At Bai Ge's instruction, a jar of carefully preserved, imported Mondstadt Dandelion Wine was soon brought over.
The lid was opened, and the wine's distinctive fragrance instantly filled the air.
"Your equipment is a bit too heavy and sealed. Liyue Harbor has been rather warm these days—those from a colder nation might not be used to it."
"Dandelion wine happens to be cooling in nature, clearing heat and easing discomfort. It should help you all beat the warmth."
"It's just a small token of goodwill. I hope you won't refuse."
As he spoke, Bai Ge looked toward the Anemo Boxer, Cryogunner, and the others standing behind Childe.
"Of course—" Tartaglia began with a smile.
His mission in Liyue was to familiarize himself with the local scene. From his perspective, getting acquainted with a mysterious powerhouse like Bai Ge could only help his future plans.
But before Tartaglia could finish speaking—
At his side, Signora, who had remained silent for a long time as if asleep, suddenly let out a heavy, cold snort.
Though the teahouse wasn't small, the moment that snort sounded, a frigid chill swept through Heyu Teahouse!
In an instant, it felt as though the place had turned into the coldest winter of Snezhnaya itself!
Under the frost released by Signora, the dandelion wine in front of Bai Ge visibly began to freeze over.
Perhaps drawn by the wine's scent, Signora had opened her pale violet eyes at some point.
Accented with faint pink eyeshadow, those eyes—once meant to be alluring and radiant—were now locked tightly onto Bai Ge.
"Signora?" Tartaglia called out tentatively.
He had no idea why she had suddenly bristled like this.
Signora didn't respond to him.
Staring at Bai Ge, she spoke:
"To dispel heat, there is no need for dandelion wine. The winter of Snezhnaya—or the Tsaritsa's power alone—is more than sufficient."
Her words seemed directed at Bai Ge, yet also as if she were speaking to something else entirely.
"Hm?" Sensing something off, Tartaglia's instincts flared.
But a lack of crucial information left him unable to piece it together.
At that moment, Bai Ge—who seemed genuinely surprised by the sudden confrontation—tilted his head and asked in return:
"But the winter of Snezhnaya is the might of nature. The Ice Archon's power is the might of a god."
"Only dandelion wine is something created by humans."
"If humans can solve something on their own, why must they rely on nature? Why rely on gods?"
Once upon a time, Signora had been an ordinary Mondstadt girl named Rosalyne.
When the calamity of Khaenri'ah struck, waves of pitch-black monsters swept across Teyvat, and the poison dragon Durin attacked Mondstadt.
By the time the Anemo Archon returned and summoned Dvalin to battle Durin, Mondstadt had already suffered catastrophic losses.
During Durin's assault, the man Rosalyne loved—the Knights of Favonius Vice Captain, the young wolf Rostam—was killed in action.
Thus, when Rosalyne returned from her studies in Sumeru, she found herself without her lover, without her family.
Loving too deeply, she fell into despair.
She came to hate the monsters that had taken away everything she cherished.
And so, Rosalyne threw herself into solitary, relentless revenge against all monsters in the world.
But her power burned too fiercely.
Her face was scorched by flame, her blood replaced by molten fire.
Feared and reviled by all, her body pushed ever closer to ruin as her vengeance consumed her.
At that point, nothing else mattered anymore.
Blazing flames incinerated her innocent past. Like a candle burning itself away, she became the Crimson Witch of Flames, determined to burn everything to ashes—
Including herself.
The Signora of today was merely the remnants of that Rosalyne.
A humanoid form created by the Tsaritsa's supreme power, sealing the raging flames in eternal ice.
Signora hated the Anemo Archon who failed to save Mondstadt—who failed to save the man she loved.
She also hated the Heavenly Principles that allowed the Abyss to exist.
That hatred drove her to join the Fatui, to overthrow the old gods, challenge the heavens, and create what she believed would be a perfect world.
Now, the scent of dandelion wine had stirred those buried memories.
Bai Ge's metaphor—dandelion wine as human strength, the heat as the problems they faced—struck directly at the core of Signora's convictions.
That was why she took him seriously.
"But what about the cost?" Signora sneered.
"Mondstadt worships freedom. Every dandelion is picked in the wild."
"And whenever you gather things in the wild, danger is inevitable."
"But the power of gods, the power of nature, can solve these problems effortlessly."
"I see…" Bai Ge nodded noncommittally, then asked again,
"So because a god can solve it, humans should never drink dandelion wine?"
"Because a god can solve it, should dandelion wine be abandoned—never brewed again?"
"But what if one day the gods disappear, depart, or die?"
"When people have forgotten how to brew dandelion wine, how will they deal with the heat then?"
"Heh." Signora scoffed.
"Gods do not die. The Tsaritsa's might is beyond your imagination."
"Then I have a question for you…"
Across from her, Bai Ge scratched his cheek, a mischievous smile forming.
With obvious relish, he asked:
"Can your Tsaritsa create a stone so heavy that she herself cannot lift it?"
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