"Eula, what's wrong?" Keqing asked.
Eula shook her head. "I'm just surprised. For someone of his status to cook personally... it's hard to believe."
"As long as Keqing wants to eat, I can cook every day," Ryou said with a smile, placing a piece of fish tofu into her bowl.
The group ate for another half hour. Once everything had been cleared away, Ryou brought out strawberries, watermelon, and bubble oranges for everyone.
Eula looked genuinely surprised by the fruit, because she had never seen any of them before.
"Mmm... they're so good. If I keep eating like this, I'm definitely going to gain several pounds," Eula said, patting her stomach as she turned to Ryou.
Ryou poured himself a cup of tea and said, "If you like it, eat. If you don't, don't. There's no need to force yourself."
"Besides, all of this has been infused with spiritual energy. It won't harm your body. If anything, it'll help you, so you don't need to worry about gaining weight."
"Really?" Eula looked surprised.
"Just look at my wife. She eats a lot too. Does she look fat to you?" Ryou said.
Eula glanced at Keqing and could only admit she was stunning. Her beauty was the kind that left people speechless, and her figure was almost perfectly fitted and graceful.
Sure, a few places on Keqing were especially full, but that kind of "fat" was something Eula envied.
"Stop talking nonsense!" Keqing said, rolling her eyes at him, though she was obviously pleased.
"I'm only telling the truth." Ryou laughed.
"It is the truth. Keqing is very beautiful." Eula nodded, then hesitated before looking at Ryou. "But... there's something I want to ask you. Is that alright?"
"What is it?" Ryou asked.
"It's about the lottery." Eula looked at him seriously. "Do you know how many people have lost everything because of lottery tickets? I've personally seen no fewer than twenty cases like that, and you..."
Keqing frowned and wanted to speak, but when Ryou gave her a look, she held back.
Ryou lifted his teacup, blew on it, took a sip, then set it down. "A lottery ticket is just a product. I mark the price clearly. If you want to buy it, you buy it. If you don't, you don't."
"That's the rule, isn't it?"
"One hundred Mora is something almost anyone can afford. If you get carried away and buy a hundred tickets, that's only ten thousand Mora. If you buy a thousand, then yes, you're being reckless—but even that is only a hundred thousand."
"If someone is spending hundreds of thousands of Mora on lottery tickets, then the problem already lies with them." Ryou looked at Eula and asked, "Do you think a normal person would spend that much on something like this?"
"I do feel sorry for anyone who ruins their life over it, but let me ask you this—are they children?"
"They're not children anymore. If they made the wrong choice, then they need to own it. You can't just blame us because they chose to buy lottery tickets. Isn't that true?"
"I already had Xingqiu put up warning notices. And on top of that, our shop limits each customer to one hundred tickets. So... nothing like that is going to happen again."
After hearing him out, Eula looked much more thoughtful. "That makes sense. That change really does solve a lot of the problem. If you've already taken steps to prevent serious consequences, then it really can't all be blamed on you."
"It's good that you understand." Ryou smiled.
"Have some fruit. And if you head down the mountain later and run into Albedo, be careful."
"And if you see Mona, ask her what happened."
Thinking about how strange things had been on Dragonspine, Ryou gave Eula a quiet warning.
"Did something happen?" Eula immediately sensed something was off.
"I'll explain," Keqing said, then told her the whole story.
Eula was clearly surprised after hearing it. "Thanks for the warning. If there's nothing else, I'll head back first."
"Once we're back in Mondstadt, I'll treat you to... no, I'll invite you to Angel's Share for drinks. Tonight."
"Sounds good," Ryou said.
"Then it's settled. I'll go first." Eula picked up a few fruits and left the camp.
As soon as she was gone, Keqing caught Ryou still looking after her and glared at him. "Still staring? Want to follow her too?"
"I only looked once." Ryou gave a dry laugh, then pulled Keqing closer. "How about we go rest for a while?"
"No way." Keqing rolled her eyes. She knew perfectly well he was up to no good, and Klee and Shenhe were still right there.
"Refusal denied."
Ryou pulled Keqing and the others into the pocket world.
He arranged rooms for Klee and Shenhe, then took Keqing back to their own room.
By the time they came out again, night had already fallen. The cold on Dragonspine was much harsher than during the day. The camp was pitch-black, and the wind felt sharp enough to scrape at the bone.
Ryou lit a fire, looked around the camp, and said, "Albedo and Mona still haven't come back. Let's prepare something to eat first."
"Once we're done, we should head down the mountain too. If we don't go back, people will start worrying."
