Even after Hu Tao had skipped away, Ronava still hadn't recovered from what she had just said.
"What did she mean by that?"
"Uh, basically..." Tang Wang gave her a simple rundown of Hu Tao's words and the terms she had offered.
After listening, Ronava fell silent for a long time.
"Can work like that really be called work?"
"Of course it can. You put in the effort and get corresponding pay in return. It's a simple equivalent exchange," Tang Wang said casually.
"Isn't our Rex Lapis using his own flesh and blood to guarantee exchanges of this kind?"
"...Well, you two, today's storytelling is about to begin, so please excuse me." With that, Zhongli quickly left.
"So this is what real work is like?" Even after walking out of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, Ronava still seemed lost in thought.
Every detail of her past "work" appeared vividly before her eyes. But whenever she tried to make out any part of it clearly, those images blurred like a dream shattered at yesterday's dawn.
"Yes, that's work in the human sense." Tang Wang once again affirmed her understanding.
"I'm very sorry, Ronava. What I'm about to say might be a little offensive..."
"Go ahead." She waved her right hand back and forth, looking a little irritated.
"All right, then. Have you ever observed the progression of human civilization?" Tang Wang's question seemed a little off topic.
"No." Her answer was as simple and sincere as ever, in a way that tugged at the heart.
"I see." Tang Wang understood the root of the problem at once. "Then, Ronava, let's set Elemental Power aside for now, along with Human Realm Power and Light Realm Power, and cast off every shackle..."
"Let's take another look at the relationship between you and the Heavenly Principles."
"At first, human society was primitive. Back then, not everyone had enough to eat, much less could everyone take it for granted that they would survive. So people came together of their own accord and struggled to make sure everyone at least had something to eat."
"No. Angels would guide humanity, and gods would lead them. They wouldn't have to go through that process." Ronava shook her head gently.
"That's why I say this is the reason you've never been able to understand yourself." Tang Wang gave a helpless smile.
"What do you mean... understand myself?" she asked, puzzled.
"Ronava, search your heart. Who do you really hate right now?" Tang Wang posed another seemingly unrelated question.
"Is it The Jester, who shot you down with the Eye of the Fatui? The Traveler, who hurled abuse at you? Or the Cryo Archon, who planned all of this, and Rhinedottir, who worked with her?"
"If I had to say, I might dislike The Jester a little." As before, she gave her truest feelings without the slightest delay. "And I really dislike that Traveler too."
"But that's all it is, dislike, right?" Tang Wang suddenly smiled. "As for what hatred really is, you can think back to how The Jester treated you."
"Imagine meeting The Jester again. Would you become hysterical like he did?"
"I don't know." She shook her head honestly.
"Exactly. That alone is enough to show you don't hate him." Tang Wang nodded. "But after everything you've been through, how could you possibly feel no resentment at all?"
"No, why couldn't I..." At that point, Ronava suddenly became aware of the feelings buried deep in her heart.
She did hate someone, someone she had to be loyal to-or rather, a being she had to be loyal to.
"You hate the Heavenly Principles, don't you?" Tang Wang then mercilessly stripped away her disguise.
"No. I am the Heavenly Principles. I'm their shadow, I am the Heavenly Principles themselves. How could I possibly hate them? I..." Ronava's words suddenly became jumbled.
"Ahem. Let's go back to the previous topic, or perhaps the one before that." Her reaction was more or less what Tang Wang had expected, and he was prepared for it.
"How would human society develop without those powers?" Tang Wang's voice seemed to carry a certain natural gravity.
"After the primitive society where everyone helped one another came to an end, people suddenly had food to spare, different weapons, and even the first forms of wealth."
"Differences in status began to emerge between people. So some of the wealthy became slave owners, while those who still didn't have enough to eat became slaves so they could fill their stomachs."
"Slaves had one thing in common." His tone grew cold. "They grew the grain, but the slave owners were the first to eat it. They built the canals, but the slave owners were the ones praised."
"The slave owners did nothing. The slaves did everything that needed doing for them, but the slave owners were still their masters. If the slaves did a poor job, the slave owners whipped them. If they did well, only the slave owners received praise."
"They had no holidays and no pay, only enough rations to barely keep them alive and an endless supply of backbreaking labor-don't you think that sounds a lot like your old working conditions?"
"No one cared how slaves felt, as though they weren't even people, but talking tools..." His voice stopped abruptly. "Ronava, do you think slaves would come to hate their masters after living like that for a long time?"
