| [Every now and then, the "Darknight Hero's" activities take him farther afield than usual. It's not a problem for him to be far from home, but it's a problem for his servants, who know his secret and would keep it with their lives. They never know when he means to return; they fret and worry until their young master comes home.
In days past, he would arrive home via his balcony or any of the windows, but these days, as a courtesy to his butler, who always waits in the foyer by candlelight until he's returned from his midnight vigil, Diluc comes home normally, by stepping through the double doors to his manor where Adelinde greets him with a weary smile. It's no use telling them to sleep; they won't rest until they know he's safe and sound. That's the type of loyalty money doesn't buy.
(The problem is this: none of them are battle-trained. Oh, Elzer may have once been trained in some school of martial arts from Liyue, and Adelinde may keep a knife strapped beneath her skirt, but besides those two, few people at the Dawn Winery know how to defend themselves against any kind of attack. Why would they, when their enemies would surely target Diluc himself, and their Master Diluc is so very strong?)
Perhaps he lingers in the kitchen for a midnight snack. Perhaps he takes a bath before retiring to his quarters for the night. In either case, there's no need to rush. With his foes suppressed and the safety of Mondstadt secured for one more night, Diluc surely has no immediately pressing concerns as he takes the stairs and opens the door to his bedroom —
— where he will find a complete stranger sitting at a little-used table in the corner of his room, lounging in one of Diluc's chairs like a king upon a throne.
The stranger smiles.]
Diluc Ragnvindr.
[Blond hair. Golden eyes. It's not the right shade of blond, and there's something angular and cold in his gaze that she doesn't have. But it's not hard to think of it, if he thinks of it at all. He's surely seen the missing-person posters pinned to the bulletin board in the Angel's Share, and they have the same soft jaw, the same suspiciously attractive face. Mondstadt's hero, that wayward traveler with the flowers in her hair — didn't she say she was missing a brother?
Lumine's brother presses a gloved finger to his own lips before Diluc can say a word.]
Shh... Keep your voice down. You wouldn't want to wake Hillie and Moco downstairs. They nearly stayed up all night waiting for you to come back, you know. |
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