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Navia led Shao Yun and the others together into the apartment where Clorinde lived.
The group walked up the stairs and arrived at the door to Clorinde's room.
However, at that moment, Navia suddenly stopped and showed a troubled expression.
She slowly turned around and spoke somewhat awkwardly. "Um… to be honest, I don't have the key to Clorinde's apartment…"
"If we knock directly and she happens to be asleep and resting right now…"
After hearing this, a familiar sense of déjà vu surged into Shao Yun's mind.
This scene was practically identical to the awkward situation he once faced in Mondstadt when figuring out how to get into Amber's house.
Thinking of this, Shao Yun subconsciously looked around, scanning for places where a spare key might be hidden.
For example, a suspicious flower pot, or a seemingly ordinary doormat.
As Shao Yun lowered his gaze, sure enough, he spotted the doormat in front of the door.
Then Shao Yun raised his hand, pointed at the unremarkable doormat, and suggested, "Why don't we try checking under the doormat at the entrance to see if there's a spare key?"
Standing nearby, Navia hesitated briefly after hearing Shao Yun's suggestion, but still shifted her gaze toward where he was pointing.
She bent down slightly, slowly crouched, and reached out to lift one corner of the doormat.
At the same time, she muttered, "Clorinde shouldn't be so careless as to hide a spare key in such an obvious—"
However, something completely unexpected happened.
Navia discovered that beneath the doormat she had just lifted, there really was a key lying there.
Navia's eyes widened instantly, and she felt extremely awkward.
She picked up the key from the ground, shaking her head as she couldn't help complaining.
"Alright, forget what I said… I really didn't expect her to hide the key here…"
But at that moment, Navia suddenly froze, then stared straight at Shao Yun with an incredulous look.
"Wait a second—how did you know Clorinde's spare key was hidden here?"
Faced with Navia's question, Shao Yun could only shrug helplessly. How else would I know? Stereotypes, of course.
After a brief pause, Shao Yun teased, "I could even guess that the spare key to Clorinde's hometown house is hidden under a flower pot by the door. Hurry up and open it."
...
When Navia picked up Clorinde's spare key and inserted it into the lock, a crisp click sounded as the door opened.
Yet at that very moment, a sharp, alert shout suddenly came from the bedroom. "Who is it?!"
The sudden noise almost startled Navia into jumping.
But she quickly recovered, calmly stepping inside to change her shoes as she responded, "Clorinde, it's me—Navia. I came to visit you."
Upon hearing Navia's familiar voice, Clorinde, who had been tense, relaxed slightly—but another question immediately arose: how did she get in?!
"Navia? How did you get inside?"
Standing by the door, Navia glanced sideways at Shao Yun, who was squatting down to help Lumine change her shoes, and revealed a helpless expression.
Then she called out toward the bedroom, "We used the spare key you hid under the doormat at the entrance."
As soon as the words fell, the bedroom was plunged into complete silence.
After a short while, Clorinde's voice was heard again.
"How did you find it?"
By now, Navia had already changed into slippers and was walking toward Clorinde's bedroom, scratching her head awkwardly as she spoke.
"Well… speaking of that, I kind of want to ask you instead—why did you have to hide the spare key under such an obvious doormat?"
Hearing Navia's counterquestion, Clorinde also felt a wave of embarrassment.
She stammered in explanation, "Uh… um… I thought I hid it pretty well…"
...
After that, Navia, Lumine, and Paimon entered the bedroom together to visit the injured Clorinde.
Meanwhile, Shao Yun sat bored on the living room sofa.
Inside the bedroom, Clorinde was weakly leaning against the headboard, still giving off an overall frail impression.
But seeing Navia and the others come to visit, she still revealed a faint smile and chatted with them.
While everyone was talking cheerfully, the sharp-eyed Navia noticed some medicines placed on the bedside table.
She pointed at them curiously and asked Clorinde, "These medicines are…?"
Clorinde followed Navia's finger with her gaze, and after seeing the pile of medicine, she explained.
"Oh, these… they were specially sent to me by Lady Furina."
"And Lady Furina also had someone pass along a message saying that aside from the medical expenses, my guard salary would still be paid as usual during my recovery, so I shouldn't worry about financial matters."
At this point, Paimon suddenly asked a question that seemed a little silly but was actually quite crucial.
"Since the Hydro Archon cares so much about you, why didn't she come to visit you in person? Is she just too busy with work to get away?"
