correctly but no matter how much i rubbed them, it wouldn't change.
Along with sara, samurai's, the almighty shogun and so on like usual.
That wasn't all, the moment i laid my eyes on the strange person who appeared there out of nowhere, the almighty shogun called "good morning y/n, care to join us for breakfast or are you gonna keep staring at my guest from afar?"
I indeed embarrassed myself infront of everyone, by everyone i meant everyone.
I smiled out of character even though i wanted to make a straight face at shogun's response but i knew i was in no place to show disrespect towards her. She was our archon. Try to think about it twice, i agreed that my long stay was rude so raiden wasn't mean after all.
I sat next to the chair to their guest. I sweated a bit gently but it wasn't a lot to be noticed and I was clearly keeping my distance since the guest was actually sitting right next to me was none other than lady ningguang. And by that i meant.
the lady ningguang.
The gorgeous, rich, fantastic lady of liyue.
The most adored savior of liyue.
The obe who sacrificed her home for her people .
The one adepti respect too.
The lady of justice in liyue.
The modern stylish lady.
After the lord of contracts the god of geo, second most important person all around the world known as the richest and the most finest person in liyue.
I didn't know how to act and pay her respect but I knew too well how important she was to all people around the world she was elegant and had a calm appearance making it look more stylish.
her long white hair styled in a simple yet terrific way, the jewelry she wore which had fit her stylish dress so bad that i could faint right there.
and along with that she had her own way of respect.
even though I never even traveled to Liyue myself but I knew from everyone that who she was and how she looked like. Ignoring the fact how important she was.
it's was like a common knowledge. she did all the things in liyue rather than its own god since people believe its god has abandoned them but mostly the God is hiding somewhere and enjoying his long forsaken Solitude he was longing for so dearly.
A normal human who took the role of a nation's god, who could blame her? The god of geo definitely cherishes her hard work for his own land. Even with all of these details, she also admired the geo archon more than anyone and was honored to serve the citizens of liyue only for her hard work to be known as her responsibility given to her by her archon.
I smiled when she looked at me but still kept my cool. it was still an honor to meet her and i was grateful. Ever since i came her, i began to see more new faces of dominant rulers.
On the other hand when I was a sitting right next to ningguang, in front of me on one of the biggest majestic chairs of the dining table, sat scaramouche.
He looked as if uneasy on the inside while was hiding it on the outside. his expression showed that he was about to burst into anger. I didn't even know how long had he been staying here.
Unusual for him to show up at the dining hall, I smirked at him which made him look even more horrible than what he looked like. he had been staying here for over an hour for sure. it was written all over his face and he just wanted to get out, so before I could announce anything to excuse ourselves, ei spoke.
"Sorry for keeping you here, i just wanted you all to meet the lady ningguang of liyue, she came all this way for a meeting i called with her."
Lady ningguang rolled her eyes to deny all the respect raiden shogun had given her but it was all a act. She was definitely taking it to her heart and felt like a precious jewel.
Speaking of jewels, there seemed to be a big jewelry box infront of ningguang. At first i thought it might be a gift prepared for lady ningguang since it might be her taste to receive jewelries but on second thought the look in raiden shogun's eyes clearly declared that this is a gift for the host of this matter.
"Thank you, your excellency. I'm honored to be here as the lady of liyue representing my dear nation. As a token of my gratitude i brought something as a gift," then she opened the box and a truly beautiful ruby necklace came into sight and all eyes caught it right away. The noise around the place was no longer being heard, everyone were so stunned looking at this unique necklace "this ruby necklace came from an exquisite ruby stone only extracted from liyue mines."
The color red was shining brightly and the necklace had a nice shape and size with golden threads. It was something that everyone could beg for.
Scaramouche took a quick glance at the necklace and then looked away, it was beautiful in his point of view certainly but he was glad he didn't need that sort of things and only raiden could take care of the gift.
After a brief second, lady ningguang announced "since shogun will be receiving more jewelries which she choose soon from us, I'll be gifting this one to the crown archon of Inazuma."
Everyone's eye's direction changed from ningguang to scaramouche and fixated on his reaction. With an astonishing expression he thanked her but still had a questioning face.
He didn't neither need that nor would want to wear that, the only option was gifting it to someone else or keeping it for decoration somewhere in the palace.
He then excused himself and i to be going out for business which was somewhat true however as soon as we got out, he sighed in relief showing how much he wanted to leave that dining hall. There wasn't tension either, i suppose he personally hates people.
"Are you ok?"
He ignored eye contact and replied "yeah yeah yeah, better than you!"
I followed him without knowing what else to do rather than this. He went to my room and stood infront of the mirror.
I was shocked, why did he come here?
He gave me a sign to come closer and i did as he told me to.
"Look in the mirror."
There was me, him and my room. Nothing special but when both of us were standing there made this whole scene a memory that could never fade away.
