The Future "La Signora"!
Venti: "Wait—let me explain!"**
With tens of thousands of eyes on him, Lori couldn't even vent his frustration.
Seriously—
what was he supposed to do with a Wind God blessing?!
And the worst part—
the blessing was handed to him by the Wind God himself.
Who could he even complain to?
Venti mouthed the words "You're welcome" with a beaming grin.
Lori exhaled in helpless resignation.
Seeing the crowd automatically part, leaving a path leading straight to the statue, he could only follow along with the farce.
Even under countless staring eyes, Lori remained as composed as still water.
He'd faced much greater scenes than this.
Holding the featherball, he withdrew the perception-suppression and crowd-repelling arrays around himself.
With all eyes already locked on him, they had no effect.
"Fine. I'll settle things with that brat later."
After deciding to deal with Venti afterward, Lori steadied his mind and approached the statue.
Traditionally, the one who caught the featherball would receive the Wind God's blessing—
bestowed personally by the Featherball Princess.
Thus, he had to walk up to her.
As Lori straightened his posture, the thousands-year-old prestige and dominance he usually restrained suddenly surged outward.
Every step he took felt like a god inspecting His garden.
Even the Knights of Favonius at the end of the path found their minds blanking—
as though welcoming a divine being descending to earth.
The sister who should've been announcing the ceremonial steps froze, then instinctively began reciting the blessing words with reverent humility.
Her blood itself bent in submission before the otherworldly, almost demonic beauty and overwhelming presence of the young man before her.
By comparison, the Featherball Princess—
while nervous—still managed to look at Lori curiously.
Following the church's teachings, she performed the blessing rituals with much restraint and seriousness.
But as Lori gazed at her from barely a meter away…
She looked extremely familiar.
A strange certainty surfaced.
Before he could stop himself, he spoke casually—
as if it were the most natural thing in the world:
"I feel like I've seen you somewhere before."
Both the girl and the sister beside her froze in shock.
In all the previous Featherball Festivals,
NEVER had a "lucky winner" interrupted the ceremony to…
strike up a conversation.
"What is your name?"
His tone wasn't aggressive, but the innate authority carried in it made the girl subconsciously obey.
"…Rosalyne.
Rosalyne-Kruzchka Lohefalter."
Lori's eyes narrowed.
"So it's you."
Now everything made sense.
He looked again—more carefully—at the beautiful girl under the world's spotlight.
No wonder she looked familiar.
Her name was Rosalyne.
Five hundred years later, she would become—
The Eighth of the Fatui Harbingers.
"La Signora."
But unlike the flamboyant, sharp-edged femme fatale she would become—
the girl before him was soft, shy, and still innocent.
She probably hadn't even traveled to Sumeru to study yet.
"I almost forgot…
the poor girl who was cut down by the Raiden Shogun in a single strike."
Rosalyne had no idea what the handsome young man in front of her was murmuring.
If any other ordinary-looking man had chatted her up during the sacred ceremony,
she would've sharply rejected him.
But the moment her eyes met Lori's impossibly enchanting, almost unreal face—
Her mind went blank.
Youthful girls falling in love at first sight with an exceptionally beautiful man
was about as normal as breathing.
Thus, the Rosalyne standing here…
was completely helpless.
She who would one day lose a lover,
turn to madness,
become the Crimson Witch of Flames,
burn away countless Abyssal beasts,
and ultimately perish in her own fire—
would never know peace in this lifetime.
Feeling Lori's gaze, Rosalyne snapped out of her daze and hurriedly resumed the interrupted ritual.
The sister beside her, terrified of more mishaps, rushed to speed things up.
From that point on, Lori remained silent until the ritual ended.
At last, after a surprisingly smooth conclusion,
the sister announced that the Featherball Festival had officially concluded.
What followed was a citywide celebration.
Though for Rosalyne, as the Featherball Princess, duties continued for the remainder of the day.
Watching Lori's departing figure melt into the crowd,
Rosalyne felt the faintest ache of regret.
"…I never even learned his name."
Only now did she realize—
she had been answering his questions the entire time,
yet she knew nothing about him.
If only she had been braver…
"Judging from his clothes…
He seems like a noble from Liyue."
Rosalyne guessed privately, finally forcing herself to look away and follow the sister for the parade.
Never would she have believed anyone who claimed she would one day fall instantly for a man.
But fate was curious like that.
Meanwhile — Fountain Plaza
Lori separated from the crowd and immediately saw Venti—
waving at him with a triumphant grin.
A faint chill flashed through Lori's eyes.
He approached slowly.
At first, Venti was jubilant—
even savoring the thrill of finally pranking Lori after being teased himself for centuries.
But then—
Something was off.
Lori's eyes glowed with strange, arcane symbols—
a faint violet radiance blooming across his pupils.
The air around him shimmered with hair-thin arcs of lightning.
Venti stiffened.
"W-wait, Lori—!
Don't do anything stupid—this is INSIDE the city!"
"Relax.
I won't harm anyone else.
My control over electromagnetic fields is very precise."
Venti's face turned as pale as his hat was green.
"H-Hold on—let me explain!"
"I'm listening."
Lori continued advancing.
Venti frantically searched his mind for excuses—
But before he could utter a single decent lie—
Lightning swallowed him whole.
"AAAAAAAAAAA—!!!"
The delicate bard's miserable scream was heard by absolutely no one.
Before striking, Lori had already altered the optical refraction around them—
rendering both of them invisible.
And he created a vacuum barrier,
erasing all sound a few meters outward.
"Mercy! Mercy!
I KNOW I WAS WRONG—!!"
Thus—
In his own nation,
the dignified Anemo Archon was electrocuted violently,
while the citizens of Mondstadt strolled by without noticing a thing.
Was this…
the collapse of morality?
Or the death of humanity?!
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