"Oh... sorry. I got a little excited." Lora smiled sheepishly after hearing Focalors's words.
Yun Jin leaned closer to Focalors and Furina and asked curiously, "Excuse me... are the two of you really Miss Lora's children?"
"Yes," Focalors nodded.
Furina spread her arms, showing herself off. "Do we not look alike? I think we look very alike! Look at the hair, the eyes, and our practically identical fashion sense!"
"They do look alike. I just didn't expect Miss Lora to have children when she looks so young..." Hu Tao looked at the two girls, then at Lora fussing over Qiqi and Yaoyao, and sighed.
Looks like the Consultant really has no chance!
No matter how she looked at it, these two young ladies definitely were not his children.
Tsk, tsk...
Sigh. When would their consultant finally marry out?
Just then, someone knocked on the door. Hélie poked her head in and said, "Lady Egeria, Monsieur Neuvillette asked how dinner should be prepared tonight."
"Hm? Doesn't he usually not eat with us?" Lora asked, confused.
Hélie said, "Monsieur Neuvillette said that since they are Lady Egeria's friends, they are friends of Fontaine. As Chief Justice, he ought to attend."
"Huh? Is Miss Lora's status in Fontaine already that high?" Xiangling looked at Lora in surprise.
Hu Tao blinked. "Also... Egeria... is that Miss Lora's other name?"
"To be more precise, Egeria is my real name." After thinking for a moment, Lora decided to explain the situation to them.
After all, she no longer needed to hide.
Fontaine's prophecy had already passed, and the rules of the Heavenly Principles could no longer threaten Fontaine.
Lora walked over to Focalors and Furina, took their hands, and introduced them again.
"Let me formally introduce you. This is Focalors, and this is Furina. Fontaine's Hydro Archons."
"Fontaine's... Hydro Archons?"
The others stared in disbelief at the two identical girls standing on either side of Lora.
"As for me..." Lora continued.
But before she could introduce herself, Xiangling blurted out without thinking, "Jellyfish?"
Lora: "?"
What?
"Uh... sorry, I spoke without thinking." Xiangling scratched her head awkwardly. Still, she felt her logic made sense. Mother of the Hydro Archons, shortened to jellyfish. What was wrong with that?
Lora sighed helplessly. "I am Fontaine's former Hydro Archon, Egeria."
"Huh?!"
After Lora revealed her identity, everyone was shocked again.
Hu Tao frowned. "But Fontaine's former Hydro Archon... wasn't she supposed to be dead? Uh, sorry, Miss Lora. I'm not trying to curse you or anything..."
"Mm. I bounced back and forth along the edge of life and death a few times," Lora nodded.
She had gone down, but not all the way.
That left Hu Tao, a professional undertaker, utterly baffled. She had even been to the border between life and death, yet she had never heard of someone hopping back and forth like that.
But then she thought about it again.
Lora was not human.
Suddenly, it made sense.
"No wonder you said you had connections in the Court of Fontaine," Yun Jin said with a smile.
How could the former Hydro Archon not have connections in the Court of Fontaine?
The entire Court was practically hers!
Lora said to Hélie, "Tell Neuvillette to prepare everything according to the highest standard! We can't embarrass the Court of Fontaine!"
If Neuvillette had heard that, he probably would have replied, "As long as you and your daughters take things a little more seriously, the Court of Fontaine will not be embarrassed."
Ah, everything was perfectly reasonable.
At the evening banquet, although Neuvillette attended, there was not much food in the bowl before him, and the glass beside him contained only water he had brought himself.
Neuvillette said to Yun Jin, "Ms. Yun, I have already notified the Opera Epiclese. Your performance there has been arranged, and advertisements have been posted throughout Fontaine. You only need to decide on the date."
Yun Jin thanked him. "Thank you, Monsieur Neuvillette."
"As for Miss Xiangling..." Neuvillette turned to her. "My apologies, but the Palais Mermonia does not have a chef selection competition. I shall refrain from naming the culprit, but I believe a certain former Hydro Archon of Fontaine merely made that up to lure you here."
Lora, who was eating, froze. She blinked and looked at Neuvillette blankly.
You practically spelled out my name.
Was "a certain former Hydro Archon of Fontaine" really supposed to hide anything?
"Huh? There isn't one?" Xiangling froze, then looked at Lora. "Miss Lora, what's going on?"
"Well... there really isn't one." Lora blinked and explained, "I just wanted to invite you over to train the chefs at the Palais Mermonia and let them learn some foreign dishes. Of course, it's not because I wanted to eat them. My children were craving it..."
"Mom, I didn't..." Focalors had just started speaking when Lora stuffed a mouthful of food into her mouth.
"Come on, eat. Hurry and eat." Lora smiled as she fed Focalors, while also stuffing a bite into Furina's mouth on the other side.
Seeing her behavior, Zhongli sighed helplessly.
It would have been fine if he had made no sound, but the moment he did, Hu Tao immediately looked at him and remembered something.
"Right! Didn't you say Miss Lora was an old friend of yours?"
"That's right!" Xiangling also looked at Zhongli curiously. "Miss Lora is Fontaine's former Hydro Archon, so how did you get to know her, Mr. Zhongli?"
Lora looked at him too, a wicked smile appearing on her face.
The moment Zhongli saw that smile, he spoke before she could.
"Miss Lora concealed her identity and befriended me. Come to think of it, as Fontaine's Hydro Archon and the God of Justice, Lady Egeria's actions truly did not suit the name of justice."
"Uh... huh?" Lora froze and stared blankly at him.
Seeing Hu Tao, Xiangling, and the others all agree with Zhongli's words, Lora let out a cold laugh.
Fine, fine.
So that was how he wanted to play.
Lora cleared her throat and said, "How can you say that, Mr. Zhongli? Others may not know the truth about us, but surely you know it perfectly well. Thinking back to several hundred years ago, I went to Liyue and met Mr. Zhongli. We immediately hit it off, and that is how we became friends!"