We Can Change Scenes

Rosalyne raised her teacup and brought it to her lips for a light sip. The hem of her clothes spread gently across the wool carpet. A metal half-mask covered half her face as she looked at Peruere before her.

"You needn't be so pessimistic." Rosalyne slowed her speech, her voice losing its usual edge. "Perhaps you don't understand the Tsaritsa. Everyone says she no longer loves people, but the tenderness frozen deep within her heart has never completely faded."

She paused, recalling the hand the Tsaritsa had offered her when she had nowhere left to turn. Her tone grew more earnest:

"At heart, she is a gentle god, too. She understands the cruelty of the weak slaughtering one another. If you tell her everything honestly, she might well choose to forgive you."

"Besides, the Fatui have never been an impenetrable monolith. The Harbingers each have their own thoughts, and the paths they pursue and the lines they refuse to cross are entirely different.

"Some stop at nothing for their research, some are loyal only to the Tsaritsa's grand ideals, and of course, some loathe torture and slaughter. Quite a few already despised Crucabena's methods."

"Not everyone will agree to sentence you to death. At the very least, I will step forward to help you. Hmm... there's also someone who loves holding tea parties and an innocent girl. I think you'll like them."

The sea breeze slipped through a gap in the window, stirring the girl's disheveled white hair. Peruere's long-taut heartstrings trembled faintly.

She had long since stopped daring to hope that anyone would lend her a hand, yet at that moment, Rosalyne's words stirred a faint ripple in his heart.

"What if... the Tsaritsa still chooses to punish me?" Peruere asked quietly.

Rosalyne set her teacup on the table with a light, clear clink. A trace of stubbornness showed in her striking features:

"Then find another way out. Never accept a fate you don't want. As long as you're alive, there will be endless opportunities."

"...Thank you," Peruere answered softly, managing a faint smile.

Once a person relaxed, all their exhaustion would come flooding out.

Rosalyne watched Peruere quietly. An inescapable weariness lingered in the girl's eyes.

Days of imprisonment, fighting, and the grief pent up in her heart had piled upon one another, almost crushing her slender frame.

"You're welcome." Rosalyne's voice was gentle as she tilted her head toward the bed. "Go lie down for a little while. This room is safe. No one will come to disturb you."

Peruere hesitated for a moment. Her nerves, stretched taut for days, finally reached their limit, and crushing exhaustion swept through her entire body. She walked slowly to the bedside and carefully sat down, her body sinking slightly into the soft bedding.

Within just a few breaths, the sound of long, even breathing drifted into La Signora's ears.

"Ah... poor child."

"How long was I asleep?"

Dusk seeped through the window into Xingsu's room. The golden-red sunlight had long faded, and a quiet gray-black hue spread across the world.

Xingsu slowly opened his eyes, his consciousness gradually emerging from its haze. His muscles ached with fatigue. He blinked instinctively and looked toward the sinking sun outside, only to realize night had already fallen.

"Ugh, I slept slumped over a desk in the House of Daena yesterday and barely got any proper rest. No wonder I fell asleep the moment I hit the bed."

Grrr...

His stomach expressed its agreement with Xingsu's assessment and put forward its own legitimate demand.

"I haven't had dinner yet. Good thing I got a small advance on my wages after finishing work today. I'll go buy something to tide me over."

The evening breeze in Sumeru City was slightly cool. Vendors on both sides of the streets lit warm lights, and the tempting aromas of all kinds of food drifted through the air.

"Shawarma, oh, shawarma, oh, shawarma, with you, life is wonderful and worry-free~"

That's so weird. Not sure. Better listen again.

He followed the sound of the vendor's singing to the stall.

"Shawarma Legend, simply amazing!"

"One to try, please. Thank you." Xingsu interrupted the vendor's focused channeling of his demonic song.

"Coming right up, young man."

The aroma of roasting meat washed over him. The flatbread was filled with tender strips of meat and fresh fruit and vegetables, and the vendor carefully wrapped it in greaseproof paper before handing it to him.

Back in his room, Xingsu sat down, picked up the shawarma, and took a big bite. The flatbread had been toasted until slightly crisp, and the rich flavor of meat spread across his tongue. The spices were mild rather than overpowering, and the refreshing vegetables balanced the richness of the meat perfectly.

"...Hey, what are you eating? It smells so good." Lin's voice suddenly sounded in Xingsu's mind.

"A street snack from Sumeru City called shawarma. Roasted strips of meat with vegetables, wrapped in flatbread. What, never seen it before and want a taste?"

"I don't need to eat, but I can sense the wonderful memories of enjoying delicious food in your mind. In a way, I can taste what you're eating."

"So you're just craving it, like someone who wants to lose weight but can't stop eating."

"..."

"What, did I hit the nail on the head?"

"Get lost."

"Sure thing."

Once he had finished everything, he folded the greaseproof paper and set it aside, sucked the seasoning off his fingers, and gently rubbed his full belly before leaning back in his chair, relaxed.

"By the way, Lin, you can see my memories, right?"

"Yes. Why?"

"I helped a little girl today. She was entangled in a manifestation of some kind of bad memory. When I examined her, the black mist formed from that memory moved onto me. Could you check whether there's anything wrong?"

"Let me see... hmm, to be precise, this memory is a kind of information, but the administrator who sent it didn't want the people on this planet to see the information inside, so they encrypted it and added protective measures."

"And you don't belong to this planet, but you don't have permission to read the information either. It's basically a bug, so you can't read what's inside, and the protective measures don't affect you. That's why it naturally dissipated over time. However, these memories carry extremely intense negative emotions. Absorbing too much could affect your health."

"Hiss... encrypted information... Irminsul withering... and some scholars think Eleazar is a punishment from the gods..."

This feels so confusing. I can't connect these clues yet. There must still be information about Eleazar that I don't know.

Wait, why do I have to know the specifics of Eleazar? I can absorb and dissolve that black memory mist. Doesn't that mean I can cure Eleazar as long as I delete all that so-called encrypted information?

"Lin, do you have a way to delete memories?"

"...Sorry, no. Deleting memories is something only those lunatics, the Cremators, would do. What we must do is collect memories, whether they're beautiful or painful."

"Even if the existence of those memories causes people pain?"

"There are happy things and painful things in life, too. You can't refuse to consider something part of life just because painful things exist in it."

"...All right."

It looks like Eleazar isn't something I can solve overnight.