Chapter 404 - 403: Venti: Durandal, My Durandal

"Aren’t you going to mess with Durandal, Shenhe?"

In the living room, Lumine, who had just finished showering, saw Shenhe drinking tea and couldn’t help but ask.

Shenhe shook her head and said naturally, "Durandal needs Venti right now. My words are clumsy, and I’m not good at comforting people. She’s better at that, so I’ll let her have Durandal for now."

"I see, so you also noticed Durandal’s problem. I thought you’d at most just find it strange, but it seems you noticed much more than I imagined."

"What are you two talking about? Paimon doesn’t understand a single word!"

Paimon, holding snacks, flew nearby, full of question marks.

What kind of encrypted message were these two talking about? Could they not exclude her? She wanted to join the conversation too.

"Didn’t you notice? Well, this is the Paimon I know."

Lumine gently pinched Paimon’s small face. To hold onto her snacks, Paimon could only let Lumine’s hands mess with her face.

"What exactly happened? Lumine, tell me clearly!"

Unable to bear it any longer, Paimon bit Lumine’s finger, looking at her angrily.

"Ouch! Paimon bites! Hehe~ I know, I know, I’ll tell you, don’t be so angry."

Teasing Paimon was indeed a happy thing, especially when seeing Paimon’s angry expression; her reactions were truly interesting.

Kamisato Ayato wasn’t wrong; she was also a rather wicked person, just like him, enjoying seeing others in a difficult situation or angry because of her.

"Actually, I only noticed Durandal’s abnormality in Liyue Harbor. She suddenly became very sensitive, which is also why she did those things."

After what happened that day, Lumine had been thinking if, besides her own problems, there was some other reason that caused Durandal to become like this.

After her observation, she quickly understood the reason Durandal became so sensitive: she... was scared.

"Scared? You mean Durandal is scared? What could possibly make her scared?"

Durandal had always appeared fearless. Neither the Abyss, the Fatui, nor the gods had managed to put even a trace of pressure on Durandal. How could she, like that, still be scared?

"You were just deceived by Durandal’s pretense of strength. It’s understandable if Shenhe doesn’t know, but don’t you know? What was Durandal like when we first met her?"

"When we first met Durandal? Hmm~ She acted very aloof, as if she wasn’t interested in people at all, and didn’t even want to go to crowded places. Later, she was willing to travel with us, which was the result of Lumine and others persuading her."

"What you said is mostly correct, but did you forget one thing? Durandal... she really dislikes being alone."

Of course she knew that, but what did that have to do with Durandal being scared? That was what she couldn’t understand the most.

"The old Durandal was fine, but as she traveled with us, the more she knew, the more she understood her current situation. Although it sounds strange to say, she is liked by several beautiful Damselette. Perhaps while reading a certain book, she saw a similar plot, such as having to choose one among these people, or because of too many feelings, the person she originally liked leaving her."

Durandal reads light novels, and these tropes have been used countless times in light novels. In some excellent light novels, such plots are even indispensable.

Are these books good? Of course, otherwise they wouldn’t sell so many copies, and the plots are attractive enough to give Durandal the motivation to keep following them.

But when such things happen to her, it’s no fun, especially for Durandal, who is so afraid of loneliness. Making her return to her past state of being alone would be worse than killing her.

Lumine looked at Shenhe, who shook her head and said firmly, "No matter what happens, I will not leave her."

Yes, Shenhe’s attitude was very firm, and Lumine’s attitude was naturally the same, but Durandal didn’t know that. Besides being afraid of loneliness, Durandal had another characteristic: a lack of self-confidence.

If some words aren’t stated clearly, if the attitude isn’t firm enough, Durandal won’t believe them.

Shenhe hadn’t changed at all, and since they were together every day, Durandal naturally wouldn’t worry. But it was different for Lumine and Venti.

As for herself... how to put it? She was also very aware of her tendency to make a fool of herself when she saw pretty girls. Durandal also understood this point. Lumine’s attention on Durandal was already little, so after seeing her situation, would she gradually give up on her and completely focus her attention on other girls?

This was also the reason for her behavior that night. After confirming that Lumine wouldn’t leave, she turned her attention to Venti.

Now only Venti could truly put Durandal’s mind at ease. Venti had this ability, and to avoid disturbing her actions, Lumine and Shenhe were so cooperative in not interfering.

After listening to Durandal’s explanation, Paimon nodded in understanding. So there was so much meaning behind it.

