A new day.
Early in the morning, Columbina was summoned by “Pierro” to the Winter Palace for a meeting.
It was the kind that required all Harbingers to attend.
This was also the first time Columbina had reunited with her colleagues since returning to the past.
Arlecchino, Rosalyne, Capitano…
Hmm?
Sandrone doesn’t look very well.
Did she not sleep well last night?
I clearly gave her the blessing of the “Moon”; she shouldn’t be having nightmares…
I’m a little worried…
On the other side, sensing Columbina’s “gaze,” Sandrone’s expression turned strange, even faintly flushing, until she finally had Pulonia’s massive form block the space between them.
“Columbina!
Can’t you see?
Why do you keep looking my way?”
“What is there to look at?
Do I look any different today?”
“Damn it…
You said so many strange things last night; I really don’t understand what you’re thinking…”
“And Pierro, why hold a meeting in this freezing weather for no reason?
I haven’t even caught up on my sleep yet…”
Sandrone thought this resentfully to himself.
In a place unknown to Columbina and Pierro, they had already been cursed countless times by the pitiful Sandrone (politeness module disabled).
Meanwhile, Columbina noticed that Sandrone seemed to be deliberately avoiding her, and she couldn’t help but feel puzzled.
Did she do something to upset Sandrone?
Columbina began to recall what she had said to Sandrone last night.
It didn’t seem to be a problem; it was all out of concern for Sandrone.
Columbina shook her head, deciding to find Sandrone and ask her clearly after the meeting.
She didn’t have many friends, and she didn’t want to lose a good friend like Sandrone.
Columbina’s “gaze” moved away from Sandrone, quickly swept past a few unfamiliar Harbingers, and finally rested on a completely strange Harbinger.
Strange.
A Harbinger she had never seen before.
Did they join recently?
She couldn’t find any information about her in her memories.
Hmm…
Columbina shook her head wearily.
Perhaps.
After all, she hadn’t cared much about the internal affairs of the Fatui before.
Well…
perhaps it’s not anyone important; no need to pay attention.
Set that aside for now.
The next one to appear…
is The Doctor.
Columbina’s heart went cold.
She could feel The Doctor watching her.
she must have known that she refused her experiment last night and had received instructions from the Tsaritsa.
Regarding her, Columbina really had nothing to think about.
Her thoughts were actually quite simple.
At least for now, she dared not and had no reason to make a move against her.
The “Iridescent Moon” and “Eternal Moon” had not appeared in the world; just having the “frost moon” should be useless to her.
But since she had this intention, it meant she was already an enemy.
Hmm…
she would wait until she had gathered information about her and her the slice before deciding.
Hmm…
but it was really troublesome; she had no idea where to start.
If only Nefer and Varka were here; they would surely have a better way.
Just like dealing with the Moon Hunter, she just needed to follow their arrangements.
Columbina knew she had a clear weakness when it came to planning grand schemes.
It was in her nature; she really didn’t know how to engage in schemes and intrigues.
She had only just realized what “friend” really meant a short while ago.
So her thinking was a bit straightforward.
But she wasn’t stupid.
At the very least, she knew she couldn’t do it and that it would be best to find a helper.
But among all the Harbingers, it seemed she was the only one without even a single subordinate…
Is building from scratch too slow?
And she didn’t really understand it…
Or maybe…
ask Sandrone, Arlecchino, and the others for help?
But would that drag them into it?
That was a bit dangerous…
And the matter of her returning from the future—did she need to tell them?
If they were friends, shouldn’t she avoid hiding it?
After all, some things concerned them.
But…
Columbina lay on the table, thinking about these things nonsensically in her mind.
The more she thought, the more tired she became…
She felt…
like she was going to return to the moon again…
On the other side, after all the Harbingers had arrived, “Pierro” also arrived.
she stood at the head of the conference table, scanned the room below, and finally stopped at a certain the third seat who was lying on the conference table.
Well, all the Harbingers were standing solemnly waiting for the meeting to start, but Columbina was the only one lying down…
It was truly out of place.
However, all the Harbingers present were used to it.
After all, it was Damselette; this was normal.
At first, “Capitano” would try to remind her a few times, but after spending more time together, she just turned a blind eye.
In fact, if one day Damselette could sit up straight and participate in the meeting, they would be more likely to suspect they hadn’t woken up yet.
“Hmm…” As expected, Pierro didn’t linger on Damselette for too long and began the meeting with the Harbingers.
“Today we gather here…”
On the other side, Columbina didn’t care about the specific content of the meeting.
Compared to this, she might as well think about where to go to eat later and what to eat.
Since returning to the present from the future, she hadn’t eaten for a day and a night.
