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“I don’t understand why you wanted to come back early.”
“Do you have a problem with it?”
“Nah. It’s just that we don’t know when we’ll get a chance to visit Liyue again.”
After Ajax had fully recovered from being sick, the pair immediately set out to Snezhnaya at Lumine’s request. The ginger wasn’t too sure as to why the girl was in such a rush to get back to the snowy region. The duo barely had any time to appreciate the Lunar New Years during their stay at Liyue due to him getting sick at the most unfortunate timing. The only thing that came out of their trip was the very lacking proposal of his.
Though the girl had said yes to his very sudden proposal, she had beaten the shit out of him afterwards for making it so...bland for a lack of better words. But she should’ve known him by now: he wasn’t the one for eccentricities. If she wanted things like that, she should go to the Cavalry Captain of the Knights of Favoinus.
Not that he would ever let the man get even near his girl.
Oh, and there was that incident where she had taken over his work for a day due to him being out sick.
While wearing his clothes.
He might have gotten a bit overboard during his shopping spree that followed the day after: their luggage had more than doubled, much to the blonde girl’s dismay.
And now here they were. Back in Snezhnaya. Back at his home. Their home.
“I had business to take care of here.”
“...in Snezhnaya?”
After the war had ended, unlike Ajax, whose job was to manage the Northland Bank, Lumine didn’t really have much to do in Snezhnaya. In the first place, the only reason she was there most of the time was because of Ajax. If Ajax had to go elsewhere, she usually ended up following him on his trip. So for her to have ‘business to take care of’ here came as a surprise to him.
Lumine hummed in response. “Why don’t you be a good boy and hurry back home? Teucer must be waiting.”
“...and you?”
“I’ll come back after I meet up with our dear Tsarita really quick.”
Why was it that her smile gave him a feeling of dread?
In the end, Ajax had had no choice but to leave the girl be and let her travel to the Zapolyarny Palace by herself. She claimed that she would beat his ass down to the ground if he didn’t. Not that he minded that in the first place but he didn’t want to risk upsetting her. She was already upset enough as is from the stunt that he had pulled with her clothes (he had hidden all her clothes on their last day at Liyue, hoping that she would wear one of his newly purchased ones instead).
So what exactly brought the former Traveler to the Zapolyarny Palace?
“It’s been a while, Lumine.”
“Tsarita.”
“What brings you here? Last I remember, you should be at Liyue with dear Ajax.”
It took Lumine all that she had to stop herself from blasting a Palm Vortex at the ice queen to rip that smug look off her face.
“Mind telling me what you were thinking when you gave that disastrous amount of work to my boyfriend on his supposed week off ?” Lumine asked in the sweetest voice she could muster, her brow twitching in annoyance at the memory.
“Hm? Boyfriend? Don’t you mean fiancé?”
That bitch knew .
“It isn’t hard to guess judging by the ring on your finger, dear Traveler.”
And she was trying to brush it off .
“But I believe congratulations are in order. Bring the boy over with you next time so I may give you both my blessings.”
Blessings her ass .
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t go up there and rip your hair out of your head,” Lumine deadpanned.
“Shall I give you your blessings now instead?”
That’s it, Lumine pulled up both sleeves of the newly purchased Snezhnayan jacket that Ajax had bought for her the moment they had landed (in his size of course), preparing to tackle the Cryo Archon to the ground and wipe that smug expression off her face like she had done before.
However, before she could get anywhere near the woman...“Wah! Girlie! Calm yourself!” A familiar pair of arms grabbed onto her waist and pulled her back, preventing her from getting any closer to the Archon she wanted to beat the living daylights out of.
Lumine immediately snapped her head back and smiled dangerously at the man that was struggling to hold her down.
“And why exactly are you here when I told you to go back home ?” she asked in a way that sent shivers down the man’s spine.
An angry Lumine was something he never wanted to experience again. The last time she got this mad, she denied him a spar for weeks . He honestly didn’t understand how he managed to survive during that period of time. Every single one of his provocations to get her to fight had failed miserably . She had prolonged his ‘time-out’ period if anything as punishment, something he had suffered greatly for.
“I was just...worried for your safety.”
Childe honestly hadn’t been worried about her safety. The girl was arguably much stronger than he was and could do more than just take care of herself. Even if she was in danger, he was sure that there wasn’t much he could’ve done.
Lord he loved her.
Lumine smiled gently and grabbed both his arms before gracefully ripping them off of her.
“We all know that's a dirty lie . Worried about your queen’s safety from the hands of the big, bad Traveler now, aren’t we?” Lumine spat out, poison coating every single one of her words.
“Wh- No! You’re my only queen now!” he quickly blurted out in a hurt voice.
Lumine looked at him dumbly for a moment, trying to process his words, before her face quickly heated up in embarrassment. “What are you-?!”
“Ever since I proposed to you...No, even before I proposed to you! You’ve always been my one and only queen! Lumine, you’re the love of my life! Why would I worry for any other women other than you and my family?!” Ajax asked in an offended tone.
“A-Ajax!”
Lumine screeched as the ginger grabbed onto her shoulders and abruptly pulled her into a hug.
“I love you Lumine. You’re the only girl for me. Please be by my side forever.”
The flustered girl felt her head explode as she internally screamed at the actions of her fiancé.
What was he thinking ?! Did he think sweet talking and proposing to her again would get her to calm down in this situation?
Childe rested his head on her shoulder and dug into the crooks of her neck in a rather intimate way.
Yes. He was absolutely right if he thought he could calm her down with this.
“...I believe that this would be the correct time to give my blessings then?”
The Tsarita be damned.