"Alright," Keqing said with a nod.
Ryou got the fire going again, warming the whole camp a little, then started another hot pot, though this time with fewer ingredients.
Just as it was nearly ready, voices drifted in from outside.
A moment later, Albedo and Mona walked in.
"That smells amazing," Mona said.
"You still haven't eaten?" Ryou asked. "Sit down and have dinner."
"Then thanks." Mona rubbed her stomach. She had been busy for quite a while and was starving.
Seeing that, Keqing stood up and gave them room.
"You..." Albedo looked at Ryou.
"Go ahead and eat. We can head down later," Ryou told him.
"Then... thank you." Albedo nodded.
He and Mona immediately started eating.
After they were done, Ryou glanced at the sky and asked, "How did things go today?"
"Mostly dealt with," Albedo said.
"That thing is very slippery. I ran into it, but I couldn't catch it. Still, Albedo seems to have figured out a way to handle it," Mona said, glancing at him.
"Thanks for the trouble. I'll handle the rest from here," Albedo said.
Since he put it that way, Ryou did not press any further. After all, he had only gotten involved by chance.
He chatted with Albedo for a little longer, then took the others down the mountain.
As they walked, Mona moved closer to Ryou and asked in a low voice, "Ryou, how did you know about that?"
"Secret." Ryou smiled.
"Oh, come on, just tell me. If you hadn't warned me, I probably never would've noticed," Mona said, leaning even closer.
"Fine. The key to telling the real Albedo from the fake one is whether there's a star mark on his neck."
"If I hadn't known that, I'd have been in real danger. That fake one attacked me. Luckily, I could protect myself." Mona still sounded shaken.
"The real and fake Albedo... the neck?" Keqing murmured, touching her chin. In the end, she shook her head. She really had not noticed something like that.
Ryou shifted Klee in his arms and told Keqing, "I'll explain the rest when we get back. For now, I can't."
"Daddy." Klee blinked up at him.
"You..." Ryou sighed, then gave in. "Fine. Actually, I only know this because Albedo isn't human."
"Not human?" Keqing looked stunned.
Mona stared at him. "But... he obviously is!"
"Albedo is an artificial human, created by his master. And no matter how perfect an artificial human looks, there'll always be some flaw somewhere," Ryou explained.
"So that's the flaw." Mona finally understood.
Ryou looked at Klee and smiled. "Little Klee wasn't surprised, though. Right?"
"Ah... I already knew," Klee said softly.
Ryou laughed.
He knew Klee was far from ordinary. She was smart, and she had clearly overheard more than people thought she had.
What Ryou still did not understand was why Klee had grown so attached to him.
Could it be...?
Once they were off the mountain, Ryou sent Klee back to the Knights of Favonius first.
Then, while heading for Angel's Share to meet Eula, he noticed the lottery shop was still open, so he took the others inside.
There were not many people there at this hour. Xingqiu was sitting inside drinking tea, and the moment he saw Ryou, he stood up.
"Cousin."
"You're still not home at this hour?" Ryou asked with a smile.
"The shop had some trouble, so of course I had to stay and keep an eye on it. Also..." Xingqiu's expression brightened. "Business was even better today. We've already passed one hundred and fifty thousand tickets sold."
"What? You sold fifty thousand in a single day?" Mona was stunned.
Xingqiu nodded. "Yes. More lottery shops have opened, but shops like Goth's still haven't shut down."
"They're still selling tickets at one thousand Mora each. Even with their reputation damaged, people are still buying."
He explained the situation to Ryou and Mona, then added, "I'm guessing they'll still sell a few hundred tickets today. Ours probably won't fall too far behind."
"I never cared much about Mora, but lottery tickets really do make money," Shenhe said.
"They really do," Xingqiu agreed.
"The one-million-Mora ticket still hasn't come out?" Keqing asked.
Xingqiu looked at Ryou. "It still hasn't. But what you said before... were you joking, or...?"
"Of course I was serious." Ryou took out a lottery ticket.
He looked at it for a moment, then lowered his head.
"Ryou..." Keqing looked at him.
"I'm giving this ticket to someone. One million Mora isn't that much, but it'll help her," Ryou said.
"Who are you giving it to?" Keqing asked.
"You'll know when the time comes." Ryou rubbed her head, then looked outside.
"Come on. Eula invited us for drinks, and I want to take a look at Angel's Share too."
"Maybe we'll see that drunkard... and maybe that Darknight Hero too."
[End of chapter]
[200 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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