"What a strange question."
Wu Yi set down his plate.
"I'm at a restaurant. What else would I be doing but eating?"
"I mean, why are you sitting so close?" Rosalyne looked up and glanced at him. "The restaurant is so big. Do you have to sit next to me?"
As she spoke, she picked up her spoon and prepared to taste the borscht.
"Wow, you really are hard to please," Wu Yi couldn't help saying. "Last time I didn't sit next to you, do you remember what you said? You said we were the only two people in this whole restaurant, and asked if I was looking down on you by not coming over to sit next to you and say hello. Now I've come over, and you're finding fault with me again. Are you just looking for trouble?"
Rosalyne's spoon stopped in midair.
She remembered now. They had been the only two people in the restaurant the night before last, and she seemed to have said something like that.
"..."
After two seconds of silence, Rosalyne put down her spoon and looked up at Wu Yi.
"When did I say that?"
"The night before last, around ten, at the third table by the window." Wu Yi's expression was perfectly serious. "You were eating Mora Meat and radish veggie soup."
Damn it, how does this man have such a good memory?
Rosalyne couldn't help gritting her teeth.
He remembered it so clearly that there was no point denying it, so Rosalyne chose to remain silent.
There was no way she would apologize. She had always been forceful in her dealings; apologizing was simply out of the question.
But her imposing manner had indeed diminished.
She lowered her head and stirred the borscht in her bowl.
She couldn't help wondering if something had been a little wrong with her over the past few days.
For some reason, whenever she caught sight of Wu Yi, or whenever he came within a certain distance of her, her heartbeat would unconsciously quicken, her emotions would inexplicably fluctuate more strongly, and her judgment also seemed to be affected to some extent.
Have I fallen for him? No, impossible. Absolutely impossible.
Through five hundred years of hardship, her heart had long since become as hard as iron. Those silly feelings that only little girls had had ceased to exist along with Rustam's death.
Then why was this happening? Was it because this guy had saved her life? Was that why she treated him a little differently?
Rosalyne didn't know.
And just as Rosalyne began seriously pondering the matter, Wu Yi guiltily turned his head away.
Perceptive as he was, he also seemed to have noticed that something was a little off about Rosalyne.
Unlike the thoroughly baffled Rosalyne, however, Wu Yi quickly figured out the reason.
It was because Rosalyne's current body had been constructed entirely from the Power of Abundance.
Although Wu Yi had minimized the side effects as much as possible, ensuring that her cells wouldn't inexplicably proliferate and give her five brains and seven hearts, or that she wouldn't inexplicably turn into a tree or something, her body was still, plainly put, a creation of Abundance, and some slight, fundamental effects remained.
For example, she would unconsciously be affected by the Path of Abundance. Her vitality would be greater and her constitution stronger. And then... when facing him, an Emanator of Abundance, she would unconsciously feel closer to him, and her body would also tend toward a more excited state.
In fact, it wasn't just her. People Wu Yi had treated would all experience this to some extent and act closer to him, though they generally understood that degree of fondness as gratitude toward their doctor, so it didn't really affect anything.
But in someone as strong-willed as Rosalyne, that slight deviation was more noticeable.
...Honestly, as far as Wu Yi was concerned, this could already be considered a lingering aftereffect he had left a patient with. It was a complete disgrace to him.
So in the end, he coughed twice and changed the subject.
"By the way, what did that letter say? You looked really absorbed in it."
"...It was a letter from a friend of mine." Rosalyne shifted her gaze slightly and spoke slowly. "She's also a Harbinger, the fourth of the Harbingers, 'The Knave.' She's a very good person. As for the letter... it mentioned some things about communicating with children."
As soon as the words left her mouth, she suddenly regretted them a little, and even felt somewhat irritated. Why was she telling Wu Yi these things? Their relationship wasn't nearly close enough for them to discuss such matters.
But she soon thought of something else, outweighing what little regret she felt. Wu Yi looked like someone with plenty of experience, so perhaps he could help her a little.
"By the way... have you ever raised a child? Have you ever had... troubles communicating with a child or anything like that?"
"A child? You have a child?" Wu Yi exclaimed in surprise. He had never heard about that.
"Of course not!" Rosalyne abruptly raised her voice, but she quickly realized she had lost her composure and softened her tone.
"...At most, I've merely trained a junior. I've just been training her for a rather long time."
"I see." Wu Yi understood. "The kind of disciple you watched grow up, more or less?"
"...You could put it that way," Rosalyne said with a nod. "Her name is Odette. If you hadn't saved me, she might have gone on to inherit the position of the Harbinger 'La Signora'... but according to my original plan, she should have taken the opportunity to leave the Fatui."
"Got it." Wu Yi nodded. "Sounds like you really care about her, to the point that you don't even want her to follow in your footsteps, in order to protect her and all. But things seem pretty strained between you two?"
"How did you know?"
"Would you be asking if they weren't?"
Rosalyne couldn't help putting a hand to her forehead.
She was so annoyed with herself that she laughed.
Perhaps her feeling was right. Whenever she spoke to Wu Yi, her intelligence always seemed to drop slightly, and she often said the wrong thing.
"...Has anyone ever told you that you can be really annoying sometimes?" she couldn't help saying.
"Come on, you're the one asking me for advice. Now you're complaining because I guessed right?" Wu Yi made as if to get up. "If you don't want to hear it, I'm leaving."
"Stop right there!"
Rosalyne stood up without thinking, but as soon as she spoke, she saw that Wu Yi's feet showed no sign of moving. This guy really had only pretended to get up.
Rosalyne clenched her teeth.
This guy really was irritating.
"...If you have any suggestions, go ahead and tell me," Rosalyne said in the end.
"Even without you telling me, I can probably guess a little about your situation," Wu Yi said. "Given your way of doing things, you probably have very strict expectations of your disciple and put her through harsh training. On top of that, you're strong-willed, and you don't know how to comfort people or explain things. In your disciple's eyes, you're probably cold and unfeeling, right?"
"And yet you really do want to show her you care, but I'm guessing you do it in a roundabout way, so your disciple probably can't tell at all. You want to improve your relationship with her, but she's very antagonistic toward you. You probably can't exchange three sentences before things get heated. So even though you want to get along better with her, you haven't been able to find a way. Am I right?"
"...How do you understand it so well?" Rosalyne couldn't help asking.
"Oh, I've seen plenty of it." Wu Yi shrugged. "Standard Chinese-style family education, except you play the role of the strong-willed father who isn't good with words."
"...What does a Chinese-style family mean?" Rosalyne asked.
"Uh, never mind that. It's not the point. You can think of it as a Liyue-style family, more or less."
"Then, in your opinion," Rosalyne asked quite seriously, "how should I improve my relationship with her?"
"Simply put, there are three ways."
Wu Yi held up three fingers.
"The first is the simplest and most direct... though it's also the hardest for you." Wu Yi looked at Rosalyne. "You just need to be more honest and sincerely express how much you care about her."
"...Just tell me the other two."
"The second is to let time pass," Wu Yi said calmly. "Once the child grows up a little more, she'll naturally come to understand what she needs to, and then she'll naturally reconcile with you."
"I don't have the patience to wait that long," Rosalyne said. "What's the third?"
"That's simple," Wu Yi said. "Find a third party to mediate and pass messages between you. Have them say the things you can't bring yourself to say, and tell her about the ways you've quietly cared for her."
"I see... That's surprisingly simple. Perhaps it's because it's so simple that people always overlook it."
After saying that, Rosalyne pondered for a while longer before turning her gaze back to Wu Yi.
"Speaking of which, are you interested in ballet performances?"