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Chapter 2

Notes:

ive been dreaming about html the past weeks so i hope this chapter finds you in a more sane state 😔

there's some hidden stuff again~ but not to worry, i have linked all hidden pages at the very end of the notes, so you can check them out if you're scared you've missed something <3

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text


La Gouttiere

Here’s What We Know About The Balladeer’s New Beau

 

After Last Week’s Article, many of you must have been as curious about The Balladeer’s rumored boyfriend as we are. Here’s what we know about the elusive blond:

A source has identified him as Albedo Rhineson, also known as Der Kreideprinz to the public. If you have never heard of him, you’re not alone—he’s not exactly running in the same circles of fame as The Balladeer.

Der Kreideprinz may be best known for his illustrative works on A Legend of Sword or his storyboarding for The Good Thing About Being Reincarnated as a Hilichurl Is That I Only Need to Eat Sunsettias to Become Stronger. Lesser known are his endeavours in the scientific world. After studying biochemistry for multiple years at Khaenri’ah’s renowned Universitas Magistrorum, he is now working under his mother’s company label GOLD. On their website, he is listed as a researcher for various lifeforms and genealogy, stepping into Rhinedottir’s footsteps.

Who would’ve expected The Balladeer to catch such a smart guy? It’s still unclear how the two met as it’s hard to imagine their lines of work to have any overlap at all. This makes it all the easier to speculate that they have a shared acquaintance. We’ve taken the liberty to dig a little deeper into their private lives to get you all the juicy gossip. Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter so you don't miss out!

 

As part of an opinion piece, the views contained herein are neither endorsed nor condemned by La Gouttiere.

You might also like . . .




dani is reading fic @ominousbabygirl 5h

LOOK WHO'S INTO NERDS

Kami 🎤❤️ @scaramochi 4h

Replying to @ominousbabygirl

have u seen him? bro needs to put the textbooks down and start doing photoshoots




小美 @kazuuuscara 3h

anyone else notice how apparently scara's type is people with lighter hair than him or redheads?

jen ⭐ COMMS OPEN @scarasrightsock 3h

Replying to @kazuuuscara

his social media manager isn't either

小美 @kazuuuscara 2h

Replying to @scarasrightsock

exceptions confirm the pattern




on that yaoi cocaine @scawamou 2h

guyyys do u think albedo has drawn scara before

ree 💛☀️ @sunshinelover 1h

Replying to @scawamou

secret art account?? is he one of us??

kazu/hina 🍁 @kazuHER 57m

Replying to @scawamou and @sunshinelover

omg imagine we liked art of him before




lys ⋆.˚ ☾⭒.˚ @breeezefan001 1h

an artist and a singer this is an ao3 trope

dani is reading fic @ominousbabygirl 55m

Replying to @breeezefan001

they check all the boxes!! light hair x black hair, artist x singer, from what we know i could see sunshine x grumpy, nerd x music kid

tired of idol culture @sparklybutterfly0 47m

Replying to @breeezefan001 and @ominousbabygirl

can we not be weird about real relationships




lumi 🌟

Yesterday, 4:42 PM

Lumine
aether isnt coming to ur bday btw bc scara will be there
Albedo
i see. i figured that'd be the case
Lumine
he told me to tell u bc hes a COWARD
but u were always MY friend anyway so its not a giant loss
dont beat urself up over it ur not choosing one over the other. tbh theyre adults nothing is stopping them from talking again 🙄🙄
Albedo
scara hasn't told me how serious their fallout was, so I'm not sure i can judge whether it'd be that simple
Lumine
ehhh
theyre mostly being petty
***aether
coward as i said but its ok we love him anyway <3
plus its not ur fault at allll u didnt know scara was crazy ex bf #2
Albedo
second already hm?
Lumine
u know what now that u point it out
maybe aether is the problem
im kidding
!! he is talking to kazuha again tho that's a win
anyway no worries bedo ur fineeee

