Honestly, I don’t like Kaeya.

I never did, and I probably never will.

To list the reasons why I dislike him, fundamentally, I just don’t like male characters.

Of course, among male characters, if they’re well-designed or cool like Kazuha, it’s an exception.

But Kaeya doesn’t have that, and his personality just doesn’t vibe with me.

Not only does his appearance rub me the wrong way, but his personality is even worse.

Plus, he looks kinda gay, to the point where the meme “Gaya” was born, so my dislike for him feels almost natural.

And now, he’s called me out personally.

To a tavern named “Angel’s Share.”

“I’m.., I’m not gay.”

Feeling a threat as a man from Kaeya’s relaxed gaze on my face, I reflexively answered.

But thinking about it, I’m Lumine right now.

Yeah, let’s correct that—I felt a threat as a woman, not as a man.

I cautiously checked his reaction after my near-mistake, but thankfully, he didn’t seem to care much about what I said.

Emboldened by Kaeya’s relaxed attitude, I decided to act confident.

I cleared my throat a couple of times in front of him, trying to put on a calm expression.

Paimon must have thought she should give us space, as she had long retreated into her own little world.

By the time my ordered apple cider and Kaeya’s dandelion wine arrived, the silence between us broke.

“…So, there’s a reason you called me here, right? And what’s with the ‘former’ Honorary Knight thing?”

“Ah, I was just about to get to that.”

Kaeya sipped the wine from his bottle, glanced at my eyes briefly, then continued.

“I heard you’ve become quite the troublemaker lately.., is that true, Traveler?”

“You just saw it with your own eyes, didn’t you?”

I furrowed my brow without realizing it, as Kaeya’s smug smile and his nauseatingly slick demeanor, which would make the former male me want to gag, got on my nerves.

“Anyway, to continue, your actions are adding to Mondstadt’s chaos. Quite a few people have been directly harmed, you know.”

“So?”

“So, by Acting Grand Master Jean’s orders, we’ve decided to revoke your ‘Honorary Knight’ title.”

“Hah..”

I let out a scoff, dumbfounded by his words.

“That’s ridiculous.”

Jean herself gave the order?

Does this guy think that makes any sense?

Lumine and Jean were comrades who resolved the Stormterror incident together, comrades-in-arms.

What does it mean for Jean to revoke Lumine’s Honorary Knight title?

In this situation, the Honorary Knight title was like a safety net preventing citizens from directly harming me.

Revoking it essentially meant completely ostracizing Lumine from Mondstadt.

There’s no way Jean would do that to Lumine.

“You forgot? I’m the one who resolved Mondstadt’s Stormterror incident. I also had a significant role in driving out the Fatui threatening Mondstadt.”

“And you’re also the one plunging Mondstadt back into chaos, Traveler.”

At his words that I was causing chaos in Mondstadt, I gestured with my chin as if to say, go on.

“When the citizens of Mondstadt suffer because of your actions, where do you think that damage ends up?”

“The Knights of Favonius, I suppose.”

“Exactly. Because you, with the title of Honorary Knight, did those things, the Knights’ reputation has hit rock bottom. Just yesterday, hundreds of petitions demanding your title revocation came in.”

“So it was an inevitable decision?”

“Exactly.”

I lifted the apple cider in front of me and gulped it down.

The refreshing scent of the non-alcoholic juice filled my mouth, cooling my heated head.

Since Kaeya’s words weren’t wrong, I shut my mouth.

But that didn’t mean there weren’t strange things about it.

Yes, it’s true I went around with a villain concept for a while, harassing Mondstadt’s citizens.

It’s also true that the actions I did, thinking it was just a game, caused them significant harm.

But Lumine’s achievements were great enough to cover all those mistakes and more.

She practically grabbed Mondstadt by the collar and saved it from near destruction.

So, at the very least, Lumine shouldn’t be treated like this.

In the game, she was on good terms with everyone in the Knights, including Kaeya.

If it were Amber instead of Kaeya, the conversation might have gone better.

I recalled Amber, who, despite her terrible in-game performance, was kinda cute and kind to everyone.

Yeah, Amber would definitely understand me.

Lumine was especially close with Amber, after all.

“Where’s Amber? I’d like to talk to her separately, so I’d appreciate it if you could leave now.”

“…Traveler. Are you messing with me right now?”

Before I could finish, a glint of killing intent flashed in Kaeya’s eyes.

He gripped his right hand as if he’d draw the sword at his waist and swing it any moment, grinding his teeth.

Feeling fear at that, I swallowed dryly, trying to figure out what was happening, but I couldn’t guess anything.

“What, what’s wrong?”

If he really swung his sword, my not-so-great brain quickly raced to figure out what to do.

F*ck, should I draw my sword too?

But I’m not really Lumine?

Could I block if I swung my sword?

He’s the Cavalry Captain of the Knights, though?

