What was she thinking?

When Minjoo abandoned her post, she knew that she was marked for death. The Fatui would do anything to dispose of her, either by killing her on the spot or she would be dragged to Snezhnaya to have a trial by the Knave. It ended in the same conclusion: death.

Being a Fatui meant that she automatically became the enemy of multiple nations. By this time, Inazuma and Sumeru Gods had decreed to fend off Fatui soldiers found in their territory with no exceptions. Mondstadt and Liyue still allowed Fatui to roam the land, but with the Knights of Favonius and the Qixing watching them closely.

Currently, Minjoo was no threat to them. She was a traitor whose ideologies clashed with the Fatui. However, her escaping to one of those nations meant that Fatui would pursue her to those nations. Eventually it would raise alarm and Minjoo could be punished for deliberately letting Fatui “invade” their territory.

So that was why, Minjoo was prepared to be struck down the moment she entered Sumeru borders, right after her pursuer almost caught up to her in Liyue. She was able to escape, but not unscathed.

She already lost a lot of blood by the time she entered the first cave entrance she could find. She was getting delirious, but the burn mark on her side from her pursuer’s Pyro Delusion kept her mind alert. It was painful as hell, but she had to keep pushing through the Sumeru cave systems in hopes to find a place she could use as a safehouse. 

She found it, by luck. It was a strange, egg-shaped house with small furniture. It was a bit out in the open, but she had blocked the access to this hidden pathway through an old mechanism she also found by luck.

It almost felt like a trap, but Minjoo could care less about it. This place was her temporary salvation. It was too small for her to move too much, but it was enough for her to at least rest and recuperate for a few moments.

But then, not long after she decided to rest, this girl found her.

Blonde hair and Inazuman features. She was wearing Akademiya’s traveling uniform and a gleaming green bow strapped on her back, a sign that she was a Sumerun scholar despite being an Inazuman citizen. There was also an Inazuman dendro Vision hanging on her waist, green and gleaming proudly.

(Minjoo felt envious. Her Delusion—it was never gleaming with such pride.)

The ex-Fatuus helplessly looked at her, silently preparing for the Sumerun scholar to end her or at least drag her to the Corps of Thirty. This was better, it seemed; dying under the hand that was used for righteousness was much more preferable.

B