Yes, Furina-sama! [Genshin Impact]

"Klee didn't do anything wrong. It's just that you're still little, so you don't really understand what a love letter means…" Richard patiently explained.

"Then what does a love letter mean?" Curious Klee asked again.

"A love letter is a way of expressing your feelings. Anyone can write one, as long as they have something they want to say from the heart. Little Klee, I think people who can write love letters must be warm, expressive, and adorable, just like you."

Before Richard could answer, Furina crouched down with a gentle smile and answered for him.

"Really?!" Klee's eyes lit up. She glanced at Furina, a face she didn't recognize, and tugged at Richard's sleeve, asking,

"Big brother Richard, who's this big sister?"

"She's the Archon of Fontaine, and your brother's boss. This is Her Excellency Furina, the Hydro Archon." Richard took Klee's small backpack off and handed it to an attendant to keep safe.

The attendant clearly knew how dangerous the Spark Knight Klee's backpack could be. When he took it, he was extremely cautious, terrified that if the bag fell or touched a spark, the entire banquet hall could go up in smoke.

"Hydro Archon Furina! Is she a god just like Lord Barbatos?" Klee's big, innocent eyes widened even more.

"That's right! I am the Queen of All Waters, All Directions, All People, and All Laws, Furina de Fontaine! Impressive, right?"

Though her title was grand, the way she crouched down to meet Klee's gaze, back straight, hands on her hips, made her look nothing like a lofty god.

Instead, she looked like a sweet neighbor's daughter playing with a child, warm, approachable, and with a charm that couldn't quite be described.

"Wow! Amazing! No wonder you're a god, you know so many things that Klee doesn't! Big Sister Furina must have written lots of love letters, right?"

After all, Klee was still a child. Furina had just said that people who write love letters are expressive and adorable, and in Klee's eyes, Furina was exactly like that.

So, by her simple logic, Furina must be great at writing love letters, she must have written lots of them!

In a way, Klee really was quite clever.

But Furina's smile froze the instant she heard Klee's innocent conclusion. She couldn't help but think that Klee really was Richard's sister; these two siblings were masters at leaving people speechless, clearly trained under the same school of thought, just using different techniques.

Richard was the cunning, deliberate type, an active technique.

Klee's was pure, innocent, and unfiltered, a passive technique.

But whichever it was, Furina was defenseless against either.

It was like she'd been naturally countered.

At that moment, Jean, who'd just finished dealing with the "love letter" and instructing the staff never to let strange letters land on her desk again, returned and happened to overhear Klee and Furina's conversation.

Jean, whose mood had just started to recover, instantly felt her vision go dark again.

Luckily, Richard quickly stepped in to smooth things over: "Klee, Her Excellency the Hydro Archon is very busy. How would she have time to write love letters? Just because you know about something doesn't mean you actually do it. In fact, at my workplace, there are plenty of people who only talk big on paper and never actually do anything…"

But the second the words left his mouth, Richard realized something was off; Furina's expression had darkened. He quickly tried to salvage it:

"Uh, of course, I wasn't talking about you, Lady Furina."

"I know! You don't have to explain!" Furina snapped back, flustered like an annoyed girlfriend, giving Richard's shoulder a playful smack.

Jean watched their interaction and guessed that the Hydro Archon probably wasn't actually angry, though her eyes looked a little complicated.

After all, the way Richard and Furina spoke to each other didn't feel like lord and subordinate at all; it felt more like friends teasing each other. There was even a strange, unspoken harmony between them. Almost like…

Jean didn't let herself finish the thought, maybe it was too far-fetched, or maybe deep down she just didn't want to think about it.

Who knew?

Thanks to Klee, the little ball of sunshine, Furina temporarily forgot about Richard's earlier "Furina as a mortal" remark, after all, he hadn't shown any other sign of it during their later conversation.

So Furina decided his words were probably just a careless hypothetical, a passing thought about how she might become an honorary knight one day.

After the banquet, Furina returned first to rest at the Fontaine Embassy, determined to save her energy for tomorrow, when Richard would "feed her the glory" she'd come for.

Richard, meanwhile, used the excuse of wanting to spend more time with his "little sister" and to make final preparations for tomorrow's mission. He told Furina he wouldn't be coming back to the embassy that night.

But since Richard had his own residence in Mondstadt anyway, whether he stayed at the embassy's guesthouse or not didn't really matter, as long as Furina didn't mind.

And how could Furina say no? She was counting on Richard to hand her that easy victory. How could she possibly refuse this one little wish from her trusted right hand?

She waved it off grandly: not just tonight, if he wanted to stay out tomorrow night, or the night after, or every night for the entire envoy mission, that was fine too!

Later, as Richard carried a sleepy Klee to Jean's place, he suddenly heard Klee whisper,

"Big brother Richard… I feel like Big Sister Furina seems really sad…"