Riches, golds and ores are all a person living in a society could ask for. At least that's what Ningguang was taught to believe.
Growing up, Ningguang had been dressed in the finest of silks and played with only the wooden toys made from the scarce trees sat atop the highest of mountains and painted by the most delicate hands of all of teyvat. To say she grew up comfortably was an understatement - her parents spoiled her rotten and her maids catered to her absolute every need, from the big to the small. She'd say, growing up, she didn't need to lift even a finger.
She was rich and powerful, as powerful as the child of one of the wealthiest families could get. Yet, funnily enough, she lacked love.
It's almost expected - cliche even - that the children of wealthy parents would have grown missing the warmth of their mother's hugs, or the sound of their father's laugh. As a family with such high status, her parents needed to keep an image, one they wouldn't dare taint even if it meant losing their daughter.
So Ningguang grew up under the wing of her doting maids - people she grew to think of as siblings, uncles and aunties and even friends - and her strict, but very caring teachers. But even then... there were...
"Ningguang, are you listening?"
In one of the many many rooms of her grand home, her parents had generously gifted the girl a room to turn into a study room - lit by the bright sun that was now setting, changing the blinding yellow into a soothing orange and pink, decorated with globes of teyvat, maps and guides of the various different languages used in teyvat. Her table was a dark brown wood, older than other furniture in the room but still taken care of. Her fingers mindlessly traced the lines of each crack in the wood - eyes struck on the doodle she had made on her book instead of writing down what the woman in front of her was saying.
She'd be getting a lesson on that, she could feel it.
The older woman sighed, annoyed and frustrated with the absentminded girl. Recently, since she had turned fourteen, Ningguang seemed to pick up a habit of rebelling against her tutors - not showing up to their sessions, sneaking out, not paying attention and even ignoring the homework they often assigned to her. To the woman, this was a sign of laziness.
"One day you're going to grow into an adult and the responsibilities you're trying to escape from now will come crashing down on you." She lectured. Her black heels clicked on the tiled floor as she made her way towards the teachers desk, opening a drawer and rummaging through it.
Immediately, Ningguang connected the dots and instantly stood from her seat, eyes wide and senses raised. She never liked this teacher, unlike her others, she was mean and ruthless - making her feel dumb when she couldn't grasp a subject quick enough. She preferred Mr Smith; the language teacher from Mondstadt who would laugh and pet her head when she couldn't understand something the first time. Or Mrs Kaneko from Inazuma who would sneak in little cut fruits or nuts for her to snack on while she taught her about the nations of teyvat.
The woman eyed Ningguang through her glasses, glaring at her as if daring her to run out the room. Slowly, she lifted a ruler. "Hands flat on your desk."
"Please- I'm sorry. I'll focus now-"
"Hands. Flat. On. Your. Desk."
Ningguang's knuckles always tended to bruise this beautiful purple and green after her lessons with her - something that looked so bitterly wonderful under setting sun light.
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"Owner of the Jade Chamber?" The sickening graceful voice of her mother was something Ningguang couldn't even remember it - perhaps only hearing it a few times a year with how often her parents would leave for business trips and return home only for a few days before leaving again.
In the dinner table say her father and mother, both sat on each end of the table with their respective plates. It was almost haunting how large the table was for only three people - the empty space nearly unbearable.
She learned not to mind it though, ignoring the pang of emptiness in her heart - learning to fill it by making projects and goals. She cut into her meal and nodded. "I'll be in charge of the rules of trade here in Li-"
"Dont explain simple titles like that to your father and I. We aren't stupid." Her mother scoffed, almost offended by the words of her daughter.
Her father sighed, sipping on red wine. "So what does this mean for our family name? What business will you be offering to our companies?"
"Business?"
He chuckled, unamused and unimpressed. "What? Did you think you could just leave? After everything we sacrificed for you to have the childhood you did? How are you going to pay all of the money we spent on you?"
She hesitated. If they only had a daughter to pay back what they lost raising her, why would they agree to a child in the first place?
Then it hit her; legacies. The family name had to continue, the legends and stories of how great their family was had to continue. She swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded. "I'll pay back all the money you two ever spent on me and see what I can do to offer a discount in tradings for your companies."
Her mother scoffed, raising her wine cup to her red tinted lips. "If you ask me, it should be for free instead of a discount."
Her father hummed. "But it's better than nothing."
The biggest lesson her parents had taught Ningguang was exactly that; something is better than nothing.
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"Lady Ningguang?"
Snapping out of her haunting memories, Ningguang looked up - away from the letter sitting in her hands, paper crinkled from just how hard she was gripping onto it. "Sorry. Yes? How can I help you?" She smiled, breathing in and out as she let go of the paper and let it fall onto her desk.
The woman in front of her - a worker in the Jade Chamber who took care of important news and intel Ningguang might need - hesitated, eyes trailing on the letter before snapping up to her boss. "Ah- well, we got news that Beidou's boat had left the harbour a day ago just like scheduled."
"And it's on track?"
"Yes ma'am. We'll have your own ship ready by tomorrow."
"Actually," standing from her seat, Ningguang walked towards the map she had showcasing teyvat, fingers trailing the old material before landing on her next visit. "reschedule the ship to next week. I have somewhere I want to go first."
"Of course. Should I look into your new destination then?"
With her hand trailing to her chin, striking crimson eyes never once left the map - a smile pulling on her lips as she nodded. "Yes, I'll be paying a little visit to Snezhnaya first." She turned, smiling to the woman before beginning her walk out the door. "Please arrange a carriage for me, will you? For tonight."
"Yes ma'am." She bowed in respect, hearing as the heels of the powerful woman disappeared further into the chamber.
As she turned to leave herself, she stopped, turning to her desk and quickly rushing towards the discarded letter. Grabbing the envelope, she begun to refold the letter neatly to put back in, but stopped - a certain line catching her eye.
In neat, elegant letters, it read; 'We are very sorry to report that the parents of Tianquan Ningguang have passed away in a ship wreck on...'
Softly, she folded the page and placed it back into the envelope. Leaving the room shortly after.
YOU ARE READING
Those Willing to Drown | Beiguang x GN! Reader
Fanfiction"Someone will remember us, I say, even in another time."
