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ArabicGenshin Impact: A Guide to the Unofficial History of Teyvat — Chapter 49
Chapter 49: What Am I Thinking!
Meanwhile, tucked away in a quiet seaside cottage far from the relentless hustle of Liyue Harbor, the mastermind herself was drowning in the sheer euphoria of her very first victory. Lovia had, of course, gone to inspect the battlefield in person.
A few days after her scandalous masterpiece, Secret Tales of Feiyun, officially hit the shelves, the itch of curiosity had simply become too much to bear. Swaddled in a heavy cloak with her hood pulled low to hide her distinctive features, she had crept through the winding streets until she reached the bustling corner housing the Sanyu Bookstore.
She dared not step into the light. Instead, she plastered herself against the rough bark of a massive shade tree across the street, craning her neck to spy on the storefront.
The sight that greeted her sent a thrill straight to her toes.
A massive crowd had formed around the entrance. Customers were huddled together, eagerly passing around freshly printed copies of her secret tales. One woman slapped a hand over her mouth, shoulders shaking with suppressed giggles as she read a particularly spicy paragraph. Another man jabbed a finger at the open page, exchanging wide-eyed, exaggerated gasps with his companion.
‘Success!’The tiny otaku inside Lovia’s head was doing backflips of pure joy.’Hmph, that is exactly what you get for scaring me! Now you know the true power of a scorned author, Second Miss Xingqiu!’
This was the ultimate Melusine revenge.
The intoxicating rush of a perfectly executed prank washed over her, instantly melting away the tiny, nagging sliver of guilt she had been harboring. She could already picture the glorious, agonizingly awkward grimace twisting Xingqiu’s usually composed face the moment he laid eyes on her prose. Just visualizing that utter defeat made all the pent-up frustration of the past few days evaporate into the humid summer air.
‘This is the price of prying into a Melusine’s private affairs.’ She adjusted the brim of her hood with a smug little tug, fully prepared to retire from the field of battle and march home in triumph.
Just as she pivoted on her heel, a flash of icy blue caught the edge of her vision.
A young boy with neat azure hair and an aura of pristine cleanliness was practically sprinting toward the bookstore. His face was a canvas of utter confusion and mounting urgency.
‘Hmm? Wait, isn’t that Chongyun?’ Lovia froze in her tracks.
In truth, it was impossible for her to miss him. To the hyper-sensitive perception of a Melusine, his Pure Yang Spirit blazed through the crowded street like a walking, blindingly bright miniature sun.
She watched from the shadows as the young exorcist skidded to a halt near the bookstore’s entrance. The loud, gossipy chatter of the gathered readers immediately snagged his attention. He paused to listen. As the scandalous words registered in his ears, the color drained from his face at a speed visible to the naked eye.
His expression morphed from innocent confusion to sheer, unadulterated horror, and finally settled into a look of absolute, reality-shattering absurdity.
Lovia was too far away to catch the exact syllables flying through the air, but the pantomime playing out across the street was crystal clear. She watched Chongyun step forward, frantically waving his hands as he interrogated the laughing readers. In response, a smirking patron simply shoved a copy of the book directly into his chest.
The triumphant smirk on Lovia’s face began to crack.
Chongyun gripped the small volume like it was a live explosive. He flipped through the pages with frantic, jerky movements, his jaw clenched so tight it looked painful. Even from half a street away, Lovia could feel the sheer intensity of his focus and the waves of deep shock radiating from his rigid posture.
He devoured the text at breakneck speed. He only needed to skim the first chapter before his head snapped up. He began gesturing wildly, his voice rising in an agitated pitch as he desperately tried to refute the text and defend his best friend’s honor.
The crowd, however, was merciless. The readers merely exchanged knowing glances, flashing dismissive, teasing grins that practically screamed, ‘Oh, you poor, naive child, we all know the truth.’
The sheer weight of their mockery seemed to choke the breath right out of Chongyun. His face flushed a violent, agonizing crimson. Frustration, anxiety, and the bitter grievance of being entirely misunderstood warred across his features.
Unable to take another second of the humiliation, he shoved the book back into the stranger’s hands, spun on his heel, and fled. His footsteps were chaotic, desperate to escape the scene of the crime.
But he only made it a dozen paces.
He slammed to a halt. His shoulders hitched. A visible, agonizing internal struggle played out in the stiffness of his spine. Then, to Lovia’s absolute disbelief, the boy spun around, marched right back into the lion’s den with a blazing red face, slammed his Mora down on the counter, and bought his own copy. He shoved the scandalous literature up his shirt like a common thief smuggling contraband and sprinted away down the alley, looking for all the world like a man running for his life.
Lovia stood paralyzed behind her tree.
A warm summer breeze swept through the street, fluttering the veil of her hood, but it did absolutely nothing to cool the sudden, heavy knot of emotion tightening in her chest.
The earnest, painfully honest Chongyun had been genuinely distressed. He had been completely overwhelmed by the absurd, fabricated romance she had spun. He had thrown himself to the wolves to defend his friend’s reputation, only to be mocked for his loyalty. The sheer embarrassment radiating from his retreating back made Lovia’s stomach churn.
“Ugh…” Lovia blinked slowly. The towering pedestal of her pride wobbled dangerously in the wind.
She had never intended for the collateral damage to hit the people around Xingqiu.
