ruined History

Cloud Retainer stood frozen for a long moment, her expression flickering between fury and disbelief.

Half of her anger was directed at her student.

The other half was aimed squarely at Aether for daring to push Shenhe that far.

But after a few deep breaths, she regained her usual elegant composure — though her eyes still burned with intensity.

“Come,” she said to Rosaria and Ganyu. “He will be unconscious for several hours. Let us speak inside while he rests.”

While Aether lay unconscious in one of the guest rooms, the three women sat together in a quiet pavilion.

Cloud Retainer spoke at length about Shenhe — her training, her restraints, her nature. Rosaria and Ganyu listened carefully, both of them still processing what they had just witnessed.

Several hours later, when they returned to check on Aether, they found an unexpected scene.

Shenhe was sitting on the edge of the bed, completely naked except for her red ropes. She was gently caressing Aether’s hair with surprising tenderness, her usually emotionless face softened in a way none of them had ever seen.

Cloud Retainer’s composure shattered instantly.

“HOW COULD YOU?!”

She moved like lightning, grabbing Shenhe’s arm and forcefully yanking her away from Aether. Her voice was sharp, almost panicked.

“You dare develop feelings?! Even faint ones?! Do you have any idea what could happen if your limiter breaks?!”

Shenhe didn’t resist being pulled away. She simply stood there silently, head slightly lowered.

Cloud Retainer’s hands were shaking. Some of the red ropes on Shenhe’s body had already begun to smolder faintly at the edges — a clear sign that her suppressed emotions were pushing against the restraints.

“If you break through them completely… the monster inside you will not stay contained in this bed,” Cloud Retainer said, voice low and grave. “You know this.”

Later, once the immediate tension had settled, Cloud Retainer sat with the other two women and explained everything.

“I found her as a child,” she said quietly. “Barely more than a baby. She had been abandoned in a cave after her village was destroyed. A monster — an ancient, corrupted spirit of immense power — had taken interest in her. It raised her like its own, feeding on her emotions, twisting her.

When I arrived, she had already killed it. A child. Barely old enough to walk. She tore that monster apart with a dagger and raw power. That is the kind of being Shenhe is. A human vessel for something far too dangerous to be left unchecked.”

Cloud Retainer glanced toward the room where Aether was resting.

“She has never shown affection toward anyone. Not once. Not until today.”

She looked at Rosaria and Ganyu with a complicated expression.

“So you understand why I reacted that way. If she truly develops feelings… the restraints may not hold. And if they don’t…”

She didn’t finish the sentence.

The implication was clear.

Shenhe eventually joined the conversation.

She sat down with them, still mostly naked except for her red ropes, and spoke in her usual flat, honest tone:

“I feel… strange. Warm. Not unpleasant. When I look at him, something tightens in my chest. I want to touch his hair again. I want to be near him. Is this what affection feels like?”

Cloud Retainer listened carefully, then let out a long, relieved breath.

“…At least it is only in its earliest stage. Innocent affection. Not obsession. That is… manageable.”

Rosaria smirked slightly. “Looks like even monsters can get crushes.”

Ganyu, sensing the conversation might get more personal, stood up quietly.

“I will go watch over the Traveler,” she said softly, bowing before leaving the room.