Chapter Text
Zhongli was a liar.
A LIAR.
Or should Tartaglia call him Morax??
This shattered Childe's broken heart and tore his soul apart. He had immediately left the bank with a furious air to hide his sadness, paid for a return trip to Snezhnaya that would leave a month before the Lantern Rite, and was now looking down at the streets of Liyue, where he loved to stroll with Zhongli. His heart was broken, and he was the one who had to pick up the pieces.
He thought that as soon as he secretly stole the gnosis of the God of Liyue, he could pass the Lantern Rite with Zhongli. He had it all planned in his head: he would invite Zhongli to the fanciest restaurants and buy the most impressive artifacts that Zhongli loved to talk about, and the Consultant would forgive him (Zhongli, kind and composed as he was, in his mind, would certainly do so) for killing his patron god and flooding half of Liyue—he had paid for all the restoration! Nobody died, either! - and they were going to leave the wanmin restaurant with Zhongli's favorite food, his bamboo soup cooked for twelve hours with the finest ingredients.
And when they looked up, seeing the fireworks and lanterns coloring the Liyue skies in their brilliance, Zhongli would turn around and...
And kiss him.
Childe would be embarrassed, and Zhongli would love it and find him beautiful and gaze at him with that look he reserved only for the most precious jewels...
But what happened?
Betrayal and scheming upon scheming!!
Ah, but Zhongli would pay when Her Majesty heard what he and La Signora had done to her Eleventh. Tartaglia was his sharpest weapon. She wouldn't let it go if Childe made the perfect speech.
(Perhaps it was just the pain of losing a companion. Perhaps it was just the pain of believing too much. Perhaps he was destined to fall...)
He sniffed, scolding himself. He was no longer the lonely child he once was. Now he had his brothers, his position, and his power, and power was what attracted him most. More than some idiotic God with a stupid taste for antiquities.
And Tartaglia was going back to Snezhnaya, yes!
The snake would learn what poison is.