Now she just felt…
so hungry.
When will this meeting end…
She didn’t know how much time had passed, but a loud, resonant oath woke Columbina from her daze.
“Under the banner of the noble Tsaritsa, we shall seize the authority of the gods!”
Columbina stood up in confusion and looked around.
Who was she?
What should she do now?
Her little expression was dazed and adorable.
Some Harbingers (talking about you, Childe.
And you, Balladeer) couldn’t hold back and smiled secretly at the sight, while Pierro, also helpless, looked around and ordered casually.
“Sandrone, you tell Columbina about today’s meeting content later.
Meeting dismissed!”
Without waiting for Sandrone to refuse, Pierro left in a hurry.
she had always been this busy.
Sandrone’s eyes widened.
her mechanical core hadn’t even reacted to how she had suddenly landed in this situation, and her colleagues had all left the conference table.
Everyone was busy.
Before long, only Columbina and Sandrone were left.
Looking at Columbina not far away, Sandrone was one hundred percent unwilling to talk to her right now.
she was in a hurry to catch up on sleep!
A lady couldn’t be in poor spirits.
And…
and she had only said those strange things to her last night; how was she supposed to talk to her now!
she couldn’t just say “I miss you too, Columbina,” right?
It felt like she hadn’t seen her for that long!
After simple consideration, Sandrone decided to ignore Pierro’s words.
Anyway, based on her understanding of Columbina, she wouldn’t be interested in the content of the meeting just now.
“Pulonia, let’s go.”
Pulonia followed Sandrone’s order quite faithfully and was about to leave, but stopped after taking two steps.
It went without saying who was blocking the way.
“Columbina!
Why are you blocking me?” Sandrone was even gritting her teeth.
“Hmm?” Columbina was puzzled.
“Didn’t Sandrone hear just now?
Pierro asked you to tell me about the meeting.
Hmm…
also, I have something I want to talk to Sandrone about.”
“Ha?
What could you possibly want with me?”
“Does Sandrone want me to say it here?”
“…” Sandrone was silent for a while.
Sometimes, talking to Columbina really gave her the feeling of not knowing what to say.
This annoying person…
“Forget it, follow me.” Sandrone finally gave up and let Columbina follow her.
“By the way, Sandrone.” Columbina called out softly.
“What is it now?” Sandrone replied helplessly.
“I’m a bit hungry.
Do you have anything to eat?”
“Columbina!”
“Hmm?
Is it inconvenient?”
“You…
forget it.
I’ll have someone bring some food over later.”
Sandrone paused for a moment and added, “Everything will be what you like…
but don’t you think too much!
It’s not specially prepared for you; it’s just that I happened not to eat breakfast either, and your portion is just incidental.”
Hearing this, Columbina couldn’t help but chuckle softly.
That faint smile was just captured by Sandrone, who had turned her head, and her precise and rational mechanical core couldn’t help but be stunned for a moment.
“Thank you, Sandrone.”
Columbina’s ethereal and beautiful voice pulled Sandrone back to reality.
After realizing what had just happened, her face couldn’t help but flush slightly.
What was wrong with her?
“Ahem,” Sandrone turned her head away to avoid Columbina’s gaze.
“I already said it wasn’t specially prepared for you…”
However, in fact, it was.
Sandrone had originally planned to go back to catch up on sleep; she had no plans to eat breakfast…
Columbina didn’t continue to refute this point and changed the angle.
“But in any case, this was prepared by Sandrone for me.
Rosalyne taught me ‘etiquette.’ In this situation, I should say thank you.”
After a pause, Columbina continued, “Hmm, Sandrone is so good to me.”
This sentence had great lethality to Sandrone, as could be seen from her reddened neck and ear tips.
“Hmm?” Columbina sensed something wrong with Sandrone.
“What’s wrong, Sandrone?
The temperature seems to be rising?
The heat dissipation I told you about last night…”
“Col!
um!
bina!” Sandrone couldn’t listen any longer and interrupted sharply.
she bit her lip and finally spat out a few words.
“If you say any more of these strange things, there won’t be any breakfast!”
Columbina was puzzled by this.
They were all words of concern for Sandrone; how were they strange?
She was just about to ask, but Sandrone seemed to know what Columbina was going to say and interrupted her a step ahead.
“…Columbina, I’m tired and need to rest.
Stop talking.”
This trick worked on Columbina as well.
She wanted to say things like “What’s wrong with Sandrone,” “Get some good rest,” and “Go to bed early and wake up early,” but these words were stuck in her throat by Sandrone’s request, and she couldn’t say them.
Then…
let Sandrone have a good rest for a while.
Columbina thought to herself.