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Facing Shao Yun's threat, Yae Miko's delicate body trembled. Despair washed over her face.
She shut her eyes in anguish and murmured, "What do I even have left now? Inazuma isn't nearly as wealthy as Liyue, and you have no interest in my beauty—what could I possibly offer you?!"
Watching her weary, broken expression, Shao Yun holstered his revolver and calmly proposed, "Then… how about we play Blackjack?"
Yae Miko blinked in confusion. "Blackjack? What is that?"
Shao Yun pulled a deck of playing cards from his bag and explained, "A little game—it's fun. Compared to Texas Hold'em, dominoes, or knife-finger fillet, this one's purely luck-based. The rules are simple."
He began to shuffle the cards, casually explaining as he did so.
"Each card has a value. From 2 to 10, it's just the number shown. J, Q, and K are worth ten points each. Aces can count as either one or eleven—if using eleven pushes the total over twenty-one, then it counts as one."
"For example, A and 8 make nineteen points. A, 7, and J make eighteen."
"You win if your total is closest to twenty-one without going over. But if you exceed twenty-one, you bust—that's an instant loss. Even if it happens right at the start, tough luck."
"In short, it's a simple game of chance. There are more complex rules, sure, but we'll stick with these."
After all, this wasn't about money—it was about Yae Miko's life. Minor formalities could be ignored.
Then, Shao Yun laid down the stakes.
"If you win, I'll take your omamori and leave. Everything that's happened between us—I'll let it go. But if I win, you'll prepare for the end… and Inazuma can start looking for its next Raiden Shogun."
Hearing her fate reduced to a game of Blackjack, Yae Miko tried to negotiate.
"I can keep your secret! I won't tell Lumine anything. If you think I alone am not enough, I—"
As she spoke, she began loosening her garments again, her lips curving into a sly, alluring smile.
Shao Yun cut her off sharply, voice rising. "I told you—keep that up, and you'll die slower and more painfully!"
With that, he finished shuffling the cards.
He reached out, seized Yae Miko by her slender arm, and yanked her roughly to her feet.
His cold gaze locked onto her frightened, violet eyes. "Enough talk. Have a little faith in your luck."
…
Beneath the Sacred Sakura Tree, Shao Yun and Yae Miko sat opposite each other in the shade.
Before the game began, Shao Yun asked, "Would you like to practice first?"
Expressionless, hollow-eyed, Yae Miko shook her head. "No. One round. Win or lose."
The torment of dragging things out any longer would be unbearable. She wanted the end—whatever it was—to come swiftly.
Shao Yun, acting as the dealer, dealt her two cards first.
After glancing at them, he nodded approvingly. "Not bad. A nine and a queen—nineteen points total. Pretty solid."
He looked at her with an almost teasing grin. "Want another card? Maybe you'll draw a two."
Yae Miko's heart flickered with fragile hope. Nineteen points—close to perfection.
She shook her head firmly. "No. It's your turn."
Shao Yun flipped over his own cards. "A three and a seven." He smiled faintly. "Only ten points. I'll draw."
He slid himself a third card—and smirked.
"Ha. A jack."
Laying the cards neatly on the ground, he spread them toward her. "Clever Yae Miko, tell me—what's my total?"
Yae Miko stared at his cards in despair.
Her nineteen points… against his twenty. The outcome was obvious.
Even a child could see it. She had lost.
Just seconds ago, she had dared to believe victory was hers—only for reality to crush her in the cruelest way possible.
The fall from heaven to hell was too sudden, too brutal. Her eyes widened, drowning in hopelessness.
In her panic, she blurted out, "You can't kill me! If you do, Istaroth will become your enemy!"
Shao Yun frowned, his tone sharp. "What?"
What did this have to do with that time-bending being?
Without hesitation, Yae Miko fumbled through her robes, pulling out an ancient, worn-looking record.
"Look at this! I found it deep within one of Inazuma's secret realms—it's vital information!"
Shao Yun took it and opened the yellowed pages. His brow darkened—he couldn't understand a single word.
Still, unwilling to let her know that, he kept his tone cold and commanding. "You read it to me. There's too much text—it's making my eyes spin."
Taking it back, Yae Miko summarized grimly, "In short—if you kill me, Istaroth will come after you."
Shao Yun raised an eyebrow. "And why's that?"
Yae Miko explained in an almost pleading rush, "Celestia doesn't know that Ei is dead. The battle took place within the Plane of Euthymia. I inherited the Raiden Shogun's divine authority without alerting them."
"Istaroth was close to Raiden Makoto and Raiden Ei—why else would she have gifted Inazuma the Sacred Sakura?"
