°Yandere Zhongli x Fem! Reader°

- Chapter 19 -

Lumine's body shook with her cries as she looked down at the body.

'I... had to do this.'

Y/N was speechless.

'He's gone.'

Y/N looked at Lumine.

'Aether's gone.'

The distraught of murdering her sibling, her own twin brother, made Lumine a mess of chaos and sadness. Kaeya entered the room once again, this time with Master.

'You've actually done it.' Master seemed subtly surprised.

Y/N was still dumbfounded.

What deal was this that Lumine agreed to kill her brother?

'A simple contract, really.'

Zhongli appeared next to Master.

'Now, Lumine, please get your things. I wish you well on your journey ahead.'

Lumine nodded, then rushed out of the room.

'You.'

Master looked at Y/N.

'Go to the main hall again. Hurry.'

Y/N looked back at Aether's body for a split second until she turned away to go to the hall. As she did, she saw a familiar person waiting for her.

'Hello, Y/N.'

It was the mysterious person she had met earlier.

'Hi?'

'You know, don't you? Who I am.'

Y/N stayed silent.

'Nevermind. This whole situation is rather complex, isn't it? I assure you it will end. Soon enough.'

'Y/N.'

She spun around to see Zhongli approaching her.

It feels like it's been an eternity since I've seen him. Not complaining though.

'Follow me.'

Y/N frowned but obediently followed. It's not like the mysterious stranger was going to help.

'So, I assume you understand now? This society. Rosaria, Kaeya, Lisa... and... them. Along with Master too, of course. But, everyone has been suspecting me for a long time.'

He sighed, brushing his dark hair out of his eyes. 

'You hate me, don't you?'

'Of course, I do.' Y/N wasn't afraid to admit it. She hated him for everything he had done, for all the things he had caused. He had maybe helped her somewhat, but he had still done some unforgivable actions.

'Well, in reality, if it weren't for me, you'd be dead by now. Ages ago, in fact.'

'Yeah, right.'

'You have to believe me when I say I'm not part of this. I'm doing this for your safety, Y/N. Venti's death was not caused by me. Neither was Aether's, as you have witnessed. Master has created this series-like set of tasks for all of us. And you were caught in this. I can tell you what the truth is, Y/N. But, you have to believe me and take it in slowly. It will be a shock, I can assure you that.'

'I'll be fine. Tell me. I need to know about all of this.'

Zhongli looked at Y/N and gave a rare smile. He then launched into his story.

'Quite some time before you were born, I met your mother once by chance. It was a coincidence as there was no correlation between us. However, after some time we became close friends. We talked often, and we were in contact a lot. I managed. We both did. After some time, we... we began dating.'

Okay, what the fuck?

'What do you mean you just started dating? You can't just - '

'Let me continue. We were happy. After a while, I began my teaching. At the time, Lisa and A - I mean, the other person, were not present at the school. So it was going smoothly. When they did join, however, I realised something was wrong. It took a long time to figure things out, but I persuaded them to let me join the whole society. That I would help. Obviously, I wasn't going to, and I still haven't. It was just to learn more about them.'

Y/N's head spun with this new information. She didn't know what to make of it, so she just nodded and waited for Zhongli to continue.

'So, now I was present in this organisation. Along with two teachers. I didn't end up learning a lot at first, but I gradually got them to trust me. I didn't tell your mother. She wouldn't accept this.'

He continued talking, his eyes filled with sorrow.

'It was going well. Until she found out. She was devastated and told me I'd betrayed her, or something along those lines. We ended up breaking up.'

Y/N sighed with relief. 

Thank God. But the fact that this man could have been my father is...

'Your mother, I assumed, found another person, and you know the rest.'

'Why... did you hide this for so long?'

'It isn't vital information, for you now, was it? I've told you now, anyway.' Zhongli leaned back in his chair.

'But still - '

'I have more to say. I needed to figure out more about this whole thing, and in order to do that, I needed someone to act as the prey so I could figure out what was going on. Unfortunately, that prey had to be you. The organisation knows about everything between me and your family, so you'd be a perfect candidate for all this.'

'But, didn't you cut off all ties with my mother?'

'I did, however... I assume the organisation thought that you were actually my child.'

'But, I'm not, right?'

'Of course, you aren't. But that doesn't mean I hated you. Why do you think I followed you around? Why do you think I asked for your number, to keep in contact to check on you? Why do you think I was so worried about you, why I even locked you up so these people couldn't get to you?'

'I don't...'

'I had to do a lot to help you, Y/N.'

'So you're... really not part of this.'

It was a lie. All of it. Y/N had thought Zhongli was some creepy teacher who just wanted to hurt her.

'Wait, do you know who Master actually is?'

'Not yet. But I will find out.'

'I'm afraid you can't do that.'

A new voice entered the room as Master looked at the pair.

He heard everything.