"Lumine! Lumine, slow down!" Paimon flew with effort, but still could barely keep up with Lumine's pace.
The terrain of this ruined forest was extremely complex; not only were there significant height differences, but there were also mechanisms left behind from who knew when, and Hilichurl who appeared here for some unknown reason.
Logically, advancing here should have been very difficult, but Lumine moved as if on flat ground, skillfully dodging all sorts of mechanisms along the way, and her speed was unbelievably fast.
Even though Paimon could fly in the air, keeping up with Lumine's speed was truly very difficult.
"Sorry, I'll carry you." Lumine said to Paimon without apology, then directly pulled her into her arms.
Afterward, Lumine continued to run, heading straight for the deepest part of this Domain.
"We, we shouldn't be in such a hurry, should we? Lord Diluc's side, who knows when he'll finish," Paimon, held in Lumine's arms, took a breath and looked up at Lumine, very puzzled.
"No, if we don't hurry, Stelle might wake up," Lumine shook her head.
"Ah? Stelle?" Paimon had no idea that this was the reason for Lumine's urgency.
"That's right, if we don't go back quickly, Stelle might leave."
"But, but if we go back too early, won't we disturb Stelle's rest?" Paimon completely failed to understand what Lumine was thinking.
"I'll try to move as lightly as possible," Lumine said, holding Paimon, and quickly dodged two arrows fired by Hilichurl in front of them with a swift flash.
Immediately, she took out her Dull Blade, quickly ran in front of the two Hilichurl, and cut them into four pieces.
"I, I… I can't quite understand your thoughts…" Paimon felt dizzy because of Lumine's movements, her eyes spinning in circles, and her speech was a bit slurred.
Just before, Lumine had told her that she felt Stelle was a strange person and that she needed to maintain a certain distance from Stelle.
Paimon had pressed her at the time, wanting to know what was so strange.
But Lumine herself couldn't explain the feeling. After pondering for a long time, she told Paimon, "I'm afraid I won't be able to control myself."
Paimon naturally didn't understand at the time, only knowing that Lumine was deliberately keeping her distance from Stelle to control herself… So what was the situation now? Did she not need to control herself anymore?
Of course, she still needed to control herself—Lumine thought silently in her heart.
Her hands didn't stop, and several Hilichurl were instantly cut down by her.
Her movements were very light, and surging Anemo element gathered in her hands, ready to use an elemental burst to clear the area at any time.
…
Control is control, but necessary contact still needs to be made.
She had been a bit too sensitive before. Stelle indeed unconsciously attracted others, especially women.
But Stelle herself had no ill intentions, and perhaps Stelle didn't even know this about herself.
She still hadn't had much contact with Stelle, or a deep bond, but Lumine could feel that Stelle was a good person.
At most, she just had a few more secrets, but that couldn't be considered a flaw.
So… she decided to follow her inner thoughts.
Although she couldn't specifically describe what her inner thoughts were, one thing was very clear.
She couldn't let Stelle be snatched away by other women; she had to establish a deeper emotional connection with Stelle sooner.
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On the other side, at the Knights of Favonius office.
"Sister, you didn't come home last night, did you?"
"Uh, well…" Jean lowered her head, looking at the documents on the desk, but for a moment, she couldn't focus her attention on them.
She had just returned to the office and saw Barbara standing at the office door, seemingly waiting for her arrival.
"I'm sorry, Barbara, I…"
"Sister doesn't need to apologize. I know you have many important things to do." Barbara shook her head, though she still pouted slightly, somewhat displeased about Jean not coming home last night.
Due to her parents' divorce, she and Jean did not live together. After joining the Westwind Church, Barbara mostly lived in the church, which was how she finally had the opportunity to reconnect with Jean.
Later, she would always unconsciously pay attention to Jean's activities, but it was basically always news like, "Acting Grand Master Jean is very reliable."
It wasn't until recently that Miss Rosaria told her many aspects of Jean that people didn't pay attention to.
This made her extremely worried.
So, upon hearing Rosaria say that her sister had gone out at night and hadn't returned until dawn, she couldn't sit still and ran to the Knights of Favonius office door to wait for Jean.
"Sister, don't do any work today, okay? Please get a good day's rest," Barbara shook her head, looking at Jean with firm eyes.
"Mmm…" Although Jean still didn't feel very tired, she always had no way of refusing her sister.
However, for her, this was also a good thing.
She and Barbara had been separated since childhood. It wasn't until Barbara joined the Westwind Church that they finally had time to spend together.
Jean really wanted to be close to Barbara, but every time she wanted to act, Barbara's evasive eyes would always make her unsure of how to speak, and the atmosphere would suddenly become awkward.
But starting recently, such an atmosphere between them gradually ceased to exist. Barbara, worried that she never got enough rest, would often run to her office.
There was originally no barrier between them as sisters, just a thin film created by being apart for too long, which could easily be broken.
Jean was very happy about this… Perhaps she should thank Rosaria more.
"Then I'll just rest a little."
"That's good!" Barbara first said happily, but quickly realized something was wrong, "Sister, it's not 'rest a little,' it's 'get a good day's rest'!"
"But…" Jean's expression was a bit troubled.
"Didn't Sister say these tasks could be put off for a bit?"
"It's not about the work; there's a guest resting in the Knights of Favonius dormitory, and I told her to come find me if she needed anything…"
"A guest?" Barbara was curious, wondering what kind of person could be called a guest by the Knights of Favonius.
"Mmm, a very important guest for Mondstadt," Jean nodded.
"Then Sister should go rest, and leave the guest's matters to me."
"But…" Jean still hesitated.
"Sister~"
"…Alright, then I'll leave it to you." Jean looked at her sister's slightly pleading expression and finally softened her heart.
"The guest's name is Stelle. She should be the only one in the dorm now. She has shoulder-length gray hair and golden pupils, so she should be easy to recognize."
"Yes, I understand. Don't worry, sister, I won't neglect the guest."
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