Hydrophobic ¦ Xingqiu x Reader [Genshin Impact]

Qiaoying Village [53]

"Remind me again why you're taking over Cara's duties?" You hover a hand over your mouth to yawn as your eyes caught sight of your morning appearance in the reflection of the mirror.

Xingqiu, already dressed up and ready to go, grabs a hairbrush from the vanity table, "She's in the basement leading the dove corpse infestation cleaning operation."

Apparently, a few house staff had noticed that the basement was starting to bring out an unpleasant odor, and no one knew where the source was coming from until yesterday when the leakage was found untidily buried, hidden behind craters of wine.

The root?  Dead doves , pitiful ones.

It took you over a short time of pondering to put two and two together—a theory . You have an inkling that Lea and Delia were the ones behind the present which was a box with a dead dove.

At first, you obviously thought it was Gui, but Mondstadt is filled with these types of birds especially near manors like yours and Master Diluc's—and now there's a mysterious pile of dead doves in your basement where maids would only occasionally clean up. What made this remain as a theory though was the name tag that had the letter "G" written beside the box.

Maybe it was really Gui or maybe Lea wrote it there to mislead you… or maybe you'll never know.

So now that the source was discovered, Cara immediately launched a cleaning operation that needed at least half of the household staff.

"And the traveler?"

"Out of town."

"Right." You purse your lips and let him do his job—which was to entangle the hair knots that formed while you were asleep throughout the night.

You could've done this yourself, pushed him away and scolded him for even considering that it was okay to touch your hair while swiping your brush back to tend to yourself. But no, you weren't doing any of that today.  He  was Cara's "substitute" this morning just like what he did a few days ago, and it was  his  idea to travel from Mondstadt to Chenyu Vale at such an early hour.

So why not give him the honor of seeing just how slow and stubborn you are at six in the morning? He's done it before, you were sure that he'll do fine.

"Does it hurt?" He asks softly, the brush smoothly gliding over your now untangled hair. You shake your head in reply with your mind floating over your appearance in the mirror and his morning voice that did not want to sound groggy or tired.

"Do you regret going out this early now?" You mused quietly after a few seconds had passed, which made him chuckle, and now you wondered  what  changed.

Did something  even  change?

"I still have no regrets," He answers, smiling and tying the hair he's braided. "There you go," His hands find their way to your shoulders and from behind, he holds your eyes from the mirror. "My fiancée certainly looks pretty."

"Every day of the week," You smirk, looking back at him from the reflection and he laughs again, agreeing.

"That's correct."

Even after you finished getting ready and were now boarding the carriage along with Xingqiu at the southern end of Liyue Harbor (you both were only allowed to use the waypoint at the Harbor because you had to take the carriage for a "business trip" that needed to be recorded), you still couldn't help but cover your mouth for another yawn.

"Did you stay up late last night?" Xingqiu asks curiously once he occupies the seat in front of you. It was already evident that despite the sunlight you were getting, you were still a bit drowsy this morning.