[Genshin Impact] A world where only travelers are alone.

Chapter 5 Street Vendor Newspapers

The turning point came in a bizarre and even swift manner.

On her second day at work, Chloe felt that the way people were looking at her was a bit strange.

However, the Court of Appeals is, after all, a legitimate official institution. Although the rules inside are not strict, the employees are quite professional, or rather, they don't like to meddle in other people's business. Apart from a few people who were on good terms with her who simply reminded her that she could go buy a copy of today's tabloid, everyone kept silent.

This left Chloe still completely confused until she finally saw today's newspaper after get off work.

Shocking! His impeccable morals were just a facade; the highest-ranking judge secretly met with his girlfriend for two hours!

Chloe's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly continued reading.

The guy who wrote this report is obviously a scoundrel. The photos are all taken from tricky angles, and the accompanying text is extremely exaggerated, even subtly implying some unspeakable things, which made her tremble with anger.

That's completely fabricated!

Although she had thought about how dealing with Navelette, the Supreme Judge, would inevitably be troublesome when she chatted with Aurelia yesterday, she never expected it to be this troublesome!

Isn't this guy afraid of being sent to Petersburg, Mello?!

The photo wasn't very clear, but it was still enough to make out the faces of the two people in it.

Chloe could clearly sense that the people around her had also realized that she was one of the people involved, and many were secretly observing her.

She gritted her teeth and said to the newsstand owner, "I'll buy all of today's newspapers!"

Chloe has plenty of money; all she wants now is to quickly stop the rumors from spreading.

After all, it was a big order, so the boss immediately disregarded the rumors and eagerly asked for her address, intending to personally deliver it to her home.

Chloe waved her hand, telling him to just burn these things so they wouldn't get in her way, and then she rushed off to the Mo Mang Palace with her own portion.

It was already past closing time, and the Mo Mang Palace was quiet, but she knew that Vilette was definitely still at get off work. However, she hadn't decided whether to say anything or how to say it.

This led to someone who, despite walking in aggressively, hesitated at the door of the Supreme Judge's office.

Chloe clenched the newspaper in her hand, squatted in the corner and stared blankly. She thought about Villette's visit to her house and the rumors in the tabloids. Her face turned red and white in turns.

In the end, it was Sedna, who had originally planned to go home but returned because she realized she had forgotten something, who found her.

Melusin, who was usually in charge of entertaining guests at the Momo Palace, naturally recognized her and couldn't help but ask curiously, "Chloe, aren't you going home? It's getting late, it's time for dinner."

"Sedna—" Chloe looked at her eagerly, "Did you see today's newspaper?"

"No, I don't usually watch these kinds of things," Sedna shook her head.

Chloe then handed over the newspaper, still sobbing, "This is utterly fabricated! I only took Lord Vilette back temporarily because of the rain, but they, they actually said these things about us—"

Sedna was initially confused, but after reading it, she immediately became indignant: "How wicked! How could there be such a bad person to write such a false report! Let's go, we must tell Lord Vilette and make him take charge!"

Despite her small stature, Melusin was surprisingly strong. Before Chloe could even utter a word of hesitation, she was dragged into the office.

Navelette was indeed still working, and she was clearly taken aback when the two suddenly barged in: "Chloe, Sedna, what happened?"

Sedna told the whole story in one go.

Villette's expression darkened, but he was now more worried about Chloe's condition than the culprit: "I'm sorry, Ms. Chloe, for getting you involved in this trouble."

Chloe was initially just angry, but when faced with Violet's words, which were deliberately softened to consider her feelings, she inexplicably felt wronged, and her eyes even welled up with tears.

But now is not the time to cry. To prevent the situation from escalating, the most urgent task is to stop the sale of these tabloid newspapers.

Navelette, of course, knew the importance and urgency of the matter, and immediately asked Sedna to convey the instruction to the Shadow Court.

The Shadow Chaser's Court is a personal guard unit directly under the Supreme Judge, specializing in the investigation of major cases. It is almost entirely composed of Melusians with special sensory abilities.

However, stopping the newspaper from circulating is easy, but finding the culprit in a short time is difficult.

Street tabloids have a wide range of sources, unlike major newspapers like Steambird. They often don't have regular reporters, only anonymous contributors, so their reports are mostly more entertaining than factual.

In the past, these were just minor incidents, so Villette usually turned a blind eye. But this time, it was a particularly egregious slander that not only damaged his own reputation but also implicated others.

He immediately felt even more apologetic.

Having known him for so long, or more accurately, having been apologized to so many times, Chloe could perfectly judge from his expression whether he was about to say the same thing again. She quickly interrupted, "Then, Lady Vilette, it's not your fault. After all, it was I who took you home first. I can only say that I didn't think things through. I didn't expect anyone to use this to make a fuss."

In fact, perhaps that guy had his eye on them from the very beginning when they met at the coffee shop. Even if they hadn't gone to her house, it probably wouldn't have prevented this report from appearing; at most, it wouldn't have been that exaggerated.

Both of them knew the truth.

There's no point in staying here any longer, Navelette said. "It's getting late, Ms. Chloe. Go home. You can stay home and rest if needed. I'll handle Leon's situation."

Chloe knew she couldn't help by staying, so she could only agree, but—

She looked at Navelette, who was still engrossed in her work amidst the piles of paperwork, and hesitated, unsure whether she should continue speaking.

Even if she was indeed tempted by what Aurelie had said before, this was really not a good opportunity right now.

She shouldn't bother Navelette because of her own selfish desires.

So in the end, Chloe simply left quietly.

However, after she left, Navelette looked up again, sighed deeply, and saw that the documents spread out on the table were clearly filled with comments, as if the matter had already been resolved.

(End of this chapter)

The author says: Today's weather in Fontaine: Cloudy turning to rain.