Please, Sit Down

As soon as the pair made their way inside, two knights saluted Jean and left the room.

Jean was pinching her nose bridge again, as if she had a headache. She wore her reading glasses and looked tired. The smell of coffee lingered in the room. Sai decided to surprise them by speaking first:

"Master Jean, your beauty is immeasurable and your kindness knows no bounds… But you seem troubled by something. If there's anything I can do to help, please don't hesitate to ask. I am perpetually indebted to the kindness you showed me yesterday." Sai tried to sound as genuine as he could, as he put a hand on his chest and changed his tone throughout his speech.

Luckily for him, Lisa wasn't in the room, because if she had been, no one could save his skin. Sai was trying to get into Jean's good side first and foremost. The wooing was secondary, right. Secondary.

Jean got slightly red on the cheeks from all the praise and coughed to dispel irrelevant thoughts.

"Ahem, ahem. Thank you for coming, and for your kind words as well. Despite having to apologize to you due to Lisa's behaviour yesterday, I've inconvenienced you once more. I hope you can forgive me for that." Jean seemed truly regretful as she stood up to say that.

Sai quickly knelt down on one knee.

'Acting is hard, bro… Damn…But this is necessary, for now.'

"No, no, Master Jean. Please don't be sorry. In fact, I must be the one to apologize, not coming to you until so late in the day… I feel embarrassed just thinking about it. I am undeserving of your apologies, milady."

He stole a glance at her face from his position, and he managed to see her baffled expression.

"Ahem. Master Jean, now that my job is done, I'm leaving, okay? I'll be outside if you need me." And with that, Amber quickly left the room. It seemed like even she got embarrassed at the display.

It was truly the first time that both ladies faced such a situation. Jean was still trying to figure out what to say when Sai stood up and approached her desk.

"Please, sit down and tell me how I can help."

She absentmindedly followed his suggestion and sat down. She shook a little and tried to calm herself. This fellow was just too surprising!

'Hehe. She really is inexperienced relationship-wise.'

Jean had lived her entire life preparing for the position of Grand Master of the knights, and therefore had not been taught the matters of the heart. She was as innocent as a teenager who just found her first school crush. That also meant that she didn't know what she liked or disliked, and that made it harder for interested men to approach.

On the other hand, he who knew her on a personal level had an unsurmountable advantage that others didn't have. Of course, except for a few like Kaeya and Diluc, his greatest rivals. But from Kaeya's behaviour the day before, he knew there was no love interest between the two. That only left Diluc, who was also the most dangerous due to his senior position in the knights.

With regards to why he chose to court Jean and not Lisa… he couldn't determine Lisa's maturity on the subject, since she behaved so differently from the game. She could be a tsun, she could be a yan, there was no way of knowing if he didn't take some risk. For that reason, Jean was a much better target for Sai. It didn't mean he liked one more than the other, since they were on par with each other on almost every category. Sai truly just went for the easiest option.

He was aware that he was only a boy in their eyes, as the both of them looked in their twenties when he was just starting to mature, but he didn't doubt his attractiveness either. Once he was seen as a promising young man, he thought he would have good chances at stealing a beauty for himself.

In reality, Sai wasn't all that experienced either. If this was the modern world, he would have found it much harder to do such things. Sai managed to go ahead with this shamelessness partly because he subconsciously thought he was inside a game.

"Ahem. Yes, right." She finally managed to look him in the eyes, although a bit fidgety. "Please have a seat while we wait for Lisa to arrive." She clearly wanted some distance between them, and time to arrange her thoughts.

Sai simply smiled and complied. Jean decided to finish some paperwork in the meantime, but she felt his stare and couldn't concentrate properly. She realized she hadn't asked about his night: 'What a terrible lack of manners. As a host, I must ensure he is not having any problems…'

"…" She opened her mouth, but when she looked up and saw him smiling gently at her, the words stuck on her throat.

"H–how, how was your night, Mr. Sai?" She looked down to her documents.

As she said it, she realized how ridiculous she was being. It calmed her enough to enable her to work properly.

"It was impeccable, milady."

"Is that so? I'm glad."

Although she found his antics intriguing, she didn't think he was flirting with her at all. She thought it was simply his character, one that he used with everyone else.

"I suppose recent incidents have made you sleep-deprived, milady. I cannot help but ask whether you have been taking care of yourself correctly?"

'How does he know that?'

"I have, thank you. And please, just call me Jean." She was neutral.

Sai was disappointed. It seemed like he shouldn't have touched that subject yet.

"It is an honour, Jean." He smiled again. He decided to take it slowly.

She felt somewhat bitter that he had seen through her lack of sleep. Like a proper ruler, she tried to maintain a perfect image to all of her subjects.

Her mood had turned for the worse, so neither of them spoke a word. Soon, Lisa could be seen entering the room alone.

"Please explain the situation for me, Lisa." Jean busied herself with paperwork.

Lisa found the atmosphere peculiar, but decided against mentioning at the moment. She looked at the content Sai and stated:

"Noelle is missing."