Chapter 162

At this point, an awkward silence settled upon all of them, all of their gazes lingering between Childe and Lumine, having nothing else to say to one another.

Childe, whose neck was almost cut off just now simply laughed.

He trusted in his abilities, so if Lumine did try to kill him which was still very unlikely, he was confident enough he could easily beat her at her own game before she could do anything.

Still, he was quite curious about how strong she really was. He would love to fight her. Her strength and speed surprised him a bit, not to mention, that curious power...

(She pulled her sword out of thin air...and sheated it back to some place unknown...she doesn't possess a Vision, and yet her abilities are this powerful. Intriguing. Is it perhaps...the power of the Abyss?)

All of these thoughts and observations just flickered through his head while watching Lumine. She was interestingto him before, but now, she was somehow becoming even more so.

Seeing that Lumine was still kind of feeling down, Hu Tao stood up from her seat and walked towards her all the while smiling sweetly.

"...Eh...What are you..."

Hu Tao ignored Lumine's sound of bewilderment that escaped her lips and lowered her hand on Lumine's head, stroking her blond hair lightly with the fingers of her right hand.

Lumine blinked a couple times, surprised by the sudden attention Hu Tao was giving to her.

"Assistant-kun likes to do this to me all the time. It feels strangely comforting. You know how he is! He will definitely help you find your brother, and we will too!" There was a large smile in her small features, as if she was talking to a child.

"...Umu."

The corners of Lumine's mouth slightly raised at the thought of Yomite, who was like a pillar of support to her ever since she met him.

In fact, it was only thanks to him she was able to put up posters to search for his brother, it was only thanks to him she no longer had to eat burned stuff and mushrooms from the forest for breakfast, it was only thanks to him she had a place she belonged now. And many other things. There were simply way too many to count.

He completely altered the course of her life in Teyvat.

If it was him, then she felt it was possible.

Ater knowing him for so long, there wasn't much doubt about the fondness that appeared in her voice whenever she talked about him with Paimon, almost as if she was emotionally attached to him already.

She never thought she would be able to feel like this to someone of the opposite gender in such a short period of time knowing him.

Lumine was old, and by old, her age probably exceeded most beings of Teyvat, yet she never seemed like she's matured at all.

In reality, her looks remained the same; as if she was stuck in the same body ever since turning seventeen. She couldn't grow old and her body didn't change one bit in the thousands of years.

Frankly, her body was...pretty well endowed... if she said so herself, but her face looked like that of a teenager, and people of Mondstadt didn't even allow her to drink wine, thinking she was just a kid wet behind her ears.

Nevertheless, she was very well aware that one day, she would eventually be the only one left standing from this party, as human lifespan was limited, which meant everyone she knew would leave this world and disappear from existence.

Yet she wanted to treasure these moments as long as she could, while searching for her brother, who was another one bearing the curse of being unable to grow old.

The fact that Fischl and Hu Tao found someone they loved so quickly into their short mortal lives, made her...quite jealous?

Envious? Or perhaps, bitter?

She wasn't sure yet. She simply ignored the concept of romance and relationship altogether, as no one would be able to live as long as her, so what was the point of starting one anyway?

Yomite.

The pillar of her support.

The man she trusted without hesitation, yet at the same time was always helping and looking out for her.

The man who not only helped her solve problems, but also made every difficult scenario less complicated.

The man who let her know it was okay for her to cry sometimes, that she needed that outlet to release the pressure of overwhelming fear, anxiety, and pain within her that she felt most of the time...

The man who was...who was...

(...)

Although they were similar in some aspects, they were far different in others.

While she tended to be subtle and shy in her personality, emotionless even, Yomite was far more loud and brash, someone who always said he didn't care about anything, and yet, if some kind of problem occured, he would complain, but help immediately, no matter what.

Even his complaints were just a ruse to make it seem like he was a bad person, although she never understood why he did that.

"Must be nice..." She murmured while staring at Hu Tao who was still patting her head gently.

"Eh?"

"...It's...Nothing."

"Okie!"

Speaking her thoughts out loud might bring forth more worries which her friends wouldn't ignore, and she didn't want to bother them any further...