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ArabicGenshin Impact: A Guide to the Unofficial History of Teyvat — Chapter 41
Chapter 41: You Seem Different From What Is Recorded in Books
The seawater was icy cold, yet it did absolutely nothing to cool the burning heat radiating from Lovia’s face and ears.
Xingqiu’s awkward, tentative greeting hung in the air, followed by a painfully polite attempt at small talk. It struck her like a bolt of lightning, leaving her charred on the outside and completely soft on the inside.
‘Help! What kind of massive social death scene is this!’
He saw it. He definitely saw everything.
The antennae, the tail, the distinctly humanoid appearance… how could an ordinary Melusine possibly look like this!
Lovia did not answer. Instead, she recoiled violently, paddling backward away from the young master of the Feiyun Commerce Guild until the water swallowed her up to the bridge of her nose. Beneath the rippling surface, her emerald eyes locked onto the youth on the shore, swimming with a volatile mix of vigilance and absolute panic.
Her blue antennae twitched erratically, betraying her startled state.
‘Is it too late to play dead? Or maybe I can convince him he has the wrong person?’ she thought despairingly. But her face was already thoroughly exposed.
Xingqiu took in her dramatic retreat and instantly realized just how disastrously inappropriate his greeting had been. The friendly, welcoming smile he had been trying so desperately to maintain stiffened, melting away into a deep look of apology and a trace of helpless regret.
He instinctively took a step forward to explain himself, but the moment his boot shifted against the sand, Lovia shrank back again like a frightened pufferfish, sending a frantic ripple across the bay.
Xingqiu froze. He dared not move another inch. He looked down at those emerald eyes peeking just above the waterline, reading the clear, desperate message written in them: ‘It is over, I have been discovered, I am dead for sure.’ The scholarly wonder and curiosity he had felt upon this chance encounter were rapidly being drowned out by guilt.
Taking a slow, measured breath, Xingqiu abandoned any thought of approaching. He rooted himself to his spot on the shore, softening his voice to its most harmless, sincere register. “I am truly sorry for disturbing you. I had no intention of prying into your affairs. I simply happened to be studying a sword manual here by the coast…”
His amber eyes flicked briefly toward the trembling blue antennae resting just above the water before snapping back to meet her gaze, striving to remain the picture of a perfect gentleman. Yet, despite his best efforts, an irrepressible spark of curiosity flickered in his sharp eyes.
Without the chaotic splashing to obscure his vision, the setting sun pierced the crystalline water, illuminating her submerged form like a specimen in a glass display. The details were obvious. The lines of her limbs mirrored those of a human child, while a slender tail swayed gently in the currents to keep her balanced.
Xingqiu’s heart skipped a beat, driven purely by a scholar’s fascination with an unknown race.
Ancient records were merely ink on paper, after all. They could never compare to the visceral shock of witnessing such a creature in the flesh.
Lovia was a humanoid Melusine, a rare variant that essentially did not exist outside of Sigewinne. Even in the Court of Fontaine, few citizens truly understood their nature, let alone anyone in the distant harbor of Liyue.
Earlier, Lovia had kept herself tightly bundled in layers of clothing, and Xingqiu’s attention had been entirely hijacked by those iconic antennae and her sudden, panicked exposure. He had not been afforded the chance to examine her closely.
Now, bathed in the amber glow of the setting sun, the seawater acted as a magnifying lens.
Xingqiu’s thoughts stalled. He was a voracious reader, a self-proclaimed expert on the strange tales and hidden histories of Teyvat. Though the ancient travelogues were notoriously brief, they had never once mentioned a Melusine possessing a physiology so remarkably close to a human. The historical texts leaned heavily toward aquatic, alien forms that shared no common ground with mankind.
Yet, this Miss Lovia before him…
His gaze swept cautiously over the submerged silhouette, his brilliant mind racing through possibilities. A humanoid base overlaid with the distinct, obvious traits of a Melusine. This was absolutely not the standard recorded in the travelogues. Could she be some kind of incredibly unique mutation?
Or were the ancient texts simply incomplete? A far bolder, more scandalous hypothesis crossed Xingqiu’s mind. Could she be a half-breed?
But was it even biologically possible for a Melusine to… interbreed with humans?
