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Yelan was not supposed to be here, in one of the ships to Snezhnaya. She wasn't supposed to have a certain package in her hands too if you thought about it. But there she was, making a run for it out of the harbor with a package in her hands.
She felt immense pleasure on this certain evening. Yes, it was a chance to have a great advantage against the Fatui. And she probably shouldn't have gotten this excited over stealing a few letters from Fatui diplomats. But these letters didn't belong to just any Fatui diplomat. There were the letters from The Regrator.
The cunning banker, known for his possession of an unspeakable amount of money. The ninth of The Tsaritsa's Harbingers... Yelan had always hated his guts. She always dreamt of this very moment. She always wished to have this much of an advantage against that selfish prick. She tightly held the package in her hands. This was her victory. These letters, these pieces of paper were her success.
She wasted no time and disappeared into the shadows of Liyue, finding herself a good spot to go through the letters of the Regrator.
She was excited, yes. But another side of her was also incredibly suspicious of the package too. Why had the Regrator chosen to have his own letters in the packages of other Fatui diplomats? She always took him as a person to think lowly of his subordinates. She never thought she'd see the day Regrator sent a letter to probably an important client via their usual transfer ships.
Even though she probably should have thought more about it, she probably should have ripped these letters open and read them already. After all, she guessed she didn't have much time until the Regrator takes action on his lost letters.
Yelan flashed a proud smirk at these letters as she started to open one of them cautiously, excitement flowing in her veins and making her own fingertips shiver when she touches the paper. This was it. She had the upper hand on Pantalone's plans now!
She carefully opened the folded letter and took a look. There it was. The grand Regrator's rich handwriting in perfect cursive. The letter was scented too. Weird for a business package, she thought.
"Dear Doctor,
I've been stuck on a certain sentence you wrote back to me in your previous letter. What is the meaning of co-partnering if you are incapable of holding up a certain promise you had made to me? We are business partners for a reason, is it really so humiliating to write back to me? My deepest apologies if I had bruised the doctor's pride, how shameful of me. How unfair.
From,
Your dearest business partner"
Yelan found herself blinking twice at the letter resting in her hands before her very eyes. Was what she just read really Regrator's own words? And the client and rather "business partner" he is writing to is a doctor..? Yelan tried to think of any doctors that reside around here. She thought of Baizhu, but what would his business be with a cunning harbinger?
"Pantalone... You shrewd bastard. What could you be hiding from the eyes, with such a decorative letter, and with such playful words..."
Yelan, left confused, scrolls with the letters, grabbing another one. This one in particular was not scented. She read the paper and the address, only to be left baffled. The feared Il Dottore, was he the person the previous letter was directed to?
The writing was far from Regrator's letter. It was barely even recognizable. Yelan couldn't help but wonder if it was intentionally written to not be deciphered or if the Doctor really had awful handwriting.
"Dear, Regrator,
You are tormenting me with the amount of things you wish from me. I would honestly prefer sexual intimacy and the simulation of your neglectful selfish eyes rather than the humiliation of writing these letters to your personal office via public delivery. Torture is what this is. Not co-partnering. This is not fair. You very much take pleasure in writing these silly foolish pieces of paper, as I am left tormented trying to fill a blank paper to send back to you.
From,
The Second of the Fatui Harbingers, Il Dottore."
So... The doctor, one of the most feared men in Teyvat, was... in a benefitting relationship with the banker?! And a very private one too...
"What in the... Are these letters real? Who in their right mind would write a letter like this? Is it even possible this is the Il Dottore I'm thinking of?"
Yelan couldn't hide her shock at what lay before her. These letters must have been a joke of some sort. The Il Dottore and Pantalone duo was of all things partners with benefits..? Just thinking about it made Yelan's stomach turn upside down. This was disgusting. This was too private. This was nowhere near what she hoped to find.
She read that letter again, just to be sure she read it correctly both because of the context and the painfully hard-to-decipher handwriting.