Waaah~ Suddenly she had a headache. Things had suddenly become so complicated. The seemingly invincible Durandal was actually so fragile.

But, since you understand Durandal so well, why did you act like that before? You’re just purely annoying.

Paimon looked at Lumine disdainfully. What this guy said made a lot of sense, but wasn’t it a bit too late?

Ignoring Paimon’s gaze, Lumine stretched, found a spot to sit down, and took out the exclusive weapon Durandal had given her from her storage space to maintain it.

"You, who usually just slack off, don’t disappoint people now. If you don’t appease Durandal, I won’t let you off, Venti."

The next day, Durandal woke up early from bed... Actually, she hadn’t slept for long, at most she had just lain in bed for about half an hour.

This person... just as she said, had no intention of letting her off, staying up very late, only sleeping when the sky was already faintly lit.

She didn’t need to sleep. The reason she still lay in bed for half an hour was simply because she didn’t want to leave so soon, wanting to experience that intense emotion again.

Even though she still wanted to stay, she had to get out of bed. With a flash of white light, the familiar Lolita-style dress appeared on her face.

Venti was still sound asleep in bed, her terrible sleeping posture showing no divine dignity of the Anemo Archon.

Durandal gently poked Venti’s cheek. Seeing that she wasn’t waking up, her action changed to a gentle caress, and her eyes gradually softened.

She carefully covered Venti with a blanket, gently tapped her cheek, and said, "Thank you, Venti. I like you."

With that, as if fleeing, Durandal transformed into a black mist and left the room, flying towards a certain part of Mondstadt City.

Not long after Durandal left the room, Venti opened her eyes and sat up in bed.

Hehe~ You didn’t expect that, did you! Actually, she had already woken up when Durandal got up. She was just pretending to be asleep to see if Durandal would do anything while she was ’asleep’!

Just as she thought, Durandal really did something while she was ’asleep’: a kiss on the cheek and saying ’I like you’. Hehehe~ This gift was truly delightful.

"How can you be so cute!"

Venti buried her face in the blanket and shouted. So cute! So cute that her heart almost stopped beating.

Hehehe~ Durandal’s performance last night was also great. That honest look, if only she could talk like that normally.

However, this was also Durandal’s characteristic. If she were to specifically correct it, then Durandal would no longer be Durandal.

Besides, isn’t a gap moe good? After getting used to Durandal’s tsundere behavior, isn’t the occasional honesty even better?

"It’s just a bit of a shame, I wanted to cuddle a bit more. Sleep, sleep, maybe I can dream of Durandal’s cute appearance."

With that, Venti lay down again, and within a few seconds, she was back in dreamland.

On the other side, Durandal, who had left home, walked towards the Knights of Favonius. There was something she wanted to confirm.

As soon as she arrived at the Knights of Favonius, the two knights guarding the entrance were about to greet her, but Durandal stopped them.

"Don’t speak. Tell me quietly, is she still working in the office?"

The "she" in Durandal’s words naturally referred to Acting Grand Master Jean. The reason she didn’t let them speak was mainly for a surprise inspection, wanting to see if she had followed her instructions and rested well.

The two guarding knights felt helpless. If they told Durandal about Jean’s situation, it shouldn’t count as betraying a comrade, right?

They also knew that Durandal was asking these questions mainly because she hoped Jean would rest. Most of the Knights of Favonius also hoped Jean would rest well and not be too tired.

"Acting Grand Master Jean is inside, but whether she’s working or not, we don’t know. We usually don’t go in unless it’s for a report."

Ordinary knights like them wouldn’t go to Jean’s office if there was nothing going on.

This was also a trick. I’m just telling you that Acting Grand Master Jean is inside, but whether she’s working or not, who knows? This is something everyone would think of, so he didn’t count as betraying Jean’s information, right?

Durandal narrowed her eyes and stared at the knight for a while, until he started sweating cold, then Durandal let her go and stepped into the Knights of Favonius.

Ignoring the two relieved knights, Durandal arrived in front of the office, pushed the door open, wanting to see if Jean was working all night.

The imagined scene didn’t happen. Jean was sitting in the main seat, holding a cup of hot black tea, about to take a sip.

She maintained her tea-drinking posture, looking at Durandal, who had suddenly burst in, with surprise.

She wasn’t angry about Durandal’s somewhat rude behavior, but instead showed a faint smile and said politely.

"Welcome back to Mondstadt, Lady Durandal."

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