"If you kill me, there'll be no one left to hold the Shogun's power. You don't like trouble, do you?"
Shao Yun gave a cold laugh. "Heh. You're right—I don't like trouble. But that doesn't mean I fear it."
Yae Miko's breath quickened, her chest rising and falling. Then, with a desperate spark, she pointed past him.
"I don't know what you're thinking—but listen! I didn't see the creature behind you! I don't know what it was—but I swear I didn't see it!"
It was a desperate bluff, but it worked. Shao Yun's killing intent wavered.
…
'Could what she said about Istaroth be true?' Shao Yun thought. 'If I kill Yae Miko, will that "time meddler" really come after me?'
The system's voice chimed in his mind.
[There's a high probability. Also, seriously, your phrasing is ridiculous.]
He ignored the sarcasm, focusing on high probability.
"But what about Fontaine…" he muttered.
[The Dragon Sovereign's authority was passed to Neuvillette, remember? If divine power remains unclaimed for too long, consequences are… unpredictable.]
…
After the mental back-and-forth, Shao Yun still wasn't fully convinced. But he could use it to his advantage.
He exhaled slowly, forcing his voice into a darkly philosophical tone. "Tell me, have you ever heard of the Grandfather Paradox?"
Yae Miko blinked. "The… what?"
Shao Yun cleared his throat. "If a man travels back in time and kills his grandparents, then his parents would never be born—meaning he would never exist."
"But if he never existed, he couldn't have gone back to kill them, so his grandparents would live, his parents would be born, he would be born, and he could go back to kill them again. See the contradiction?"
As he finished, he drew his revolver in one smooth motion, leveling it at her.
"If that being truly planned to act against me, I'd already be gone. But I'm still here—alive and well. Which proves you're lying."
"So if I shoot you now, nothing bad will happen."
Perhaps he should've used the Lancaster or Litchfield rifle—it'd earn a three-star fox pelt. But for a legendary fox? Any weapon would do.
Seeing the gun, Yae Miko's mind raced. "Or… maybe, if you don't kill me—if you let me live—my existence will keep deceiving Celestia and Istaroth both."
Shao Yun sneered. "Or maybe I kill you, and drag all of Teyvat down to hell with me—before she can even react."
Yae Miko's composure cracked. "You've gone mad," she whispered.
"Why? You crave peace more than anyone, yet every time you face a choice, you always take the cruelest, most extreme path!"
Her words struck something raw. Shao Yun's eyes flared. "That's because you bastards have been scheming against us from the start!"
Yae Miko was stunned. "Wait—what are you even talking about?! All we did was trick you into acting as Ei's psychologist to pull her out of the Plane of Euthymia! What else did we scheme?!"
His glare burned. "You schemed—!"
Then he paused. No… this fox has only been the Raiden Shogun for a few months. She couldn't possibly know what happened centuries ago.
He exhaled, his tone softening slightly. "Right. You wouldn't know."
But mercy was not his intent.
"You still lost the game, fox. And I have every right to kill you."
Yae Miko's heart sank. Her last defenses crumbled.
"You—ah! Name your price! Anything but my life—I'll give you whatever you want!"
Shao Yun grabbed her by the collar, jerking her up close.
His revolver pressed coldly against her temple.
"You think begging will change my mind? Not that easy."
He smirked darkly. "Though, now that I think about it… your pelt would make fine material. A hat, a scarf, a coat—Lumine would look stunning in fox fur."
Yae Miko froze. She sensed there was something deeper in those words—but desperation left no room for thought.
"Fine! I'll make Lumine a magnificent fox hat!" she blurted.
"And not just that—I'll grant you lifetime free access to Yae Publishing House! And—and—"
She faltered, running out of bargaining chips.
Seconds stretched like hours. The gun stayed pressed against her temple, unyielding.
Her final hope began to crumble—until, miraculously, Shao Yun lowered his weapon.
He spoke softly, finishing her sentence for her.
"And… to face the truth between you and Lumine."
With that, he drew a card from the deck—a seven of diamonds.
It pushed his hand over twenty-one. Bust.
Yae Miko's eyes widened in disbelief. He had lost—on purpose.
Like someone suffering Stockholm syndrome, she whispered, "Thank you."
Without emotion, Shao Yun replied, "Don't make me regret sparing you."
"And make that fox hat special. Ordinary won't do. You know what happens if you disappoint me."
He gathered the cards neatly, turned, and walked away.
Yae Miko stared after him until his figure vanished among the trees.
Her legs gave out once more, and she slumped to the ground, leaning against the Sacred Sakura's trunk, gasping for breath.
"Thank the Archons… I survived. Somehow… I'm still alive…"
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