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

As Fanes walked out of the dessert shop carrying the last two bags of pastries, he felt happier than he had ever been in his life. The paper bags contained freshly baked cream puffs, almond cookies sprinkled with powdered sugar, and a whole cheesecake decorated with snowflake patterns drawn with jam.

As he walked, he secretly reached in and grabbed a cream puff, popping it into his mouth. The moment the cream melted on his tongue, he was almost moved to tears.

Fanes: I've never eaten such delicious desserts in my entire life... no, even in my previous life.

Rosalyn walked ahead, glanced back at him, and didn't expose his sneaky act; she just smiled.

Rosalyn's tone became much lighter. "Next, I'll take you to see someone. She should be at her place, not far from here."

Fanes swallowed the cream puff in his mouth and asked vaguely, "Who is it?"

"Third seat, codename 'Girl'."

Rosalind paused, then added, "She's a very nice person, you don't need to be nervous."

Fanes thought to himself, "The third seat, the kind of strength that can rival the gods, how can you not be nervous?"

But he obediently followed Rosalyn, crossing two streets covered with thin ice, and entered a rather unique mansion.

The windows of that building were all covered with heavy curtains, and a string of wind chimes hung at the door, making a soft, crisp sound when the wind blew.

Rosalind pushed open the door, and Fanes followed her inside.

The room was dimly lit, with warm yellow light streaming in from the crystal chandelier on the ceiling. A person sat on the sofa in the center of the room—no, to be precise, a person was reclining.

The girl was nestled in the soft cushions, her posture as relaxed as a cat sunbathing. She wore a light-colored dress, her long hair hanging loosely over her shoulders, and the most striking feature on her face was a white mesh veil covering her eyes from her forehead to above her nose.

Fanes' first thought was: Can she walk with her eyes closed?

My second thought was: Wait, she really doesn't seem to have opened her eyes.

Hearing footsteps, the girl turned her head slightly, her face beneath the mesh veil facing Fanes. She let out a soft "Eh," her voice gentle and slightly confused with curiosity: "Is this our new colleague? She looks so young!"

Fanes looked up at the Third Seat, who exuded an aura of "I'm so sleepy," and the thought that popped into his mind was: Is this the Moon Goddess? She can see others clearly without opening her eyes? What kind of ability is this? Blindfolded perception? Could it be the Moon's Direction Force? But I don't seem to have it here!

The girl sat up straighter on the sofa, stretched out her hands, and precisely pinched Fanes' cheeks.

The girl's fingertips were cool, yet her touch was light, as if she were kneading a freshly baked loaf of bread. She leaned closer, her mesh veil almost touching the tip of Fanes' nose, and said in a soft, airy voice, "So soft."

Fanes' face was pinched so hard it was distorted, and he protested incoherently, "I...I'm not soft..."

"It's obviously very soft."

The girl squeezed it a couple more times before letting go, then tilted her head and turned to Rosalyn, "Rosalyn, where did you pick this up? I want one too."

Rosalind chuckled and reached out to pull Fanes from the girl's clutches: "The Empress's chosen one, the twelfth seat, codename 'Young Master.' Don't you dare break him."

The girl regretfully withdrew her hand, leaned back on the sofa, and said in a perpetually sleepy, languid voice, "Alright. Then I'll go to the tea party too."

So, Faenes had an executive-level "bodyguard" on each side, and the three of them headed towards the puppet's residence.

The puppet's mansion and the girl's place were completely different in style. Several large and small mechanical puppets were parked in the yard, some humanoid and some like some kind of four-legged beast, all standing quietly in the snow, with a thin layer of frost on their metal shells.

As Fanes passed by one of the statues, he couldn't help but glance at it a couple more times. The creature had two dark blue crystals embedded in its eyes, which glowed faintly in the dark.

When Rosalind pushed open the door, Fanes heard a series of clanging metallic sounds coming from inside. He peeked inside—the room was large, filled with blueprints, parts, and unfinished mechanical structures, and the table was covered with densely packed design drafts.

