Richard's residence in Mondstadt was a villa located in the inner city, just a street away from the city's central plaza.
The villa's exterior was quaint and elegant, exuding an air of timeless calm. Its steep gabled roof, dormer windows, and finely carved brick and stonework gave it a stately presence. In the sunlight, the villa's old stone walls glowed faintly, and the moss and stone textures looked especially vivid. These weathered bricks and stones had silently witnessed countless springs, summers, autumns, and winters.
For five centuries, the villa's owner had never changed, but his neighbors had come and gone countless times. Thinking back to the childhood playmates whose descendants, generations later, were now old and gray, made even Richard feel a touch of melancholy.
Perhaps this was the fate that all long-lived species had to face.
"Come in," Richard said calmly. He never showed his inner emotions to outsiders, revealing them was no different from showing his weaknesses.
Charlotte stepped inside, her eyes curious. She soon noticed that, contrary to the villa's antique exterior, the furniture inside was all the latest styles, nothing like the retro decor she had imagined.
Seeing her surprise, Richard explained, "The furniture gets replaced periodically. Times keep changing, and furniture keeps improving; there's no need to suffer in the name of nostalgia. Besides, to me, five hundred years isn't really that long."
Charlotte's gaze drifted to Richard's pointed ears. She didn't doubt his words at all. For someone like him, five hundred years might just be like a human growing from childhood to early adulthood.
She nodded crisply. "You're right."
Right now, she just wanted Richard to state what he wanted from her; if she could do it, fine. If not, they'd tear each other down together!
'She'd go sit in prison, and Richard could… keep working as the Ministry's second-in-command, drowning in endless bureaucracy until he dropped!'
'Wait, how was that tearing each other down?'
'Not fair!'
Charlotte fumed inwardly. Even back when she was just a free-roaming reporter and hadn't been recruited by Editor-in-Chief Euphrasie, she'd never felt so stifled dealing with unreasonable interviewees.
"Would you like something to drink?" Richard gestured for Charlotte to sit on the living room sofa, then walked to the sideboard to get two glasses.
But Charlotte clearly didn't trust him; she claimed she'd already had water and was perfectly hydrated.
Yeah, right. She'd practically lost her voice interviewing Lumine and Paimon earlier and had been about to order a drink at the Good Hunter when Richard showed up.
Even so, she wasn't about to drink anything in a closed private space alone with a man, especially when she'd been forced to come here.
Richard could tell she deeply distrusted him, but didn't say much. He still poured her a glass of pure water anyway.
Whether she drank it was her choice; his courtesy as host was his responsibility.
He was a man of meticulous manners, after all.
"I've noticed, Miss Charlotte, that your interviews are well-structured, and you don't seem like an intern at all. I assume you've been doing this for a long time?"
"Yes," Charlotte answered truthfully. "Before I joined the Steambird, I worked alongside my father as a freelance reporter."
Richard nodded. "So, have you ever run into stories you couldn't get published?"
"Of course. Some big shots even threatened to blacklist me!"
Charlotte made it sound routine. She was a reporter dedicated to chasing the truth, working by the motto that the closer you get, the more real the story becomes. She'd appear anywhere and everywhere to capture reality with her camera, compiling it all into reports that delivered the truth to Fontaine's people. Naturally, plenty of powerful figures wanted that truth buried, and her along with it.
Getting silenced was practically a daily hazard for her.
"So, how did you handle it?" Richard asked, leaning forward like a perfect listener.
"Of course, I published anyway!"
"Aren't you afraid of getting blacklisted?"
"Of course, I'm afraid. But if I let that fear stop me from telling the truth, wouldn't that mean I'd be blacklisted forever?" Charlotte said matter-of-factly.
But she still didn't understand why Richard was asking all this. Had she unknowingly offended him? Or did she have evidence that could hurt him, evidence she didn't even realize she had?
Listening to her calm reasoning, Richard was secretly impressed. Was she really a genius?
"I see. Seems I found the right person." Richard nodded.
"Mr. Richard, please, just get to the point. Someone like you, why bother cornering a small-time reporter like me?" Charlotte grumbled with a bitter face.
"It's just a small request about an interview. And if you're not interested after hearing it, you can refuse. I won't trouble you, after all, you've already made sure you have an insurance policy, haven't you?" Richard said with a faint smile.
Of course, he'd noticed why Charlotte had deliberately made her connection with him known to Lumine, hinting they were "friends."
With that, he couldn't very well sue her for prying into "state secrets", after all, it was perfectly normal for friends to know each other's addresses.
"I see… then I refuse!" Charlotte shot back immediately, without even hearing him out.
She knew that sometimes knowing too much was worse than knowing nothing.
Richard didn't look annoyed at her blunt rejection; instead, he smiled slightly. "Don't you even want to hear it? It might really help your career, you know."
"I'm perfectly happy with my career as it is!"
'Help?' Staying far away from you is the best help my career could get!' Charlotte sneered to herself.
She didn't believe for a second that Richard would "help" her for free. She was only sitting here now because he held the threat of the law over her head.
Even if he hadn't, Charlotte prided herself on independent, unbiased reporting; she refused to be anyone's mouthpiece!
In other words, even if she had no news to write, no interviews to run, and even if the Steambird fired her, she'd never let Richard meddle in her journalism.
