Tʜᴇ ᴇsᴄᴏʀᴛ ᴡᴀɴᴛs ᴘᴇᴀᴄᴇ『ᶻʰᵒⁿᵍˡⁱ ˣ ᵐ/ⁿ ˣ ᵗᵃʳᵗᵃᵍˡⁱᵃ』

VIII

Aᴇᴛʜᴇʀ

A month has passed since the first day of the arrangement and it had been made quite clear that M/n belonged to the two most attractive men of Liyue harbor and that he should not be touched. Especially those with elemental sight, they would be greeted by two different elemental auras attached to the man; who was none the wiser that they did that but it was effective to ward off potential suitors before they could even attempt to make a move. This also caused his bad reputation to fall into nothing and all was well in the harbor...That's until the lantern rite festival was being prepared.

M/n became visibly antsy at this and Zhongli took notice of this since Tartaglia hadn't been around as of late.
"Darling, what's the matter?"

"I-I have a bad feeling, that's all."

"Oh come here, maybe I can take all that worry away from you."M/n settles down just a bit as he takes his seat on Zhongli's lap. It has become second nature at this point with the two men that have him in their laps or between them when they're all together for the day. It did make M/n calm but he knew what was to come because the man that held him in his lap would fake his death in a matter of days now.

🤍🤍🤍

M/n had no idea how he ended up here at this moment but he was regretting leaving the house. He along with others was watching Lady Ningguang conducting the ceremony when it all went wrong and Rex lapis falls 'dead' to the ground. Seeing it in person shook M/n to his core and without thinking he quickly makes his exit but ends up being pulled off by none other than Aether!
"Ah?!"

"Sorry! Please don't be scared, I didn't mean to pull you!"Aether says in a rushed hushed tone as the millelith tread by quickly in search of the stranger. M/n sighs and makes a quick decision and pulls Aether towards the stairs without getting caught.

Unfortunately, they were seen and had to make a dash for it down the stairs though there was an attempt, they didn't make it very far and were cornered.
"Hey, pal!"

"Oh thank the Archons!"M/n gleefully yells upon seeing Tartaglia. The ginger quickly lays waste to the millelith, picks up M/n, and tells the blonde and floating child to follow him to safety.

Once safe, Childe took to looking M/n over, making sure he wasn't hurt or anything then turns to talk to the traveler.
"Call me Childe!"

"Nice to meet you, and you are?"

"I'm M/n, sorry I couldn't help better."

"M/n you shouldn't have been helping in the first place! You could've been hurt or worse!"Tartaglia scolds M/n for a few minutes, but it was gentle and enduring to M/n, he didn't feel as if he were in trouble but it did move Tartaglia's point across very quickly.
He's right...Though my bad reputation is gone, Yelan would have had to get involved if I were captured and detained for being suspicious...I can't allow anyone to know that secret.
"Ah, don't pout I was just worried."

"No, it's not that! It's something else...I should head home, Ai is probably looking for me since I said I wasn't going to the festival but...ugh, I ended up there anyway.."Tartaglia kisses M/n on the forehead, completely forgetting that Paimon and Aether were with them.
"Get home safe, I'll send an agent to trail you on the way so no one will be able to carelessly approach you."

"You're too kind to someone like me. See you later."M/n quickly runs off and Tartaglia cocks his head, quickly a gust of wind bust past them but no one was seen.
"So how did you manage to get yourself and my darling lover into such an ordeal?"The light that was slightly in his eyes dropped when addressing the stranger that nearly caused harm to his darling lover. Aether felt nervous all of a sudden as he explained how this came to be in the first place.