A petite girl sat behind one of the tables, her head down, tightening a screw. She wore a Bonnet-style headdress, her light brown hair was braided into an exquisite bun, and she wore a dark gothic dress. She looked like a delicate doll that had stepped out of an antique shop.

Hearing the noise, Sandone looked up, his blue eyes sweeping over and stopping on Fanes.

"Has the Queen's brain been frozen?"

Sandonne put down the screwdriver, crossed his arms, and said with undisguised disdain, "They actually took in such a little brat."

Fanes blinked. Good heavens, this guy's even more direct than the skirmishers. At least the skirmishers remained silent; this guy's first words were a personal attack.

Sandonne jumped off the chair and walked up to Fanes. She wasn't much taller than Fanes, but her presence was three levels higher.

Looking down at him from her elevated position—though not by much—her tone was as arrogant as if she'd just stepped out of a rich girl manga: "Little brat, what's your name?"

"Fanes," Fanes answered honestly.

Sandoni's expression changed slightly. She raised an eyebrow, and the "I'm disgusted" look in her blue eyes faded a bit, replaced by an "Oh? Interesting" expression.

"It's clear that the person who named you is very talented. Most people wouldn't think of this name for their child."

Fanes thought to himself: You have no idea how big a name is in the eyes of the heavens.

Sandonne crouched down and poked the chest of the pink vest on Fanes's body—right on the nose of the adorable little snow fox.

"The clothes are alright, but the taste is a bit lacking. I'll make you two pieces later, in a mechanical style, much better than these flashy ones you're wearing."

Rosalyn scoffed from the side, "My taste is bad? Your pile of metal is what's tasteless."

"That iron lump can fight, withstand attacks, and even walk on its own. What good is your pile of lace?"

"The lace is pretty."

"Can good looks put food on the table?"

Fañez stood between two arguing executives. To his left was a woman in red with her arms crossed and a sneer, while to his right was a short girl with her hands on her hips and glaring. He silently took a cream puff from his paper bag and popped it into his mouth, deciding to temporarily withdraw from this century-old debate about "aesthetics."

Fortunately, Rosalyn had arranged for someone to call Aregino in advance. The tea party snacks had just been set on the table—cream puffs, almond cookies, cheesecake, and a pot of steaming black tea—when footsteps sounded at the door.

Fañez turned around and saw Arecino standing in the doorway, a few snowflakes still clinging to her short white hair.

Still wearing that dark uniform, she exuded an aura of exhaustion that said, "I just finished dealing with a bunch of troublesome things and now I just want to find a place to sit down."

Arecino's gaze swept across the room, showing little reaction when it passed Rosalind and Sandone, but lingering for a second longer when it landed on Fanes.

Fanes held up the cream puff in his hand and waved it at her: "Sister Arecino! Come quick! This is super delicious!"

Arecino's lips twitched slightly, so slightly as to be almost imperceptible. She walked in, sat down on the sofa, took the teacup Rosalin offered, took a sip, and said nothing.

Sandoni sat opposite her, legs crossed, his blue eyes sweeping over Arecino: "A new 'servant'? A little more pleasing to the eye than the last one."

Arecino held her teacup, but didn't reply.

Fainès sat in the middle of a group of people—to his left Rosalyn was piling pastries onto his plate, to his right the girl had somehow come over and pinched his cheek again, opposite him Sandoni was criticizing the symmetrical arrangement of the tea and pastries, and diagonally opposite him Arecino was quietly drinking tea—he thought that if this scene were written into a novel and published in the Fontaine bookstore, the title could be "My Years as the Darling of Fools".

Although this "group favorite" status came about somewhat inexplicably, Fanes looked down at the mountain of pastries on his plate, and then at the strawberry tart that Rosalin was still adding to it.

Never mind, it's not a big problem.