Genshin Impact: Watch me turn the tables and kill my servants at the start!

As Fanes lay down on the bed in the guest room, the light from his phone screen illuminated the outline of his chin. He adjusted the pillow to make himself more comfortable and then opened the game interface.

Little Black jumped up from the foot of the bed, curled up into a small creature barely bigger than a pillow, and curled up beside him, resting its head on his arm and its tail on the edge of his wrist, as if it were participating in this pre-sleep relaxation in its own way.

Fanes operated the screen with one hand, while the other rested on the little black dog's back, occasionally tracing the direction of its scales with his finger. The game's levels weren't particularly difficult, but they weren't so easy that you could complete them with your eyes closed either.

When Funina reached the third level, she heard a sound of someone turning over in the next room—the sound of fabric rubbing together was amplified in the quiet corridor, and even through the wall, she could tell that the rhythm of the sound was more frequent than the normal tossing and turning during sleep.

Fanes didn't stop what he was doing. He finished another level and was about to move on to the next when he heard the sound of someone turning over in bed next door. Then he heard the sound of the mattress springs being compressed and then released.

Immediately following was a muffled thud as the pillow was moved. After finishing the fifth level, Fanes briefly turned off his phone screen, then turned it back on to continue his game.

Funina was lying on her bed, the blankets being tossed back and forth several times before being pulled back into place.

A thin strip of light shone through the crack under the door, extending from the direction of the other room and spreading a steady line of light across the hallway floor.

Funina stared at the band of light for a long time—it remained lit, its brightness unchanged, and it didn't move an inch towards her. She turned over, facing the crack in the door, glanced at the unchanging light, and then buried her face in the pillow again.

After a while, I turned over again, and the bright mark remained quietly there, with no wobbling at the edges and no fluctuation in brightness.

Funina finally sat up. She reached for the water glass on the bedside table, took a sip, and then put it down.

Funina got up and walked to the door, pushing open her bedroom door and stepping into the hallway. She glanced at the room next door—the light strip under the door was steadily glowing, and she could faintly hear game sound effects coming from inside, interspersed with a few short button clicks in the background. She stood in the hallway for a while, then turned and went back to her room, her voice coming through the half-open door: "...It's so late, play on your phone less, it's bad for your eyes."

Then Funina "closed" the door. The strip of light in the corridor remained lit, its edges still clearly defined, and its shape unchanged.

Fanes was fighting the final boss when the light appeared, causing him to pause for a moment. The tip of Blackie's tail lightly brushed against his wrist, as if to remind him to notice the changing light.

Instinctively, I placed my phone screen face down on the bed, then pulled Xiao Hei (my phone) further under the covers, and tucked myself in, leaving a small gap to observe the situation outside.

Once the light faded and the corridor returned to its original brightness, Fanes slowly peeked out from under the covers, glanced at the crack in his bedroom door, then looked down at Little Black, who was peeking half his head out from under his armpit, before realizing that he didn't seem to need to hide.

Little Black crawled out from under the covers, turned its head to look at him, and swayed its tail gently in the air, as if asking, "What were you hiding from just now?"

Fanes flipped the phone back over; the game interface on the screen had automatically paused, displaying the "Continue" and "Exit" options.

He chose to continue, but Fanes did not immediately begin the next level. Instead, he sat quietly by the bed for a moment.

Little Black jumped off the bed and walked to the door. It pawed at the crack in the door, pushed it open a little, peeked into the corridor, then withdrew, turned its head to look in Fanes' direction, and let out a soft, short whimper.

Little Black wagged its tail toward Funina's room, indicating that the door there didn't seem to be fully closed.

Fanes put down his phone, got out of bed, walked into the hallway, and pushed open the half-closed door in the darkness.

Funina was lying on her side on the bed, the blanket pulled up to her chin. Her breathing was a little shallower than usual, but the rhythm was still steady.

