"I'm sorry! I was wrong!"
Given that the Raiden Shogun hailed from Inazuma—and that this man before her was her master—
Mona instinctively dropped to her knees and performed a perfect dogeza, the most formal and humiliating Inazuman-style apology she could think of.
Ningguang and Keqing both froze in astonishment.
Who… was this girl?
Why was she apologizing the moment she showed up?
And why did it look like the Raiden Shogun had dragged her here by force?
"Since you're already doing a dogeza,"
Su Ran said, glancing over his shoulder at her, "why not go all the way and remove all your armaments while you're at it?"
This astrologist had dared to spy on him.
After noticing it, Su Ran hadn't just tapped her vision— he had sealed it entirely.
A seal created from Imaginary Energy— something no one in this world could undo.
And so, Mona had tragically become a blind girl.
"Ugh… do you have to be that cruel?"
As a modern girl, Mona wasn't exactly innocent— she knew very well what "removing all armaments" implied.
But that was just too shameful!
And this was a man!
Was he planning to—
The moment the thought crossed her mind, she felt like her life was over.
She shouldn't have used that divination spell in the first place!
If she'd known it would get her blinded, she'd never have done it!
At this point, even her dignity was gone.
Her trembling hands began to move—ready to undo her gear—
"Ahem! There are more than three people present, you know…"
Ningguang finally spoke up, sensing where this was going.
"Huh? There are others here!?"
Mona's heart dropped into an abyss.
Her face turned ashen.
She might not have been physically dead, but her spirit had already left her body.
"Just what kind of strange game are you people playing?"
Keqing asked, puzzled.
She didn't understand what "disarming" meant, but she could tell this woman had somehow managed to offend Su Ran badly.
"Ugh… just kill me already!" Mona cried.
"No," Su Ran said lazily. "That would dirty my hands."
He had expected Mona to come crawling to him eventually.
What he hadn't expected was for Ei to personally bring her back.
He had planned for Lumine to deliver the apology— so he could collect a neat 1.2 million Mora "medical fee."
But now that the one who owed him had been carried straight to his door, that plan—and the extra sixty thousand Mora—were lost.
A shame, really.
"Then… then at least give me a knife," Mona whispered.
"Let me end it myself."
"If you must die," Su Ran replied calmly, "do it outside. Don't dirty my floors."
Such a heartless man!
"Enough!" Keqing finally stepped forward.
"What in Teyvat is going on here? Miss, did you offend him somehow?
Tell me the truth. I am Yuheng of the Liyue Qixing— if there's been any injustice, I'll see it made right."
Her voice softened as she helped Mona to her feet.
But when Mona realized who had just spoken— her soul nearly left her body again.
Being publicly humiliated in front of the Yuheng herself?
She'd honestly rather be dead.
After a long while, with Keqing's gentle coaxing, Mona finally steadied herself enough to explain everything.
She told them how she'd used astrology to peer at Su Ran, and how he had sealed her sight in retaliation.
Now, she had come to apologize and beg him to undo it.
Ningguang's eyes gleamed as she listened.
An astrologist… able to divine across such vast distances?
That was talent.
If she could win such a person over, it could save her countless miscalculations in business and politics alike.
Still, she wasn't sure whether Su Ran would let this girl go.
"Stop tinkering with that pile of scrap metal already!" Keqing snapped suddenly.
"At least listen to the girl's apology first!"
From the moment she'd arrived, Su Ran hadn't lifted his head once— just kept fiddling with some massive metallic device.
"Scrap metal?"
Su Ran's face darkened.
The next instant, the room lost all sense of gravity.
Everything began to float—the furniture, the teacups, even Keqing and Mona.
Ningguang herself rose slightly off the ground, eyes widening.
Ei's hand twitched toward her sword as she sensed the sudden distortion of gravity.
"What did you do!?" Keqing gasped.
Was this man seriously so temperamental?
"This 'scrap metal,'" Su Ran said flatly, "is a gravity engine.
It can turn the entire Liyue Harbor into a floating city— higher even than Celestia itself.
And you call it scrap?
Apologize."
Keqing's ears flattened immediately.
"I'm sorry!"
The little "cat" apologized without hesitation.
It wasn't just fear—it was awe.
She knew exactly how enormous Liyue Harbor was.
And he was saying this tiny device could lift the entire city into the air?
She looked toward Ningguang, whose expression was equally stunned.
Only now did Ningguang realize how blind she'd been.
She'd once suggested using floating stones to build an orbital platform.
But compared to this—floating stones were garbage.
Could a floating stone fit in a room?
Of course not.
Yet this small, elegant device could make the entire harbor rise.
Even the massive stone beneath the Jade Chamber wasn't a fraction as powerful.
A pang of frustration and humility hit her.
All her precious floating stones—mere pebbles before a god.
"Wait… the 'space station' you're building,"
Ningguang asked carefully, "it isn't… as big as all of Liyue Harbor, is it?"
She felt like she'd been living in a well her whole life.
The Jade Chamber was enormous—but compared to the harbor itself, it wasn't even a ten-thousandth in size.
"Not that large," Su Ran replied casually.
"It's not inside the planet—it'll be in orbit.
This engine is powerful, but overloading it would be risky."
Both Ningguang and Keqing let out long breaths of relief.
For a moment, they'd genuinely thought he was planning to launch an entire city into space.
Good thing it was only a misunderstanding—
"Just half the size of Liyue Harbor."
The two women froze again.
Keqing's jaw dropped in shock— while Ningguang's eyes sparkled like gemstones.
Half the size of Liyue Harbor!?
That wasn't a "station."
That was an empire in the sky.
And she remembered—
Su Ran had promised her the position of Station Master.
Ningguang's pulse quickened.
This was no longer fear.
It was opportunity.
~~--------------------------------------
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