Cloud Retainer and Ganyu shared a quiet dinner at Su Xuan's home.
During the meal, Su Xuan praised Lumine's ever-improving cooking. To the master and disciple, nothing about Lumine and Su Xuan's interaction felt "special"—just natural, everyday conversation.
Later that night, the two couldn't sleep, still replaying the dinner in their heads.
"Ganyu," Cloud Retainer murmured, puzzled, "does Lumine… no longer wish to find her brother?"
Ganyu rubbed her horn with a tiny grimace. "Truth be told, Master… I don't know."
"It confounds even this immortal," Cloud Retainer said, face growing solemn. "All evening, she never mentioned Aether once."
Ganyu's expression turned resigned. The first half of dinner, Cloud Retainer had been so stiff she was practically mute. Then Su Xuan coaxed her to open up, and the second half… she never stopped talking. Lumine and Paimon could only stare, wide-eyed.
Tap, tap, tap—footsteps in the stairwell made the adeptus's ears twitch.
"Ganyu, listen. Someone's moving…"
Both pricked up their ears. Someone was sneaking from the second floor to the first.
They exchanged a glance—so Lumine is making her move at last?—and crept out like thieves.
Just in time to see Lumine, in pajamas, slip into Su Xuan's room.
Both master and disciple froze. Lumine pulled the door to… but it didn't latch, and a slim wedge remained open.
"Still awake?" Lumine smiled toward the bed. "How was dinner?"
A moment later, both of their diaries fluttered open.
Thankfully, the house lights were bright, and Su Xuan's lamp was on—so the glow from the diary screens looked faint and inconspicuous.
[About tonight's dinner with Cloud Retainer and Ganyu.]
[Ganyu is quiet by nature; Cloud Retainer talks plenty, but the adeptal aura and her restraint had her tongue-tied at first.]
[The first half of dinner was painful to sit through.]
[Then I steered the conversation—pulled open Cloud Retainer's memories.]
[She started telling Ganyu's childhood stories.]
Ganyu's eyes went round. No—he wrote that down?! Now everyone holding a diary would know!
Cloud Retainer glanced at her and made a shushing gesture.
Ganyu rolled her eyes: This is what happens when you talk too much, Master!
Cloud Retainer rolled hers right back: As if he wouldn't have known anyway.
[When Ganyu was little, her favorite thing was having her horns patted.]
[I had to stroke her horns to get her to sleep.]
[She was chubby—so chubby that one misstep hiking up a mountain and she'd tumble allll the way down.]
[The first time she saw a living human—upright and walking—it scared her into a rock crevice for two days and nights.]
[When I found her, she was crying and babbling about "monsters."]
[At that point, Ganyu suddenly "lost her appetite," muttered something about dieting, and fled to find a room for the night.]
[Cloud Retainer sighed after her: "The child is shy. Alas, she never learned my conversational skills."]
[Lumine and Paimon finally understood why the 'Great Conversationalist True Lord' keeps talking people right out of the room.]
Ganyu suffered a critical hit. Social death, delivered by Master's mouth.
Across Teyvat, women cackled behind their diaries. The "Expert Conversationalist" truly did talk her disciple straight into the grave—then lamented the girl hadn't learned to chat!
[Anyway, I rather like the tsundere empty-nest bird.]
[There are secrets of this world I may not know, but when mortals suddenly act like different people around me, it's stifling.]
[Who I dislike and who I don't—I'm very clear on it.]
[I'm decisive. If someone I truly detest stands before me, I might not even have the mood to bargain. I'd just pinch them out.]
[And honestly—what here is worth bargaining for with me?]
[If I don't dislike you, and you mean no harm, then just be yourself. No need to tiptoe around. I don't eat people…]
You don't eat people, Yae Miko thought, eyes narrowing. You just make everyone else eat out of your hand.
Lumine lowered her lashes, that familiar sly glint in her eyes.
Su Xuan ignored it and asked, "So, what brings you here in the middle of the night?"
"I've come to tell you a secret," Lumine said, chin up, hands on hips—proud as a peacock. "I'm here to accept punishment."
"…Huh?" Su Xuan blinked.
Outside the door, Cloud Retainer and Ganyu were equally stunned.
Accept punishment? And she says it so boldly? So this was how Lumine and Su Xuan related? Unfathomable—and oddly incomprehensible.
"Go on," Su Xuan gestured.
"It was me," Lumine admitted. "I ruined your talk with Ningguang.
"I heard Keqing slip that the Adeptal Rite husk was in the Golden House, then 'accidentally' told the bank receptionist while withdrawing cash.
"That poor debt-riddled Harbinger ran straight to the Golden House, realized he'd been had, and unleashed Osial to smoke out Rex Lapis."
Cloud Retainer and Ganyu sucked in a sharp breath.
They suddenly recalled Su Xuan's line about a "little rascal" sabotaging his talk with Ningguang—turns out his No. 1 employee was the culprit.
