Chapter 354: Furina's Plan

In the blink of an eye, only Aiden and Astrea were left in the area.

They looked at each other, the air filled with an indescribable awkwardness.

"Do you want to... go in and check on her? She seems to be faking a fainting spell."

After quite a while, Astrea finally recovered from the massive shock.

She reverted to her usual elegant and calm Goddess demeanor, though the blush that hadn't entirely faded from her cheeks exposed her inner unrest.

She turned her head and looked at Aiden with a teasing smile.

The corner of Aiden's mouth couldn't help but twitch.

Faking a fainting spell, my ass!

Although Astrea appeared calm on the surface, Aiden could tell that this Goddess who had lived for hundreds of millions of years was still feeling a bit unsettled.

And no wonder. Though she had heard of the chaotic and depraved private lives of quite a few deities in Heaven, that didn't include herself.

It really was her first time witnessing such a vivid and stimulating scene with her own eyes, so it was inevitable she'd be impacted by it.

However, she was an experienced Goddess after all. She quickly calmed her mood, even having the leisure to laugh at Furina's expense.

"It seems we won't be seeing her for the next few days," Astrea said with a smile, her tone full of teasing. "I'll go teach that cute newbie of yours swordplay first."

With Furina's prideful personality, she would probably try everything possible to hide from her for a very long time. She simply didn't have the face to see anyone.

Aiden also revealed a look of helplessness.

This was also his fault. With a muddled brain early in the morning, he had indirectly thrown Furina under the bus.

He could already foresee the upcoming classic performance of their patron deity crying, making a fuss, and threatening to hang herself.

He sighed, pushed the door open, and walked in.

The room was a total mess, and Furina had collapsed on the bed in a textbook posture, looking exactly like I've completely passed out.

But her slightly quivering eyelashes mercilessly sold her out.

Aiden found it somewhat funny seeing Furina like this.

He tiptoed over and deliberately raised his voice. "Furina, Astrea has already left. You can get up now."

The person on the bed remained motionless, still maintaining a state of "deep coma".

Aiden shook his head speechlessly.

His gaze swept across the bedside table and noticed a small Magic Stone Lamp used for illumination.

His heart stirred, and a wicked smile appeared on his face.

He picked up the Magic Stone Lamp, went to the bedside, and aimed the soft beam of light directly at Furina's tightly shut eyes.

Illuminated by the light, Furina's body instinctively wanted to dodge, but she quickly remembered she was "faking a coma", so she forcefully held back.

Her eyeballs were rolling uneasily beneath her eyelids.

Aiden could no longer suppress the smile at the corner of his mouth. He deliberately said in a worried tone, "Eh? No reaction? It looks like she really fainted. This won't do, I have to get Hya-dear to come take a look right away."

Saying that, he pretended to turn around as if to go call Hyacine.

But in the next second, the hem of his clothes was tightly grabbed by a small hand.

Aiden paused and looked back in amusement. He saw Furina keeping her eyes shut, but her left hand was clutching the hem of his clothes with a death grip, looking terrified that he would run away.

"Alright, stop pretending."

Aiden said helplessly, "It already happened, playing dead is useless. You can't just hide from Astrea forever, right?"

Hearing Aiden's words, Furina's body stiffened abruptly.

The next second, she bounced off the bed like a spring, grabbed Aiden by the collar, and started shaking him frantically. She let out a tearful, whining voice, "It's all your fault, it's all your fault! How could you let her in?! I don't want to live anymore, I want to go back to Heaven! No, I want to go to another world, I want to go back to Teyvat!"

"Alright, alright, my fault, my fault. I admit I was wrong, okay?"

Aiden smoothly pulled the bristling Furina into his arms, gently patting her back to soothe her. "Be good. Astrea isn't the type to spread rumors. Besides, aren't you two good friends? Just thicken your skin a bit and act like nothing happened. Won't that work?"

"How could I act like nothing happened?! I have no face left to see anyone!"

Furina sniffled her little nose, crystal-clear teardrops still hanging from the corners of her eyes. She looked incredibly wronged.

"Then tell me, what should we do? You can't really just hide from her forever, right?"

Furina's crying paused.

She also knew this wasn't realistic.

What kind of solution was hiding from Astrea forever? It would just make it seem like she was the one with a guilty conscience.

Just then, a flash of inspiration suddenly popped into Furina's mind.

She jerked her head up and glared fiercely at Aiden, speaking in a tone of reckless desperation.

"If that's the case, then let's go mutually assured destruction on her. You go... you go take her down, and then let me walk in on it!"

Hearing this, Aiden couldn't help but lean back tactically.

What a venomous scheme of mutually assured destruction.

Before, she had been guarding against Astrea like a thief, terrified of them being alone together. Now, she was actually taking the initiative to let him "take her down". The key was... she had to be the one to walk in on it?

Even though... this suggestion sounded very tempting, and Aiden was even a little excited. But thinking carefully, this matter was way too unreliable.

Was Astrea that easy to take down?

Although Astrea taking the initiative to offer a kiss last time showed that she did have a favorable impression of him, that was more of a reward out of gratitude regarding Alise and Ryuu.

To truly, practically take down this Goddess of Justice wouldn't be that simple.

What's more, it required careful planning to let Furina walk in on them and recreate today's shameful and awkward scene. This difficulty level was simply hellish.

"I don't care, I don't care! This is all your fault, you have to help me!"

Furina didn't care about what was difficult or not. Anyway, she had lost all face today, so Astrea shouldn't even think about coming out of this unscathed either.

As for that little bit of cute possessiveness from before, it had long since been tossed to the back of her mind in the face of her burning desire for revenge.

"Alright, alright, alright. I'll help you, okay?"

Under the circumstances, facing this Furina in front of him who was crying, making a fuss, threatening to hang herself, and having completely discarded her Goddess image, Aiden could only temporarily nod his head. He agreed to her utterly absurd plan—to help her pit Astrea as well, grasping a shameful handle on that Goddess of Justice.

After receiving Aiden's promise, Furina finally stopped crying and making a fuss.

But a new problem followed. To avoid Astrea, who was still staying in the Palais Mermonia, she directly holed up in her room. She wrapped herself tightly in a soft blanket, looking like a spring roll radiating resentment, and absolutely refused to step foot out her door again.

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