A tidal wave of questions crashed against the shores of his mind, each more astonishing than the last. But Xingqiu possessed enough tact to know that this was not the time to indulge his academic thirst. The girl’s eyes were wide and terrified, like a trapped animal, and her evasive posture practically screamed for him to leave her alone.
Any inquiry into her biology, even a lingering glance, would cross the line from curiosity into outright offense.
Xingqiu forcibly swallowed the astonishment churning in his chest. He bit back the words, ‘You seem different from what is recorded in books,’ just as they reached the tip of his tongue. He smoothed his expression, replacing his shock with a mask of gentle regret.
He simply looked into Lovia’s eyes, projecting an aura of complete harmlessness, pretending that his intense moment of scrutiny had never occurred.
Internally, however, the mental ledger he kept on the subject of Melusines had just flipped to a blank page, stamped with a massive question mark. This Miss Lovia was infinitely more fascinating than any dusty scroll.
Seeing that the Feiyun Commerce Guild’s second young master was still staring at her, Lovia’s brain short-circuited.
She knew this humanoid form would bring nothing but disaster! Embarrassment, terror, and a defensive flare of anger at having her deepest secret exposed tangled together, rendering her incapable of rational thought.
Treading water, she cautiously poked her mouth above the surface. Her lips trembled violently before she managed to squeeze a weak, shaky squeak from her throat. “You… you… don’t look! Turn around! Turn around right now!”
The moment the words left her mouth, she dunked her head back beneath the waves. Her voice had been muffled by sheer panic, sounding exactly like a toddler who had suffered a massive grievance. All the calm, collected maturity she had faked back at the stationery shop had completely evaporated.
Xingqiu blinked, taken aback by the sheer intensity of her reaction. Without a second of hesitation, he spun on his heel, turning his back to the bay. He even raised both hands to cover his ears, a theatrical gesture to prove he had absolutely no intention of violating her boundaries.
“Alright, I have turned around. Please rest assured, Miss Lovia, I will not look back.” His voice drifted over his shoulder, smooth and laced with reassurance. “If you wish to leave, you may do so at your leisure. I promise I will not disturb you.”
Hearing his compliance, Lovia felt the painfully tight strings of her nerves loosen just a fraction, though her heart continued to hammer a frantic rhythm against her ribs.
She eyed his back with intense suspicion. After a few agonizing seconds of confirming he truly was not going to peek, she began to paddle away, trying to be as silent as a ghost.
But her hurried, panicked movements caused the water to splash and churn. Every little sound made her flinch, terrified that the noise would tempt him to turn around. Like a startled sea otter, she scrambled away from the shoreline.
‘What do I do? What do I do? Do I just swim all the way to the open ocean?’
Just as her mind descended into a chaotic spiral, Xingqiu’s voice floated across the water once more, heavy with polite remorse. “Miss Lovia… regarding my behavior just now, it was truly not my intention to be so abrupt. I was unaware that this was your… ah, private domain.”
He handled his words with extreme caution, deliberately avoiding any phrasing that might trigger another panic attack. “If I have frightened you, I offer my sincerest apologies. As a gesture of atonement…”
He paused, clearly pondering his next move. “…I wonder if I might have the honor of treating you to a cup of hot tea to calm your nerves? There is an excellent teahouse nearby with a very discreet environment. Or perhaps… I could purchase some new paper and pens for you? Were the supplies from our last encounter to your liking?”
It was a masterclass in diplomacy. His tone was earnest, framing the suggestion as a casual olive branch between newly acquainted friends, a desperate bid to salvage the disastrous atmosphere.
But to Lovia’s paranoid, otaku-addled brain, every single syllable sounded like a calculated interrogation.
‘Drinking tea? Is he trying to interrogate me in a locked room?!’
Her antennae vibrated wildly with residual terror. She shrieked at his back, her voice cracking under the strain. “No! No need! Thank you, but I am perfectly fine! I am leaving right now! You… you are absolutely not allowed to follow me!”
She did not wait for a response. Lovia thrashed her tail and swam in the opposite direction as if her life depended on it. Her form was sloppy, driven entirely by adrenaline, but her speed was terrifyingly fast. She tore through the water like she was being hunted by an abyssal monster.
Xingqiu stood perfectly still, listening to her frantic splashing fade into the distance. He waited until the sound was completely swallowed by the rhythmic crashing of the waves. Only then did he slowly lower his hands and turn around with a helpless sigh.
The bay was completely empty.