"Courageous to own the mistake," Cloud Retainer found herself appraising in silence. "But that attitude could use work…"
Lumine finished, spun around, and lifted the hem of her pajamas. "Your diary said it—punish however you like."
Su Xuan huffed a laugh. "That was a moment's venting, not a verdict. I'm more curious: why did you want Osial freed ahead of time?"
He glanced over—and paused. Ah. Aether.
Everything clicked. Lumine had already grasped the rhythm of his dealings with other diary holders. She'd come under the pretext of "punishment," but her real move was right here.
No wonder she'd cooked, dined calmly, and never mentioned Aether—she'd been waiting for this.
And since she'd bared her fangs, there was no reason to refuse.
"Not bad," Su Xuan said. "You and I are both from beyond this world. Your intuition pleases me. Turn around properly—hard to administer punishment like that."
Lumine turned, eyes squeezed shut, cheeks burning. With a little crook of his finger, Su Xuan's telekinesis set her in place.
Smack. Smack. Smack.
Crisp sounds—then silence.
Outside, Cloud Retainer had counted. No more than ten. Force? Light. More symbolic than punitive.
So he wasn't truly angry with Lumine's 'sabotage' after all…
Then Su Xuan's voice drifted out: "Tsk. Just a few taps and the door's open."
"Don't blame me, then."
Master and disciple stared at the thin gap. We're discovered! They'd forgotten his telekinesis could sense them.
They squeezed their eyes shut and braced for fate.
No footsteps. No closing door.
And then a sudden sound from within turned both of them to statues.
Ganyu tilted her head, wholly lost. Cloud Retainer stiffened—wait… that sound… could it be—
…
Midnight deepened across Teyvat. Most were asleep.
Lumine lay there, eyes unfocused on the ceiling.
What… just happened? It felt like pieces were missing—moments where her soul had slipped out.
She breathed deep to steady herself. The slyness hadn't left her gaze—but then her eyes snapped wide, scandalized.
"By the way." Su Xuan's voice cut in lazily. "During your little 'mental immersion,' Cloud Retainer and Ganyu saw everything."
"…They were—" Lumine choked.
"They tailed you from upstairs," he said. "And you didn't shut the door properly."
She stared at the gap. "!?"
Clutching her hair, Lumine flushed from collar to ears. "Hold on—this is wrong—those two… ah?!"
And worst of all, Su Xuan had known they were outside—and said nothing. Didn't even flick the door shut with a thought.
"You did it on purpose?" Lumine glared.
He nodded, matter-of-fact. "I even shifted the angle so they'd have a better view."
"…You," Lumine breathed, speechless. Shameless. Thoroughly shameless.
But she knew how this ended for those two: you couldn't outrun this man's gravity forever. With that in mind, she didn't fuss.
"They've got diaries, too," Lumine muttered. "I got the short end tonight."
"Next time you owe me—let me watch them. Fair's fair."
Su Xuan nodded, and the matter was settled.
After a quiet beat, Lumine looked up at him again, eyes bright.
He patted her shoulder. "Sleep. Tomorrow, I'll take you to the ruin."
"Hehe." With that promise, she wriggled into a comfortable spot in his arms and went silent. A long time passed, and she still didn't doze.
Her diary flashed.
[I can feel my Lumine's nerves.]
[She's afraid we won't meet Aether tomorrow.]
In the hallway, master and disciple traded a look. Su Xuan was taking Lumine to the ruin.
No wonder she'd been so calm over dinner—she'd known he would.
Did that have something to do with… earlier? both wondered, cheeks aflame.
[On the normal timeline—]
[Osial would've been re-sealed by Ningguang's Jade Chamber.]
[But the Abyss's first target wasn't Osial. It was Andrius, the North Wind Wolf King.]
[In a few days, a golden-haired man would appear in Mondstadt:]
[Dainsleif—Khaenri'ah's Twilight Sword, Teyvat's greatest riddler.]
[Former companion to Aether, now hunting him and the Abyss's plans.]
[Thanks to Dain, the Abyss fails to capture Andrius's lingering soul.]
[Meanwhile, Ganyu commissions the Adventurers' Guild. Lumine takes the ruin job.]
[They discover the inverted Statue of The Seven and fight the Abyss Lector: Hydro.]
[The Lector senses Lumine's resemblance to Aether, learns who she is, tries to retreat.]
[Dainsleif appears to kill him—Aether emerges to protect his subordinate.]
[Because of me, the details have shifted.]
[Tomorrow, there's no 100% guarantee we meet Aether at the ruin.]
Lumine said nothing—only squeezed Su Xuan's hand.
[But it's fine. I prepared back in Mondstadt.]
[I hold what Aether needs most.]
[No matter where he runs, to finish his grand design, he has to come to me.]
[Specifically: the eye—energy core from the first Khaenri'ahn Ruin Guard.]
[So whether he comes tomorrow or later, if Lumine wants to see him… I'll simply pin him down and the matter ends.]
Cloud Retainer and Ganyu both lifted their heads from the wall, eyes wide with the same thought.
So the Abyss Order has already been in Su Xuan's grasp all along.
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