That poor exorcist boy was a pure, uncorrupted soul. A story like this might actually keep him up at night., the specific lines the crowd had been using to tease him… the ones detailing the deeply intimate, forbidden tension between Chongyun and Xingqiu…
She had only written those scenes to add a little narrative spice. And, admittedly, to indulge her own raging fujoshi shipping fantasies. But watching a real, breathing person get mercilessly toyed with because of her self-indulgent prose made a cold sweat prickle at the back of her neck. She had crossed a line.
She had only wanted to punish Xingqiu for stalking her and digging into her private life. But looking at the fallout… wasn’t she doing the exact same thing? Fabricating deeply personal secrets and dragging innocent bystanders into the mud?
A sharp, sour tang, exactly like biting into a fiercely unripe Sunsettia, flooded her mouth and seeped into her heart.
The summer air suddenly felt suffocatingly thick and sticky against her skin. She stared blankly at the empty alleyway where Chongyun had vanished, the sensitive antennae hidden beneath her hood drooping in absolute misery.
“Ugh…” she groaned softly, her fingers anxiously twisting the thick fabric of her cloak strings. “Did I actually take this too far?”
The bitter guilt refused to wash away.
She remembered the aftermath of their encounter. Yes, Xingqiu had terrified her, but he had harbored zero genuine malice. He had even kept her true identity a secret afterward. And how had she repaid that basic decency? By writing a wildly inappropriate, borderline scandalous romance novel about him and mass-printing it for the entire harbor to consume!
If someone had pulled a stunt like this in the fandom circles of her past life, it would have sparked an apocalyptic flame war.
Lovia mentally reviewed the incredibly compromising positions she had written the two boys into. A fierce blush burned her cheeks. Sure, they had incredible chemistry and were undeniably shippable, but… oh archons. She could vividly picture Chongyun locked in his room right now, hiding under his blankets, face burning up as he forced himself to read every single cursed word out of morbid curiosity.
And Xingqiu… he was probably nursing a massive migraine right about now.
Wait. Hold on a second.
Lovia suddenly snapped her spine straight. The crushing weight of her guilt shattered, instantly vaporized by a much more powerful, intoxicating realization.
‘No, no, no! I let Chongyun’s innocent face trick me! Didn’t I write this exact book specifically to farm these exact reactions?!’
“No!” Lovia shook her head wildly, her hidden antennae whipping back and forth. “What am I thinking! I am an agent of vengeance!”
How could she have lost sight of her glorious objective?
The entire point of publishing the manuscript was to plunge Xingqiu into the agonizing depths of social death. She wanted the entire city gossiping behind their hands. She wanted to force the smug young master into an impossibly delicate, humiliating corner.
Chongyun’s reaction wasn’t a tragedy. It was a feature! It was a spectacular, unexpected bonus!
The fact that the fiercely righteous exorcist had been forced to publicly defend his honor, failed miserably, and then secretly bought the smut to study in the dark… the sheer narrative impact of that reality was staggering. It proved her prose possessed terrifying, world-altering power!
“That is exactly right.” Lovia squeezed her hands into tight little fists, the manic otaku light reigniting in her eyes. “This just proves my writing is absolute fire. The plot is so captivating that even the victims cannot resist diving into the lore!”
Besides, knowing Xingqiu’s twisted, teasing personality, he wouldn’t be traumatized. He would probably find the whole ordeal hilarious. He would absolutely use the book as ammunition to bully Chongyun even more.
Wouldn’t that outcome be an absolute masterpiece?
Her mind immediately began drafting light novel titles. ‘That Time My Best Friend Suffered Social Death Because I Was Persecuted, and Now I Think I Am Shipping Our CP.’Or even better—what if Xingqiu treated it as a joke, but some clueless noble took the rumors seriously and actually showed up at the Feiyun Commerce Guild to propose a political marriage?!’Hehe! Just the thought of it is pure gold!’
With that flawless logic firmly in place, the sour Sunsettia bitterness was scrubbed entirely from her soul, replaced by a surging, villainous euphoria.
Collateral damage to Chongyun? That was simply a necessary area-of-effect strike. Best friends were supposed to share each other’s burdens, after all!
The corners of her mouth curled upward into a wicked, triumphant grin.
‘Mission accomplished.’Lovia gave herself a mental thumbs-up, patting her chest as she violently shoved the last lingering traces of guilt into the deepest, darkest vault of her mind.’Besides, he started it! Sneaking around, investigating a Melusine, trying to peek at a Melusine while she was swimming… it is a crime against decency!”If we were back in Fontaine, I would have dragged him straight to the Epiclese Opera House for a public trial!”Whatever. My goals are met, and the rest of the world can burn! I even wrote a disclaimer on the first page, so he cannot sue me!’
Deep down, a tiny, microscopic fraction of Lovia still knew she was committing a massive crime by spreading such wild rumors. But she ignored it.
Shooting one final, gloating look at the bustling bookstore, Lovia spun on her heel. She tugged her hood down tight and swaggered down the alley, humming a bright, cheerfully out-of-tune melody as she made her escape.
However, the fallout of her little revenge plot would soon shatter every single one of her expectations.
This massive storm of rumors generated by her forbidden text did not corner Xingqiu at all. Instead, it handed the cunning young master a remarkably interesting opportunity.
And as for the mighty Feiyun Commerce Guild’s official stance on the scandal?
One could only admit that the Guild truly understood the ruthless nature of business. Rather than flying into a murderous rage to hunt down the slanderer, the higher-ups were simply burning with intense curiosity regarding the true identity of the mysterious, wildly profitable author known only as “Mr. Li Xin.”