Genshin Impact: I'm The Envoy of Snezhnaya
Chapter 446: I'll Make Something Up— I Mean, Tell You a Story
Paimon was a nuisance.
Until Bai Luo could determine her true identity, there was no way he would allow her to overhear the conversation between himself and Lumine.
So knocking her out was the best solution.
"Don't worry. She's only unconscious. Her life isn't in any danger."
Clad in black from head to toe, Bai Luo appeared before Lumine, just as he had that day at Amber's house.
"It's you!?"
Even now, Lumine couldn't tell whether the man holding a cat in his arms was actually her brother.
But there was one thing she was absolutely certain of:
He definitely knew something about her brother.
That was one of the reasons she hadn't spent much time investigating the Anemo Archon over the past few days.
Compared to the mysterious god, Bai Luo seemed far more likely to have answers about Aether.
"Who are you, really? Do you know Aether? What is it you wanted to tell me?"
Holding the unconscious Paimon in her arms, Lumine fired off question after question, desperate for answers.
"Shh."
Instead of answering, Bai Luo raised a finger to his lips.
"Feel it carefully."
Sometimes, letting someone witness or sense something for themselves was far more convincing than trying to fool them with clever words.
It was also one of Bai Luo's favorite tricks.
He temporarily deactivated the passive effect of the Beater.
Immediately, everything around them began to change.
Several terrifying auras burst forth from his body.
Even the air crackled with flashes of violet lightning.
"This is..."
The wind lifted Lumine's scarf as her eyes trembled.
Because amid that chaotic aura...
She sensed a presence she knew all too well.
"This flower is called an Inteyvat. It symbolizes the gentle warmth of home. Wait for me... Lumine."
Aether's voice echoed beside her ears.
For a fleeting moment, she seemed to see him gently placing the flower in her hair.
"You're really Aether... but..."
"Why have you become like this?"
She had wondered before why this person felt both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.
Now she understood.
The familiarity came from his tone of voice, his gaze, and the way he spoke.
They were almost identical to Aether's.
The unfamiliarity came from the fact that she couldn't sense Aether's aura from him.
But just now...
She had.
"For certain reasons, I have to avoid being hunted."
"So I've sealed away my aura and hidden my presence."
Bai Luo explained calmly.
"Hunted?"
"Who's hunting you?"
Lumine could tell that the "Aether" before her was far stronger than she currently was.
In fact, he was probably the strongest person she'd encountered since awakening.
Who could possibly be pursuing someone like him?
"The gods."
Bai Luo looked toward the sky as he uttered those two simple words.
They made Lumine's breathing stop for an instant.
The image of the unknown god who had intercepted the twins when they first arrived in this world resurfaced vividly in her mind.
Could it be...
Was "Aether" being hunted by her?
"I woke up earlier than you did."
"And I already completed one journey across this world together with my companion."
"But..."
"Something went wrong during that journey."
Bai Luo deliberately kept a certain distance between himself and Lumine.
At the same time, he constantly acted as though he wanted to get closer to her, yet was restrained by some unspoken concern.
He did this for two reasons.
First, to eliminate any chance of exposing himself by getting too close.
Second, through nothing but acting, to make Lumine believe that coming into contact with her now might put her in danger.
"An accident?"
"That's right."
"My companion and I developed irreconcilable differences for certain reasons. In the end, we walked down opposite paths."
"And after that..."
"...I was born."
The bone-white mask completely concealed Bai Luo's face, but his voice reached Lumine's ears with perfect clarity.
"'I'... was born?"
"What do you mean by that?"
His seemingly contradictory statement immediately caught her attention.
"We eventually reached Snezhnaya."
"For certain reasons, my companion and I parted ways."
"But before setting out for the end of our journey, just to be safe..."
"...I made a save file."
The wind tugged at Bai Luo's long coat, lifting his black hair and briefly revealing the glowing earring hidden beneath it.
His words sent chills down Lumine's spine.
What he'd said wasn't particularly complicated.
From his explanation alone, she had already begun to realize the truth he was implying.
"Don't tell me..."
"That's right."
"I am the save file Aether left behind."
Lumine wanted to doubt him.
Yet she couldn't find a flaw in his story.
Especially the term "save file."
From everything she'd learned about Teyvat so far, this world had no such concept.
"After leaving me behind as his save file, Aether continued toward the end of his journey."
"No one knows whom he met, what he did, or what he experienced."
"But in the end..."
"...he never came back to load the save."
"And I, that abandoned save file, was discovered by the Tsaritsa and eventually became the Twelfth Fatui Harbinger."
Without the slightest hesitation, Bai Luo recounted everything he had made up... experienced for Lumine.
Meanwhile, Lumine looked at him with an increasingly complicated expression.
"So now..."
"...are you really my brother?"
It was a fair question.
Bai Luo was merely the save file Aether had left behind.
Did that truly make him her brother?
How was she supposed to treat him?
Bai Luo said nothing.
Instead, he removed his mask.
An unfamiliar face was revealed.
Wearing his usual deceptively gentle smile, he spoke softly.
"Do you know why Aether left a save file behind in Snezhnaya?"
"W-Why?"
"If I can't come back... then you'll have to look after Lumine in my place."
"I still have many people."
"But she... only has me."
"Those were the last words Aether left me before he departed."
"..."
Lumine instinctively hugged the unconscious Paimon even tighter.
She lowered her head in silence.
Her eyes had begun to glisten.
Those words...
They really did sound exactly like something Aether would say.
"Based on the information Aether left me, I predicted that you'd wake up around this time."
"So I came here specifically to find you."
"If you've been paying attention, you should have noticed some of the traces I left behind."
This time, Bai Luo wasn't lying.
Not only had Bai Luo left clues, Aether himself had once come here as well.
There was no way Lumine hadn't noticed something.
"Then..."
"...what happened to Aether?"
"If you're the one who came..."
"...does that mean Aether..."
Lumine had caught what Bai Luo said earlier.
Aether had asked him to take care of her in his place.
Did that mean...
Aether was already...
"After the journey ended..."
"...Aether joined the Abyss and became the Prince of the Abyss."
"As for him now..."
Bai Luo stopped there.
He didn't continue.
Because no one understood Aether's current situation better than he did.
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