Today, 6:18 PM

Lumine
i am losing ithfhsjsjsiis 😭😭
“how could they have possibly met” they dont know u tutored the same kid im crying
thats basically son
this is so funny i cant believe no one considered that u might simply be in the same orbit…
they dont know abt indie film festival 2025 afterparty 😔😔
Albedo
another article about us?
Lumine
hate to be the bringer of bad news but yup
tho it is Really Funny
they do their research well i have to say
even figured ur calx and also. they know abt ur mom??
shout out to ur mom
Albedo
can i ask you a more serious question on the topic?
considering you know scara personally
Lumine
sure whats up bestie
Albedo
do you think it'll be a very terrible decision to simply confirm the rumours?
they are true, after all
Lumine
nah go for it
sure ppl r always scrutinising n looking but like
theyll speculate anyway
esp with scaras history
its not like itll be a whole coming out or smth hes already done that with kazuha
kinda ideal for u tbh except for the fact that itll probs get YOU a whole lot of attention
like i think the one u should worry abt is urself and not so much scara. hes familiar with this and has done it before yknow
Albedo
thank you
i get what you mean.
truthfully, i am a bit worried, but i think the rumours bother him more
we've talked about it in the past but at the time we agreed that it was too early in our relationship to tell anyone aside from close friends
i suppose now is as good a time as any
Lumine
yup i mean u were basically soft launching on that date
like u cant tell me u were trying veeeeeeery hard to keep things secret when u were literally making out in public 😭😭
Albedo
we kissed once
Lumine
uh huh
and u counted or what
Albedo
perhaps it was a few more times
but we certainly did not “kiss passionately like a pair of teenagers”
anyway
you might be right. maybe that can be considered soft launching
Lumine
well!!
time to hard launch before another tabloid decides to do it for u 😌🎉





# general-chat

13 new messages since 7:05 PM

Kaeya Today at 1:44 PM
did anyone want anything from menakiris treasures

Mona Megistus Today at 1:49 PM
no but thanks

Lisa Today at 1:54 PM
Can you bring back some Sunset Berry Teas?
👌 1

NEW MESSAGES

Lisa Today at 7:05 PM
Someone's famous~
https://la-gouttiere.fo/article/heres-what-we-know-about-the-balladeers-new-beau

durin Today at 7:14 PM
“he's not exactly running in the same circles of fame” 😭😭

Mona Megistus Today at 7:15 PM
La Gouttiere is not respectable press 🙄

Kaeya Today at 7:15 PM
and steambird is?

Mona Megistus Today at 7:16 PM
steambird at least has journalists, not just paparazzi

Lisa Today at 7:16 PM
You're biased, Mona~

durin Today at 7:16 PM
“who would’ve expected The Balladeer to catch such a smart guy” 😭😭
😂 2

Kaeya Today at 7:17 PM
IJBOL
sending this to aether im sure he's gonna have a great time

Lisa Today at 7:18 PM
The shade is dedicated to him, too.

Kaeya Today at 7:18 PM

😌

durin Today at 7:19 PM
isn't that mean?

Bedo Today at 7:20 PM
Yes, one would think so
however, they have been friends for a while so I assume it's merely a little teasing among friends.

Kaeya Today at 7:21 PM
what he said

Lisa Today at 7:22 PM
Our celebrity has woken up!

Bedo Today at 7:23 PM
I just saw the article. I'm impressed they spelled the university correctly

Kaeya Today at 7:23 PM
LMAOOOOO
what like its hard ??

Mona Megistus Today at 7:24 PM
i agree
the research seems solid, considering the publication

Kaeya https://la-gouttiere.fo/article/who-is-the-balladeer-kissing

durin Today at 7:27 AM
i finished the other article.
is it true that you and scara went to the park without me? 🥺😥

Lisa Today at 7:27 PM
Oh boy

Kaeya Today at 7:28 PM
yeah bedo how dare u go to the park!!

Bedo Today at 7:29 PM
look, it was a date okay
next time you can come hang out with us again
🥰 1

Bedo Will be twenty minutes late today.

Mona Megistus Today at 7:31 PM
@Bedo same guy as the one you were on a date with here?

