Chapter 22 I Want to * You

"This is a death sentence."

The reason Ivyst spared Lynn's life after he offended her was entirely because of his thoughtless words that night.

Those words had wrapped around her heart like a curse.

And if Lynn gave an answer that deeply disappointed her, given Ivyst's temperament, she might do something impulsive.

Feeling her gaze upon him, Lynn immediately fell into thought.

Not about how to answer the question.

But he suddenly thought of Ivyst's inexplicably increasing plot deviation.

Recalling the night he first saw Ivyst's true appearance, Lynn's initial reaction was an indescribable astonishment.

After that, he felt deep confusion.

Having read the original work, Lynn knew that this antagonist princess was born under an ominous sign, with an Evil Curse mark on her face, a pitiful existence abandoned by the gods.

Any life born into this world would feel an uncontrollable terror and revulsion toward her.

This was the origin of Ivyst's progressively twisted personality.

Before transmigrating, Lynn had always regarded this character as an ugly woman.

Yet, upon seeing Ivyst's true appearance, he immediately felt a strong contrast and dissonance.

He didn't feel any repulsion towards her; in fact, he believed from his heart that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

For this question, Lynn believed the only possibility was that his soul did not belong to this world and was therefore not influenced by the Evil Curse.

Perhaps he was the only being in this world, besides the gods, not affected by her.

In some sense, for the first S-rank plot character he had met, it did seem somewhat fated.

At this moment, Lynn was not just thinking about whether he could survive safely from Ivyst's hands, but about some more profound matters.

If he could find the key to changing her plot deviation, wouldn't he easily gain a large number of points?

For his future escape plans, Lynn felt it was essential to learn how to fleece.

So the question arose.

What caused the plot deviation that night?

He merely removed the mask without making any actions that would change the main plotline, but it caused a change.

Lynn believed that the change was not external but within Ivyst herself.

The words he had unconsciously uttered might very well have influenced Ivyst's future.

Although it was just a trivial phrase, it could affect her personality, character set-up, and the decisions she would make when faced with choices.

Like the butterfly effect, a gentle flurry of the wings could change the future.

However, from a numerical standpoint, this change did not seem to be enough.

So, for more points, Lynn needed a more potent dose.

Suddenly, he remembered a plot setup from the original story, and a spark of inspiration flashed through his mind.

Take a gamble!

Although these thoughts had run through his mind from beginning to end, in reality, only a short instant had passed.

Ivyst had not noticed his thoughts, her gaze coldly set upon him.

Seeing this, Lynn fully activated his Lie Swallowing ability, clumsily pretending to be foolish and dazed, saying slowly, "The Great Imperial Princess of the Saint Laurent Empire... Hillena, is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, no one can compare with her..."

Before the words had finished, countless blood-red thorns exploded instantly in the room!

Like a relentless tide, they instantly submerged Lynn's body.

In mere moments, they left him covered in blood from head to toe.

"You... as expected..."

At the instant she heard that name from Lynn's mouth, intense anger and humiliation completely shattered her rationality.

At this moment, Ivyst's eyes were frigid as glacial ice, and the temperature of the entire town dropped by more than ten degrees in response to her fury.

Her proud chest heaved violently, and a flush of red appeared on her cheeks due to cerebral congestion.

While beautiful, it was incredibly deadly.

Feeling the tearing pain all over his body, Lynn was nearly unable to maintain his Lie Swallowing state.

But he did not regret his decision; instead, he felt relieved.

Indeed, the stronger the dose, the better.

At this moment, the more she displayed extreme emotions, the stronger the rebound would be later.

Besides, even in her complete loss of rationality, even upon hearing that name she detested immensely, at the last moment, she still had not killed him.

This was an exceedingly rare occurrence.

After all, Lynn was well aware of what the Great Imperial Princess Hillena truly meant to her.

She was the first heroine of the original story and the existence indirectly responsible for the death of Ivyst's mother in childbirth.

In the novel, she had tried to take revenge countless times, but due to the opponent's protagonist halo, she ended up humiliating herself every time.

To Ivyst, Hillena was a mortal nemesis with whom there was absolutely no room for reconciliation.

This also led her to the point of no return, becoming the great antagonist.

Furthermore, according to the timeline of the story, there was a period in the original work when Ivyst left the Imperial Capital.

