High Impact || Genshin Impact H.S AU

Chapter 2.12

“Bye, mom!” Lumine shouted out, waving as her mom left the large courtyard of Keqing’s mansion and down the hill.

Normally she would hitch a ride with Mona, but Mona texted earlier today that she’ll be too busy to pick up Lumine on the way to Keqing’s house.

Lumine had been dreading this meeting, fearing that Mona and Keqing would still be fighting or tense around each other.

At school the two had been fine, seeming normal around each other but Lumine still felt a sense of tension between the two, even if she was the only person who could recognize it. She gulped, having arrived at the large door, beginning to dread meeting the rude butler.

To her surprise, a new female butler opened her door. Lumine gasped audibly, surprised to see the new butler. She then blushed, cringing at the fact she gasped loudly in front of the butler, seeming rude. Nonetheless, the butler continues her activities.

“Hello, I am Kathryne, the new butler of Keqing and her family. Keqing is with Ganyu inside the living room. Please follow me” Kathryne said, holding a friendly neutral face, welcoming Lumine inside.

Lumine’s eyes went big, realizing for the first time she was about to enter Keqing’s house, the same house that was blocked off to her subtly.

Lumine took notice of the décor, seeing all of the fancy paintings and pottery, the granite tables, and the marble flooring.
She saw pillars of white marble in front of a large stairway that led to two different wings of the household. her face was in awe as if looking at fireworks but yet it was a fancy house.

The ceiling seemed far and high like you needed a rocket ship to reach it. Ironically the ceilings had paintings of constellations, some of which Lumine recognized were the zodiac signs.

“Oh man, Mona would love that,” Lumine though, curious to see Mona’s reaction to the insides of the house. She knew that Mona has been inside the mansion, but she had a feeling that
Keqing’s family liked to redecorate, especially when she saw boxes labeled as “last season”.

Eventually, Kathryne stopped, moved to the side, and gestured to a door. “You’ll find Keqing and Ganyu on the other side of this door” and then gave a quick bow before returning to her duties. Lumine smiled, liking Kathryne, finding her nice.

Lumine squeezed the knob, turning it to the side and opening the door, to find Keqing and Ganyu both cuddling to each other on a large sofa with hot chocolate in their hands.

Lumine blushed, feeling like she was interrupting something but they both kindly let her in.

“Oh, hi Lumine! Please join us, we have hot chocolate and marshmallows” Ganyu said, pointing to the tray with a tin of marshmallows and a jar of warm hot chocolate. Lumine nodded, gathering the marshmallows and hot chocolate as well. She joined them on the large sofa, far from the couple, and took small sips of her hot chocolate.

“Oh my, this is so good!” Lumine exclaimed, loving the sweet sugary taste of the hot chocolate. Keqing laughed while Ganyu smiled sweetly.

“Yes it’s Kathryne’s recipe, she’s been phenomenal” Keqing said, wrapping an arm around Ganyu and pulling her close. Lumine’s ears perked up at Kathryne, curious about her.

“Speaking of Kathryne, what prompted you guys to hire her, and what happened to the old butler?” Lumine asked. Keqing gave a firm look while Ganyu looked away, seeming awkward by the question. Keqing let out a deep sigh.

“Well after our previous fight, I looked into Mona’s accusations and I have discovered that the old butler was slacking off and with some security tapes we have around the place, saw that he did purposefully ignore Mona on multiple occasions. It was unacceptable and I do have the authority to fire the butler, so I did, I also hired the new one” Keqing said seriously, then adding jokingly, “my parents are cool that way”. Ganyu giggled a bit, poking Keqing’s cheek making Keqing blush a bit.