Chapter 177

Yomite scratched the back of his neck and tried to explain the situation carefully to his dear girlfriend, before all hell broke loose for no reason whatsoever...

"I met her in the forest after fighting a man called Childe. I was a bit injured and she healed me. To repay her, I brought her here as she was all by herself in this unknown country and agreed to let her stay in one of the rooms, this room would be where Paimon, Lumine and Iris are currently staying, as there is an empty bed since Paimon and Lumine share the same one all the time..."

Fischl listened to his explanations carefully, and noticed the holes on his shirt and pants, which was probably where his injuries were located before Barbara healed him back to normal. She nodded at him several times to show that his words made sense to her.

Barbara bowed to Fischl and explained apologetically, "Er…I was lost in the woods and Yum-Yum saved me. My name is Barbara, and I am the Deaconess of the Favonius Church, I am sure we've met before."

"Cease your frivolous games, This one is very well aware of who you truly are..." Fischl responded weakly, with tears forming in the corner of her emerald eye, "How could this Prinzessin ever forgive you...Thou art the one who infected Yomite with Cholera! A menace!"

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What?

What did she say?

(Cholera? Wait...is she perhaps...still angry because of that...? Oh come on...Fischl you are adorable but you are making this really awkward now...)

Yomite blinked repeatedly, as if he had just woken up from a deep sleep.

Hearing her words, however...Barbara's expression darkened. It was obvious that the remark hurt a lot to hear, as she was indeed the one who brought Cholera to Mondstadt from the village of Springvale a long while ago and endangered everyone in the city.

After Barbara overcame her own illness, everybody celebrated, until it was revealed that Yomite was also infected.

She still vividly remembered the day when Yomite nearly succumbed to it. His situation was getting worse and worse and he hadn't eaten or drank anything in days, simply because he was far too weak and vomited everything out right away.

The guilt about Yomite's falling sickness nearly caused Barbara to lose all control over her sanity again in those chaotic days, her mind breaking down couple of times per day...

Everyone from her sister, to the librarian Lisa, and even Diluc Ragnvindr, the silent loner was panicking and trying to resolve the issue somehow, while she was once again useless and helpless, just like always.

Knowing that her savior nearly lost his life because of her filled her heart with remorse. If it weren't for that one brave girl from his party that refused to budge and wanted to accompany him no matter what, allowing herself to be put into the quarantine and endanger her life...who knew what would have happened to him...

Barbara immediately lowered her head and deeply bowed, speaking softly, "Please forgive me...I did not wish to cause any trouble back then...Yum-Yum saved my life and I am simply grateful for it, yet the thought of his symptoms being even worse than mine, pained my heart...that much I will tell you. I am ashamed. I would never forget that failure of mine forever."

Fischl stiffened, seeing that Barbara legimately seemed regretful of what she'd done.

Both Barbara and Fischl were young girls, prone to emotional instabilities and saying things without thinking through the consequences first.

Yet they seemed like they finally understood each other, being similar in age and circumstances.

"I'm sorry...the only thing I can say is that I did not wish for anyone else to fall ill, I swear on Barbatos, and the Gunnhildr clan." Barbara swore sincerely, hoping that these words would be enough to settle the turmoil in their relationship somehow.

"...It's fine." Fischl brushed away her tears and shook her head apologetically, "Pardon mein outburst...it was unbecoming..."

Fischl put the bow away and sighed deeply. She knew that her anger towards Barbara was misdirected.

At the time, she returned from her long quest, happy to be finally back, only to hear that Yomite fell ill to the same illness that Barbara had contracted during the visit to the village. This led to her irrational rage and frustration. She didn't know how else to express her emotions and needed a victim to blame.

All that aside, Barbara was innocent after all, she never intended to make anyone sick in the first place and even went to try and heal the villagers of the infected place because she simply wanted to help on her own behalf.

It was Fischl who targeted her and blamed her inside of her mind, yet after thinking about it calmly, Barbara was just a young girl, that suffered the same fate as her beloved. There was no need for any of this in the first place.

Her rational side told her that now she and Barbara actually understood each other better after they have resolved their misunderstanding through talking out loud.

Yomite sighed in relief. For some reason, this brief interlude calmed his worries and fears down, the tension inside of him eventually disappeared completely. Yet his exhaustion was still evident, all of this drama could have been avoided but it was better that there were no longer any grudges or any enmity between them and that everything was resolved...