Ryou walked down the main road hand in hand with Keqing. The wind brushed past them, pedestrians came and went, and Knights of Favonius patrols occasionally crossed their path.
The closer they got to Windrise, the more overwhelming that giant tree felt.
It blotted out the sky, thick with green and bursting with life.
Ryou looked up at the towering tree and felt genuinely shaken. It was beautiful, full of vitality, the kind of sight that stirred something deep inside you.
Keqing pulled him over to a quiet spot and sat down, then turned to him and asked, "Husband, that song earlier... I could tell it wasn't complete. Can I hear the full version?"
"You still want to hear it?" Ryou rubbed her head and pulled her into his arms. "Then I'll sing it properly for you."
"Mhm. I like hearing you sing. Especially when you're singing to me." Keqing nestled against him.
Ryou could feel how tightly she was holding him. After thinking for a moment, he finally began.
"I always knew that one day, we would stand here like this. And now you're walking toward me in white. I can hardly believe my eyes. I'm looking at the rest of my life."
At that point, Ryou lowered his head and kissed Keqing.
He could feel her body trembling faintly in his arms.
As he gently patted her back, he continued in a low voice.
"And right now, I'm a mess. Because after everything we've been through and all the way we've come... I can finally call you my love. Lucky me. Truly lucky me. I really did marry you."
After that, he sang the rest of it softly to her from memory.
"When we get back, you're not allowed to sing that to anyone else. Got it?" Keqing clung to him tightly.
"Of course." Ryou smiled and nodded.
The two of them sat together beneath Windrise for a long time, quietly holding each other as the wind blew around them.
Gradually, the sunset faded and night settled in.
"Let's go. We should head to Starsnatch Cliff," Ryou whispered by her ear. "I've heard it's beautiful there. Some people even say that if you stand there and reach out, you can touch the sun, the moon, and the stars."
"Mhm." Keqing smiled as she held onto his arm.
The two of them chatted and laughed as they made their way toward Starsnatch Cliff. The night wind was cold, but neither of them felt it.
Just as they were about halfway up the mountain, Keqing caught sight of something ahead from the corner of her eye and tugged on Ryou's sleeve.
"Ryou, over there... I think someone's lying on the ground."
They hurried over.
Ryou found a girl in blue collapsed beside a rock. Her hat had fallen nearby, her face was pale, her eyes were shut, and her lips had turned slightly purple.
"She's probably been poisoned." Ryou picked her up and carried her farther up the mountain.
When they reached the top, he laid out a cloth on the ground and gently set the girl down on it.
Then he took out some spiritual energy juice and carefully fed it to her.
After she drank it, her body twitched, and slowly, she opened her eyes.
The moment she realized she was in Ryou's arms, she screamed and shoved him away with both hands.
"W-Who are you? What are you trying to do to me?!"
"I just carried you up here after saving you!" Ryou quickly protested.
"Hey, don't accuse me of weird things. I didn't do anything to you."
Then he pointed at Keqing beside him and said angrily, "Look properly. My wife is standing right there. What exactly do you think I'd do to you in front of her?"
"You... wait..." The girl stared at Keqing. "Aren't you Keqing?"
Keqing smiled. "You know me?"
"I was in Liyue Harbor a while ago. Back at Wangshu Inn, I heard people talking about you all the time."
"They said your husband slapped an ancient god to death in one strike. If I hadn't had something important to do in Mondstadt, I definitely would've gone back to Liyue Harbor just to see you."
Then she suddenly froze and looked back at Ryou.
"Wait... he said he's your husband, so you really are..."
"Hmph. Now you get it?" Ryou shot her a look.
"I... sorry. The way you were holding me, it was hard not to imagine things!" The girl covered her face in embarrassment.
"It's alright." Keqing wrapped an arm around her and gently comforted her.
The girl ended up burying herself in Keqing's chest.
After a while, she finally calmed down, though her face was still bright red and she still didn't quite dare look at Ryou.
"T-Thank you for saving me. I..."
Grrr.
Her stomach growled at the worst possible moment.
Her whole face turned blazing hot, and she immediately lowered her head in shame.
Why now of all times?
"You're hungry?" Keqing asked.
"Mhm." The girl covered her face again and threw herself back into Keqing's embrace.
For some reason, Keqing's arms felt incredibly comfortable.
Soft, warm, and carrying a sweet scent.