Clorinde frowned slightly, carefully recalling what the messenger sent by Furina had said that day, and then answered Paimon.
"It's probably for safety reasons. I heard that aside from necessary trials, Lady Furina basically doesn't leave the Palais Mermonia anymore."
"The one who abducted Vacher and killed him a few days ago seems to have a strong grudge against Lady Furina."
Navia gently waved her hand, bringing everyone's attention back to Clorinde.
"Alright, let's not talk about that stuff for now. Clorinde, how have you been these past few days?"
Leaning against the headboard, Clorinde raised her left hand—the one that could still move—and touched her injured right shoulder, a trace of pain showing on her face.
"Mm… overall, it's been pretty okay. It's just a bit troublesome at night when sleeping. Sometimes if I turn over and press on the wound by accident, the pain wakes me up."
"But during the day it's fine. As long as I don't make any intense movements, it doesn't really hurt. And the doctor told me to stay in bed and rest properly these days—no strenuous activity at all."
As she spoke, Clorinde's peripheral vision caught sight of the alarm clock on the bedside table, and she said in surprise, "Oh, right—judging by the time, it's about time to change the dressing…"
Almost at the same time, Navia and Lumine, standing by the bed, spoke in unison. "I'll help you!"
Before the words even finished, the two of them moved into action.
Seeing this, Paimon also came over to help.
...
And so, Navia, Lumine, and Paimon began helping Clorinde change her dressing.
At this moment, aside from the layers of white bandages wrapped around her wound, Clorinde's upper body was otherwise bare.
She somewhat resembled Yoimiya's dressing style now, with bandages wrapped around her chest, giving off a different kind of allure.
Because the gunshot wound was on her right shoulder, special care had to be taken to keep it ventilated to promote healing.
Navia held her breath and focused, reaching out to pinch the end of the bandage wrapped around Clorinde's delicate body.
Then, at an extremely slow and cautious pace, she began to unravel the layers of bandage one by one.
As the bandages loosened coil after coil, Clorinde's skin—white and smooth like fine jade—gradually came into view.
However, upon this near-perfect, art-like skin, there suddenly appeared a gruesome, bloodied area that was hard to look at.
That was the savage mark left behind by the gunshot wound.
Although the wound looked frightening, thankfully, it had not festered—an absolutely wonderful piece of news for Clorinde.
At this time, Lumine returned carrying a basin of warm water, steam rising from it.
Paimon followed closely behind, holding a brand-new, soft towel.
Once they returned, the process of changing the dressing officially began.
Navia took a deep breath and accepted the new towel from Paimon.
She slowly soaked it in the water, letting it absorb moisture thoroughly, then wrung it out until the excess water was removed.
Next, holding the towel, Navia carefully moved closer to the wound that needed cleaning. The ointment previously applied had long since dried and hardened, tangled together with dark red traces of dried blood.
Navia stared intently at the wound, her movements incredibly gentle, afraid that even a small mistake would hurt Clorinde.
As Navia lightly wiped with the towel, the dried ointment and clotted blood stuck to Clorinde's wound gradually loosened and peeled away.
Thus, after a period of patient and meticulous cleaning, the wound finally revealed its true state.
Although the terrifying scar was still clearly visible, at least it was no longer covered by filthy residue.
Next, Navia extended her right index finger and gently dipped it into a bit of brown ointment specially used to treat gunshot wounds.
The faint herbal scent emanating from the ointment was soothing to the senses.
She leaned in slightly, close to Clorinde's ear, and said, "Clorinde, it might hurt a little—try to bear with it."
Before the words had fully fallen, Navia slowly pressed her ointment-coated fingertip onto the wound on Clorinde's right shoulder.
The instant the ointment made contact with the wound, Clorinde shut her eyes tightly, her brows knitting together.
Clearly, the stinging pain brought by the medicine was difficult for her to endure.
Throughout the application, she bit her lip tightly, doing her best not to cry out.
Even so, from time to time, Clorinde still let out faint, instinctive moans from deep in her throat.
"Mmh…"
As the ointment, carrying its faint herbal fragrance, was applied.
The position of this wound was simply too tricky—if it were to be fully covered, a large amount of bandaging still had to be wrapped layer upon layer, forming something like a chest binder.
With Navia and Lumine working together, a brand-new bandage was wrapped around the wound on Clorinde's right shoulder.
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