Inside the House of the Hearth in Fontaine, Arlecchino was reading the morning's front-page newspaper.
The headline described Liyue's newly established trade agreement with merchants from beyond the stars.
It immediately caught her attention.
Merchants from outside Teyvat?
The Heavenly Principles are simply allowing them to come and go freely?
Is the False Sky just for decoration now?
"...This has to be the Genius's handiwork again, doesn't it?"
Time and time again,
Arlecchino had grown almost numb to Su Ran's methods.
"What do you think?"
She looked toward the miniature version of herself.
"It's merely another way of demonstrating sincerity to Father."
"Those visitors from beyond the stars are probably only here to earn Father's favor."
Little Arlecchino saw through it at a glance.
After all, Teyvat was so underdeveloped.
What else was there worth investing in?
Wasn't the only reason because Father happened to live here?
"So that's how it is..."
"...Just where has that Genius disappeared to this time?"
Arlecchino couldn't help feeling exhausted.
He appeared without warning, stayed for only a few days, then immediately vanished again.
Sometimes,
she genuinely wondered whether Su Ran was teasing her on purpose.
Even if he were interested in her, there had to be better ways of showing it than this.
Did that man even know how to court a woman?
"I don't know."
"The others haven't seen Father either."
The armed dolls shared a neural network.
Unfortunately, aside from her, the others were all still in Snezhnaya, living the life of left-behind children.
She alone was special.
Perhaps because Su Ran considered her comparatively mature, he had felt comfortable allowing her to travel on her own.
"Your father..."
"...really doesn't pay much attention to you."
"He's hardly ever contacted you."
Arlecchino couldn't help feeling dissatisfied with Su Ran's attitude.
Little Arlecchino immediately objected.
"You don't understand Father's greatness."
"Or do you believe that granting life isn't the greatest gift of all?"
To the armed dolls, Su Ran was the greatest being imaginable.
He had given them life.
He had given them names.
He had given them intelligence.
Perhaps the only thing he hadn't yet bestowed upon them was a purpose.
But compared to Ruan Mei...
Su Ran genuinely cared about his creations.
Everything was relative.
"To a Genius..."
"a creation that serves no purpose is worthless trash."
"But Father once said..."
"...that we can provide him with emotional value."
"That alone makes our existence more meaningful than that of most life on this planet!"
Arlecchino found the little doll's speech deeply unsettling.
"...You've become rather fanatical."
Why would an artificial lifeform
possess such a mindset?
Being treated like a toy—was that really a meaningful existence?
"Fanatical?"
"This is simply my own assessment of my worth."
After that brief outburst of enthusiasm, Little Arlecchino returned to her usual composure.
Her expression became almost identical to the real Arlecchino's.
Night had fallen over Fontaine.
Aside from a handful of popular establishments, the streets were quiet, with most businesses already closed.
Having finally finished another exhausting day,
Furina returned to her room.
"...Sigh..."
"I'm so tired."
"When is this life ever going to end?"
She collapsed onto her bed.
She had long since grown accustomed to it—numb to it—yet the life she lived still filled her with disgust.
When she was alone, her room always felt especially quiet.
...Except,
it seemed she wasn't alone tonight.
Hearing a faint rustling sound,
Furina sat upright and looked toward the sofa.
Someone was sitting there, calmly enjoying a slice of cake from the table.
It was the dessert she had been saving to reward herself.
"Y-Y-You..."
"Why are you here again?!"
The moment she recognized the familiar face, panic welled up inside her.
"I figured the snacks I gave you last time were probably running out."
"So I thought I'd bring you some more."
With a snap of his fingers, a mountain of snacks appeared inside the room.
There was even more than last time.
"B-But..."
"Sneaking into a girl's bedroom in the middle of the night..."
"No matter how you look at it..."
"...that isn't something a good person does!"
Furina hugged a pillow tightly to her chest.
It would've been one thing during the day.
But now, it was the middle of the night.
Didn't that mean she no longer had even a single place where she could be alone?
Now she couldn't even cry in private anymore.
"How could that be?"
"I'm a very good person."
"Not long ago, I even saved billions of lives."
Seeing Furina so flustered, Su Ran couldn't resist teasing her a little.
Perfectly at ease, he sat down right beside her.
Furina immediately shivered.
She was only moments away from crying for help.
"You know..."
"Liyue has already started doing business with extraterrestrials."
Furina listened cautiously.
This wasn't exactly a secret.
Fontaine's newspapers had already reported it.
Liyue had signed a trade agreement with visitors from beyond the stars.
People everywhere were talking about Ningguang's extraordinary capabilities.
Some even claimed her influence rivaled that of the gods themselves.
"I'm actually very close with the leader of those extraterrestrial merchants."
"So if you call me 'Big Brother'..."
"...I could introduce you."
Su Ran blinked innocently.
Furina quietly scooted farther away.
"There's a limit to how outrageous your stories can be."
"Last time you claimed you were evenly matched with the Genius."
"Now you're saying you personally know the leader of those alien merchants?"
Both times they'd met, Furina had assumed Su Ran was making everything up.
The things he bragged about were simply too absurd.
"You don't trust me, Furina?"
"I even have a photo together with her."
Su Ran pulled out his phone and showed her a picture of himself standing beside Tingyun.
The moment Furina saw it, her eyes widened.
"...It's really her!"
Tingyun had never concealed her identity.
Nor had she forbidden people from taking photographs.
So it wasn't surprising that Fontaine's newspapers contained pictures of her.
But...
for Su Ran to have a photo with her—that was another matter entirely.
"...This time..."
"...you weren't actually bluffing?"
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