Ruby Red Blood (Genshin X F!Reader)

Paper Snow And Trust

"Be at ease, you three. Make yourselves at home if you wish." Ningguang herself looked as if she had came right, like a diamond put in a crown, a vase on a private shelf.

"Can we really?!" Paimon was stunned by her surroundings.

"I have invited you three here as friends. And when friends come over to play, our enjoyment comes first, naturally."

"Is that what I think it is...?" Aether's eyes were glued on the board by one of the walls.

"Oh! Isn't this that legendary wall?" Paimon asked, looking at the gathered documents pinned up on the wall.

"You've kept your ear to the ground." Ningguang answered.

"That's because even storytellers talk about it... everyone's after a piece of paper from that wall. It's super famous!" Paimon squealed with excitement.

"That's because that board records Liyue's secrets. Merchants have always been attracted to secrets." well, that was very true. A secret or two could make one's business bloom and another's wither to dust. "But the secrets of the mercantile world are of no interest to you, are they, traveler? You're rather special, really -and I think you're quite aware of that. If possible, I'd like to have at least your trust." seemed Ningguang had already given up on the trust from (Y/N) and Paimon. However, she should not have.

"If Ganyu approves you, I do not think you're quite as bad as a powerful player. If you'd stop moving your pieces to attack our privacy, I'd think that a trustful acquaintance could be achieved. But trust me when I say this, I have no interest to play a part in neither the Adepti's or the Qixing's part. If something would happen that would stand a threat to anyone I care for, I would act. But neither of you give me any reason to think so." (Y/N) had spoken for her part, making it clear what her every thought was. She had nothing to hide, yet she made herself a bit more mysterious to the Tianquan by saying she wanted to play no part. Of course, she was fully aware of this, but she knew that hiding her thoughts would end badly for herself and her companions.

"I appreciate your willingness to comprehend and work alongside us. Now, who would you rather chose, Aether? Me or Lady Keqing. Do understand this question has a different result depending on how you answer." Ningguang already knew that since (Y/N) had answered her part, she saw the whole Qixing as one mind with different opinions gathered. Aether however, thought more in a way she could easily decipher. He said he'd choose Keqing with her optimism, and she smiled, knowing how he thought.

"I thought so. I at first thought she was a bit... hard-headed. She has caused many misfortunes that I have to clean up behind the scenes. But after her words: "the time of the Adept has long passed. If not even the Liyue Qixing wants to face it, then what future is there for Liyue..." I began to realize her good sides.

I won't deny that Rex Lapis' passing seems advantageous for us. But for Liyue's sake, we cannot allow ourselves to be shackled by rumors of our usurpation of power."

"I surmise that the Fatui has a hand in these rumors?" the red girl asked, feeling bitterness on her tongue as she spoke.

"Indeed... it seems that you both understood what I meant to say from the beginning. I called for the gag order and for the Exuvia to be hidden to temporarily stabilize the situation, and also to prevent something similar to the incident in Mondstadt. With Rex Lapis' death, the Fatui have busied themselves with many clandestine actions beyond their diplomatic remit. As the Tianquan, one responsible for Liyue, I cannot be too concerned with appearances when opposing them. Allowing the Rite of Parting to take place was also meant to buy some time for us to take control of Liyue's administration..."

"Ugh... it's exactly as Zhongli said. The Qixing only provided the venue for the rite so they could use us for their own ends." Paimon concluded with a groan.

"Good work Paimon, you realized something faster than the average person or creature your mental age would have managed. That goes to say, it was completely obvious." (Y/N) praised, or more likely joked, thought that passed the child completely.

"Aw thanks- wait... completely obvious?" no matter. "Wait! Could Paimon say one last thing? Paimon remembered something as we spoke of ends... Paimon's heard that anyone who sends a greeting gift gets a little something in return... so, does that include us?"

"Straight to the point." Aether sighed as (Y/N) felt personally assaulted by how rude the girl accidentally was.

"It's alright. I like direct people. Well, we have made quite a bit of trouble for you recently. How about this? You can pick any one object here as you please, and you may take it with you." Ningguang's answer was, as she amused looked at Aether for his answer.

"Let's take one of the sheets from the wall!" Paimon pointed at the wall, exited as she had gotten just the answer she wanted. She earned two very confused looks. "Don't look at Paimon like that! One of these sheets of paper will sell for crazy prices, even if it's only as large as Paimon's fingernail!"

"In one way she is right. If we could gather information important for your journey everything would go a lot smoother. Big events over Teyvat involving someone looking like you, a person who have traveled all over Teyvat and seen your sister..."

"We already have someone who have traveled all over Teyvat though..." Aether sweat dropped, looking at (Y/N). But the idea seemed to have manifested in his brain, making him approach the wall. He immediately picked interest in the biggest sheet, and so did Paimon, but for different reasons. (Y/N) had no intention of looking at the sheet Ningguang had set up for them, but instead gathered information interesting for her. There was a lot about the lost nation, her home, that she could see. She got a clearer picture of how capable the woman was when she saw that quite a bit of information was gathered about her connections and nicknames along with travels and origin. Though the last one was unclear. Her looks didn't quite give an impression she was from anywhere but not from the nation she was in, and people always said she came from different places depending on when they met her. They had all met her during different times when she came from different nations and had a different job, but the result was the same - no one knew fully.

Back to the paper Aether looked at. It was the Fatui's plans. The child and the traveler had a conversation, but just by seeing what the paper was about, (Y/N) knew the outcome. That was the paper sheet they took, and then decided to head to where the marked place was.

Going straight into Ningguang's plan, it was.

Yahho~

Just me finally managing to not take an entire week to write a chapter... yeassssh! I managed!

Hope you enjoyed~!

1,220 words, 3.7 pages (✿◠‿◠)