"?"
Yuto slightly raised his head, looking at the young girl sitting opposite him, playing with a cat, a bit surprised.
"What have I ever done to deserve this... to have Fontaine's Water God, the famous superstar Lady Furina, remember my birthday?"
Yuto spoke with a touch of "flattered surprise."
Hearing this, Furina subconsciously said:
"Of course~ It's your honor to have Hydro Archon Focalors, Fontaine's famous superstar Lady Furina, personally congratulate you~"
Furina said this while looking up at Yuto.
When that familiar, smiling face appeared in her sight, she knew...
She had been outmaneuvered by this guy again.
Furina's face flushed slightly, and from the increasingly frantic rhythm of her cat-petting, it was clear... she was desperate to change the subject.
And Yuto just smiled, watching his "superior," seemingly waiting for her to continue.
After about one or two minutes of silence, Furina finally seemed to find what she wanted to say, so she looked up again, asking with a slightly serious expression:
"Do you know? Marcel... that is, Vasher, died today while being escorted to Meropide."
Hearing this, Yuto nodded without surprise.
"Of course I know. When I returned from Meropide... everyone on the street was talking about it. It would be hard not to know."
"But everyone thinks he got what he deserved, and some even feel it's a pity, believing he shouldn't have died so easily."
Yuto shrugged, expressing helplessness.
After all, Fontaine has freedom of speech. As long as they don't spread particularly outrageous rumors everywhere... the Shadowy Court and the Law Enforcement Office won't act against them.
Besides, if they really wanted to crack down on rumors... Steambird Newspaper would be the first target, not ordinary people venting their emotions.
Hearing Yuto's words, Furina nodded slightly, then lowered her head and continued playing with Yuto's Little Sanhua.
Actually, Furina's previous question had a hidden motive.
During today's Judgment, her attention was mostly focused on Yuto, so she naturally caught a few of Yuto's intriguing micro-expressions.
Whether facing Vasher's statements or anything else, Yuto's reaction was somewhat... overly calm.
She even caught some "just as expected" micro-expressions from Yuto's demeanor, as if—
He had witnessed all of this before.
Thinking of this, Furina slightly paused her actions of playing with Little Sanhua, secretly glanced at Yuto, who was checking tax ledgers, and after carefully choosing her words, she asked:
"Hey... Yuto, when you were on the accusation stand today... did you already anticipate that Vasher was Marcel?"
"Or rather... did you, Yuto, actually foresee everything that happened today?"
Hearing these two questions from Furina, Yuto, who was previously flipping through the tax ledger, suddenly froze for a moment, but quickly returned to normal.
He gently shook his head, sighed slightly, and then said:
"Furina... Navia and I initially positioned 'Vasher' and 'Vignier' as 'witnesses to the serial disappearances of young girls,' not as key figures who instigated all of this."
"Navia and I initially thought of using these two names to bluff him, and it was at that very moment... the Traveler just happened to deliver the evidence."
"Although shocked by this fact, it... is what it is. After a brief shock comes a natural emotional response."
"Besides, I don't have any ability to foresee the future. If I did..."
At this point, Yuto suddenly stopped, a sorrowful expression appearing on his face, and then he murmured:
"If I could truly foresee the future, those girls wouldn't have died, and Cares wouldn't have died, right?"
Hearing Yuto's words, Furina's expression froze slightly, then she gently nodded.
With that, a long silence fell over Yuto's office.
After a simple farewell, Furina slowly rose and left the office.
...
After Furina left the office, Yuto looked at his office door, unable to snap out of his thoughts for a long time.
He was pondering which part of his "performance" had gone wrong, causing Furina to harbor such suspicions about him.
In his opinion, such suspicion was entirely detrimental to himself and to Furina.
Both Furina and Yuto had their own secrets and plans; they couldn't be completely honest with each other—
—at least not yet.
Furina was like a lonely performer, performing 182,376 acts of drama alone on a stage where no one watched.
And Yuto was a silent performer; he protected her with silence, guarding with silence the fruits of her 182,376 days and nights of walking on thin ice.
Many times, Yuto truly wanted to tell Furina everything he knew, but this wouldn't help her; instead, it would harm her.
It's like someone knowing their future in advance, yet they cannot do anything to change that future because of it.
Fate is like a branching road full of forks; just by stopping and looking around, one can find a new path.
And this is the variability of fate.
For someone like Yuto, who already holds the script... the "variability of fate" is extremely important.
Anyone who knows fate should understand one truth—do not do the right thing at the wrong time.
Even a small action could turn what was determined to be the most beautiful, most magnificent future into the ugliest, most sordid future.
These are all possibilities.
Therefore, under these circumstances, all Yuto could do was to ensure Furina's mental state remained as relaxed as possible, without her knowing the truth.
Thinking of this, Yuto gently nodded, then naturally leaned back in his chair, softly murmuring:
"Furina... even if you ultimately face the distrust of the people of Fontaine and those endless doubts..."
"Even if the whole world doesn't believe you, even if the whole world stands against you..."
"I will stand firmly by your side, unwavering in the slightest."
"Because..."
"I have truly listened to the ode of all waters, and I have seen the most resilient blue rose."
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