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Late at night, in Fontaine City, within Hotel Bouffes d'ete.
At this hour, the children of the House of the Hearth had long since fallen asleep, though there were still exceptions.
The reception room was brightly lit, permeated by an atmosphere of tension and mystery.
Arlecchino sat upright in an armchair, her deep-set eyes fixed firmly on Lyney, Lynette, and Freminet, who stood neatly lined up before her.
Lyney carefully stepped forward, respectfully presenting a thick stack of documents with both hands.
The documents contained a detailed record of the investigation he and Lynette had conducted over the past month regarding Furina's movements.
"Father, please review this. This is the summary of Miss Furina's daily schedule that Lynette and I compiled after a month of surveillance."
Arlecchino gave a slight nod and extended her slender fingers to accept the file.
Her gaze swept rapidly across each line, and a faint look of satisfaction gradually surfaced on her face.
After a moment, she closed the file, lifted her head, and looked at the three children.
"Hmm. Well done. I truly did not expect the Hydro Archon's daily life to be so regular. This provides us with considerable convenience."
Over the past month, Arlecchino had submitted multiple diplomatic meeting requests to the Palais Mermonia, yet every single one had been rejected without exception.
Now that Tartaglia's arrest was no longer a viable pretext, Arlecchino found herself temporarily without direction in her plan to seize the Gnosis.
Even after clearly expressing her willingness to engage in fair and equal cooperation to help Fontaine overcome the prophecy's crisis, her proposal was still rejected by Neuvillette.
After exhausting polite discourse and every possible avenue to no avail, Arlecchino hardened her resolve.
Everything must prioritize obtaining the Gnosis.
She decided to ambush Furina, seize the Gnosis, and immediately retreat.
After all, Mondstadt, Liyue, Inazuma, and Sumeru had already expelled the Fatui—adding Fontaine to the list hardly mattered.
However, one troublesome variable still stood before her.
Shao Yun.
When she learned that Shao Yun had refused the position of Hydro Archon's guard, Arlecchino felt a brief sense of relief.
If he had accepted the role and remained by Furina's side, matters would have become far more complicated.
Even so, Arlecchino did not dare act rashly.
She suspected that Neuvillette might have entered into some undisclosed arrangement with Shao Yun.
Especially in recent times, Shao Yun had repeatedly assisted the Security Patrol and the Spina di Rosula.
These actions only deepened her vigilance toward him.
That was precisely why Arlecchino had assigned Freminet to monitor Shao Yun's movements closely.
...
After finishing the report, Arlecchino set the documents aside and turned her gaze directly toward Freminet.
"Freminet, it's your turn to report."
At that moment, Freminet appeared distracted, standing before her as if his soul had wandered elsewhere.
Images from earlier that afternoon replayed endlessly in his mind.
Just as Shao Yun had said, Freminet—innocent and inexperienced, like a blank sheet of paper—had been deeply captivated by Navia, Clorinde, and Lumine in their swimsuits.
So much so that he had not registered a single word Arlecchino had spoken.
Seeing this, Arlecchino frowned slightly and snapped her fingers sharply.
"Freminet? I'm speaking to you. Did you not hear me?"
Standing beside him, Lyney quickly elbowed Freminet and whispered urgently, "Freminet! Father is talking to you!"
Freminet jolted back to his senses, glancing around blankly before nodding repeatedly.
"Ah—oh! Sorry, Father. I spaced out. What are your orders?"
Arlecchino showed no suspicion and asked bluntly, "Report today's surveillance."
Freminet hastily gathered his thoughts.
"Mr. Shao Yun spent the day at the seaside with Lumine, Paimon, Miss Navia, and Miss Clorinde, holding a swimsuit—ah, no—a beach party. They said they plan to return to the beach again tomorrow."
His mind was still filled with images of those three women in swimsuits, nearly causing him to misspeak.
Arlecchino paid no attention to the mention of swimsuits or beach parties.
What mattered to her was Shao Yun's location.
"So that means Shao Yun likely won't be returning to Fontaine City anytime soon."
Freminet once again drifted off, failing to respond.
"Freminet? What's wrong with you? Why are you so distracted tonight?"
"N-No… nothing. I'm just a little sleepy…"
As he spoke, he let out a huge yawn.
Arlecchino glanced at the clock on the wall.
"I see. My apologies. I overlooked the fact that you're still growing and require sufficient rest."
She then announced generously, "You've worked hard this past month. I'll grant you one day off. Tomorrow, you may spend the entire day however you wish."
Lyney nearly jumped with joy and bowed deeply.
"Thank you, Father! You're far too kind!"
Arlecchino waved them away.
After the three children left, her gaze grew cold and contemplative.
After some time, she picked up the intelligence once more, her eyes settling on Furina's performance schedule for the next day.
A chilling smile curved her lips.
"Perhaps… tomorrow night will suffice."
...
The next morning, sunlight filtered through thin clouds and fell upon the seaside of Poisson.
After breakfast, Shao Yun and the others returned to the beach they had visited the day before.
However, revisiting the same location dulled the excitement.
"Ugh… this is kind of boring now. The beach doesn't feel as exciting as yesterday."
Even Clorinde nodded in agreement.
"I feel the same. It does seem a bit dull."
Hearing this, Navia began to reconsider their plans.
Suddenly, inspiration struck.
"How about we ride the Aircraft on Mont Automnequi and take a tour through the sky?"
"A Aircraft? You mean that one over there?"
Paimon pointed toward a distant airship atop the mountain.
"Exactly! If the sea has lost its charm, why not try flying?"
"We've already done everything in the water and on land. Guess it's finally time to go airborne!"
With no objections from Lumine or Shao Yun, the beach vacation officially transformed into an airship tour.
...
Upon reaching the western summit of Equinox Mountain, the Antoine Roger Aircraft came into view.
At first glance, it looked exactly like an airship.
Navia examined the engine closely.
"It requires Pneuma energy and must be activated using Ousia… but Clorinde and I can't use Ousia. What should we do?"
"I'll try."
Lumine stepped forward and placed her palm on the engine.
Ding.
The engine rumbled to life, and the airship slowly rose into the air.
"It worked?! Lumine, you can use Pneuma–Ousia energy too?!"
Lumine smiled proudly.
"Hehe, piece of cake."
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