Chapter Text
After the incident with Osial and Jade's chamber, he no longer felt the same emotion when he was next to the ex-archon, everything had fallen on him like a bucket of cold water, "everything was a lie then..." he repeated himself multiple times for but that he tried to think that there was a reason behind such a deception he couldn't believe it, it was absurd. The crude words and the mere mention of the man made her heart squeeze almost as if they wanted to rip it out of her chest, but it was nothing more than an illusion of her conscience reproaching her for trusting the enemy, for having lowered her guard knowing that sooner or later early they would pull the strings as a puppet was always considered.
The bitter tears and low sobs could be heard in his empty apartment, they were not sadness, they were pure bitterness, looking on the small coffee table at a letter that his subordinates had delivered to him on behalf of His Majesty, the weight he was carrying had to throw him down. The trash.
The thin paper and the curved letter engraved his nom de guerre "Tartaglia", he opened the thin envelope between the brief note, only an exhausted sigh. There were no alternatives now, they were only direct orders from his family and the official permission of his highness, or so he believed, he went to the bathroom to erase the path of tears that he shed in vain for someone who was not worth it, to suffer for a one-sided love would never have a future.
...
A relationship is like a flower,
once it withers, it never blooms again.
But genuine love can't be erased so easily
no matter how hard you try to deny them, once planted you cannot consider them dead,
because these never bloomed.
...
The last thing he remembers from that night is going to the bank to inform Ekaterina about his sudden departure for a very important matter in Snezhnaya, without looking back he boarded the ship until a possible return without a fixed day. Every time he remembers that fateful moment, the pang in his heart hurts, but even so, he continues to love that man who once made him suffer.
The mornings in the port will always be very busy, especially at this time of day. In them people commented in loud murmurs about irrelevant things most of the time, despite these attitudes of their people being normal, personally it was never an interest and more like the consultant of a certain funeral home who was always so observant for more Minor detail, it was always the same, people talking behind anyone's back in a negative or positive way were always there, or that was until Childe's official title could be heard vaguely among the low tones of a group of young people's voices.
ᅳ ShanShan you heard about the latest announcements from the foreign delegation Snezhnaya
ᅳ Mnmm what are you talking about Suyin..? oh... from the herald that came months ago? From what I found out about my brother, he says that he left for his land hours after the Lord Osial incident, I don't know anything else about that...
ᅳ From what I understand or not if it is true but they say that he will return to Liyue in a couple of weeks
ᅳ Are you sure MingLi, I see it as very unlikely since another herald is currently managing the bank... Lord Pantalone or something like that
ᅳ In the end, whether he comes back or not, we wouldn't have any chance to be with him... he's in a high rank and more with his reputation here, it would be suicidal to approach him without other people looking down on us! -The young woman said exclaiming that at this point she had raised her voice and some people had turned to see what was happening but they ignored it instantly, as if mentioning the herald was a sin in the name of the deceased archon. The embarrassed group quickly left the place as if they had made a terrible mistake.
The girls in the distance were only lamenting pathetically for such embarrassment but also for their embarrassing conversation just now, but even though they admitted to being far from ginger's reach, he was honestly not far behind either, after the incident and revealing his true identity. identity lost sight of the orange hair, searching through the crowd of people found nothing; with no indication that she wanted to see him. This is how several months passed, approximately seven in which the ginger had completely disappeared from his sight.
He strongly regretted the current situation but the damage was already done Childe left with a broken heart and here without doing anything to remedy the fatal damage he did. Sad end to a romance that didn't even finish blooming. She only had to wait for the return of her "beloved" child.
The days passed and a foreign ship could be seen in the distance, it only took a few more minutes for it to begin to unload some merchandise from cryogenic land in the port. Meanwhile most of the passengers began to descend at a moderate pace, they were for the first time in the land of contracts, Liyue. Not even an hour had passed before rumors circulated rapidly, the eleventh herald had returned.
As soon as the news reached his ears, he left all his duties at the funeral home to go find himself, running wild just to fix things, it is true that nothing would be like before but the reasons did not matter, even if the existence of the funeral was ignored or denied. another everything would be resolved with time... time... time that was the only thing that had run out, late, it was late too late. He observed how the herald had advanced to offer his hand to a beautiful young woman with jet-black hair and light brown eyes who delicately took it, smiling at him affectionately and he returned a slight smile. A sight that made her heart clench was when she caught sight of the matching engagement ring on the hands of the young couple.