Bedo Today at 7:31 PM
The very same boyfriend
don't say I didn't tell you we're dating

Lisa Today at 7:32 PM
No, that rings a bell~

Kaeya Today at 7:32 PM
lmao
mona as if u forgot with how often scara comes up in conversation

Mona Megistus Today at 7:33 PM

🙄
believe me i remember




Scara 💛

Today, 7:45 PM

Scara
well do YOU want to make it public
bc i think its fine either way for me?
Albedo
yeah it’d be fine for me too
Scara
are you sure?
cause there is a lot of stuff that you might not be considering rn and i dont want you to regret a rash decision
Albedo
we can talk about it in depth if that makes you feel better?
then you can tell me your concerns and we can figure out a gameplan
Scara
ok
ill call you




Scara 💛




bax | scara updates!! @baladeers 1h

IS ANYONE ELSE SEEING THIS?????????

on that yaoi cocaine @scawamou 55m

Replying to @baladeers

“are you dating albedo rhineson” so bold of chat 😭 whoever asked THANK YOU I OWE YOU MY LIFE!!

dani is reading fic @ominousbabygirl 46m

Replying to @baladeers

hearing scara say his bfs name out loud with such fondness was not on my 2026 bingo card

beccy ⋆˙⟡ @l0nelydeer 42m

Replying to @baladeers

“it’s none of your business but if you must know yes he makes me happy” STOOOP!!

anna is tired @scarafan039424 38m

Replying to @baladeers

wishing them genuinely only the best… scara deserves a healthy + happy relationship after all he’s been thru

Ben Dover @suckma 34m

Replying to @baladeers and @scarafan039424

all hes been through?? oh sure poor rich idol has such a hard life 😑

anna is tired @scarafan039424 31m

Replying to @baladeers and @suckma

wtf is ur problem ??

Kami 🎤❤️ @scaramochi 29m

Replying to @baladeers and @scarafan039424

theyre a troll. not worth ur time ❤️‍🩹

coco :) @fandagominous 19m

Replying to @baladeers

maybe we should not be spreading this…? he literally said it’s none of our business and to allow him some privacy in his relationship?

Peter Danforth @danfpete09 17m

Replying to @baladeers and @fandagominous

dude HE was the one who made it public lmao we can comment on it as much as we want 🙄

tired of idol culture @sparklybutterfly0 11m

Replying to @baladeers and @fandagominous

theyre literally grown adults who CHOSE to make their relationship public… the press isnt going to gaf abt “none of ur business” lol grow up

🪐noa / rts a lot! @4nemosora 9m

Replying to @baladeers and @fandagominous

he confirmed the relationship himself :) as long as we dont bother him about it, spreading + talking about it is fine!




Scaramouche @balladeer Retweeted

The Balladeer Retweeted Me @robotfricker 58m




knkzsh truther ★ˎˊ˗ @balladeersleftknee 13m

in honor of the balladeer relationship rumor confirmation I have written a fanfic abt him and his bf 🫡 fairytale au u will always be my beloved

sam ❤️‍🔥 c0mms open @deerest392 11m

Replying to @balladeersleftknee

devil works fast but balladeersleftknee works faster 🔥🔥

beccy ⋆˙⟡ @l0nelydeer 10m

Replying to @balladeersleftknee

this is what flowers of your heart was written about‼️‼️

kazu/hina 🍁 @kazuHER 7m

Replying to @l0nelydeer and @balladeersleftknee

fuuuuck I remember when balladeer dropped that song,, LIVES WERE CHANGED!!

beccy ⋆˙⟡ @l0nelydeer 6m

Replying to @kazuHER and @balladeersleftknee

IKR it's so gruesome and dark and utterly romantic 😫😫




on that yaoi cocaine @scawamou 47m

hey so if they’ve been dating for a couple months now… how high are the chances that Bloom Times is abt albedo...🤔

kazu/hina 🍁 @kazuHER 40m

Replying to @scawamou

id say a good 90% FOR SURE!!

dani is reading fic @ominousbabygirl 32m

Replying to @scawamou and @kazuHER

“drowning in liquid gold” girllll he wasn’t subtle





# general-chat

4 new messages since 11:53 AM

Kaeya Today at 11:49 AM
are we meeting tonight for TV? 🎉

Mona Megistus Today at 11:51 AM
not today

NEW MESSAGES

Kaeya Today at 11:53 AM
i thought the new ep comes out at 6pm

Mona Megistus Today at 11:54 AM
no they always release thursdays

Kaeya Today at 11:54 AM
really? couldve sworn it comes out today
😔 1

Lisa Today at 5:17 PM
Seems like @Bedo is a real celebrity now

Bedo Today at 5:21 PM
I was already famous before

Kaeya Today at 5:21 PM
not exactly running in the same circles of fame tho

Bedo Today at 5:22 PM
you’re never going to let that die, are you?

