Little Flower |Scaramouche| ✓

◤Finale |The Puppet, Princess, and Prince|

We are SO close to the end holy shiza... Literally we are so close to the end I'm gonna sob when I finally finish this it's been over a year.

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Zhongli closed his eyes and rested his chin atop his gloved fingers. Standing next to the lord of geo on his right side, Guozhi subconsciously studied the movements of his father. Siggy caught sight of this and couldn't stop giggling until Ishtar quietly glared her down until she shut up.

"To answer your question... I don't see any problems with doing that. Usually, when the previous archon dies they must pass down the crown to their heir that they've already selected. Through a formal coronation ceremony, that heir will become the new ruler. However, due to the fact that the Tsaritsa's heir... was not properly chosen before she died, she cannot pass on the crown," he answered slowly.

"So... does this mean that only the Tsaritsa can pass the crown down? Meaning Snezhnaya won't have a new ruler...?" She asked, worriedly. Zhongli shook his head at this before opening his eyes, revealing topaz eyes that matched those of Guozhi.

"It isn't impossible to pass the crown over if the previous archon isn't alive, it's simply... an informal gesture that would be viewed as unorthodox."

The girl's eyes lit up and she asked, "This means we can do it then, right?"

"We'll have to prepare a ceremony to crown him, but that will be no problem at all. One of us, the current archons, will need to officially crown Kuragari and then go on from there."

"If I may interrupt," the girl chirped. "I think you should be the one to give Kura the crown then! Kura, you're alright with this, right? Becoming the new king of Snezhnaya and all that is."

Hesitantly, the lavender haired male scratched the back of his head. Kuragari didn't know if he had the guts to rule an entire nation. Sure he was the chief and leader of the Cerise Praelia, but the rebellion was only made up of a very small percentage of Snezhnaya's population. How was he supposed to run an entire kingdom who would have different views than him?

"There's no one else who's better fit for this role than you, Kura. You can form the new government you told me about! The Fatui have nowhere to go now so you can forcibly disband and get rid of the remaining members and implement the Cerise Praelia as the new enforcers of the law," she pleaded and showed him the cryo chess piece she still held. "Snezhnaya is no longer under the command of the Tsaritsa. Nothing like what's happened will ever happen again. No 'Child Hunt Decrees' can be created with you as their new king."

"I..." Kuragari sighed and looked over at his right hands, Yuhua, Bryn, and Taisiya. They all nodded at him with encouragement. "I... I accept." A wide grin spread across his cousin's face and she cheered loudly for him.

"Very well then," Zhongli looked down at the girl and held his hand out for the cryo gnosis. She dropped it onto his hand as the lord of geo turned to the other archons. "We will prepare the coronation now and introduce the new ruler of Snezhnaya. Word will spread quickly of the Tsaritsa's death so we must move quickly before hysteria spreads." The brown haired archon beckoned for the other archons to follow him where they would swiftly put together a ceremony and crown Kuragari.

All this felt surreal to the chief. He never actually prepared for the day when the Cerise Praelia would overthrow the Fatui. Granted it wasn't done in the way he expected it to with his cousin becoming an archon and killing the most prominent leaders of the Fatui, but it was still a victory in the end and that's all that mattered.

"Oh, I must ask, Kuragari," Zhongli caught the attention of the daydreaming male. "I must ask if you have a vision. It won't do anything against you if you have a vision that is not cryo, but because you will be the new cryo archon, there may be complications with that."