"La Signora ", the Eighth Harbinger of the Fatui.
A boy in green stood before her.
Venti.
His feet were sealed by a thick layer of frost, and the entire large stone slab was frozen solid.
There was also a blonde the Damselette standing next to her, with a tiny white doll floating on her shoulder.
It is the Traveler and Paimon.
They had just come out of the cathedral when they were blocked here.
Bai You's breath hitched.
"It's her."
" Rosalyne," Columbina said calmly. "She's carrying out His Majesty's orders."
Sandrone crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.
"What a coincidence?" she said in a low voice. "We just came to play, and she started playing right after."
Columbina shook her head slightly, her gaze falling on the green-clad boy who was frozen in ice.
" The Anemo Gnosis. That's why she came."
All three of them were Harbinger. Their colleagues attacked them right in front of them.
It was a strange feeling—like stumbling upon a business matter I shouldn't have been a bystander in.
The three of them exchanged a glance.
No one spoke.
But in that one glance, the answer was already clear—to stay out of it. That was her task.
Varesa grabbed Bai You and pulled her closer.
The five people retreated behind a pillar at the edge of the square.
Odette walked last.
She stopped, her gaze falling on the red and black figure in the center of the square. She glanced at it only once before turning her head slightly away to look elsewhere.
"I won't look," she whispered, as if speaking to herself.
She didn't want to see her.
I don't want to see her take action, I don't want to see her cold, indifferent attitude.
But her ears were constantly listening to every sound in the square.
In the center of the square.
Rosalyne looked down at Venti kneeling on the ice, then glanced at the Traveler beside her, and spoke lazily.
"Oh dear, I finally found my hamster."
This was said to Venti.
Paimon stomped his foot angrily in the air. "Who are you calling a hamster?!"
Venti laughed.
He knelt on the ice, raised his head, his green hat askew, and spoke slowly.
"Gnawing on wooden stakes, biting at rice bags,"
He paused, then winked at Rosalyne.
"--You've caused Mondstadt so much trouble, haven't you?"
Rosalyne's face turned cold.
"You have no right to speak now," her voice was like shards of ice, "You rude bard."
Venti didn't say anything more.
But his hand, hanging by his side, quietly gathered a wisp of wind.
The wind grew stronger, swirling around his body, and a bluish light danced at his fingertips.
He suddenly looked up and pushed forward with both hands—
A massive wind blade hurtled straight at Rosalyne.
"Ha," Rosalyne didn't even flinch, she just turned her head slightly.
"Having relinquished the power over Mondstadt, this is all the strength left."
The wind blades struck the invisible layer of cold air surrounding her, shattering into a cloud of white mist.
"Oh?" Venti maintained her composure, her turquoise eyes fixed on her. "You're mocking my capital—"
"Is it the power borrowed from the master?"
He hadn't finished speaking.
Rosalyne has already moved.
She flashed and appeared in front of Venti in the next second.
A hand wearing a black glove passed through Venti's chest.
Below the wrist, it disappeared into that faint blue light.
"Ugh--!"
Venti's body jerked violently, and the wind instantly dissipated.
Behind the pillar, Bai You subconsciously gripped Varesa's hand tightly and closed her eyes.
Knowing the ending is one thing, but seeing it with your own eyes is quite another.
Columbina watched quietly, her face expressionless.
Sandrone crossed his arms, turned his face away, and muttered his comments, "... His movements were quite swift."
It's like watching a play that has nothing to do with me.
Odette kept her head tilted to the side.
She didn't look.
But when that suppressed groan came, her hands, hanging by her sides, clenched tightly.
The Traveler moved.
Seeing Venti being subdued, she gritted her teeth and rushed forward, unleashing a wind blade with her hand.
Two advance team members immediately stepped forward, and one of the ice gun guards raised his ice gun and unleashed a wall of ice with a "boom".
The wind blades struck the ice wall and shattered into a cloud of white mist.
The Traveler braced himself with one hand, using the wind to flip and leap into the air, gathering a whirlwind in his palm as he charged straight at the ice gun guard.
But there were too many advance team members in the square.
A vanguard of the Thunder Hammer Army pressed in from the side, sweeping across with their heavy hammers crackling with lightning.
The Traveler was thrown backward by the wind, and as soon as he regained his balance, the stone slabs beneath his feet were covered with a layer of ice.
The ice crept up her calves, reaching her knees, and pinned her firmly in place.
" Traveler!" Paimon panicked, pacing back and forth. "Watch out! These guys are despicable!"
The Traveler knelt on one knee on the ice, hands on the ground, and could not get any closer.
In the center of the square, Rosalyne didn't even turn around.
She slowly pulled her hand out.
With her hand, a soft blue light emerged from Venti's chest.
The light is warm, slowly rotating in the morning light, gradually solidifying into shape.
A chess piece.
It was blue and crystal clear, a chess piece shaped like a "Queen," with what looked like a small piece of flowing sky enclosed inside.
"This is it—" Rosalyne lowered her eyes, looking at the still faintly glowing chess piece in her palm, " The Gnosis?"
She weighed it in her hand, then suddenly let out a sneer.
"Hmph, they're nowhere near as magnificent as my treasured chess set."
Venti lowered her head and took a couple of breaths.
His face was very pale, but the corners of his mouth were still turned up.
"That's probably because," his voice was a little weak, yet he spoke each word clearly, "Your aesthetic sense... is really terrible, isn't it?"
Rosalyne glanced at him.
There was no expression in that glance.
"Never mind," she thought, putting away the Anemo Gnosis and tucking it into her sleeve. "Anyway, I already have the Gnosis."
She kicked Venti lightly and turned to leave.
As she turned around, her gaze suddenly swept over the pillars at the edge of the square.
His gaze swept over the five people hiding in the shadows.
The air fell silent for a moment.
Her gaze first fell on Columbina.
Columbina nodded slightly, a gesture of greeting between colleagues.
The object landed on Sandrone, who crossed her arms, neither moving nor dodging.
Finally, it was Bai You. The little girl kept her head down and didn't look at her.
Rosalyne's gaze swept over the three women's faces one by one; colleagues meeting, none of them uttered a sound.
Then, her gaze passed over them and landed on the last figure who was tilting his head.
Odette stood at the back, her head slightly tilted, looking elsewhere, without looking back at her.
Rosalyne paused for half a second on her profile.
The gloved fingers curled almost imperceptibly.
Rosalyne's face was expressionless.
The advance team behind her began to retreat in an orderly manner, and the people blocking the exit also withdrew silently.
She glanced at Odette one last time.
There seemed to be something in that glance—but no one could see it clearly.
Then she looked away, lifted her skirt, and walked away without looking back.
The black figure disappeared into the alley at the end of the square.
She didn't say a single word to them from beginning to end.