Kaeya Today at 5:22 PM

😂

Mona Megistus Today at 5:24 PM
i cannot believe you’re making it official for the public without telling your friends first

durin Today at 5:25 PM
we knew they were dating didnt we?

Kaeya Today at 5:25 PM
mona doesnt always read everything 💔💔💔

Bedo Today at 5:25 PM
Scara wanted to do it on his own terms, and I didn't care about the specifics
isn't your area astrology anyway? I don't think you would've had much fun covering this

Mona Megistus Today at 5:27 PM
and still wouldve done a better job than gouttiere

Lisa Today at 5:28 PM
I thought the article wasn’t so bad this time

durin Today at 5:28 PM
does it have weird ads again 🥺 last time i clicked a link 😣

Kaeya Today at 5:29 PM
uh oh~
has ur phone exploded yet?

Bedo Today at 5:30 PM
kaeya don't be mean

Lisa Today at 5:31 PM
https://la-gouttiere.fo/article/its-official-the-balladeer-confirms-relationship-rumors
You will be fine, Durin~
Most of the links go to other articles, though you shouldn’t believe everything you read without thinking about it critically

Mona Megistus Today at 5:34 PM
which magazine was it that u submitted ur stories in

Kaeya Today at 5:34 PM
also gouttiere i think

Lisa Today at 5:35 PM
I have no idea what you’re talking about, lovelies~

durin does it have weird ads again 🥺 last time i clicked a link 😣

Bedo Today at 5:37 PM
you know you can just ask whether we’re official

durin Today at 5:38 PM
i already know u and scara are dating… u like to kiss

Kaeya Today at 5:38 PM
IN FRONT OF THE CHILD???

durin Today at 5:38 PM
im not that young!!!!!

Bedo Today at 5:39 PM
if you had a boyfriend as pretty as mine, you would be kissing him every chance you get as well
😑 1😂 2💯 3🍀 3🏳️‍🌈 3




lys ⋆.˚ ☾⭒.˚ @breeezefan001 11m

i know relationship reveal is big but are we just gonna ignore that he literally said he's dropping an album later this year ??

Scaramouche @balladeer 7m

Replying to @breeezefan001

September 13th. Mark your calendars. You're not ready

Albedo R. @Kreideprinz 6m

Replying to @balladeer

On my birthday? 🤔

Scaramouche @balladeer 5m

Replying to @Kreideprinz

;)

lys ⋆.˚ ☾⭒.˚ @breeezefan001 3m

Replying to @balladeer and @Kreideprinz

RIGHT IN FROMT OF MY SALAD????? 😭😭😭😭😭




Scara 💛

Today, 5:58 PM

Albedo
saw the stream. very sweet and charming 💛
also saw you’re on teyvatter. sethos allowed it then?
Scara
more or less
Albedo
so that’s a no
Scara
what is he gonna do abt it?
kill me?
he can sure try
Albedo
i hope he does not
Scara
❣️
youre too sweet really
ugh
can you come over?
Albedo
ofc give me 5 minutes to get ready
Scara
should i send a taxi or smth
Albedo
i can take the tram it's fine
Scara
well youre famous now
better idea. ill come over
Albedo
that works too :)
Scara
see you in a bit




 


22:17

BALLADEER RELATIONSHIP REVEAL | livestream recording
balladear0301· 945k views ·39 minutes ago

Comments 1.2K


Add a public comment...

echo_empress28 min ago (edited)

dw guys here are the timestamps!!

00:00-08:01 start of stream, greetings etc
08:02-12:26 answering chat’s questions
12:26 “are you dating albedo rhineson?”
12:58-15:55 😲confirms the rumours!! waahh
15:56-17:49 NEW ALBUM TEASE??
17:50-22:17 saying goodbyes etc

Witz_Chic5 min ago

thank you!!

light_speed14 min ago

“it’s none of your business but if you must know yes he makes me happy” im ok im ok…

rav3nbo1s_7 min ago

TIME ??

pixel_v1sionary5 min ago

it’s at 15:02

playb4ck_punk6 min ago

guysss he teased the title of a new single “Song of Life” aaaaahhhh ahhh

sally12097 min ago

song that’s guaranteed to end us all 🙌

bitrate_bliss12 min ago

did you see the little smile when he confirmed it though!! he's so in love omg

p1xel_p0nderer8 min ago

no ur right when will this love find me

und3rscrawl16 min ago

a win for the gays

gl1tter_v1ral9 min ago

he's been gay before?