"That's enough already. How long are you planning to keep hugging my wife?" Ryou glared at her.
Then he took a table out of the pocket world, set it down, added chairs, and started laying out dishes one after another.
All of it had been prepared in advance and preserved with one of his special effects.
Ryou had found that keeping food warm and improving its quality could last a very long time, and it barely drained any mental energy.
"Wow... that smells amazing," the girl muttered as she stared at the food.
Then she suddenly looked up at Ryou. "Do you... have one of those?"
"One of what?" Ryou asked.
Following her gaze, he realized she was looking at a Hydro Vision.
"You mean a Vision? Do I look like I have one?" he said.
"And even if I did, a Vision's storage space isn't that big. There's no way it could hold tables, chairs, and this much food."
The girl stared at him for a while before asking, "Then... are you one of Liyue's adepti? Otherwise how could you slap a god to death?"
Ryou rolled his eyes. "I'm just an ordinary person."
Then he had Eye sweep over the dishes and grant them the Holy Light effect.
With Holy Light on them, every dish got another level in quality.
That meant the food was now at least two full grades above normal, enough to guarantee the taste, presentation, and texture would all be exceptional.
"Stop asking questions and sit down to eat." Ryou looked at her and served two bowls of rice.
Then he put a piece of meat into Keqing's bowl. "Keqing, try my cooking."
Keqing took a bite, followed it with a few mouthfuls of rice, then looked at him. "Ryou, your cooking's improved so fast."
"I feel like you're almost at Xiangling's level now. You'll have to cook more from now on."
"Cook, my foot. Your husband is the real feast here," Ryou said.
"Pfft. Listen to yourself." Keqing rolled her eyes. "You barely spend half an hour at the Ministry. Sometimes even less. I refuse to believe you're actually that busy."
Still, she truly loved his food. The flavor, aroma, and texture were all outstanding.
The girl stayed quiet while listening to the two of them bicker, but the moment she tasted the food, she froze.
It was unbelievably good.
She immediately started shoveling food into her mouth. One bowl of rice became two, then three in the blink of an eye.
Eventually, she looked down at her empty bowl, then at the two of them, too embarrassed to serve herself any more.
After a few minutes, Keqing noticed and said, "Don't be shy. If you want more, help yourself."
"I... thank you!" the girl said at once.
With Keqing's permission, she went wild. Dish after dish disappeared, and in the end she somehow finished five full bowls of rice.
By the time she was done, she poured herself a glass of juice, drank it in one go, and muttered, "Next time I'm eating until I explode."
"Did you starve to death in your last life or something?" Ryou said dryly.
"I..." Her face turned red all over again.
"Don't listen to him." Keqing shot Ryou a glare, then turned back to her. "By the way, what's your name?"
"I... I'm Mona. I'm an astrologer. I can do divinations for you. Or no, wait... I can tell your fortune... um..."
Mona immediately started fumbling over her words.
Because once she thought about it, what exactly was she supposed to offer Keqing?
Keqing was already married, so relationship readings were pointless.
And as for luck or prospects, Keqing was already one of the Liyue Qixing. She hardly seemed to need that either.
Seeing her like that, Ryou smiled. Since he knew Mona's divinations were extremely accurate, he got straight to the point.
"You're an astrologer, right? I'd like to invite you to work for the Ministry of Civil Affairs. What do you think?"
"The Ministry?" Mona hesitated.
"The pay is pretty good," Ryou said. "To tell you the truth, some people at the Ministry can earn up to one million Mora a month."
Then he pointed at the juice. "See this? Come work for me, and you can drink this every day. You'd only need to do the occasional divination for me."
The offer was incredibly tempting, but Mona still shook her head.
"The conditions are really good, but... I came to Mondstadt because I have something important to do. Once that's over, I need to go back."
Ryou didn't push it.
He already suspected there was a good chance Mona would end up staying in Mondstadt anyway.
Still, if he could bring someone with her level of skill into the Ministry, it would definitely be worth it.
Keqing glanced at Ryou, then said to Mona, "If you don't want to come, that's alright. But if you do come, we can work together. We—"
"Alright, I'm in!" Mona agreed instantly, without the slightest hesitation.
Ryou turned to look at her.
So when I invite you, you hesitate.
But the second my wife says you can work with her, you agree on the spot?
What exactly is that supposed to mean?
Are you trying to steal my wife from me?
[End of chapter]
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