In the evening, when Lumine and Paimon finished their commissions and collected the materials for making lanternss and returned to the villa, Durandal and the others had already prepared dinner for them.
As soon as she returned, Lumine saw Venti smiling and greeting them, looking at him with some surprise.
"Venti, why are you in Liyue?"
"What? Is there a rule that I can't come to Liyue to play? I'm not here to do anything bad; I'm just here to celebrate the Lantern Rite Festival with you."
Everyone was old acquaintances, and the time spent together was very pleasant. During dinner, Lumine asked a little about the Lantern Rite Festival.
Although he was the god of Mondstadt, he had existed for thousands of years, unlike Durandal, who had been a shut-in for thousands of years; he knew a little about it.
Because he was a Bard, he was very good at telling stories, and even Shenhe was drawn in by the stories he told.
"Don't forget the last night. That day, you will see a very shocking scene."
"What is it? What is it?" Paimon asked curiously.
"Hehe~ Then wait until that day and see for yourselves. If I tell you now, there will be no surprise."
Venti took a sip of wine, feigning mystery and not giving an answer. This half-told, half-held-back method made Paimon grit his teeth, wanting to deal with this arrogant guy.
However, everyone also noted this down; at the end of the Lantern Rite Festival, an unmissable performance awaited them.
Originally, they planned to go out and see the night view of Liyue together, but Lumine was already very tired after a day of work outside. After she and Paimon showered, they went to bed early.
Venti, who had just showered, came to Durandal's room, completely treating himself as if he belonged. He threw himself onto Durandal's large bed, hugging Durandal's pillow and rolling back and forth on the bed.
"Mmm~ Such a big bed! Such a soft mattress! Ah~ So comfortable, I don't want to leave here."
Venti, who had always spent all his money on wine, mostly slept in the tree at Windrise or rested in Durandal's territory at Cape Oath.
This was his first time sleeping in such a large bed. This unprecedented feeling captivated him; he felt as if he was sealed by the bed.
Venti, who had just showered, was wearing a very thin nightgown. Because of his exaggerated movements, his absolute territory often revealed a scenery that was hard to look away from.
It should have been an attention-grabbing sight, but it held no attraction for Durandal. She came to the bedside table, poured herself a cup of tea, and just watched Venti messing around on her bed.
"Why are you in my room? Didn't I already ask White Oriole to prepare a room for you?"
"Oh my~ Don't be so formal. We are good friends. Is there any problem with good friends lying on the same bed?"
Using the exact same reason as Lumine did, Durandal didn't reject Venti. After all, he had always been like this. Even if she refused and threw him out of the room, he would probably quickly turn into a gust of wind and burrow directly into her quilt.
"Hehe~ Speaking of which, is this our first time sleeping together?"
Venti lay on the bed, cupping his small face, and asked Durandal with a cheerful smile.
"No, back at Cape Oath, you often came over to bother me. No matter what I said, you wouldn't leave, and you'd annoyingly cling to me."
That was a long time ago. At that time, Durandal was still in a state of being wary of everyone, unwilling to get close to anyone.
At that time, Venti suddenly appeared. He declared his identity as the Anemo Archon and tried to approach Durandal with a friendly attitude.
But she was unwilling to approach Venti at that time. Every time he came to find her, Durandal would drive him away.
He thought he would give up because of his attitude, but he came to find him again and again, several times suddenly appearing in front of him, including when he was resting under a tree.
Because of his sudden appearances, Durandal had disciplined him a few times. Under his shameless offensive, Durandal finally agreed to try and get along with him.
In the subsequent interactions, Durandal found that although he was a strange guy, he wasn't bad.
And he seemed genuinely unafraid of him, which was also an important reason why she was willing to get along with Venti.
Unconsciously, so much time had passed, and this guy was still the same as before, with no change in his thick skin.
"Oh, I wasn't talking about lying together, but sleeping together."
"You never used to sleep; at most, you'd just doze off under a tree. Now you're trying to sleep like a normal human, and I haven't slept with you yet."
"That's right, what are you trying to say?"
"It's just... I want to sleep with you tonight. Hehe~ You wouldn't disagree, would you?"
Venti looked at Durandal somewhat nervously, afraid that she would immediately kick him out of the room.
"Even if I kick you out, will you obediently leave?"
"...No," Venti smiled.
