Russian-style design often emphasizes concise colors and a cool, composed tone, while incorporating small touches of quirky creativity.
The overall characteristics are lightness, splendor, refinement, and attention to detail.
Interior decoration features tall, slender shapes, asymmetry, frequent use of "C," "S," or swirl-shaped curves and arcs, and frequent use of large mirrors for decoration.
When the weather turned cold, they would also use fireplaces for heating, just as in the north of Shenzhou in the past.
---o---
Inside a typical Russian-style residence, a young man with black hair styled into an artistic wolf tail was heating water in a pot.
Across from him, a girl sat on the sofa, having finished a simple dinner and taken a bath. She watched the youth heating water with a curious expression.
Mei was wearing only a white shirt on her upper body, the hem of the shirt barely covering her hips, with the black edge of her underwear peeking out from beneath. Her slender white legs were bare to the air.
Perhaps because she had just taken a bath, a thin mist of water droplets coated her fair thighs. Her snowy white feet were hidden in snow-white slippers, and her playful toes occasionally twitched, equally adorned with water droplets.
"Mei, you're so tired today. How about a nice foot soak to relax?" said the boy, who had brought Miss Mei to this era and was preparing to spend his life with her. He smiled at his lover.
"Eh—"
The girl, completely caught off guard by this suggestion, widened her elegant purple-black eyes in surprise.
The reason was simple: judging by the steam rising from the basin, the water inside had probably just been boiled.
Zihan really isn't very good at taking care of people, Miss Mei grumbled inwardly.
However, before long, a hint of a smile graced her lips.
But, his efforts to take care of me, even though he's not good at it, are so endearing.
The girl, who had rarely seen Li Zihan engage in actions that could be described as "clumsy," watched the boy reveal his long-hidden awkward side, and her smile grew even brighter.
"Zihan, you can't use freshly boiled water for a foot soak," she said, a teasing expression on her face as she gently mocked her lover's blunder.
"Is that so?"
"I'll give you a massage first, and by then, the water will be cool enough, right?" Li Zihan replied, looking at the girl who seemed to be laughing at him.
"A m-massage?"
Miss Mei looked a bit dazed.
"It's nothing. As a scoundrel who has done many things to wrong his fiancée, my guilt is getting the better of me, and I want to make amends."
"The past is the past. There's no need to bring it up again," said the girl, thoroughly enjoying this feeling that was akin to a honeymoon trip. She recalled her good friends, automatically using Photoshop to transform them all into blonde-haired, flat-chested girls with fangs (yes, I'm shipping Ying, Bronya, and Seele).
It's a shame the wedding is being held during the Second Honkai Eruption.
Miss Mei felt a bit regretful.
She had wanted to have them as her bridesmaids.
But, things weren't bad as they were now.
Looking at her lover, who was gentler than she had ever remembered him being—probably because they were about to be married—the girl felt her heart begin to pound.
She probably didn't realize that, if she really did that, her wedding would only play out in one of two ways.
Scenario 1: a storm would inexplicably erupt during the wedding, the wedding venue would collapse, and hailstones and blizzards would fall incessantly, a series of natural phenomena the likes of which were only seen once in a century.
Scenario 2: all of the bridesmaids would lack energy and constantly try to find something to lean on. The bridesmaid dresses would be a mess.
"Even so, it's not a bad thing to occasionally care for one's lover."
The boy sat down some distance away from Mei, took both of her small legs, which had been tucked to the side, and placed them on his lap. Then, he took off the remaining slipper on her right foot and placed it next to the slipper that had already fallen off.
"If you're really concerned, then you can give me a massage tonight."
"Umm... th-thank you, then," Mei said shyly, glancing away. Her right hand was playing with a strand of her hair.
Li Zihan gently placed his right hand on the girl's fair foot, gently caressing it.
The touch was smooth and cool, like touching a piece of warm, fine jade.
"Zihan's hands are so warm~"
Feeling her lover's warmth spreading across her foot, the girl began to relax, offering a comment.
"Is it warm? It's probably because the weather is too cold."
His hand continued to rub her foot, then turned to caress her tender, white toes, from the big toe to the little toe, repeating the cycle, moving from one toe to the next.
His left hand also came up, reaching for her left foot, both hands moving in sync, as if in a mirror image. On the last pass, he slid his hands down the side of her foot to her heel, his thumbs swirling naughtily across the soles of her feet as he did so.
"Z-Zihan, isn't this supposed to be a massage? What... is this even considered a massage?" Mei said, kicking at the boy's hands. She took the opportunity to put her feet together, rubbing them shyly.
"Shouldn't I warm them up for you before the massage?"
The boy chuckled, speaking to his lover.