"What are you thinking?"
He answered when the ruby necklace found its way to my neck. His hands slowly moving it to place it right there. My heart was beating faster and faster when his breath caressed my neck making me blush at this sight in the mirror. It was a sensation in my stomach rambling and feeling hot and flustered.
He spent a moment to lock it around my neck and whispered in my ears.
"This goes with your bloody attitude."
♤♡◇♧
After begging sara to find us commission on an unbusy day like today was a grave mistake. We sat there for hours and whenever i told scaramouche to leave the kujou residence, he disagreed.
"I told them we have work out of the palace! If the guest spot us here goofing around especially with lady ningguang's sharp eyes, I'm done for!"
Stupid yet acceptable reasoning of Scaramouche. He wasn't expecting kujou clan to be lacking requests for today. After waiting for fifteen more minutes, a guard with a new paper of commissions arrived.
Scaramouche and i became so happy like two puppies receiving foods after a long day. The guard who held the paper sheet gave it to sara.
Having read that, sara laughed out loud which left us in confusion. What is she laughing at? Did itto write another stupid commission again? My dear archons, bless kuki with patience.
"We have only one commission unless you want to stay longer for more, whether it comes or not, your choice." She asked and i made it clear that whatever this commission is, we are accepting it. I couldn’t possibly stay here for another hour, tolerating sara's complaints.
"It's simple, feed the cats and dogs under the sakura tree at the entrance of the city."
Scaramouche's eyes widened and so did mine, now i understand why sara was laughing. The commission wasn't funny, she was laughing at us knowing we wouldn't be accepting this.
"Seriously?" I asked.
"At least we're out if here! Let's go before mother sees me."
Scaramouche who sounded bothered at first revealed to be more willing to feed those cuties rather than staying here any longer.
We both arrived at the destination and fed them, then i petted the little orange cat meowing near my feet. Scaramouche leaned on the big tree thus i followed.
"What is wrong with lady ningguang gifting me a ruby necklace which has no use for me?" He mumbled.
"Come on! Just because you won't be wearing it doesn’t mean it's useless. Haven't you noticed how valuable that gift is? And it's valuable to me now that you gifted it. I remember my mother telling me tales about noble families in snezhnaya wearing the most luxurious jewelries."
He looked away sounding uninterested in this topic "hah, those nobles exist nowadays too, you know."
I eagerly shook my head "i know right! It's so cool, the way snezhnayan people live is awesome. Their mansions, nobility, jewelries, fame, parties, wealth made it a different nation." Even though poor people lived there too but i always had interest in their lives of nobility. An easy life without having to work so hard all day and night.
The fact that i was in palace made it feel like i was being treated like an imperial princess but in truth, this kingdom and its palace was based on its custom and made specially to shogun's taste.
"Did you want to be born as a noble in snezhnaya? Receive jewelries every now and then from the best nations like an honorable lady? Having no work all day and night? Is that what you really wish for?"
Scaramouche felt uneasy about my curiosity and eagerness towards snezhnayan nobility culture.
"I mean yeah!? Why do you sound like it's boring? You haven't lived as a noble in snezhnaya, have you?"
I didn't know what was the reason of his hostility about me wanting to be like them. I mean who could possibly hate such a life? That Bastard responses were like someone who was a runaway noble. He did consider a noble if he were in snezhnaya but right now in his nation's culture, he was just kunikuzushi. The crown archon.
"Pfft of course not, how could someone like me ever set foot in snezhnaya? For what? Let alone being a noble there."
"Wouldn't your role as the crown archon makes you a noble there?"
My curiosity about snezhnaya couldn't be fulfilled and scaramouche had so much information about it which could make my thirst disappear.
"no it's not like that. Nobles in snezhnaya clearly means the most richest families whom wield the blood of snezhnayan people. Someone who weren't born there wouldn't be considered noble but there is an exception to that."
His whole speech made total sense.
"You seem to know so much, mind to continue?" I said that in a monotone voice getting closer to his face.
He widened his eyes then looked away feeling flustered all of a sudden "the fatui harbingers are the exceptions,"
There i hesitated, the fatui huh? The first suspect of my mother's murder.
He then continued "they aren't from snezhnaya but all of them considered as a noble."
Sunset disappeared below the horizon and sky tended to slowly lose its golden color. Scaramouche and i exchanged no words after that moreover it felt like he had intuition that what he said upset me when he spoke "but I'd rather live as a normal human, possessing a vision and fight for what is right in my life."
I nodded "that's one way of thinking though by the way I have vision but i still don't know how to fight."
Changing the topic was the best thing i could do.
"I'll teach you."
Surprised by his answer i got closer to him, our hands merely inches away from touching "you will?"
"Yes but before that we have something to do." He said enthusiastically.
"We're going on a trip."
"Huh?"
(A/N)
I'm alive yeah :)