Yes, Lady Funina!

She felt she had been tricked, but she had no proof.

Soon, Clarind relayed to Richard a selection of the suggestions she had made to Frynn, emphasizing that with her help, Frynn and Ningguang's relationship had progressed rapidly, greatly deepening their friendship and making an indelible contribution to Richard's future harem endeavors.

They have worked hard and made great contributions; it would be unreasonable not to give them some reward!

To Clarin's surprise, Richard showed no sign of surprise at all, as if he had known all along.

Upon seeing this, Claurind immediately realized, "Linette already told you?"

Richard nodded. "He mentioned a little."

"How much is one point?"

"That's the point you didn't mention."

Claude was shocked to hear this; hadn't this just told them everything?

However, just when Clarinde thought her hopes were about to be dashed, Richard suddenly changed the subject and said, "Although I know you have ill intentions, you did contribute to this matter, so it's not unreasonable to give you some reward."

Richard refused Claurind not because he couldn't accept her demands, but because he wouldn't accept threats.

After all, it's just a few photos; it won't hurt you to take them.

But there's a saying: what I give you is yours, and what I don't give you, you can't take away.

At the same time, he was also raising his own value, making Clorind realize that he was not a casual man through his rejection.

Hmm? Something feels off.

Completely unaware that her attention was now entirely drawn to the reward Richard mentioned, Klorind, who was focused on the CPU, was apparently agreeing to it.

Book 1: Chapter 124 Clarinde's End

Claude got her wish and got Richard's photos. The only thing that made Claude regretful was that Richard refused to take off his entire upper body. Claude had no choice but to settle for letting Richard pose in several ways, which was barely enough to make her feel satisfied with the photos.

It must be said that Claude is indeed a skilled photographer. She has a perfect grasp of composition, lighting, and color, and her shooting ideas are also very ingenious. It is clear that the author has been conceiving the work for a long time before taking it.

Even if you were to enter it in a competition, it would likely achieve a decent ranking.

Richard shook his head as he looked at Clarinde, who was holding the photo and had a lewd, incongruous smile on her face.

This guy is hopeless.

Clarinde exudes an aloof and cool demeanor, both in temperament and appearance; she's the kind of sassy beauty who's ruthless and doesn't mince words.

But who would have thought that this icy beauty would be looking at his photo and laughing like an idiot, completely losing her aloof demeanor and looking incredibly silly.

—Contrast.

Incidentally, these photos were taken in Richard's office, on location. Clarin originally wanted Richard to come to her house to take the photos, but Richard refused without hesitation.

Taking photos in the office already required him to take off his clothes; who knows what would happen if he went to this guy's house? Boys must protect themselves when they're out.

As Richard pondered this, he used his fire elemental power to dry his soaked shirt.

Yes, you read that right. During the filming just now, Claudia even poured water on Richard, playing a male version of wet and sexy, which is just too outrageous.

They said this was a substandard alternative to undressing, and told Richard that he could either take his clothes off or get wet, and that he should choose instead of being forced to kneel down and beg them!

Of course, the last sentence was added later, but the meaning is similar: using the most cowardly tone to say the most ruthless things.

After putting his suit jacket back on and tying his tie, Richard said to Clarinde, who was still looking at the photos, "It's time to go home. You should go home early too... By the way, you won't do anything strange with my photos, will you?"

Clarinde is an adult, and although she has no experience in this area, she knows a little about the ways single adults relieve loneliness, such as doing some handicrafts while looking at photos.

Claude would never do such a thing. Her desire to photograph Richard stemmed purely from a pursuit of beauty, from art, you understand? Art!

“How could that be! I’m just collecting it; I wouldn’t do anything strange,” Clarinde assured her.

"Is that so? That's good. I'll be going now, you..."

"Lady Funina asked me to go to her office after get off work. You can go ahead now."

“Okay.” Richard nodded and walked straight toward the door, but he suddenly stopped halfway there, turned his head and leaned back to remind Clarinde: “You can look at the photos yourself, don’t spread them.”

"May Lady Funina see this?"

Do you still want your job?

Clorinde: ...

If you don't want others to see it, then don't. Why bring up work as an excuse?

After Richard left, Claude took another look at her photographs, then put them in a white formal envelope and put them in her bag. She planned to buy a photo album on her way home from get off work to preserve them and look at them from time to time to motivate herself.

She hasn't been able to feel her abs yet; she still needs to work harder.

Maybe next time I can ask Richard to go to the martial arts school for a sparring match. When sparring, bumps and scrapes are inevitable. It's perfectly normal to accidentally touch someone's abs or something, isn't it?

