Wish Power had increased by one percent.
It seemed there really had been some effect. Was Eula's wish to protect Amber? What deep sisterly affection.
Unfortunately, it was too slow. After the thrill Swan's ten percent had given him, Ye Xuan dreamed of feeling that good a hundred million more times.
Since love wouldn't work, then let it be hate.
First, he would try it out.
"Eula."
"What can I do for you, Master?"
Her voice was as calm as ever, without the slightest trace of fluctuation.
Ye Xuan looked her over, his gaze sliding down from her taut shoulders until it came to rest on the hands folded in front of her.
"There's something I'd like you to help me with today, as my 'maid.' As it happens, we're the only two people in this room."
Eula's heart skipped a beat. It had finally come.
Every night, she was forced to watch Ye Xuan and Ronava make love.
She had long expected this day to come, but she hadn't expected it to arrive so soon, so casually, without even a decent pretext.
This man was finally going to reach out his devil's claws toward her.
She reached for the buttons on her chest. When her fingertips touched the first one, Ye Xuan stopped her.
"You don't have to take anything off. Just stay like that and lift your skirt."
It's all for Amber.
"As you command, Master."
Eula closed her eyes, her lashes casting small shadows beneath her eyelids.
She bent over, pinched the edge of her skirt between her fingertips, and slowly lifted it.
The rustle of fabric was especially clear in the quiet room.
"Ah, ah, perfect. As expected of someone born a noble-even the way you lift your skirt is so captivating."
Ye Xuan's voice was full of undisguised admiration.
The taut thigh bands dug slightly into her full, rounded thighs, leaving particularly conspicuous indentations.
Compared with the slender, straight legs of young girls, the blue-haired beauty's alluring legs held an added temptation that set the blood racing.
Ye Xuan stood, walked around behind her, and placed both hands on her shoulders, pushing her in front of the mirror.
"Take a look too. Open your eyes."
Eula slowly opened her eyes, her eyelashes trembling uncontrollably.
Even under these circumstances, her brilliant golden eyes remained pure and dazzling.
Wish Power didn't budge.
He stared at those eyes in the mirror for several seconds, trying to find some anger, humiliation, or even a trace of hatred in them.
But there was nothing.
No emotional reaction, or had she... accepted her fate?
It seemed this method wouldn't work. He could only put plan B into action.
"All right, let it down."
Eula's skirt fell back into place, and her shoulders sagged slightly, as though she had been pulled out of the water.
"I'll make you willingly offer me everything. I won't do anything to you today."
Some of the life returned to Eula's eyes. She raised her head, looked Ye Xuan straight in the eyes, and said each word distinctly: "Impossible. I'll never fall for a man like you."
Ye Xuan wasn't angry. Instead, he smiled. "I've actually treated you pretty well, haven't I, Eula? I wasn't bad to you before, was I? Didn't I beat up everyone who spoke rudely to you on the road?"
"And that made my reputation in Mondstadt even worse."
Eula's words only amused Ye Xuan more.
Of course he knew what people in Mondstadt were saying now-they were spreading word everywhere that the Knights of Favonius' Reconnaissance Captain had a lover from Liyue, and that the Lawrence Clan was about to betray Mondstadt again.
In taverns and on the plaza, even the fruit sellers had a few words to chew over.
"Did the Lawrence Clan even have a reputation to speak of in Mondstadt, Eula? You have to admit it: just as you say you'll never like me, the people of Mondstadt will never accept the Lawrence Clan."
"The prejudice in people's hearts is a mountain that can't be moved, no matter how hard you try."
"In Mondstadt, the only one who can resolve this is the Anemo Archon, Barbatos. But he won't do it, because he was the one who made the Lawrence Clan what it is in the first place. If he cleared the Lawrence Clan's name, wouldn't that prove he was wrong back then?"
"Gods cannot be wrong. He decreed that Mondstadt needed freedom, so the Lawrence Clan, which enslaved others, was naturally guilty of treason."
"What did it matter if those who resisted were suppressed? Imitate the Geo Archon's signature and forge a 'Contract of the Leeward,' and the winds of rebellion for freedom could be stirred up once more."
"'The Contract of the Leeward' is fake..." Her voice was dry. "That's impossible... The Knights of Favonius' records say the Lawrence Clan wanted to sell Mondstadt to Liyue. That's why Lady Vanessa..."
She didn't finish. She couldn't go on.
If the Contract of the Leeward was fake, then what did all those years mean, when she had believed herself misunderstood by the people of Mondstadt and gritted her teeth to atone?
Were the dirty looks she had endured, the gossip she had heard, and the grievances she had swallowed all built on a lie from beginning to end?
Ye Xuan struck while the iron was hot, leaning forward. "If you don't believe me, I can take you to Liyue to meet the Geo Archon, Morax. Back then, the Anemo Archon went to apologize for what he'd done and even got beaten up. This can't be faked. Ask him in person and you'll know."
"Why are you telling me all this?" Eula raised her head, her eyes a little red. "You demon."
She already believed him.
Ye Xuan could tell. She was still holding out with her words, but something that had always clouded her eyes had shattered.
But she was still unwilling to admit it-could it really be as her uncle had said, that she was a traitor to the Lawrence Clan?
Had everything she had held fast to and endured over the years been, in the end, atonement for a crime that had never existed?
"Demon? Then a demon I'll be. Sooner or later, I'll leave a little demonic fluid inside your body."
"You really aren't a good person. What's your purpose in telling me all this?"
"I've never thought I was a good person. Don't you already know what I want? With Eula looking so tempting, my self-control is nearly at its limit."
He reached out and brushed a strand of blue hair that hung beside her face behind her ear. Eula turned her head, but she didn't evade his hand.
In the mirror, their shadows overlapped.
"Let's make a bet."