In the deep of night, inside a desert dwelling in Aaru Village, silence enveloped everything, broken only by the occasional whisper of wind and the low murmur of sand scraping across the ground.
Inside this seemingly ordinary house, Eula—who had been lying with her eyes closed—finally opened them slowly.
Though her physical condition was usually decent, as the saying goes: a blow to the head and a strike to the back hurts even heroes—she still looked quite weak.
Her fair right hand slipped quietly out from the warm bedding.
Her arm, pale as fresh snow, glowed with a soft, delicate sheen under the moonlight spilling in through the window.
Frowning slightly, Eula gently rubbed her forehead, her gaze unfocused and dazed. "Where… am I…? Ah… my head hurts…"
She tried hard to recall everything that had happened before she lost consciousness.
At that moment, Shao Yun—who had been keeping watch by her side—noticed she had awakened. As he lit the lamp, he asked in an even tone, "You're awake?"
His voice startled Eula so much she jolted violently, her groggy mind snapping into clarity.
Trying to sit up, she suddenly felt her body was not quite the same as usual—an indescribable sense of emptiness wrapped around her.
A bad feeling surged up in her heart.
She instinctively lowered her head and looked beneath the blanket.
The moment she saw what was—or rather, wasn't—there, her cheeks flushed scarlet, as red as a boiled shrimp.
Her wide, beautiful eyes opened to their fullest, and shock made her voice rise to a sharp scream that pierced the entire room. "Ah! W-Where are my clothes!?"
Shao Yun flinched violently at the shrill cry—it was like a cat scratching glass.
"Wait—wait! Don't panic, let me explain!" he shouted while gesturing frantically.
"You were knocked out by the falling brick, so I carried you here."
"As for your clothes, Miss Candace and Miss Dehya took them off you. Candace said sleeping in tight clothes is uncomfortable and affects rest."
He paused to check her expression.
Seeing she had calmed slightly, he continued, "Besides, even if I did have the desire to undress a girl, the only girl whose clothes I'd want to remove would be Lumine's…"
Eula's expression, which had been relaxing, twisted again—everything had sounded normal until that last line. "Huh? What did you just say?"
Ignoring the question, Shao Yun pointed toward the foot of the bed. "Your clothes are folded right there."
"I'm only here because Miss Candace asked me to watch over you. At first Dehya was the one here, but she had something urgent to do, so I took over."
Then, with a displeased frown, Shao Yun grumbled, "You think I want to look after you? If I had free time, I'd be sleeping comfortably in my own room."
Eula clutched the blanket tightly to her chest with one hand while the other braced against the bed, helping her sit up to lean against the headboard.
As soon as she relaxed, she groaned in pain. "Ah… my head… it hurts so much…" She pressed her hand against the spot where the brick had hit, grimacing.
Shao Yun sighed helplessly. "Well, who asked you to run into a construction site? And you even stood right next to the scaffolding. Getting hit by a falling brick was practically expected."
With that, and for Lumine and Paimon's sake, he produced a small bottle—light green glass containing colorless liquid.
He handed it to Eula. "Here. Drink this healing medicine. Your head injury should recover quickly."
Eula eyed the bottle with hesitation but finally reached out and took it.
After staring at the liquid for a moment, she took a deep breath and tilted her head back, drinking it in one gulp.
The moment it went down, she stuck out her pink tongue, face full of disgust. "Ugh—what is that taste!? It's so bitter… I seriously suspect you poisoned this on purpose to kill me!"
Shao Yun only smiled faintly, pulled over a stool, and sat beside the bed.
Looking at her seriously, he asked softly, "Alright, you should be well enough now. Can we talk properly?"
…
Eula leaned against the headboard, her pale right hand keeping the blanket held firmly against her body. It covered what was necessary, though it couldn't hide the alluring curve of her bare neck and smooth shoulders.
Turning her head slightly to look at him, she asked, "What do you want to talk about?"
Shao Yun shrugged casually, thinking to himself that after spending so many days cooped up in Aaru Village, he had practically gone stir-crazy—finally, someone familiar to talk to.
He cleared his throat. "Oh, just casual talk. Like… how Mondstadt is doing, or whether anything fun or interesting happened to you recently."
Shao Yun assumed Eula, like Lisa, was in Sumeru for travel.
But at the mention of Mondstadt, a flicker of unmistakable sorrow washed over Eula's face, and she forced a bitter smile. "Interesting things? Do you mean people pointing fingers at me behind my back every day…?"
"Or how I get drunk every few nights and collapse on the street, forcing Amber to drag me back to her home?"
Shao Yun thought about it, then quickly changed the topic. "Alright, alright, let's drop that. How about this—does Amber know you came to Sumeru?"
At once, guilt flashed through Eula's eyes. She lowered her head slightly and replied softly, "Well… I'm not sure. Maybe… she probably knows."
Seeing she didn't want to talk about Amber, Shao Yun tactfully let it go.
After a moment, he cautiously asked, "Then… how are Noelle and Klee doing these days?"
Eula thought for a bit before answering honestly. "As for Noelle, she's always following Acting Grand Master Jean around."
"To be honest, I don't know much about her daily life, but she always looks bright and energetic, so I suppose she's doing well."
She paused briefly. "As for Klee, Albedo has been taking care of her. I haven't had much interaction with her recently."
Shao Yun nodded lightly. "Oh. Sounds like they're all doing pretty well…"
Their conversation dwindled into silence—until Eula suddenly spoke.
"I finally understand why I felt such overwhelming fear the very first time I saw you…"
Shao Yun blinked in confusion. "What?"
Gripping the blanket tightly, Eula lowered her head, her voice trembling. "I said… I finally know why I was so terrified when I first met you…"
She lifted her head, eyes filled with sorrow and anger. "Because you will kill every member of the Lawrence clan in the future—except me."
"Maybe that's what they call a sixth sense."
Hearing her bring up that old matter again, Shao Yun felt a wave of boredom and irritation.
Curling his lip, he snapped, "Your relatives are lunatics. They're obsessed with the past and refuse to accept reality!"
The words struck the most fragile part of Eula's heart. She bit her lip, memories of that painful history rising like thorns.
"You destroyed all my hopes and dreams. No one cares about what glory the Lawrence family once had."
"All anyone remembers is that night centuries later—the night the Lawrence clan betrayed Mondstadt and 'freedom' once again, and was wiped out completely."
Tears welled in her eyes, though she stubbornly kept them from falling.
"From that night on, the Lawrence name was sealed forever—traitors to freedom, the eternal sinners of Mondstadt! Nothing will ever change that!"
Shao Yun snapped as well, shouting, "Then what do you want!? Do you want me to regret it? Forget it! I will never regret what I did!"
Eula shook her head slowly. Though she resented her family deeply, it was still the family that raised her.
And yes—the Lawrences had kidnapped Paimon first.
But watching her clan destroyed still brought her immeasurable grief.
"No… I don't want you to apologize. I just… I simply can't face all of it anymore. I want to run away. That's why I left the Knights of Favonius."
She explained softly, revealing her truest feelings.
===BREAK===
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