Hmm, I just don't know if I can beat him...

With that thought in mind, Clarinde went to Funina's office next door. As soon as she entered, she saw Funina waving at her.

"Clorind, come and see how my photos turned out!" Funina was clearly very satisfied with her work and beckoned to Clorind, ready to show her what a master-level photograph looked like.

Clarinde approached curiously and discovered that Funina was holding several freshly taken photos. If Clarinde remembered correctly, the adorable creatures in the photos were cats from the park next to Momang Palace.

"Lady Furina, what made you decide to photograph cats?" Clorind asked with some curiosity.

"Hehe, I plan to use these photos to enter the photography competition at this cultural exchange festival. I've already thought of a title for the work: 'The Cat Stealing Fish,' which perfectly corresponds to the cat's action of stealing dried fish in the photo."

"Why did Lady Flint suddenly decide to participate in the photography competition?" Clorinde knew that this photography competition was a popular event in cultural exchange activities, with a large number of participants.

If a work is shortlisted, it will not only be displayed at the event, but Steambird Newspaper will also print it out and compile it into a separate collection, which will be sold as a gift to various countries in the next issue of the magazine.

This opportunity to showcase one's work to everyone in Teyvat undoubtedly attracted numerous photography enthusiasts. Not only photographers from Fontaine and Liyue, but also photographers from other countries traveled long distances to Fontaine to participate in the competition, significantly boosting Fontaine's tourism industry.

However, what puzzled Clarinde was why Funina suddenly decided to participate in this photography competition.

Fu Ningna explained, "As the host, I have to participate in at least one of these events. Compared to those time-consuming competitions involving poetry, songs, and photography, taking photos is much simpler."

"So that's it."

Clarin understood; it was to support their own activities. Regardless of the truth of the reason, since Funina said so, she believed it.

However, the truth is that when Funina was inspecting the venue with Ningguang, she was boasting to Ningguang about how good her photography skills were when a staff member overheard her. Then, she was bombarded with compliments and forced to participate in the photography competition...

These are obviously things that can't be said to Claurind; doesn't Furnessa have any pride?

"Lady Funina summoned me here because..."

"I'm going to the Opiclie Opera House to watch the trial later, and it's not on my way there. Today is also the last day to register, so I was thinking of asking you to help me submit my entry. Here, I've filled out the entry form and everything. You can just hand it in on your way back."

Funina carefully gathered the photos she had taken, then stuffed them into a white standard envelope and handed it to Clarinde along with the application form.

Clarind readily agreed to such a small request without hesitation, taking the application form and envelope and stuffing them into her bag.

On her way home from get off work, Claude first went to a store to buy a photo album, and then, when she passed by the cultural exchange event venue, she handed the registration form and envelope from her bag to the staff.

Because all I could think about was getting back quickly and putting the photos I'd developed that day into the album, I didn't even notice that the envelope I handed over didn't have Funina's personal stamp...

Back home, Clarinde first took a nice hot bath to wash away the day's fatigue. Wrapped in a towel, she came out of the bathroom, made herself a cup of fragrant hot tea, and sat down at her desk.

The whole process was incredibly elaborate and full of ritual.

It was finally time to sort out today's haul. Clarin took out the photo album she had just bought from her bag. It was the most expensive one in the store, and it was said to protect the photos to the greatest extent possible and effectively alleviate many problems such as fading and aging caused by time.

It's absolutely amazing!

Of course, the price is also quite attractive.

However, it was nothing to Clarinde, who was quite wealthy; if she was going to use something, she would use the best!

As Clarin thought about it, she took out the white standard envelope from her bag. In the center of the envelope was a light blue ink stamp with a simple line drawing of the water goddess, Funina. This was Funina's personal stamp, unique in all of Fontaine and highly recognizable.

Therefore, the first thing Clarinde saw when she took out the envelope was this stamp. She was stunned at first, and then, as if she realized something, her delicate body trembled and she almost shook off the bath towel wrapped around her body.

However, Clarinde obviously couldn't care less about that now. She hurriedly opened the envelope, but instead of taking the photo out directly, she gently squeezed the two sides of the envelope towards the center, creating an opening. Looking through this opening, she could see a corner of the photo.

Clarind closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She had never been so nervous, not even when facing the most vicious criminals.

After some mental preparation, she slowly opened her eyes, her gaze following the opening of the envelope to look inside...

A cute black and white cat, intently savoring a fish it had somehow acquired, caught Clarinde's eye.

"Hiss..." Clorind felt her heart skip a beat, and for a moment she even felt that her heart was about to stop beating.

I want to die, I want to die, I want to die...