I used my elemental burst earlier, so my elemental energy was low, and I wasn’t yet skilled enough to use elemental skills.

As I hesitated, sweating coldly, Kaeya, uncharacteristically losing his composure, continued.

“There’s a limit to my patience, Traveler. You killed her. Amber.”

“What?”

Amber’s dead?

By Lumine’s hand?

I almost told Kaeya to stop bullsh*tting, but his expression was more serious than ever, so I didn’t say it out loud.

“No way.., that’s a lie, right, Paimon?”

Paimon.., yeah, Paimon might know something.

She was in this world even during the time I wasn’t logged in, so she could have seen something.

“P-Paimon.. Come out for a sec. Just for a moment..”

I called my guide with a trembling voice, but she didn’t come out of her own world.

As if refusing to answer, Paimon’s silence gave me a bad feeling.

“Hey.., it’s a joke, right, Kaeya? Say it’s a joke.. Why would I, Amber..”

“Haha.., Traveler. There were rumors you’d gone insane lately, and it seems they were true.”

The cold silence that settled left me speechless.

Paimon’s silence, who would have witnessed everything, was practically confirmation.

“Paimon.., please.. Say it’s not true..”

Feeling my mind go blank, I pressed Paimon again, but there was no answer from her, lips tightly sealed.

“You’re pathetic, Traveler. I’m ashamed I ever considered you a comrade of the Knights.”

Kaeya said that and stood up.

“I have nothing more to say to a lunatic, so I’ll be going. Oh, and by the way, our former Honorary Knight is penniless now, right? Don’t worry, I’ll cover the bill. It’s the least courtesy for someone who was once an Honorary Knight.”

“W-Wait. Hold on! Kaeya!”

With many unresolved questions, I tried to stop Kaeya as he left, but a sharp pain shot through my cheek.

A sword flew so fast I couldn’t even react, grazing my cheek.

I touched the wound with a stunned expression, and my white hand, stained red with blood, came into view.

Yeah, I almost died just now.

If he had tilted his hand just a bit more, I’d be dead already.

Honestly, until just now, I didn’t fully believe this was reality.

It was too unrealistic a story.

I thought it was just a bad dream, a very vivid one.

But the cold touch of metal and the sharp pain grazing my cheek were real.

It wasn’t a dream—it was reality.

“If this weren’t a public place, I would’ve stabbed your throat. Out of old affection, I’ll let it end with this, so get lost quietly.”

“…..”

Kaeya clicked his tongue irritably and left the tavern.

Left alone at the table, I couldn’t move, frozen for a while.

F*ck, what happened during the time I wasn’t logged in, the time I don’t know about?

There’s a side to the world I thought I knew best that I don’t know.

In a world I thought I knew everything about, everything except a tiny fraction was actually a blank.

Why did Lumine kill Amber, and why did she send me that message?

What was she thinking when she dragged me into this place?

As I stared blankly into space, a group with rough-looking faces approached me.

“Hey, we heard everything, Traveler. You got your Honorary Knight title revoked, huh?”

“…..”

“Hey, when someone talks to you, answer.”

“…..”

Grabbed by the collar and pulled up, I looked up at his face.

He shouted for me to follow him, exasperated.

Naturally, I had no intention of following, but his companions grabbed my arms and dragged me along.

I wasn’t in the mood to resist, so I let them take me to a secluded alley.

“Hey, Traveler, do you even know what the Outrider meant to us in Mondstadt? Because of you, the whole city’s been turned upside down. Got it?”

Outrider.., Amber’s title.

The Amber who’s supposedly dead because of me..

“…F*ck.”

“What?”

“F*ck.., how the hell would I know?”

To put it bluntly, I didn’t kill her, so why are they giving me sh*t?

Did I come to this world because I wanted to?

F*ck no.

I couldn’t understand why I was forcibly dropped into this world and had to endure this treatment.

I was just f*cking pissed.

Everything that happened today was just one thing after another.

“What, f*ck? What did you just say? You think I can’t hit you because you’re a girl—”

-Pow!!

Before he could finish, I slammed my fist into his face.

The momentum from twisting my waist and shoulders landed precisely on his jaw.

With a short step and a shoulder twist, Lumine’s superhuman strength added weight to it.

As he collapsed and passed out, I immediately turned and swung my clenched left fist upward at his companion holding my arm.

-Pow!!

“This.., this f*cking b*tch..!”

With a clean uppercut delivered without wasted movement, two of them went down in an instant.

The last one pulled a small knife from his waist and tried to stab my face, but I stepped forward with my front foot, ducked my head, and threw a right hook at his face.

Using the opponent’s kinetic energy against them, a counter—a technique considered the flower of outboxing—hit him directly, and he lost consciousness.

“…I’m a former boxer, you idiots.”

Without needing to use the sword on my back or elemental power, I handled the situation, clicked my tongue in irritation, and turned to leave.