"You absolutely can't back out now!" Lora smiled and patted Xianyun on the shoulder. "It's Lantern Rite. Beleth is already here, and Sophia will be coming later too. Let's make it lively."
"..."
Xianyun looked at the smiling Lora and fell silent. In the end, she sighed and turned to Zhongyue. "Go."
Zhongyue looked at Xianyun and could not hold back her smile. She gave Xianyun a thumbs-up and said, "You are a great person, a role model to us all, and my personal idol. Bye-bye. I'm going to find them."
Watching Zhongyue leave with a grin, Lora burst out laughing and pushed Xianyun into the kitchen. "Come on, come on. Let's cook. Beleth, come in and help start the fire!"
"Me? Start the fire?" Beleth looked shocked after hearing Lora's words. "Egeria, are you sober?"
She was an Empress.
She was the Cryo Archon!
Start the fire?
Was this some kind of joke?
"If you won't start the fire, then prep the vegetables!" Lora's voice came from inside the kitchen.
Everyone in the courtyard got moving. Some set up tables and chairs, while others tidied things away.
Even Apep began sorting the vegetables and meat, helping carry them into the kitchen. Then she turned back and called to Beleth, "Little Cryo Archon from Snezhnaya."
Zhongli walked past Beleth and said to her, "You have never taken part in one of our gatherings, so it is only natural to feel at a loss. This is what they are like now. There is no need to be surprised."
After hearing Zhongli's words, Beleth offered no opinion. She simply walked toward the kitchen.
Before she could enter, however, Apep stopped her.
"I hear you're an Empress?" Apep leaned against the wall and looked at Beleth.
"Yes." Beleth did not know what Apep meant, but she still nodded and answered.
"That doesn't help." Apep raised her hand and shoved the vegetables she was holding into Beleth's arms. "Prep these."
Beleth looked down at the vegetables that had been stuffed into her hands and stood there in silence for a long while.
Apep urged her again, "Hey, hey. Don't tell me you don't know how."
Beleth: "...I am an Empress."
"Mm. I'm a Dragon Sovereign." Apep nodded, then said to her, "Being an Empress won't help you here. Everyone here has about the same status as you."
Beleth lowered her head to look at the vegetables in her hands, then turned and walked toward the nearby basin.
"Hey, hey, don't use that one. Use this one." Seeing her walk away, Apep quickly called out and pointed to the basin beside the kitchen.
Beleth turned back to look at Apep, then carried the vegetables over.
"You should take off that cloak too, right? It'll get in the way while you work..." Apep continued.
Without saying a word, Beleth took off her cloak and placed it aside.
During a brief lull, Lumine and Paimon watched the scene between Apep and Beleth and could not help whispering to each other.
"Lumine, don't you think the Tsaritsa of Snezhnaya is pretty different from what we imagined?" Paimon asked quietly.
"She's completely different from what we imagined," Lumine said with a nod.
Whether it was Lumine or Paimon, their impression of Beleth had always been that of an absolute ruler whose every word could decide the rise and fall of nations, and whose anger could freeze an entire country.
But from the moment they met her until now, the impression Beleth had given them was more like someone restrained, quiet, and somehow a little wronged.
It did not match the image of a powerful Empress at all.
Just as Apep had said, strictly speaking, the only people here who could be said to rank below Beleth were the adepti. And those adepti had followed Zhongli through the Archon War, so they had no particular awe toward her.
As for Lumine and Paimon, they treated every god as a friend, not as a superior.
Because of that, Beleth's identity as Empress had no effect here whatsoever.
As Lumine and Paimon were talking, a few more people came in through the gate.
Sophia and Nahida walked in carrying bags of gifts. Sophia smiled and said, "We made it in time, right?"
Nahida noticed Beleth, who was preparing vegetables nearby. She tugged at Sophia's dress, pointed over there, and said, "Mom, over there..."
Sophia looked over.
Once her eyes met Beleth's, her smile grew even brighter. "Oh my. The last time we met must have been back during the Khaenri'ah Cataclysm, right? What a coincidence."
"Greater Lord Rukkhadevata..." Beleth looked at Sophia and nodded to her in greeting.
"Go help your big sister from Snezhnaya prepare the vegetables, Nahida," Sophia said, gently pushing Nahida forward.
"What do you mean, help? She's such a small child, and you're making her work?" Lora walked out of the kitchen and gave a token scolding after hearing Sophia's words.
"Be good, Nahida. Go play with your big sister Furina."
Lora walked toward Sophia as she spoke. "Oh, you could have just come. Why bring gifts too?"
Sophia simply walked around Lora, who had already reached out to take them, then smiled at her. "Hey, hey, these aren't for you! I brought them for Miss Xianyun."
"Oh my, you came all this way and even brought gifts. That is far too generous!" Xianyun came out of the kitchen and hurried over to welcome Sophia after hearing that.
"Is there nothing for me?" Lora blinked as she looked at Sophia.
Sophia turned back to her. "I have a red envelope. Do you want it?"
"Yes, yes!" Lora trotted over to Sophia, stretched out both hands, and looked at her with wide eyes. "Where's my red envelope?"
Sophia raised her hand, but there was no red envelope in it. Instead, she smacked Lora's open palms away. "How old are you? You still have the nerve to ask me for a red envelope? You're much richer than I am!"
"That's different..." Lora muttered.
Seeing Lora grumbling to herself, Sophia laughed. She took out a carefully kept red envelope and handed it to her with a smile. "Here. I wouldn't leave you out. Your red envelope. Happy New Year, Lora."
"Yay!" After receiving the red envelope, Lora hugged Sophia and complained, "You're still the best to me! Zhongli didn't even give me a red envelope, even though he's so much older than me..."
"By ordinary standards, you and I are of the same generation," Zhongli said from the side, restating his relationship with Lora. "In Liyue, there is no custom of giving red envelopes between peers."
"Well, now there is." Lora put an arm around Sophia's shoulder, turned to look at Zhongli, and raised an eyebrow at him. "Aren't you going to show a little sincerity?"
After a moment of silence, Zhongli said to her, "Put it on my—"
"Stop. Forget it." Lora cut him off before Zhongli could finish.