She nodded instinctively, then suddenly raised her head and met Tang Wang's gaze.
"Yes, of course they would hate their masters." Tang Wang smiled again. "So, Ronava, it's only human for you to hate the Heavenly Principles too."
"Because to the Heavenly Principles, you are slaves."
His words echoed through the air, and each time they rang out, a heavy hammer struck the back of Ronava's head. She understood exactly what Tang Wang meant, and because of that, she didn't even have the strength to argue.
Only now did she finally understand where all the painful conflicts and struggles within her had come from. Everything that had supported her seemed to shatter beneath the hammer's blows.
"I'm... a slave?" she spoke again, her voice weak. The first time she repeated it, she sounded uncertain.
Then her past experiences came flooding back, every detail clear before her eyes. The second time, her voice was firm but weak:
"I'm... a slave..."
Her body tipped forward of its own accord. Seeing that, Tang Wang overcame his shyness for the moment. He stepped forward and held Ronava in his arms.
Even he found such contact unbelievable. Still, Tang Wang understood that he had to do this now.
"It's all right, Ronava." He spoke again, making his voice as gentle as he could this time. "You're not a slave anymore."
"The Heavenly Principles took back your Authority of Death. From now on, you're just Ronava, nothing more. Your name no longer represents some heavy responsibility, and it certainly isn't something that strikes fear into people at the mere mention of it."
"It represents only you, and everything you have or have lost now."
"That's right..." Tiny glimmers of light flickered back into Ronava's previously dazed eyes. "I've already lost the Authority of Death. I don't have to act according to the Heavenly Principles' will anymore."
"That's right, Ronava." Tang Wang kept his tone gentle. "There's an old saying in Liyue: when the old man on the frontier lost his horse, who could have known it was a blessing?"
"There's a little story behind it, but the main point is easy to understand: the old man lost one horse but gained two because of it, so losing that horse might have been a good thing rather than a bad one."
"Although you lost the Authority of Death and the power that came with it, what you gained is the right to be free from restriction, enslavement, and confinement, and with it, the whole world opening up before you."
"...That's why you said you weren't asking anything of me." As she spoke, Ronava opened her arms and wrapped them around Tang Wang's back in return.
"That's right." Feeling the warmth of her arms, Tang Wang was drenched in sweat by now. But his instincts told him he still had to keep going.
"I hope you can become a real person, instead of being bound by some supposed debt of gratitude and going from the Heavenly Principles' slave to someone else's."
"The shackles that bound you, that so-called Authority of Death, have long since disappeared. So I hope you can smash the shackles in your own mind and become a real person. Then you can talk to me about repaying me."
"...That might take a long time." Without her noticing, Ronava's tone had softened completely. "Even though you've told me all this, I'll still need time to accept it."
"That's all right. I'll wait for you. Until you understand it all, I'll also help you live a normal life in human society."
His voice was still just as gentle. So, following her instincts, Ronava gently closed her eyes.
As a former ruler, she could understand the meaning of every word Tang Wang had said. But as a sapient being, she would still need time to truly understand and put it all into practice.
The embrace lasted several minutes. During that time, Hu Tao, who had gone on ahead, came back out of curiosity. When she saw the scene, she was so startled that she ducked back around the corner of the building.
"Wait, hold on. When did this guy finally catch on?" As she peeked out, she also stopped the other Wangsheng Funeral Parlor attendants from moving.
"Ah, I'll have to tell Xingqiu, Xiangling, and Chongyun when I get back. Looks like we all bet on the wrong person. No, wait, Linaya looked so much like the one who could make him catch on, but in the end... how did it turn out like this..."
Of course, neither of them knew anything about Hu Tao's reactions. After they separated from each other's arms, Ronava and Tang Wang once again walked one behind the other toward where Hu Tao was now.
Apart from the unnatural flush on Tang Wang's cheeks, everything was as usual, as though nothing had happened.
You want me to exist as a person, Ronava thought as she looked at his back. But I'm sorry. I'm afraid I'm still too used to thinking like a slave...
So until then, Tang Wang, you are my new master.
Just then, the words she had once spoken finally circled the earth who knew how many times and struck her squarely between the brows.
They were the question she had raised after the Ruler of the Void left:
"Unless she loves her new master more than she loves herself."
Now, recalling those words, Ronava felt that she didn't actually "love herself"-otherwise, the Heavenly Principles wouldn't have used them as slaves.
And so, she finally had a precise answer: yes, she loved her new master far more than she loved herself.