The reason was merely that she had an argument with Hillena at a banquet, accidentally revealing her strength and scaring away all the guests.

Saint Laurent VI, who had never liked her, was instantly enraged and told her to get as far away as possible.

Now, it seemed that this was probably why she appeared in Orn City.

Therefore, Lynn's words just now were akin to dancing in a minefield.

Seeing that the atmosphere had frozen, he knew it was time to stop playing. Controlling his body, he slowly continued the sentence: "…but now, seeing Your Highness's countenance, I realize how utterly ridiculous and laughable the former me was."

"Although Princess Hillena is pretty, she isn't even worthy to carry your shoes in front of you."

"That is what I'm truly thinking right now."

He spoke very slowly.

He didn't use any fancy language to describe Ivyst's appearance.

If anything, compared to the afternoon, Lynn's words right now could even be described as crude.

But the situation was completely different.

In the afternoon, no matter how extravagantly he had praised her, the inherently suspicious Ivyst wouldn't have believed a single word.

Only now, under hypnosis, did she think that he was revealing his true inner thoughts.

Therefore, although the words were clumsy, they surpassed the sweetest rain in the world.

That is the art of language.

When you go out of your way to praise a woman, she might not care at all, and might even find it annoying.

But when you say she looks better than her girlfriend, the nature of things changes.

Moreover, since Hillena and she were sworn enemies, like fire and water, this comment was even more valuable.

What could bring her more joy than besting that woman?

For a moment, Ivyst stared at the boy surrounded by crimson thorns, her red lips trembling, unable to speak.

After a while, the blood-colored thorns shattered with a clear sound.

Seeing the boy wounded all over because of her anger brought a sense of guilt she had never felt before.

Ivyst averted her gaze and took out a vial, emitting a faint silver glow, and tossed it into Lynn's arms.

Seeing that he stood there dumbly, not knowing what to do, she remembered that he was still under hypnosis.

"Drink it all, don't leave a drop," she said, her voice softening slightly as if she felt it was too cold, "This is the Moonlight Original Liquid from the Silent Church, which can perfectly heal all bodily injuries."

Lynn dully took the potion and gulped it down.

In an instant, a faint moonlight radiated from his body, all scars healed in a moment, and his skin was as good as new.

Except for the ripped clothes and occasional bloodstains, there were no more signs of injury.

Seeing this, Lynn's last bit of dissatisfaction completely dissipated.

Because he now heard the system's notification.

[The storyline deviation of "S-rank character Ivyst Laurent Alexini" has raised to 0.10%.]

A full 9 points reward credited!

He was close to drawing for an Extraordinary Ability again!

Looking at the system interface, Lynn felt a joy of harvest.

He could guess the reason for such a major shift in the story.

Ivyst was, in fact, a tragic and warped being who had never been loved since childhood, and her psyche was extremely twisted.

And in this moment, Lynn made her feel something she had never experienced before.

That was the feeling of being admired.

For a woman of slightly above-average looks, that's probably a very common experience.

But Ivyst had never felt it.

Lynn looked up and noticed that Ivyst had turned her back to him at some point, standing by the window.

At the same time, her soft murmur reached him.

"It's actually true, but... why?"

She seemed caught in a deep confusion.

After a long time, Ivyst turned back around.

As the pale moonlight poured in through the window, Ivyst, now clad in a layer of cool glow, appeared especially graceful and serene.

Perhaps because Lynn was under hypnosis, her gaze now lacked some of the sharpness and coldness of the past and had gained a bit of softness.

Regaining her composure, Ivyst spoke softly, "Next question."

"Do you resent me for what I've done to you?"

"No."

Lynn said.

Of course, the lack of resentment was a lie.

He wished he could run away right now, the farther the better.

But Lynn wasn't truly hypnotized, so he had control over what he said.

He wanted to take the opportunity to farm some more system points.

However, Ivyst was quite surprised by his answer.

She had been prepared for him to hate her enough to want to kill her, yet there was none.

Could there have been a problem with the hypnosis?

Ivyst looked at him intently, "What are you thinking about every time?"

"I'm thinking about what to name our children in the future."

His answer left Ivyst baffled, prompting her to ask, "What do you mean? Whose children?"

"Yours and mine."

Ivyst frowned slightly, "Speak like a human."

"I want to fuck you."

[The storyline deviation of "S-rank character Ivyst Laurent Alexini" has raised to 0.13%.]