Lumine quickly steered the conversation to the main topic. "Alright, what would you like to divine today? I'm guessing you came here to hear the voice of the divine again, right?"
Setaria said, "Though I was thinking of having my love life divined again, to be honest, my mind has been a mess lately."
"How about this—could you divine when the project I'm working on will be completed? I really want to get it over with quickly."
Lumine mimicked Nabiya's earlier gesture and extended her hand. "I see. No problem. Let the divine give you an answer."
"Hmm... I hear it, I hear it. The divine says: Setaria, why haven't you returned home?"
[Paimon: That... that was way too direct. I thought it would be more indirect.]
[Lumine: I didn't have enough information to work with.]
[Furina: After all, Lumine can't actually do fortune-telling. She can only mimic the surface appearance.]
[Venti: But the imitation of the mannerisms was spot-on.]
Setaria was taken aback. "Return home? Could the divine really know what I'm thinking?"
[Paimon: Ah, she actually believed it!]
[Nahida: After all, that's what she's truly troubled about—the thing she's been agonizing over all along. The project issue was just a表面 question.]
[Paimon: I see. So Lumine got lucky this time.]
[Yae Miko: Haha, yes. She did get lucky.]
Lumine repeated, "Setaria, why haven't you returned home? That's a scolding this time. The divine seems quite angry."
Setaria quickly apologized. "Ah, forgive me, forgive me, divine one. Please convey my apologies to the divine and beg them to calm down."
"If I may ask, Nabiya—which deity is speaking in your ear?"
Lumine said, "Hmph, what a naive and impertinent question. It is, of course, the greatest and wisest King Deshret."
Setaria suddenly understood. "King Deshret... No wonder he would question me like this. No, that's not right—King Deshret passed away a very long time ago."
"Though rumors of King Deshret's resurrection have been spreading widely lately, those are all false rumors deliberately released by the Akademiya. How could King Deshret actually still exist?"
[Navia: Hahaha, a lie running into the source of the lie!]
[Paimon: How did it turn into such a dramatic development?]
[Nahida: This is my oversight.]
[Furina: Well, let's just hope Setaria isn't as meticulous as Lumine, and that she can smooth this over.]
[Lumine: Thanks for the compliment.]
Upon hearing that the resurrection rumors were started by the Akademiya, Lumine was also surprised. But she added sternly, "How impertinent. I am King Deshret's most faithful follower. Are you trying to deny the divine voice in my ear?"
The scholar Setaria immediately apologized reverently. "No, no, I was simply honored that King Deshret's grace has reached even here, as a child of the desert."
"I will properly reflect on King Deshret's question. Forgive me, I'll take my leave."
[Nahida: I was wondering how to respond. I thought of many arguments in a short time, but something felt off about all of them. So it turns out a direct scolding works after all?]
[Paimon: Nahida, humans are complicated creatures like that. Sometimes scolding is more effective.]
Paimon was excited. "She hurried away! She looked really flustered."
Nahida praised Lumine. "Well done, Lumine. Setaria probably didn't suspect anything unusual."
"A question she's been avoiding in her heart suddenly came knocking directly. It must have shaken her quite a bit."