After saying all this, Jean lowered her head in quiet loneliness.
The woman who always stood strong before others secretly wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.
"Lady Vennessa… the Prince of Snezhnaya told me that Grand Master Varka has already fallen. From today onward, I am officially the Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius."
"Becoming full Grand Master should have been something worth celebrating… but Grand Master Varka will never return."
To Varka, Jean was his junior—
the successor he had personally cultivated for the position of Grand Master.
To Jean, Varka was her mentor.
The one who gave her courage to move forward, who taught her never to bend or break in the face of despair.
Her growth had always been guided by him, just as she revered Lady Vennessa—she respected Varka no less.
"Grand Master Varka… you wrote letters home, reporting that the expedition was safe. But those letters were written by someone else, weren't they?"
"I understand your intentions. You didn't want anyone to cry for you. You once said that on a brutal battlefield, tears only bring distraction. So you chose to hide everything from us, hoping we would march forward without hesitation."
"I will keep this secret," Jean whispered.
"Until the expeditionary force returns in triumph."
After pouring out her heart, Jean felt the urge to break down completely.
But approaching footsteps interrupted her sorrow.
The familiar, resilient smile returned to her face at once.
It was Noelle, following behind her.
"Grand Master Jean, I'm sorry to disturb you. Captain Kaeya was worried about your safety and asked me to follow you. He said you'd probably come to Windrise."
"Is Captain Kaeya feeling any better now?" Jean asked.
"Uh… when I saw him this morning, he was still pretty angry. He said he couldn't understand why he had just escaped to Dawn Winery to seek help from Diluc, only to be captured immediately by the Lawrence Clan."
"Oh—he also asked me about you and the Prince of Snezhnaya."
"Me and the Prince?" Jean frowned. "There's nothing between us. If he's curious about that assassination attempt two years ago, I'll explain it slowly once we're back."
Noelle shook her head.
"That's not what Captain Kaeya meant. He thought you spent the night in the Prince's room yesterday and was afraid something inappropriate had happened. I told him I stayed with you all night—only then did he leave in peace."
As she said this, a faint blush crept onto Noelle's face.
Matters between adult men and women always made the shy girl's heart race, even when heard secondhand.
"Kaeya!" Jean stomped her foot in frustration, her chest rising and falling sharply.
After steadying herself, she asked, "Is the Snezhnayan delegation leaving Mondstadt today?"
"When they passed the city gates, I ran into the Mirror Maiden beside the Prince. She told me their next destination is Natlan."
Jean shook her head.
"Before their visit, the Snezhnayan side deliberately released false information about the Prince being at odds with the Tsaritsa and the Eleven Harbingers. We, the Knights of Favonius, were misled by that."
"If they so easily told you their itinerary, then it's almost certainly another deception."
Noelle asked hesitantly, "Then… where do you think they're really going next, Grand Master?"
"Liyue," Jean answered without hesitation.
"Liyue? I can't imagine why they'd go there."
Jean didn't explain further—because this was merely her inference.
The Prince of Snezhnaya, Severin, had already successfully obtained the Gnoses of Mondstadt and Inazuma. With his confidence at its peak, it was only natural that he would push onward and challenge the most difficult of the Seven—
Rex Lapis.
As the oldest of the Seven, the Lord of Geo was nothing like the Anemo or Electro Archons. Schemes that relied on manipulating aristocrats to overthrow Mondstadt's leadership would never work in Liyue.
Liyue was governed by the Liyue Qixing, whose competence far surpassed that of the Knights of Favonius or Inazuma's Tri-Commission—standing among the very best in all of Teyvat.
Someone as proud as Severin would most likely challenge the Nation of Contracts head-on, attempting to seize the Geo Gnosis from Rex Lapis himself.
As for how he would do it—
Jean couldn't even begin to imagine.
Whether he would succeed effortlessly or suffer a crushing setback, she didn't know.
But she was filled with anticipation.
"The Prince of Snezhnaya is peerless in strategy," Jean said softly.
"The next time I see him… I'll probably owe him an apology."
"Huh? Why is that?" Noelle asked.
Jean lifted her gaze toward the lush, towering Windrise tree.
"We lost badly this time. Both the Lawrence Clan and the Knights of Favonius became pieces in his plan to draw Lord Barbatos into the open."
"From the very beginning, he never saw us as equal opponents."
"But that's not a bad thing. For centuries, we grew complacent—indulging in comfort, pride, and arrogance. Mondstadt needed someone to strike the bell of warning."
"Only by staying vigilant in times of peace can we ensure lasting stability."
"The Prince of Snezhnaya forced Mondstadt to become better—more united, and more mature."
Jean smiled faintly.
"And besides… that Prince, whose ambition could swallow mountains, still remembers the reckless sword strike I gave him years ago—like a boy nursing a grudge after being bullied."
"I think that's because he never treated me as 'the Acting Grand Master,' nor burdened himself with his princely status. He saw me as an equal—a friend."
"In that case, I really was the one in the wrong."
"I hope that one day, I'll have the chance to apologize to him in person."
She then turned to Noelle.
"Oh, and Noelle—your bravery this time was clear for all to see. I formally approve your admission into the Knights of Favonius."
Noelle's eyes instantly filled with tears. But as a future knight of Mondstadt, she refused to show weakness. She wiped her eyes swiftly and delivered a perfect knightly salute.
"Knight Noelle—
it's time for us to reclaim Mondstadt."
"Yes, Grand Master!"
At the same time—
Outside Mondstadt's city gates, the departure of the Snezhnayan delegation was just as lively as their arrival.
Citizens gathered to watch.
They hadn't seen the Prince when he arrived—
but now they came specifically to glimpse the true face of the Prince of Snezhnaya.
Severin's rise and struggles had spread across the Seven Nations, growing ever more legendary with each passing day. Stories of his tireless reforms and transformation of Snezhnaya were told in every street and alley.
"They say I'm the rising star of Mondstadt's wine industry," muttered Diona, the cat-eared girl standing near the gate.
"Then the Prince of Snezhnaya… he's the rising star of all Teyvat."
Just as Severin had said the night before, she'd been given the day off yesterday—apparently because some trouble had broken out in the city.
Diona wasn't the only one there.
Nearly everyone from the Knights of Favonius had come to see the delegation off.
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