"Is that so? What a pity. I'd hoped you'd deeply embed with the team for the upcoming dragon hunt and Abyss Order campaign… Oh well. If you're not interested, I'll just have to find another trustworthy reporter who's brave enough to speak the truth." Richard sighed dramatically.
Charlotte froze; the words 'dragon hunt and Abyss Order campaign' kept echoing in her ears. She didn't even hear the rest.
'Did he just say he needed a reliable, fearless, truth-seeking reporter?'
'Reporters like that weren't easy to find… Maybe he shouldn't bother looking; I could do it!
Charlotte suddenly felt that maybe it wasn't so bad to listen to other people's suggestions sometimes, good reporting was all about objectivity, right? If you couldn't hear other perspectives, how could you be objective?
Besides, Richard hadn't even said exactly what he wanted yet, was refusing him so quickly really polite?
"Well, since you're not interested, let's leave it there," Richard said lightly, lifting his tea and silently counting to three in his head.
'Three…'
Charlotte looked conflicted, in her mind, a black devil and a white angel were already bickering.
Black Devil (impatient): 'Charlotte! Are you really going to let such a huge chance slip through your fingers? Do you know how many reporters wait their whole lives for this?! If you just speak up, Richard will agree to let you cover it.'
White Angel (cautious): 'Don't listen! There's no such thing as a free lunch. What if he's planning something shady? People don't give favors for nothing, watch out!'
Charlotte: 'True…'
'Two…'
Black Devil (annoyed) (covers the angel's mouth): 'Oh, please. What's he going to plot? This is an embedded report with the Knights of Favonius and the Fontaine delegation; there'll be tons of people there, even the Hydro Archon herself. What's he going to do to you?'
Charlotte: 'Good point!'
Black Devil (pushing her along): 'Come on, he's about to serve tea and see you out, if you wait any longer, you'll lose your chance for real!'
Charlotte jolted and quickly looked up at Richard, just as he counted down to the final number.
'One.'
Almost simultaneously, Charlotte blurted out:
"Wait!"
Richard raised an eyebrow, feigning polite confusion. "Yes? Something else, Miss Charlotte?"
Having rejected him so abruptly before, Charlotte now felt slightly embarrassed. A pink flush crept up her pale cheeks.
"Um… finding another reporter like that won't be easy, right?"
Richard leaned back now, a clear sign the balance of power had shifted.
"Reporters aren't hard to find. The delegation even has a Steambird staff correspondent."
"But… they're busy, right? They must have a lot on their plate!" Charlotte said quickly.
"Yes… quite busy," Richard agreed dryly, picturing a certain middle-aged man sipping tea and gossiping with other officials all afternoon.
"That's exactly why I haven't brought it up to Mr. Ebel yet. But I'm sure if I explained the importance, he'd take it on."
"No way!" Charlotte blurted out, realizing at once she'd slipped, she wasn't the only option here.
Richard looked at her, puzzled, while Charlotte coughed to cover her slip. "Ahem, I just mean there's no need to trouble Mr. Ebel…"
"Oh? Then perhaps Miss Sonia would work?"
"Who's that?"
"A reporter from the Fontaine Daily Times."
Charlotte's vision went black; 'That was even worse than Ebel! At least Ebel was a Steambird senior; if she let a rival paper scoop this story, she'd lose all face at the Steambird.'
"You seem to have someone else in mind," Richard said lightly. "To be honest, I'm not thrilled with Miss Sonia; she's too delicate, not cut out for rough fieldwork."
"Exactly! Miss Sonia should stick to lighter stories. So… Mr. Richard, what about me?" Charlotte blurted out, blushing and pointing to herself.
"You? But didn't you already refuse?" Richard said, a sly smile curling his lips.
That smile made Charlotte want to crawl under a rock. 'This was revenge!' she thought bitterly.
Luckily, her experience as a seasoned reporter meant she could handle the heat; she wouldn't lose her cool like a rookie over a few teasing words.
Sometimes, you have to build your own exit ramp.
"Yes, Mr. Richard. I turned you down before because I didn't know the details, I thought you wanted me to write a planted piece, which would obviously break my principles of objective, fair, and impartial reporting."
"And what I just described, that's not a planted piece?" Richard asked.
"Of course not! An embedded report like this is about deeply understanding the situation and tracking developments in real time. Especially now, with Mondstadt suffering this dragon crisis, such reporting is vital for delivering updates, relief progress, and the reality of life in affected areas."
"Your idea is wise, perceptive, and beyond reproach. I sincerely apologize for misunderstanding you before, Mr. Richard," Charlotte said, unleashing her full rhetorical firepower as a reporter.
"I accept your apology, Miss Charlotte. And I trust you're more than capable of deeply embedding with the team for this 'dragon hunt and Abyss Order campaign.' But first, I have one last small request."
"Please go ahead," Charlotte said at once, then realized her throat was dry and gulped down the glass of water Richard had poured earlier.
"I hope you'll focus on capturing the main figure in this entire affair."
"You mean… highlight your brilliant leadership?"
"No. I'm the least relevant person in all this. You can skip me entirely, or mention me in passing."
Charlotte frowned. "Then who's the main figure?"
"Why, Lady Furina, of course. Doesn't she deserve your best reporting?"
"…She does."
"Then congratulations, Reporter Charlotte. You're hired. Tomorrow morning, eight o'clock. See you at the Favonius Cathedral."