"Fine, fine~"
Huoliya stretched lazily.
"If none of you are telling, then I won't ask."
"We'll just do everything like usual."
After all, she had already decided on tonight's dinner right after lunch.
They would just follow the original menu.
If Mona's prediction hit the mark, that would mean this girl was pretty capable.
If it didn't, and nobody here had stepped in to bully her…
Then this kid's skills were open to question.
Either way, they were guaranteed a bit of fun at the end. No need to rush the entertainment.
"Heh-heh, well?"
"I've passed, haven't I?"
Mona gave a soft little snort, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and the expression on her face was downright relaxed and satisfied.
She, Astrologist Mona Megistus—
A great astrologer.
Living up to her reputation!
Hmph!
"The result isn't out yet~"
"It's not dinner time right now."
Seeing Mona's smug little face, Taro chuckled.
Accidents could happen.
But they might also not happen.
Even though Ganyu and Shenhe had just arrived, there were no plans today for everyone to go out and eat together.
Still… Taro was a little curious.
His own fate was no longer bound by Teyvat.
And the people around him were gradually becoming the same.
But everyone else was different.
For the living beings under the high order of Teyvat's heavens, fate was fixed.
That was what people called "heaven's mandate is set."
Just as Mona had said: it could not be changed, and it could not be defied.
Once you deviated from your original fate—
Misfortune, disaster, all kinds of accidents would follow one after another,
Forcibly shoving you back onto your original path in the most unreasonable ways.
And if even that couldn't push you back—
Then you would be granted three extremely miserable lifetimes.
If you had no power to change "fate" itself, yet still tried to defy the fate that belonged to you…
Then "misfortune" would be your other name.
This was an inevitability built into Teyvat's order of destiny.
"I won't lose~"
"As long as you don't step in and change it!"
Mona was very confident about this, absolutely firm in her belief.
"Everything in Teyvat—its fate was already decided from the very beginning."
"You all… are beyond my abilities."
"But this table is not included in that."
In astrology, there were three special terms—
Collectively called the "weight of fate."
The higher an existence's weight of fate, the more their every move would shake the world, even without trying.
The lower the weight of fate, the more it didn't matter even if they burned themselves out; they still wouldn't stir up the slightest ripple.
This table was the latter.
Its fate was already fixed.
There would not be a single dish placed on it tonight. That was the destiny it had for this evening.
Unless… someone with a very high weight of fate deliberately interfered.
In other words, the people sitting in front of her.
Heh-heh, good thing she was sharp.
She'd broken free of the verbal trap right from the start,
And cleverly cut off their chances to meddle or cheat.
I really am a genius.
Mona could already see the dawn of victory.
"Sis, is she for real?"
Yingda frowned, full of curiosity as she asked her older sister.
"Not sure~"
"I'm not good at divination."
Fanan shook her head quietly.
Astrologers were similar in some ways to Liyue's arts of physiognomy, numbers, and divination.
Fanan had learned a portion of those, but she couldn't claim to be any kind of expert.
When it came to hexagrams and divination, the most skilled in Liyue was the Dust King; her authority was deeply entwined with this field and could basically be called the source of all of Liyue's number-divination.
Below her stood the Rock King Emperor.
The art of fortune-telling and divination had been created by the Emperor as a divine technique after he observed the Dust King's authority and took inspiration from it.
From then on, this art spread widely among the adepti.
Most of the divine arts the adepti used—unless they were innate gifts from heaven—had basically all been taught by the Rock King Emperor.
One of the Emperor's many titles, "Forefather of the Adepti," came from exactly this.
Under the Emperor, the one most skilled in divination was Adeptus "Moon Carver" (Yixiao Daotian), followed by Adeptus "Cloud Retainer."
As for Fanan herself, she wasn't even as good as her own elder brother, Fusha.
She really couldn't be called proficient.
Reading faces and calculating a person's fortune—she could manage a rough guess or two.
But using the art to divine objects…
She was honestly helpless there.
"Then it looks like this girl does have some real skill."
"How about I go ask the Dust King?"
With even her own sister unable to be sure, Yingda immediately got interested.
Calling in outside help wasn't shameful at all.
"Let's not~"
"This is Sensei's test for her."
Fanan shot down her little sister's proposal without hesitation.
If they went and told the Dust King about this,
Heh—knowing how that one was curious about absolutely everything, who knew what kind of off-field 'help' she might decide to give.
If they accidentally messed up Sensei's test for this girl
And made it look like Taro was cheating…
Fanan looked intently at her sister.
"You absolutely must not call for outside help."
"If Sensei finds out you brought in external interference on purpose, you'd better watch out for the family rules."
"…"
Yingda flushed and shrank her neck in.
She immediately gave up on the idea.
The clan's "house rules" were something she never wanted to experience again.
That feeling of being stuck neither up nor down was awful—
Unable to fly to the heavens, unable to come back down to the ground. It was pure torment.
"Mm… there's about one hour left until dinner."
Taro did a quick mental calculation and nodded slightly.
"Are we waiting here, or…?"
"Of course we're—"
Grrr~
Mona had barely opened her mouth when a strange sound came from that skinny little stomach of hers.
No one present was anything less than sharp.
They all heard it loud and clear.
And Mona, who was all too aware of what had just happened, went beet red on the spot.
"Hungry?"
Huoliya smiled and waved her over.
"Come here, child. There are still some pastries over here."
"If you don't mind, how about something to tide you over first?"
This kid was so thin.
One look and you could tell she didn't usually eat well.
Just look how hungry she was.
Being slender was fine, but a bundle of skin and bones was not.
She definitely needed a bit of healthy softness.
"I-I'm not hungry."
Mona's face was burning, but her mouth was stubborn.
She absolutely refused to admit that she hadn't eaten anything decent for three days.
"There's still a whole hour to go, you know."
Huoliya picked up a small piece of pastry and smiled.
"Are you sure you don't want any?"
"I…"
Mona wanted to refuse.
But the rebellious "temple of the five organs" in her belly was having none of it.
"A guest is a guest. What kind of host lets their guests sit around hungry?"
Taro beckoned with a smile.
"Come in and fill your stomach a bit."
"As long as you're a guest of mine, going hungry is not an option."
"T-then… okay~"
"Thank you!"
Mona rubbed her belly, then walked happily over and sat down beside Huoliya.
She whispered a soft thank-you, took the pastry Huoliya handed her, and took a small bite.
So good. So fragrant…
It wasn't that she couldn't handle hunger.
It was that the divination she'd just performed had burned through too much of her energy.
That was why she couldn't hold out any longer.
Yes. Definitely not her fault.
"Here, have some water. Eating dry like that is easy to choke on."
"Mhm, thank you, onee-chan~"
"…"
(End of Chapter)
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