A familiar silhouette was rushing towards the individuals. It was none other than Ekaterina, Childe's right-hand woman when she had been assigned to the bank on the mission to recover her gnosis. Everything I was witnessing felt so unreal but it was reality not an illusion.
ᅳ Eka!! long time without seeing you, I already missed some familiar faces of all the people in the bank -she said with her characteristic smile looking at the chestnut-haired woman, it was evident in her face that she was so happy to see her friend and co-worker again.
From the whole scene a small laugh came from the lips of the young chestnut, the happiness of the youngest of the eleven would always be quite contagious for everyone around him and there was no doubt that it was like that. good luck Lord Tartaglia just came to congratulate you on your commitment on behalf of the entire bank, as you know our work cannot often be left aside, I beg my sincere apologies, but you know that everyone would be very happy to meet you again ᅳ said in a nostalgic tone, remembering how he had earned the affection of all the staff in those few months that he had remained in the service of the bank at the request of His Majesty and Lord Pantalone.
ᅳ No problem Ms. Ekaterina we were just heading to the bank and maybe a little walk around the harbor afterwards, so you don't have to apologize, there's still plenty of time to get to know each other properly ᅳ I speak in a gentle tone the raven hair, her the voice was soft and the words sounded sincere; this was not what he had in mind when Childe returned. Even though the scene was true, she was still in a state of shock, commitment... she had heard correctly, they were both in a formal relationship, engaged to be exact, and most likely, she approved it without any hesitation.
All the letters that he had sent to the cryo archon as an apology for what had happened, although in part they seemed more justifications but that it was part of his contract with another of his heralds, as for the eleventh herald himself, he tried to make his most sincere notice. apologies with kind words from which he expected answers such as that he had forgiven him or that in their next meeting they would make peace... they were all false, there were no answers, they were as nonexistent as the two returning to being the same as months ago . Tsaritsa had lied to his face with her empty answers about Tartaglia's invisible fondness for him. Goddess of love that title was too low to be true. May Celestia forgive her cruel words towards the other archon but she needed to know the real intentions behind all of this.
After many insistences that were never accepted by the herald, he was not going to sit idly by, he kept trying but little by little and he was losing patience. What he vaguely recalls of that moment was catching Childe off guard as he walked down one of the harbor's less crowded streets, ignoring his reproaches taking him by the wrist to lead him into an alleyway away from unwanted eyes, when They already found in the place the looks of contempt from the minor, they were never lacking, he glared at him for the stupidity he had just done; Hate was reflected in her beautiful gaze... those deep blue eyes, like the sea itself, were hurt no matter how hard she tried to keep her pride upright.
The silence did not last at all since the hurtful words that the herald threw at him were swords that stuck in his heart, a sharp pain that he could still handle, the broken voice of so much anger that he harbored was not an impediment to stop hurting the former. archon, seeing the current state of his beloved was what hurt him the most at that moment, the ginger as soon as he saw that it was enough, he just left, only turning to see him fleetingly while the last tear ran down his cheek before disappearing from his reach again. Perhaps the slightest shred of hope fades between the small tears that began to flow from her golden eyes. He really lost the love of the last person he could love in all these six thousand years of miserable existence.
He doesn't know how it happened, but her body began to walk aimlessly due to inertia while tears still fell from her face. When she regained consciousness, she was expecting to return to her old home, Jueyun Karst. She hadn't visited him in so long, maybe she wanted to talk to her old friend to clear her thoughts. Taking a good look at the area where he was, he wiped with the sleeve of his coat the tears that were still threatening to come out again while he took a seat in one of the stone chairs, if the preserver of the clouds were here, it is most likely that he would he would scold for allowing himself to be affected by human emotions. For once I just wanted to stop thinking about the thousands of possibilities and just feel comfort from someone... but realistically I think that would be too much to ask.
ᅳ Guizhong give me one last hope to ease this pain that I feel inside my chest ᅳ he said in a low whisper as he leaned on the empty stone table that at one time this place was full of life with smiles that faded with time. Maybe it was a coincidence, she wanted to believe that, but she faintly felt the wind brush gently near her face as if she had somehow heard her sorrowful words as she looked up at the sunset that gave doors to a cold night. If that was so, he still wanted to put up one last fight.