While Lumine was fighting her innermost feelings, Childe was similarly, leading a debate with himself.
('Assistant'? Did Hu Tao say she had an assistant? Since when did she employ someone like that? Did she mean Mr. Zhongli? Oh well, it doesn't matter. From this exhange, I can tell that the chances of the Traveller accepting our request to join our side are slim, but there is still a chance. Which means only one thing.)
He smiled as he observed this whole spectacle, finding himself thoroughly enthralled. Perhaps, he had underestimated what sort of person her friends were, and perhaps, this little revelation itself was quite the unexpected twist of fate.
He lifted his wine glass and sipped quietly at its contents, savouring its taste. He'd spent all this time learning how to appreciate its subtleties, only to realize that the wine was actually a lovely feast for the tongue.
It wasn't some paltry potion with fruity aromas, the kind that gave nausea, this was truly exquisite, smooth and elegant and warm.
As such, Childe sipped his drink with appreciation, biding his time.
The moment he put his wine glass back on the table, Childe sighed quietly, eyes resting on the bevy of faces in front of him.
(If she does not agree to our request...I will simply have to kill them all. What a shame.)
***
**
*
Ten or so minutes later...
Lumine watched silently as the waitress placed food in front of Childe first, seemingly in no hurry to complete her tasks of delivering the food to the others. Luckily, it seemed that the whole restaurant was bought by Childe for today, so no one other than a few waitresses saw what happened earlier..
The cocky young man in front of her smirked, with a newfound confident attitude. He planned this through, everything would hopefully go smoothly this time.
He had her where he wanted.
Lumine took the bait right from the beginning and soon, would join the Fatui. It was only a matter of time. If she didnt, it would be making herself an enemy of the entire country and everyone around her would be targetted.
Even if he didn't enjoy such pointless tricks, he did wish to get stronger and stronger.
The Tsaritsa was bound to reward him handsomely, maybe she would give him a new weapon, or something he could use to get more powerful.
As for Lumine, the person he was currently staring at, she just watched on quietly, observing him covertly. She had millions of questions running through her mind, but for now, she supposed she would take what she had been given, just like Hu Tao said. She could count on Party Leader at any time.
In the meantime, a waitress brought food for everyone.
It was three large bowls of noodles and four types of meat wrapped into two separate rolls, with some steamed buns.
Soon enough, other delicacies of Liyue were brought to the table, and the eyes of the hungry girls lit up.
Iris was the first to dig into her plate and scoop up some rice and meat, she placed both of her hands atop the small pot of soup beside her and hummed quietly to herself as she directly swallowed the contents of the soup bowl. She was waiting for this so long.
Paimon followed suit immediately afterward.
"Ahh, this is what Paimon wanted all this time… It's finally time for some Liyue delicacies!"
Seeing Paimon's appetite and enjoyment, made Iris hungrier, having difficulty refraining from thinking of the delicious aroma of food lingering around her nose.
A nice spice-tinged breeze enveloped her senses, wafting through the air. She did her best to focus and behave normally as her Master told her to do so, but now that he wasn't here, there was no one stopping her from eating as much as she wanted!
Without a sound, she lifted the chopsticks in her left hand and began to put a bite of meat into her mouth. Her long tongue darted forward and hoarded all of the food from the plate to herself as if she was afraid someone would steal it.
Lumine sat in her seat idly, absentmindedly cutting up the steamed bun into pieces as she kept her gaze fixated on Childe. She ate and chewed slowly at times, wondering about her future.
"I can give you some time to think this through," Childe stated casually after breaking the awkward silence between them. "I recommend you join us, you will have plenty of other benefits other than having information about your brother, of course. Someone like you can get a territory, wealth and more influece over the world once we conquer it."
Lumine showed no signs of change in her expression, she merely listened patiently to him with indifference on her features. She wiped her mouth after finishing the meal with her napkin, and once it reached the end of its usage, she picked it up, and neatly folded it into a square and placed it atop her empty plate. This kind of body language essentially meant she wasn't interested in anything he was saying.
For someone so strong, quiet and composed in the outside world, Childe couldn't quite figure out why her facial expressions appeared far more dejected and gloomy. Was she scared? Maybe she feared for her friends' safety? Or maybe she simply wasn't interested?
Hu Tao munched on food just as quietly. (I thought he would be asking for more than just a request from Lumi-Lumi but he's not...he is acting suspiciously...)
*Burp*
Iris burped quietly while putting the last of her meal into her mouth, finishing the fiftieth plate of meat, yet it was nowhere enough for her so she raised her hand and the waitresses simply brought more.
At first, the staff was baffled by her behaviour and hesitated, but Childe nodded at them, saying he would foot the bill without a problem. Still, he had to admit that their appetite was way too big...
Paimon ate much less that Iris, but it was still a huge amount, especially for a body as small as hers.
This time, she didn't hesitate to order fried chicken with peppers instead of fish meatball soup. Paimon had to try every kind of a specialty of Liyue!
