enchante

━━ taken in his mercy.

THREE YEARS AGO

GATHERED AMIDST THE PLAINS ARE THE ELDELY TOWNSFOLK OF Qingce Village. They were called upon further notice, shocked themselves when they saw the Fatui agents all around the area searching for something or someone that poor elders around the town have yet to know.

Fatui should be discreet on work as well but upon seeing the elders swarming to see what they're up to, the Agents were left with no choice but to publicly declare what it is that brought them into the borderland of Liyue.

"A direct command from Tsaritsa has arrived. And that's to capture a lady in her spruce kimono, a glaze lily as her tieback, and once an old maid of the Lawrence Clan from Mondstadt, now freed from the Lawrence's malevolence to flee in this village. Is it familiar to the folks around? If yes, deliver the lady immediately or a wide annihilation in this town will suffice." The man clothed in a garnet-hued suit with a known emblem of the Fatui announced those to the townsfolk who started chattering the moment they heard his caution.

"That might be a mistake. Qingce Village is known for the elders left living here so why must a young maiden flee here? Unless, it's just a traveler wandering around the borders like our dear lady y/n." One of the elders speaks up what's already known, receiving countless nods from the other elders yet, a disapproval look from the Agents.

But that's not the only thing that made all of the villagers wary and worried, it's also the undermining presence of the man whose forehead down to the crest of his nose was covered in a familiar flannel-hued beak mask. He was unfamiliar and appeared to stand like a priest when he's clearly the opposite.

His sea glass-hued hair was pristinely fixed, he was clothed more grandiose than the other Fatuis - his coat yelled wealth with the fur all over his nape and ankle, even the jewels all around his translucent suit and his earrings screamed riches - his aura and the way he stood there also emit ten folds sense of power, authority, and poise, and the way the townsfolk couldn't see his face or familiarize him at least just made all of them very anxious as well.

Nobody announced who he was, either. They just came with him despite all the atrocity that has been happening after the Jade Chamber collapsed.

Well, it was also too unusual for the Fatui to visit such a remote locale just to pick up a former maid of the Lawrence, the Lawrences of all people who were known all over Teyvat for being a majestic yet vile nobles.

Who would even dare escape their grasp and flee to Liyue of all places? Wouldn't it be too far for the maid to travel?

That's what they thought not until one of the villager's eyes from the back heated up as it diverted towards the garb that the woman at the furthermost back of the crowd is wearing - she's wearing the same exact garb that the dress description of the guard from Dottore's division had announced and the look of fright she has ignited the intuition of the old man even more.