"You... what exactly is going on here?"
Even someone as sharp as Albedo was left utterly baffled when he saw Lin Mo pinning down both the floral Albedo and the impostor.
It wasn't just him. Everyone present wore the same stunned expression.
"One Albedo brother..."
"Two Albedo brothers~"
"Three Albedo brothers!!!"
"Yay~! Klee has three Albedo brothers now!"
Of everyone there, Klee was by far the most thrilled. She didn't seem to grasp the gravity of the situation at all. To her, it just meant three playmates ready to join in her fun.
"Ganyu, what on earth is happening?" Eula couldn't help but ask, her voice laced with confusion. "How could there be two more Albedos?"
"Well... it's a long story," Lin Mo replied with a nod, though he still took a moment to explain patiently to the group.
"This one here was created five hundred years ago by the 'Gold' alchemist Rhinedottir. He's the real Albedo."
"And this one... he didn't have a name back then. For now, let's just call him the impostor Albedo."
"He was made by... a great 'Red Clay' alchemist five hundred years ago. He's the prime suspect in stealing Albedo's notes."
"Finally, this guy's a pseudo-human crafted from Durin's blood and a hundred deceptions of flowers. Feel free to call him the floral Albedo. That avalanche earlier? His doing."
Lin Mo's brief rundown helped everyone piece together the tangled connections between the three Albedos. Instinctively, they all edged closer to the true one.
"So... why did the other two Albedo brothers try to cause an avalanche?" Klee asked, her big eyes blinking innocently. "Were they trying to hurt Klee?"
"No! I would never hurt you!" the impostor Albedo protested, shaking his head vigorously. "It was just a small-scale slide—no one would get injured. It was only meant to scatter your group."
As he spoke, his gaze shifted to Lin Mo, brimming with deep-seated resentment.
Seeing that look, Lin Mo knew exactly what it meant. The impostor must have been harboring a grudge for Lin Mo's sudden departure all those years ago—abandoning him, which ultimately led to his role as the sacrificial piece in Durin's creation.
At that moment, Lin Mo stepped forward. "I think there's a misunderstanding between us, and I've got some questions of my own. Come on—let's talk this out privately."
"Yeah, let's go. There's a lot coming up that isn't for everyone's ears," Albedo agreed, turning to the others. "Everyone, wait here just a bit."
Under Lin Mo's lead, the three Albedos headed toward a nearby cave.
Though doubts and worries clouded the faces of the group, no one followed to interrupt their conversation.
The only one who did trail along was Yae Miko.
She was simply too curious about everything unfolding around Lin Mo. She could sense that the man calling himself "Mode Ganyu" was indeed the Sasayuri she'd longed for in her heart... yet somehow, he felt different now.
She wanted to stay glued to his side, never letting him out of her sight. She needed to uncover what had truly happened to Sasayuri.
Inside the starry cavern...
The three "Albedos" stood before Lin Mo, utterly deferential.
Lin Mo turned first to Albedo. "To start, I want to thank you, Albedo. Thank you for taking such good care of Klee while I was away from Mondstadt."
"Godfather, it's nothing," Albedo replied with a respectful nod. "Your daughter is my sister. It's the least I could do."
"Mm."
Lin Mo nodded, then shifted his gaze to the impostor. "Calling you the 'impostor' isn't what I wanted—it's just the simplest way to distinguish you three for everyone."
At Lin Mo's clarification, the resentment in the impostor's eyes softened a touch.
Truth be told, that earlier glare had stemmed from the sting of it all: the very father who had crafted him with his own hands introducing him to the world as "fake."
"I know you're upset about how I vanished without a word," Lin Mo continued. "But I had no choice back then."
With that, he bowed deeply toward Albedo. "I'm apologizing to you now, from the heart. I'm truly sorry."
The gesture threw the impostor into a fluster. He rushed to steady Lin Mo, his voice tight with anxiety. "Father... the grace of bringing me into existence—I could never repay that."
Lin Mo looked up at him, taking in the man's flustered expression. He could tell there was no deception here. As his own creation—a homunculus—any lie would be transparent at a glance.
