After eating and drinking their fill, Su Bai finally learned why Eula had come knocking so angrily. It turned out that just earlier, Eula had spotted some Fatui skulking around, conspiring about who-knows-what evil scheme. She decided to follow them, but suddenly a bomb fell from the sky, causing her to lose their trail.
"Ahem, ahem... I'm really sorry about that. How about tomorrow I come with you to look for them?"
Su Bai, who had originally just wanted to coast through his days in Mondstadt until his eighteenth birthday, now felt genuinely apologetic. Since Klee had made a mistake, as her older brother, he had to make amends.
"Didn't think you'd actually take responsibility. But forget it. The Fatui in Mondstadt have been acting up lately. Just focus on keeping Klee safe."
Eula ate the Tricolor Dango made by Yae Miko with elegant grace, displaying aristocratic table manners to perfection. Meanwhile, Klee pouted and tried to sneakily push her half-full glass of milk towards Eula.
Unfortunately, Yae Miko caught her and promptly refilled it. Klee stared at Yae Miko as if she were looking at a demon, unable to believe she would do such a thing.
Just now, when Eula mentioned that the Fatui might be up to something, Su Bai had used his adeptal energy to roughly scan Mondstadt. Sure enough, he detected that many Fatui agents had been transferred out of the city.
Based on Su Bai's understanding of Fatui internal operations, a large-scale redeployment like this was likely the handiwork of the Fatui Harbinger stationed in Mondstadt—La Signora.
"By the way, Eula. Why are there so many Fatui in Mondstadt? With this level of infiltration, it's only a matter of time before the Knights of Favonius produces a traitor."
"If the person in charge of cooking for you guys betrays you and adds something to your food... wouldn't that be the end of all of you?"
Eula didn't know how to explain this to Su Bai. Could she really say it was because Mondstadt's military strength was too weak? That would just be embarrassing.
"Hmph! You dare suggest the Knights of Favonius would produce a traitor? I'll remember this grudge!"
'Great. I try to give her a friendly warning and she adds it to the grudge list.' Su Bai helplessly rubbed his forehead. Yae Miko then spoke up to explain why Su Bai had offered such a warning.
"Back when Xiao Bai was in Inazuma, he offended many people from the major clans because he couldn't stand their actions. Some of them couldn't tolerate it and bribed the Shogunate's chef to poison him."
"But as luck would have it, little Sara happened to be there that day. Sensing something was off about the chef, she pried open his mouth and poured all the food down his throat."
"The poor wretch didn't even have time to beg for mercy before the poison killed him. It caused quite a stir at the time—even the Shogun got involved and ordered Kujou Sara to conduct a full investigation."
Hearing that Su Bai had actually been poisoned, Eula slammed the table in agitation. Underhanded tactics like that were the lowest of the low in her eyes.
"So what happened in the end? Did they catch who did it?"
"They did. It was the work of a Fatui Harbinger named Scaramouche. If Xiao Bai and I hadn't arrived in time, Kujou Sara would have been in grave danger."
Su Bai nodded slightly. The battle had indeed been brutal. If Itto hadn't bugged Kujou Sara that day, insisting on battling beetles with her, she might not have survived until they arrived.
The scene had been so bloody that Yae Miko had immediately covered Su Bai's eyes. He would never forget Scaramouche's parting words, dripping with envy.
"Su Bai, you really are lucky. I hope that when my world is about to collapse, there will be someone to cover my eyes too."
After leaving that cryptic remark, the short Harbinger had simply fled. Su Bai was utterly perplexed. Shouldn't they have fought it out? Why did he just run away?
Puzzled, he had later used the Kamisato Clan's intelligence network in Inazuma to investigate this "Scaramouche" but only uncovered some unimportant information.
"Could there really be a traitor in the Knights?"
Eula fell into deep thought. Despite her outward friction with the Knights, this kind-hearted girl genuinely didn't want to see anyone in the Order killed by an insider.
"I won't say more, Eula. Just... be careful."
"When you start suspecting whether a Lavender Melon might be unripe, in your mind, it's already not ripe anymore. Whether you cut it open or not doesn't change anything."
Su Bai's words plunged Eula back into contemplation. The Knights' high-rise had been slaughtered just days ago, and now that the dust had barely settled, was a traitor about to surface again?
"Alright, alright. Enough of this. Let's leave the Knight's troubles to Acting Grand Master Jean to worry about."
"Eula, do you know anyone in Mondstadt with green hair?"
Green hair? Eula thought hard but couldn't recall anyone with green hair. Her circle of friends wasn't large, and after running through her mental list, she shook her head.
"No one close to me has green hair... Wait a minute."
"I remember most Fatui Cicin Mages have green hair. Could the person you're looking for be a Cicin Mage?"
As Eula spoke, she suddenly recalled that among the Fatui she had been following earlier, there was indeed a green-haired Cicin Mage. Su Bai considered this but felt it unlikely. Having possessed an Electro Vision since childhood, he was very sensitive to Electro energy. If it really had been a Cicin Mage, he would have sensed it.
"Maybe you should ask Diluc tomorrow. He probably knows something."
Su Bai had great faith in Diluc's intelligence network. Besides, he needed to ask about Sucrose anyway. Poor Bennett—without teeth, he might have to survive on porridge from now on.
---
The next day, as dawn barely broke and the sun hadn't even risen, someone knocked on Su Bai's door again. Sporting bedhead, Su Bai opened the door irritably.
"Who is it this early? Don't you let people sleep?"
After dinner last night, Eula had noticed Su Bai had plenty of spare rooms and flatly refused to return to the Lawrence Clan estate. She even bought new bedding and moved in, under the noble pretext of "taking care of Klee."
Knowing the situation, Su Bai didn't make things difficult for her. The Knights had given him a generously sized house anyway, so having Eula stay wasn't a problem.
This decision had thrilled Klee, and the three women ended up playing until the wee hours. They only went to bed when Klee couldn't keep her eyes open any longer.