und3rscrawl4 min ago

duh but now he's dating again

sw1rl_p0p15 min ago

are yall looking for a third

s0ul_sh0rt8 min ago

this feels like watching my little brother get into a happy relationship again after a messy breakup

ethereal_echo6 min ago

NO BECAUSE IM SO HAPPY FOR HIM

default_dancer1 min ago

im so parasocial about this fr

yourmom6913 min ago

lol who cares

analog_artifacts9 min ago

cleary you do or you wouldn't have taken the time to watch and comment this, telling your algorithm that this content is for you

xppowergrind7 min ago

troll go back to teyvatter

jenny456789987667834 min ago

What a fun and entertaining video. I enjoyed it very much.

oblique_postmaster4 min ago

bot

neon_netlag2 min ago

ewww bot

g1itterfangs9 min ago

if they break up i wont believe in happy endings anymore




 


La Gouttiere

It's Offical: The Balladeer Confirms Relationship Rumors

 

After much speculation from the public, The Balladeer finally reveals what has been going on between himself and the mysterious blond, and you’re not ready for his statement.

Just a few hours ago, The Balladeer, also known as Scaramouche, went live on his Dodo-Live account to answer some fan questions and announce a surprise album drop. Shockingly, those were not the most unexpected news of the stream.

“Are you dating Albedo Rhineson?” asked one user during the fan Q&A session after Scaramouche greeted the viewers. Fans quickly noticed the fondness in Scaramouche’s expression and voice, pointing it out in both the chat and afterwards on Teyvatter. He left us no doubt, directly confirming the relationship while looking at the camera, as if to dare people to twist his words.

He went on to declare that “it’s none of your business” and “if you must know, yes, he makes me happy”, earning an overwhelmingly positive response from viewers. Similar to the situation with Zandik seven years ago, some are sceptical and call it a PR stunt to boost sales. Loyal fans dismiss this by correctly pointing out that sales have been high as ever. And judging by mannerisms, our star is irreversibly in love.

Scaramouche then quickly moved on to tease his long-awaited new album, and even revealed the title of his new single to be Song of Life. When either of them will come out has not been mentioned, but based on past release schedules, fans speculate a date before the end of the year, with the song releasing a month or so before the entire album drops.

We are very curious to see if there will be any songs about his new love in there, and we will definitely be tuning in!

 

As part of an opinion piece, the views contained herein are neither endorsed nor condemned by La Gouttiere.




Notes:

bonus scene

busy bee

Today, 5:48 PM

Sethos
will you behave on teyvatter or do i have to change the password?
Scara
can i maybe post whatever i want on my own teyvatter account??
Sethos
contractually?
no

Notes:

THANK YOU 🫵 FOR READING
if you enjoyed this, i'd love to hear from you in the comments :]

HUGE THANKS TO
- my beta elliot, without whom i'd be nothing, for tweets, usernames, clickbait article titles & bonus articles as well as beta-reading and hand-holding while i was losing my sanity over span tags. thank you.
- my friends lena, eons & bele for offering tweets, usernames, and (affectionately) bullying me into finishing this in time!
- the HTML Tryhard Community for fantastic ideas for things you can do with details/summary. my life has been changed! (but im not yet sure if for the better) & consequently helping with some of the details/summary code

this was insanely fun to code & im forever grateful to anyone who's ever made their workskins available or done a tutorial. i probably would've enjoyed this whole thing a tiny bit less if i had to code everything from scratch 🫡

scared you missed anything?
wondering who's who in Scara's contacts?

busy bee - Sethos
fbi agent (nosy) - Heizou
fav ex - Kazuha

here's the links to the "hidden" articles & the youtube video
- A History of The Balladeer's Past Relationships
- It's Offical: The Balladeer Confirms Relationship Rumors
- BALLADEER RELATIONSHIP REVEAL | livestream recording

written by my beta elliot (you are crazy (thank u for making me code more…))
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- Behind the Scenes of TARTAGLIA's Latest Rom-Com
- Everything You Need to Know About Wind Gliding for the Upcoming Finale
- Newcomer Dainsleif Was the Perfect Choice Alongside TARTAGLIA

additional easter eggs you probably noticed:
- showing additional replies on YouTube
- ao3 fic link from @balladeersleftknee
- there is 1 rickroll in this. for fun