What Lin Mo hadn't expected, though, was how a single apology could melt away years of bitterness in an instant.
Was that it? In his eyes, Lin Mo had only owed him those words?
Lin Mo turned to Albedo and the impostor, voicing the doubt that had gnawed at him for centuries. "Albedo, you know that when I first created you two, my child and you were no different at the core. What happened after I left? Why did my child become known as the 'failure,' sacrificed to fuel Rhinedottir's Durin?"
...
"Sigh... that's a long tale in itself..."
Albedo met Lin Mo's gaze with a wry smile. "Truth is, in our teacher's mind, your sudden departure filled her with resentment."
"Hm? Why's that?" Lin Mo asked, puzzled.
"Father, can't you see how Mother feels about you?" the impostor interjected, equally baffled.
"Ha? That research-obsessed maniac having feelings for me?" Lin Mo stared, incredulous. "She always treated me like a sturdy pack mule—someone to scour the world for alchemy ingredients in exchange for her lessons."
"Uh... Teacher's not great at showing affection, I guess?" Albedo said with a helpless shrug. "But after you left, Godfather, all that longing she had for you twisted into hatred."
"Wait—make this clear. What exactly happened?" Lin Mo pressed.
"In Teacher's eyes..." Albedo began, his gaze settling on the impostor with a bitter edge. "Only he was your child together. As for me, the so-called 'success'... I was born just as a teaching tool. Something to demonstrate her skills to you, in hopes of creating that shared child."
"So he gets to call you Father and her Mother. Me? I can only call Rhinedottir 'Teacher.' And only because you asked me to look after Klee do I dare call you Godfather."
...
Albedo's words hit Lin Mo like a wave of recollection.
Back then, Rhinedottir had indeed created Albedo to showcase her extraordinary alchemy. Lin Mo had assumed it was her way of flaunting her prowess under the guise of the "Primordial Human" project, baiting him to beg for lessons as always.
And he had—eagerly soaking up her knowledge.
Could it be... that woman, whose head was filled with nothing but alchemy...
Had truly harbored feelings for him beyond mere camaraderie?
No, he had to know for sure.
"If she saw the child we made as the fruit of your bond," Lin Mo said, "then why did she feed him straight into Durin's heart—sacrifice him like that?"
"Because... in Teacher's eyes, you were nothing but a heartbreaker."
"A heartbreaker?" Lin Mo echoed, stunned.
"Yeah—a con artist who cozied up to her just to steal her alchemy secrets, showering her with false affection," Albedo affirmed with a firm nod. As he spoke, he handed over a worn notebook. "Godfather, read this. It'll show you what really went down back then."
Lin Mo glanced at the scrawled handwriting and recognized it instantly: Rhinedottir's notes.
[It's all fake!! All of it!!]
[All those kindnesses from you—were they really just for my alchemy?]
[The meals you cooked with such care...]
[The blanket you tucked over me in the dead of night during that blizzard...]
[The surprises you planned for every holiday...]
[The endless little acts of thoughtfulness...]
[Were they all just to pry the secrets of Red Clay from my hands?]
[Our child doesn't even have a name yet...]
[You learned Red Clay and then vanished into thin air, abandoning me and our boy—is that it?]
[No! I won't let you slip away so easily!]
[No matter how you saw him...]
[He is our child!!]
[If something happens to him... you'll come back, won't you?]
[You knew I was crafting a dragon...]
[If you learned our child became its fodder...]
[You'd rush back. You have to. Right?]
[Don't worry—he won't truly die.]
[Because our child is the pinnacle of alchemy!]
[I've decided—our child will be called Durin!]
[I won't let him perish!]
[But I'll make you see him hunted by the Knights of Favonius, sealed away by the Anemo Archon... forced to return to my side!]
"So... you weren't sacrificed inside Durin after all," Lin Mo murmured to the impostor, his eyes wide with disbelief. "You are the Durin who ravaged Mondstadt all those years ago?"
"Yes... Father..."
The impostor lowered his gaze, his expression laced with sorrow.
--------
T/N:
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