Jean's eyes were filled with confusion, and she could not help asking, "Lord Barbatos, why?"
Barbatos turned to look at the sky, his expression full of nostalgia. "Since Vanessa is your idol, I imagine you know her life story?"
Jean nodded and said, "Lady Vanessa led the people of Mondstadt to overthrow the Lawrence aristocracy's rule while she was a slave and founded the Knights of Favonius. She has always been the example I strive to follow."
A nostalgic look appeared on Barbatos's face. "During the Ludi Harpastum a thousand years ago, I awoke from my slumber and saw a Mondstadt City that was both unfamiliar and familiar.
"I distinctly remembered destroying the tower that represented Decarabian's will, watching with my own eyes as they built a Statue of the Anemo Archon for me, and granting the people of Mondstadt a city-state where no one ruled as king.
"But to my surprise, the first thing I saw upon waking was a tower built by the Lawrence Clan. After looking into it, I learned that the Lawrence Clan had already ruled Mondstadt for over a thousand years. In other words, the people of Mondstadt had spent over a thousand years without freedom.
"Even the ball-tossing ceremony celebrating the opening of Ludi Harpastum had been monopolized by members of the Lawrence Clan. No one dared step forward to compete for it.
"I could not stand what the Lawrence Clan was doing, so I forced my way in, snatched away the toy that had become an amusement for the aristocrats, and quickly fled the scene. Just then, I ran into a red-haired girl who was buying medicine for her younger sister. Her name was Vanessa."
Jean listened with particular attention. None of this history had been recorded in the history books. Only Lord