paradoxical | genshin impact

23 : lover.

You only realized you've fallen back asleep when you opened your eyes again.

Blinking out the spots in your vision, you looked around with a yawn. Faint sunlight streamed through the mouth of the cavern—giving you some reprieve from the never-ending chill. The cave's interior was much brighter than when you were last conscious, and the blizzard from last night seemed nothing but a fever dream now. Somewhere atop the table on the far end, you could spot the bag you'd brought along for the trip. Although before you could even think about getting up to retrieve it—

"Oh! You're awake!"

You jolted at the sound of a meek voice coming from your left. There, a young woman with pale green hair scuttled out of her seat to tend to a cooking cauldron—one that had not been there earlier. The fact of the matter made you realize that the people you'd previously woken up to were glaringly absent. It was just you, the strange contraptions all around the cavern, and the odd woman that seemed to fuss a bit too much for someone you'd never even met before.

She was saying something a bit too fast for you to comprehend. All you could do was nod along, but in the midst of her unintelligible spiel, the woman scooped spoonfuls of green stew into a wooden pot. You swallowed nervously. Was she...going to make you eat that?

"...and Master Diluc said you might try to go out and look for him, which is why I'm here to keep that from happening! Although Mister Albedo seemed against the notion—something about you being a grown woman who can do whatever she wants? I can't exactly remember the specifics, but—"

"Uh, miss?"

She yelped, the nauseatingly green stew sloshing in the bowl. "Y-Yes?"

You held her gaze for a moment, wondering why she was so red in the face all of a sudden before clearing your throat. "What's your name?"

"Um, Sucrose..."

There we go. Regular talking speed; just how you liked it.

"Sucrose," you repeated with a smile that made you aware of how cracked your lips were. "Thank you for being here when I woke up. Did... Did they ask you to watch over me?"

Sucrose nodded swiftly, and you had to bite back a sigh. For some reason, you always had to unknowingly rely on others to take care of you, huh? Your eyes fell on your hands. They're awfully chilly, in spite of the warmth imbued by the morning sun. You didn't know how you made it in one piece, but it probably had something to do with both Diluc and Albedo.

"How did I survive?"

At your inquiry, Sucrose adjusted her glasses shakily—reaching for a wooden spoon on the table as she plops in the bowl. "Err, it was a...joint effort? Master Diluc was already tailing you and the man who tried to push you off the cliff, but he was a little too late to save you."

You frowned. Diluc had already been following you? And he didn't even make his presence known to you at all? "Who saved me, then?"

"I-It was Mister Albedo," Sucrose spoke softly, speaking his name with utmost respect as she handed you the bowl. "His solar isotoma can help him reach places most people can't. Right before you could plummet to the ground, he caught you. And...let's just say he has a keen sense for things amiss in the world, especially here in Dragonspine. That's why, at that moment, he was at the right place at the right time."

The right place at the right time...

You pondered her words for a moment. So one of the Captains of the Knights had been strolling around that specific part of Dragonspine where you'd been falling to your imminent doom? And he just happened to catch you mid-air with his otherworldly powers? Oh, and let's not forget about how Diluc managed to follow you and that scammer, Alric before anything else.