Fanes walked to the bedside, lifted a corner of the blanket and lay down, turning to his side and placing his hand on her waist: "Little Fufu, I want a hug."

Funina didn't move, as if she had been trying to fall asleep with her eyes closed. She didn't respond, but she didn't struggle either; she simply readjusted the height of her pillow to make herself more comfortable.

Fanes hugged her from behind, waited for a while, and then said, "So flat."

Funina's body visibly stiffened in his arms. Then she turned to face him, her voice carrying a certainty that had been thoroughly confirmed: "You're the flat-chested one!"

Funina's voice was exceptionally clear in the quiet room, with a slight upward inflection at the end, "I definitely have it! And I still have time to develop! And it's not bigger than Kurumi's!"

Faenes lay down opposite her: "Alright, alright, I was wrong. It's not smaller than a walnut, not smaller than a walnut. I was wrong."

Funina snorted, lay back down, and pulled the blanket up to her shoulders: "That's more like it."

Funina paused for a moment. "What are you doing here so late?"

Fanes had placed his hand back on her waist, tightening his grip slightly. "What do you think? Of course, it's for my little Fou."

After saying that, he turned to the side and put his other arm around her.

Fernina didn't flinch. She lay there, quietly accepting the touch on her forehead. When Fanes pulled away, she looked at him with her eyes open, her voice softer than before: "...What are you doing?"

Fanes did not answer, but simply lowered his head and touched her lips.

Fu Ningna's body tensed slightly the moment he approached, then slowly relaxed. Her fingers gripped the corner of the blanket, then loosened after a while, as if she were going through a complete process of going from tension to relaxation in her own way.

As Fanes pulled away, a faint blush rose to her cheeks. She turned her head, her voice slightly nasal from the kiss, and said, "You were so sudden..."

Fanes remained lying on his side, less than an arm's length away from her: "Is this considered sudden?"

Funina clenched her fingers on the corner of the blanket and then released them: "...But we haven't known each other for very long."

Fanes looked at her: "Are you sure? More than ten years have passed since you first came to Fontainebleau."

Funina thought for a moment: "It has indeed been a long time. But it's still so sudden! I'm not ready!"

Fanes looked at her, from the moment he stood at attention, so nervous in the drawing room of the Moman Palace, to the time he could simply walk in and she was no longer flustered. These years in Fontaine had been like a slowly unfolding river, seemingly calm, yet never ceasing. "What else do you need to prepare? We've already prepared many times."

This time, Funina didn't flinch. When Fanes leaned closer, she slightly raised her chin, allowing the kiss to deepen.

Funina placed one hand on his shoulder, her fingertips clutching the fabric of his pajamas. She held it for a while, then loosened it, then tightened it again, and finally left it there without moving.

During a break in the kiss, Fanes turned his head and whispered in her ear, "Stay here tonight."

Furness turned to look at him; even in the dim light, his silhouette was still clear: "...Are you sure?"

Fanes did not answer, but simply placed his hand on her waist, then tightened his arm slightly, pulling her body towards him.

As Fulina was led away, she took a soft breath. She didn't speak, didn't push him away, and didn't create that distance between them again.

Xiao Hei squatted at the doorway and pushed it with its hind legs. The door closed with a very slight creak, and the last ray of warm light below the door was gathered behind the door panel.

Fanes held Frinina in his arms for a long time before finally saying, "The love story between the Water God of Fontaine and the Executor of the Fools should be quite popular in the Winter Solstice newspapers."

Funina was still in his arms, her voice coming from the crook of his shoulder, muffled: "...The Water God of Fontaine and the Winter Executor, it doesn't sound like the beginning of a normal love story at all."

Fanes' voice remained steady. She hesitated for a moment before responding as he reached out to touch her fingertips. Only when he actually grasped hers did her fingers close, as if she were confirming that the preparatory steps had been completed in her own way: "Then let it become a normal ending to the story."