stranger [C. TARTAGLIA]

11

"excuse me?"

"come on, do i really have to say it again?" he sighs. "spar with me."

you blankly stared at him. childe had taken you to the outskirts of the palace just near the garden where you can both talk in private. you were clearly covered in bandages and you knew he was still recovering from the previous battle as well, is he seriously going to make you fight him now?

"sparring with you right now won't be fair, don't you think?" you crossed your arms, eyeing the bandage on your arm. "and besides, you've beaten me. isn't that good enough for you?"

"i..." he paused to look away from you. "what i did back then, that's what's not fair."

you assumed it was when he distracted you from the fight you both had which made you lose in the first place. "so you want a rematch?"

"not necessarily." he averted his gaze at you. "you can attack me, but i won't fight back."

"what?" you scoffed. "what's gotten into you?"

"like i said what i did wasn't fair, it's only right for you to pay back for what i've done." he stares at your bandges, eyes slightly twitching. "and–"

"enough." you cut him off, bringing over your hand to his shoulder. "you were only did your job as a fatui harbinger."

his eyes widened. "but–"

"you saved me with what you said about me in front of the tsaritsa. i think that makes us even now, don't you think?" you let out a small smile.

he smiles back at you. he took your hand into his as he grips it slightly. "guess we got off into a bad start huh?"

"then let's start over." you proposed and slightly shook his gloved hand. "it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, childe."

he chuckled, "the pleasures all mine."

°

it's been about five days since you arrived in snezhnaya. for the past couple of days, you've been stuck in your room with nurses coming in to check up on you everyday. it was the tsaritsa's orders, they said. you weren't quite healed yet so they had to take extra measures in taking care of you.

however, you grew quite bored inside the spacious room. you had nothing to do aside from re-reading the books you had from your childhood.

it reminded you of your time here all those years ago. being alone with no one to play with as a child, the only source of entertainment you got was reading. occasionally, you'd spar with some guards as well who would talk to you from time to time but that was pretty much it.

you also heard some maids talking outside when you went to take a quick walk. apparently, childe had gotten back to liyue harbor to look over the bank and arrange more fatui business.

you couldn't lie, you were somewhat dejected upon hearing the news. it would've been great if he had bidden farewell to you atleast, but he just went and go.

your time with him was short and full of arguments back in liyue while occasionally having some... unexpected moments with the said harbinger. despite this, you longed to see him again for some reason.

"lady [Y/N]? a letter from her majesty." a maid knocked on your door. you saw something slide underneath it, it was a piece of envelope.

you thanked her and went to pick up the paper. the tsaritsa sending letters as a form of communication wasn't weird to you. even though you lived in the same place, she never really visited you in person that much. usually, she'd have someone send you something or she'd order you to come to her personally.