Clarind turned the envelope upside down, and the photograph inside, like fallen leaves drifting outside the window, landed on the clean and tidy desk.

Yes, it's all that little cat, lying down, standing, running, or sitting. You can tell the photography technique is quite skillful; even still photos can be captured with a sense of dynamic beauty.

However, Claurind is clearly not in the mood to think about static or dynamic beauty right now; she's about to lose her job!

Claude made a quick decision, got up and prepared to rush to the venue. When she got to the door, she realized that she hadn't changed her clothes yet, so she ran back to her room. She didn't even bother to clean up the towel she had dropped on the way.

When Claude arrived at the venue after changing her clothes and carrying the beautiful photos of her cat, she found that the registration area for the photography competition was already empty.

After asking a staff member nearby, Claude was told the answer.

"The photography competition registration has closed. All the photos have been taken back to the Steambird Newspaper headquarters for photocopying. If all goes well, given Steambird Newspaper's efficiency, the shortlisted works should be selected tonight."

Claude quickly asked, "The wrong photo was given. Can it be changed midway?"

As far as she knew, the photography competition was roughly structured as follows: first, an authoritative judging panel invited by Steambird Newspaper would select one hundred shortlisted entries, which would then be submitted to the venue of this cultural exchange event for tourists participating in the event to vote on, ultimately determining the gold, silver, bronze, and other awards.

Works that the judges particularly favor will receive more opportunities for display, such as being made into posters or banners and placed inside the venue.

"I'm not too sure about that. I guess... it won't work? After all, to ensure the fairness of the selection process, all the photos are shuffled copies and then voted anonymously. I reckon the selection process has already started, so it's impossible to change them now," the staff member replied after thinking for a moment.

"Can I withdraw from the photography competition halfway through?" Claude persisted, not giving up the question.

"Yes, that's possible, but you must be present in person. If you wish to withdraw from the competition, please fill out this form and present your identification. Your name is..."

"...Would you believe me if I said I was Funina?"

"what?"

Amidst the puzzled looks of the staff, Clarinde, wearing a mask of pain, left the venue looking utterly dejected.

The intense, palpable sense of dejection emanating from him contrasted sharply with the cheerful and joyful atmosphere around him.

We do not share the same joys and sorrows as humans; I just think they are noisy.

Nothing could better describe what Clarinde is thinking right now than these words.

She returned home in a daze. The hot tea she had left on the desk before she left had long since gone cold. Clarin didn't even glance at it before collapsing onto her bed.

And once he collapsed, he remained unconscious until the morning of the next day.

"Clorind asked for leave?" Richard was somewhat surprised, as this seemed to be the first time Clorind had asked for leave.

"Sick?" Richard asked, wondering if the guy had done something weird with his photo last night and then caught a cold.

Funina shook her head. "I don't know, but when she came to ask me for leave this morning, she did look a little unwell."

"It's probably because he's been working too much lately and is under too much pressure," Richard speculated.

When people are under pressure, they will think of various ways to relieve the pressure, and the most direct way is... cough cough.

“It does seem a bit too much.” Furina thought of the thick stack of documents that Clarinde had brought back from Richard’s office, which was enough to make one’s scalp tingle just by looking at it.

“Linette, when Clorinde comes back to work, assign her less work,” Richard said.

“Okay,” Linnie nodded in response.

However, she had some doubts in her heart. Logically speaking, Clarinde shouldn't have any work on her hands recently.

The numerous tasks she assigned at once were actually for the next few days, and those tasks had already been completed by Claurind the day before yesterday.

Theoretically speaking, Clarinde should be extremely free...

They're so bored they could take photos and enter them into photography competitions.

Volume 1: Chapter 125 So...so erotic!

Inside the Steambird Newspaper's special judging room, photographs brimming with the creators' ingenuity and dedication appeared anonymously before the special judges.

This is no easy task. Selecting the 100 best entries from a vast number of submissions requires a high level of discernment and expertise from the judges.

Furthermore, in order to avoid overlooking excellent works, the judging panel adopted a multi-person review mechanism. Instead of submitting a work to only one person for evaluation, multiple people would conduct multiple rounds of evaluation.

Not only are the works eliminated, but even the shortlisted works are repeatedly checked.

This photography competition is being held under the guise of cultural exchange between Fontaine and Liyue, so there can be no mistakes. Otherwise, it would be devastating to the reputation of Steambird Newspaper and the markets of both Liyue and Fontaine.

It's safe to say that this photography competition will be the fairest in all of Teyvat. Both the judges and the competition format have done their utmost to avoid any behind-the-scenes manipulation or favoritism.