"Since that's the case, why should I do something meaningless? You... always like to cause me trouble, don't you?"
This guy always likes to cause trouble for people. If she didn't cause trouble for herself, Durandal wouldn't be used to it. This guy... she didn't know what to say about her.
Thinking this, Durandal reached out and pinched Venti's cheek. This time, Venti didn't struggle, letting Durandal pinch her small face, her eyes curved into smiles.
Since neither of them was very sleepy, they didn't plan to rest. Durandal sat on the bed, reading a book she had bought from the Northland Bank.
Recently, she had become somewhat obsessed with novels that described human emotions. She didn't understand why the protagonists' emotions were so awkward and wanted to understand that feeling through reading.
Venti, lying beside Durandal, leaned over. Seeing the content of the book, her eyes darted around, and a brilliant plan emerged in her mind.
"You like these kinds of novels?"
"No, it's not about liking them. I just want to understand the psychology of the humans in them... I don't deny that some of the plots are indeed very interesting."
"Is that so? Then what content in them are you interested in?"
Durandal didn't think much of it. In her opinion, as the Anemo Archon, Venti often heard the wishes of expectant believers on the wind, and her understanding of such matters far surpassed her own.
She voiced her confusion. After listening carefully to Durandal's question, Venti closed his eyes and pondered for a moment.
"This question is difficult to explain with a general explanation. You need to understand their feelings to understand why they think that way."
Hmm? This was a very novel point of view, but... it seemed to make sense. Understanding their feelings was indeed a way.
But... how to do it? She was already in the stage of understanding human emotions, and although she had made significant progress, human emotions were too complex. The emotions of the characters in the novel were of the extremely complex kind, making it truly difficult for Durandal to understand them.
"I can't do it."
After a brief thought, Durandal shook her head. This was clearly beyond her capabilities, and she had no way to understand it in a short time.
"Actually, there's still a way to understand their feelings. If you want to try, I can let you experience a similar feeling right now."
Hmm? Durandal frowned. When did this guy become so reliable? Durandal felt something was fishy. She wouldn't be up to something, would she?
Durandal moved to the side, putting some distance between them, and watched him warily.
"What do you want to do? Don't even think about doing anything bad, I'm telling you."
"What do you mean 'bad'? Really, how can I mess around with something like this? I genuinely want to tell you how to experience that feeling."
Venti looked innocent. He really wasn't lying; he genuinely wanted to help Durandal experience that feeling.
After all, for Durandal to comprehend human emotions would be beneficial to him and to this world.
Since there was every benefit and no harm, why shouldn't he try to help Durandal understand complex emotions?
Durandal hesitated for a moment, then asked, "You really don't have any strange ideas?"
"Really, I don't. I promise I genuinely want to help you. If you're worried, we can even draw up a contract, following the tradition of Liyue Harbor."
With Venti saying so much, Durandal's suspicions had diminished considerably.
When suspicion receded, what remained was a surge of curiosity.
Does this guy really have a way to make her quickly understand that feeling? What is he planning to do? Durandal looked at him curiously.
Seeing Durandal's curiosity successfully piqued, Venti knew the plan was halfway successful, but he couldn't be too happy yet. Until it was truly successful, everything was an unknown.
He had finally waited for such a good opportunity; he absolutely could not let it collapse due to a moment of laxity.
"What should I do?"
At this moment, what she needed to do was cooperate with Venti. Although she was a bit uneasy, since she wanted to understand that feeling, she could only honestly cooperate with Venti.
"Don't be nervous, really, you make it sound like I'm going to harm you."
Venti patted Durandal's shoulder, signaling him not to be nervous. He just needed Durandal to cooperate with a few very simple actions.
"What you need to do is close your eyes, and don't open them until I say you can."
Oh~ is he trying to make me experience that feeling through an illusion? Durandal felt she understood what Venti was trying to do, and her last defenses finally vanished.
Following Venti's request, she closed her eyes, waiting for Venti's signal.
But she waited for quite a while without any response from Venti. Just as she thought creating such an environment would take some time, Venti finally made a move.
Something very soft touched her cherry lips, and at the same time, she could feel Venti's proximity, almost right in front of her.
Soon, she understood what this feeling was about.
She opened her eyes and saw Venti nervously closing his eyes, trying to get closer to her.
This behavior was described in novels—KISS.
This was an act only between lovers.
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