But it was no use. The letter was just the same as how many times she read it. The Doctor had the ninth in his sheets..?
Yelan hurriedly opened another letter, hoping to find something. Something that is actually worth blackmailing. Make it about dirty laundry, business proposals, or just anything. She just needed something useful, other than whatever she found just now.
So she stared at the new letter she opened. Just great... Another scented letter.
"My dearest, Il Dottore,
Your words hurt, what's up with the previous letter, really? Are you doing this to upset me on purpose? Maybe you are just itching for my attention, is that it? You really are a tease, are you not? My dearest Il Dottore, I need those mechanical array reports in my own very personal bank office in Snezhnaya. Do not kick around the bush, do not try to bribe me with more of your service, and do not try my patience, darling. You still have the freedom to choose, do you not? You can just stop writing these letters if you so desire, doctor. But I'd have to stick to my end of the contract both of us signed over this. So choose wisely, Dottore. Your pride or your funds.
From,
Pantalone"
Yelan reading this letter was just more confused. Were they flirting, bickering, or threatening one another?
"Okay, I am really going crazy here. What in the world are these letters all about?"
She took a deep sigh and grabbed another letter, these letters didn't have any dates so she was just opening them in a random order. But no matter how many letters she had opened in this last hour, they were all the same. Bickering, flirting, threatening whatever you name it.
"Well, these are equally as interesting as they are disturbing. It seems like Pantalone and Il Dottore have been working together for a while. Their relationship is quite complicated, but it seems like they're pretty close if you ask me..."
She looked over at these other letters, she reached to open another one. She told herself that this letter would be the last one she will open before she burns all of these down to ashes. She felt like she was wasting her time going through the Regrator's privacy without care but at least she knew about the relationship between the doctor and him. They were close.
"So if I want to get to Pantalone, the best way is probably through Il Dottore, right?" The idea was one of immediate success, most likely. But the whole problem was, how could she ever do that?
The next letter she opened, the texture of the paper was different from the others.
And at that, Yelan's heart started to pound in her chest. Was it finally something? Was it finally something useful? She wasted no time and took the paper out, unfolding it.
But to her disgust, displeasure, and disturbance; it was a photo of the Regrator.
He was wearing a sleeveless top that grasped his torso tightly enough to reveal just enough of his toned body. His jewelry was on point as it usually was, but there was something about the photo. Regrator had his hand up and he was pointing at an empty ring finger. That was almost the only empty finger, she found it weird. Was it some foolish proposal? Under all these layers of an unshaken façade, was the Regrator actually comfortable around this man who got an extremely complicated relationship with him?
Yelan honestly couldn't tell if the photo was meant to posses a threat or was just to be silly. But after taking a look behind the photo.
She realized it was not from the Regrator to the Doctor. It was sent by the Doctor, to the banker. Now this was much more confusing than it already was. She threw the photo of Pantalone on the table in front of herself harshly with the letter. She noticed a note falling from the letter and grabbed it.
"I sincerely wish my package to you will cover the letter I missed sending you. I remember you whining about the broken ring, no? I sent you one which I forged myself. I shipped it to you with the numbers of each diamond carefully forged into the ring. I know you like to know the value you carry on those selfish and insatiable fingers of yours. Am I forgiven, dear?"
Yelan stared at the note for a good amount of time before throwing it on top of the photo she tossed earlier.
Was Regrator married..? Was he in a relationship? Why were these two Harbingers in such a complicated relationship yet weren't at each other's throats? Why was the Doctor even in need of sending those letters to the banker? He probably had his own money... Or did he not..?
Yelan had many unanswered questions. But to her own surprise, she didn't wish to know the answer to any of them either. That line was a bit too much even for her. This was just a cheeky love story of a dangerous guy. Not what she signed up for, and not what she would stay on.
She took a last look before gathering each of these letters and throwing them in a box to be burnt later.
She wished to never witness this again.