Like a loving newlywed couple, the scumbag teased his lover while expressing his care for her.
"D-don't always tease me," the girl said, her face flushed. After a moment of shyness, she extended her feet once more.
As if playing with a new toy, the boy took her feet again, caressing them restlessly.
"So... Captain, can you hurry up and restore my body?"
Dull Goose, who had been left out for a long time, spoke up with a disgruntled tone that made it sound as if she had just been force-fed a mouthful of dog food. She was addressing the man who was supposedly a "magician among magicians."
"Bianka, didn't anyone teach you not to interrupt other people's lovey-dovey moments?"
The boy, who was more teasing his lover than giving her a massage, turned his head to look at the girl who was noticeably smaller than he remembered.
She was a girl dressed very youthfully.
She had a white hairpin in her hair, wore a black vest with blue trim, had a pauldron on her left shoulder, and wore a side cape that was black on the outside and green on the inside. Both sleeves were adorned with green lace.
Below, she wore a blue skirt with green pleats, with a pocket watch bearing an eight-pointed star and a small pouch hanging at her side.
These were the clothes that Miss Durandal had worn several years ago—clothes that had been abandoned because she couldn't keep up with her own growth.
And now, Miss Durandal had put on this outfit once more.
Clearly, Rita had succeeded.
But speaking of which, was she really developing that fast?
Li Zihan looked at the girl, who, even after drinking the age-regression potion, still looked like a peer of Kiana and Sirin, just with a slightly more childish face, and his expression was one of shock.
Wait, aren't you supposed to be the same age as Bronya?
How is it that even after being de-aged, you still give off the vibe of, "I'll be a mature beauty in a year or two"?
Developing so aggressively, she would cause all the girls at Cocolia's orphanage to start crying in unison if she were to visit.
"Why would you want to change back? Don't you think you're much cuter now than before?" said the boy, speaking his honest thoughts. He felt the younger Dull Goose was much more adorable than the ultra-mature beauty he remembered.
"Wouldn't you like it if your body was suddenly reversed to what it was two years ago?"
Hearing this insensitive comment, Miss Dull Goose's voice dripped with resentment.
"It's really uncomfortable!!"
"Reversed two years? If it's just two years, I wouldn't mind," the boy said, considering the matter for a moment. There were no super-perverted people around him, and he didn't mind becoming a little cuter to take advantage of the situation.
There were still some benefits to being a shota.
At the very least, he could go into the women's bathhouse wrapped in a towel and not be noticed.
"I mind it a lot! Who would want to stop growing?!"
Miss Dull Goose, who had no desire to stop growing, glared at the guy who had not only scammed her but was also flaunting his love life right in front of her. Her voice grew even more resentful.
Seriously, what's with this guy who's so completely unlikable?!
The girl, still unable to forget Sirin's words about her being a "cheating cat," grumbled inwardly.
However, she then sighed inwardly in relief.
Since she didn't like this guy at all, she just had to be careful, and she wouldn't become the "cheating cat" Sirin had mentioned.
It was likely due to that feeling of predestined fate, as if something were bound to happen, that Miss Dull Goose had impulsively stormed into Chaldeas and demanded that the staff launch her into this era after pinching the Scummy Maid's face until it was swollen.
"Stop growing?"
The boy looked at Dull Goose, who had followed them here of her own accord, with a puzzled expression.
Then, a strange feeling arose in his heart.
Was this a time loop?
The various eras, which were supposed to remain separate and not interfere with each other, were being disrupted and woven together, the causes and effects of various events were being reversed, ultimately forming a time loop.
It was as if it were destiny.
Li Zihan thought.
He gazed intently at Bianka's face, suddenly realizing that, without her previous older-sister aura, she was actually quite adorable.
He actually felt a bit moved.
If his destiny was to be with her, that wouldn't be so bad either, he mused to himself.
The boy, who could sever these so-called time loops and restore the proper flow of time whenever he wanted, was inwardly muttering to himself.
This must be the will of fate.
The boy, who would probably head to the Campione! world after this to directly off the Goddess of Fate, thought.
But speaking of which, what did Dull Goose just say?
The boy, feeling that Dull Goose's description of the potion he had given Rita was a bit off, narrowed his eyes.
"Wait, you said the potion would stop growth?"
"Yes," Miss Dull Goose said with a very serious nod.
Otherwise, why would she risk getting lewdly assaulted and travel to this era?
"That's what Rita said."
"The constitution of different people can't be lumped together," the boy said with a sigh. "That medicine causes age regression and stunted growth in Rita, but in your case..."
"...it's just a potion that replenishes vitality and slows down aging."
The expression on the girl's face, who had ventured into this era at the risk of being pursued by the scumbag, froze solid.