Under Yide's steady gaze, Lumine slowly revealed a shocking answer. "Because I could have prevented that disaster from happening."
After a brief moment of astonishment, Yide quickly pressed, "Then why didn't you stop the disaster at the time?"
Lumine shook her head helplessly. "After I was captured by the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles, I lost many of my memories, including that part."
After hearing this, Yide fell into deep thought. He had a very bold theory before, and Lumine's words seemed to confirm it to some extent, though there were still many unexplainable holes in his theory.
After a moment of contemplation, he took out the book The Pale Princess and the Six Pygmies from his system space and handed it to Lumine. "Perhaps you can find some inspiration in this book."
Lumine took the book with a look of confusion and immediately began to read. As soon as she opened it, she was deeply captivated by the content, completely immersed in the book's world.
Just as she was engrossed in her reading, the fresh aroma of coffee quietly wafted to her, breaking her concentration. Lumine looked up to see Yide placing a steaming cup of coffee in front of her.
She gently took the coffee cup and took a sip. The rich, mellow flavor slid down her throat, bringing a long-missed warmth that slowly spread through her heart. However, when she turned to look at Yide, she found that after making the coffee, he had buried his head back in his documents, as if she wasn't even there.
A strange feeling of irritation welled up in Lumine's heart, but she couldn't quite pinpoint why she was suddenly feeling this way. She huffed, then picked up the book again and continued to lose herself in its pages.
As she read deeper, a storm began to brew in her heart. She realized that this book might very well have cleverly hidden the true history of Khaenri'ah's destruction within a fairy tale. However, after careful study, she also noticed that there were many discrepancies between the story in the book and actual history.
Two possible explanations came to her mind: either the author of the story had made some errors, or the true history had been deliberately altered.
Lumine snapped the book shut, looked at Yide, and asked, "Yide, is the content recorded in this book true?"
At that moment, Yide had just finished with the documents in his hands. He began to tidy up his things as he replied, "I don't know if it's true or false either." He paused, his expression becoming serious. "But what I'm really concerned about is the great calamity mentioned in the prophecy in the book. What exactly is that about?"
Lumine replied, "I have never seen any related records."
Yide looked at Lumine and said in a serious tone, "Lumine, if you have any information on this, you must tell me immediately. In exchange, the West Factory will fully support the restoration of Khaenri'ah."
Upon hearing this, Lumine agreed immediately without any hesitation.
A brief silence fell between them, and the atmosphere became a bit awkward.
After a while, Yide suddenly suggested, "Lumine, want to play some Genius Invokation TCG?"
"Genius Invokation TCG?" Lumine asked with a puzzled look. "What kind of game is that?"
Yide smiled, took out a few decks of cards from the side, and began to explain the gameplay and rules to her in detail.
Lumine was clever and quickly familiarized herself with the rules, starting a match against Yide.
After a few rounds, she said angrily, "Yide, you've really lost all face! My deck is all basic cards, without a single rare one. But your deck's worst cards are rare, and you even have God Cards."
Yide spread his hands helplessly. "What can I do? I'm a pay-to-win player. Topping up makes me stronger."
He then took out a stack of unopened card packs from his system space and said in a tempting tone, "Beautiful maiden, do you want to be as strong as me? Then come and top up. It will bring you unparalleled joy."
Lumine couldn't resist. She used the Mora she had painstakingly saved from searching for treasure chests to exchange for a stack of card packs and then began to open them with great anticipation.
Before long, she had opened all the packs and was staring at Yide with an extremely resentful look. "Can you explain why the only rare cards I managed to pull are all 'Adept of Salvation'?"
Yide hadn't expected Lumine's luck to be so bad. He replied somewhat awkwardly, "It must mean you two are truly fated to be together."
Lumine couldn't help but complain, "What kind of fate is this? What the hell am I supposed to do with so many 'Adept of Salvation' cards?!"
Seeing how unlucky she was, and remembering his own poor luck from his past life, Yide felt a pang of pity. He took a magnificent golden God Card from his own deck and handed it to her. "This God Card is for you, as a small consolation for your wounded heart."
Lumine took it and saw that the card face depicted a gentle goddess—Havria, the God of Salt. Although it was a God Card, like the protagonist in a game, a five-star character that was actually worse than some four-stars.
Giving an inch and wanting a mile, Lumine asked with some reluctance, "Yide, can't you just give me that Morax card?"
Yide refused her without hesitation. "No. There are only five of those cards in circulation right now. You couldn't buy one on the market for a hundred million Mora."
Lumine pouted and muttered, "Stingy."
Then, the two started playing Genius Invokation TCG again.
Considering he had just "fleeced" Lumine, Yide didn't go all out in the following games, intentionally letting her win a few rounds. While playing, Lumine felt a long-lost sense of relaxation and happiness, and all her troubles vanished during that time.
However, happy times are always fleeting. Just as she was getting into the game, the sky began to show the first light of dawn. Unknowingly, she had been playing cards with Yide all night.
After the last round ended, Lumine reluctantly put away the cards. "Yide, it's time to say goodbye."
Yide waved his hand lazily. "Goodbye!"
Lumine said nothing more and quietly turned to leave. Yide watched her somewhat lonely back and sighed softly in his heart. Hundreds of years of solitary searching had been an incredibly long and cold winter for her.
Then, his thoughts drifted to that fool, Furina. Five hundred years of playing a role, wasn't that another long and cold winter?
At that moment, his longing for her, like a long-dormant volcano, suddenly erupted violently and uncontrollably, his emotions surging like molten lava.
He made a decision. Once things in Liyue were settled, he would make a trip to Fontaine.