Paraiso {Yae Miko x MALE!OC x Signora}

Chapter 15

Paimon groaned loudly. "I can't believe that not only did we not get the Holy Lyre, now we also have to deal with the Fatui and their evil schemes!" Paimon stomped in the air in frustration.

"Oh, what's got the emergency food riled up? You know, a food won't taste good if it's stressed too much." Ruichiro, who popped up behind them, teased.

"Again, PAIMON IS NOT EMERGENCY FOOD!" She yelled making Ruichiro chuckle.

"I take it that the mission didn't end well then?" Ruichiro asked though he knew for sure that they failed according to the Fair Lady's letter earlier that morning.

Lumine nodded. "The Fatui got to it before us. We don't know what they need it for, but we're going to stop them!" Lumine told him in determination.

"Ah well then, good luck on retrieving it back. I believe in you!" Ruichiro cheered her on.

According to Ichiro, the Holy Lyre isn't that important to the bigger picture but it was a convenient chaos that helped ease the Fatui's way to victory.

"We're about to infiltrate a Fatui base to get the Holy Lyre back, wanna come with? According to Lisa and Master Jean, you're a very skilled fighter!" Paimon asked as Ruichiro chuckled at the compliment.

"Unfortunately, no. I still have a few commissions I need to do and if what you're saying is true, then it would be better if your numbers were smaller to sneak in, no?" Ruichiro said with a smile.

Lumine nodded thoughtfully. "I guess you're right... Well then, see you around."

As Lumine went out of their sight, Ruichiro sneaked in to a nearby alleyway as they changed control.

Ichiro finished covering up his neck as he slipped on his rings.

"We need to inform Rosalyne about the interference." Ichiro muttered as he discreetly looked around before finally stepping out of the alleyway and going past the gates.

"Why? You said that the Lyre wasn't entirely important, right?" Ruichiro asked.

"Yeah well, once the traveller gets the lyre, I don't need to hear any nagging that I didn't 'prepare enough' against the enemy." Ichiro muttered as he went to Windrise.

Ichiro materialized a Cecilia Flower as he kneeled and placed it by the foot of the tree.

"I see you still come here." A voice that made Ichiro groan very loudly.

"Hm, deja vu." Ichiro muttered as he looked back to see the bard.

"Barbatos." He greeted in a monotoned voice, making the other male(?) giggle. (A/N: let's be honest, we all questioned Venti's gender the first time we met him.)

"It's Venti now." The bard smiled as he swiftly floated next to Ichiro and sat next to the standing man.

"Sit with me, just this once." Venti said as he looked up at Ichiro who had an annoyed expression but obliged and sat next to him.

"What are you doing, Venti?" Ichiro asked as he looked at the distance, refusing to look at the God.

"Hm? What do you mean?" Venti asked.

"You're letting your people suffer at the hands of Dvalin. Corrupted or not, this shouldn't have happened and you should have eliminated him the moment he became a threat." Ichiro coldly replied.

Venti hesitated before giving a soft look at his friend. "You've gotten hard on yourself and others in the past 500 years, haven't you?" Venti asked as he took Ichiro's hand and opened it to reveal his palm.

Ichiro looked at the bard in confusion but didn't say a word. "I wonder..." Venti mused as he softly carresed Ichiro's palm. "Has the blood you once tried so hard to erase finally gone?" He whispered.

Ichiro's eyes widened at his words and looked down at his hands. For a brief moment, the world around him darkened as he saw his palm stained and full of blood accompanied by panicked screaming in the background before it returns back to the present.

Ichiro immediately grabbed his hand back in reflex and stood up as he aggressively wiped his hands on his pants despite having no dirt on it.

He shakily took out his rings as he pocketed it and put on his gloves. He took a big breath before calming down and returning back to his usual self.

Ichiro glared at Venti one last time before hurriedly walking away and back to Monstadt.

A loud bang was heard at the entrance of the Goth Grand Hotel as a furious Ichiro entered. The agents immediately scurried off and avoided him as he walked past them in the corridor.

As he entered his room and slammed his door shut. He made his way on his desk and hunched over it trying to calm his anger as electro energy surged inside the room and the lights flickered.

"Well, this is a surprise. What's got you riled up?" A woman's voice said in front of him. He flinched and looked up to see Rosalyne, cross legged on his chair with an amused expression.

"In my 400 years of being married to you, I have never seen you this furious. What's wrong?" She asked as she leaned forward and grabbed his chin, forcing him to face her.

"It's nothing. It's just that stupid bard, ruining my peace as usual." Ichiro muttered as he released his face from her grip and leaned back on the chair in front of her.

"Hm, I guess nothing's changed of that irresponsible bard." She clicked her tongue. Ichiro didn't respond but chose to stare at his gloved hand instead.

As Rosalyne saw him caressing his palm, she sighed as she stood up and locked the door to the room.

Ichiro looked up and looked at her in confusion as she strutted towards him. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"Something I don't want other people see me doing." She said as she sat at the right arm of Ichiro's chair and looked down on him with a soft expression.

She took off the glove on her right hand as she grabbed his right hand and slowly slid off his glove. Ichiro reached out to stop her but stopped at the stern look Rosalyne was giving him.

As she successfully slid off his glove, she caressed it with her own bare hand. "We see the same amount of blood. The same imagery. Neither of us are saints. We know that. We're not perfect, nor are we considered good. But to hell with them. No one is perfect. No one will ever reach perfection. But I guess that's the comforting part of life." She said as she kissed his bare hands' knuckles.

" 'No one will understand us but that's because no one else feels the same pain we went through. But we shouldn't hate them for it because that is the future we aim to achieve.' " She said as Ichiro's eyes widened.

"You were the one that told me that during the night that I was promoted as a Harbinger, do you remember?" She said as Ichiro smiled softly at the memory.

"We have each other, and that's all that matters, right? We understand each other." Rosalyne told him as she softly kissed his forehead before standing up and opened the bedroom door.

"Now come on, the bed's empty." She smirked as she slipped inside the bedroom.

Ichiro sat there for a moment with a small smile before letting out a grin as he followed her and entered the bedroom, closing the door behind him.

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