Chapter 141: Chapter 141

「Your Highness, I suppose we can part ways here.」

Watching Shirlina hastily depart, Lynn glanced at the hand Yveste was tightly holding and spoke in a low voice.

「No,」 Yveste frowned and insisted, 「You’re coming with us to the victory banquet. After all, it’s supposed to be your moment of glory.」

「As long as I’m there, no one will dare lay a finger on you or criticize you.」

After Lynn went missing in the Level 0 Sealed Artifact riot, those in the Imperial Capital who were in the know had unanimously erased all traces of his contributions—almost as if they wanted to sever the Bartleon Family’s hopes of rising again.

Everyone had assumed he was dead, so naturally, this victory banquet was no longer related to him.

It was entirely unfair.

Yet Lynn could only let out a helpless sigh.

If he really were dragged over to attend the victory banquet and Yveste announced publicly once more, “He is my future consort,” he’d be put on the hot seat all over again.

Moreover, Lynn had more pressing matters to deal with right now.

He’d been away from the Imperial Capital for over a year.

During that year, too many upheavals had rocked the Bartleon Family: his elder brother died in battle, his sister-in-law disappeared, leaving only his sister Eleanor all alone to bear the family’s hardships.

He had to return home and inform those clueless fools that, as the last man of the Bartleon Family, he was still alive.

「Your Highness, we agreed on this plan long ago.」 Lynn knelt slightly, meeting Yveste’s eyes at her level. 「You don’t need to worry about me. Just enjoy the banquet. I have my own matters to attend to.」

「Then leave these people with you,」 Yveste said as she gently patted his head. 「If anything happens, have them contact me.」

「As you command.」

Watching the group depart, Lynn remained silent.

Perhaps it wouldn’t be too long before they met again.

He just couldn’t predict how big of a mess things would be by then.

「Shia, are you alright?」

Despite the rejection and dizziness coursing through her body, Tiya supported Shia’s figure.

At this moment, the blond youth’s hand was drenched in blood, cut by his own clenched fists.

An unprecedented sense of defeat and humiliation weighed on Shia’s mind, filling him with rage.

「I’m fine. Thanks for helping me just now, Tiya.」

After a moment, he took a deep breath and forced out a slight smile, trying to calm Tiya’s anxiety.

Upon seeing that, the elf-blooded girl breathed a small sigh of relief and gently withdrew the arm she had been using to steady him. 「I’m sorry.」

Her face was pale, her body swaying slightly, indicating that her physical condition was flaring up again.

Yet Shia didn’t notice. He wore a grim expression as he locked eyes on Yveste’s group as they passed by.

That guy…

The black-haired, blue-eyed youth who had been by the Third Princess’s side just moments ago was now at the back of the group—

And he slowly stopped right in front of Shia.

Shia remained half-kneeling on the ground, still trying to quell the chaos in his body from Yveste’s overpowering force.

Seeing Lynn pause in front of him and, for some unknown reason, lean down slightly, extending a hand as though offering reconciliation—

A hint of humiliation flashed in Shia’s eyes. 「Get lost. I don’t need—」

Before he could finish, Lynn’s hand suddenly shifted, hovering instead before Tiya.

Noticing the faint smile at the corners of Lynn’s lips, Shia felt an unexplainable unease rising within him.

What is he trying to do?

On the other side, as this stranger suddenly extended a hand toward her—thinking back to how he had, in public, harassed Shia just moments ago—Tiya immediately knitted her brow.

She said nothing, but the moon-white glow appearing around her staff, along with her vaguely poised stance, made it clear what her answer was.

Get lost!

Though unspoken, her doll-like, emotionless eyes made that sentiment clear.

In response, something akin to joyous relief flickered in the black-haired youth’s ocean-blue gaze.

「I apologize. I might have startled you.」 He spoke with such sincerity and earnestness. 「I just wanted to say… it’s been a long time, Viya.」

Viya?

Who’s that?

Shia sneered inwardly, finding the underhanded scoundrel before him nothing more than a clown.

He couldn’t even get the girl’s name right, yet here he was eagerly running over to strike up a conversation? He’d only humiliate himself.

With that in mind, Shia prepared to stand, intending to help Tiya up.

But the instant he turned his head, he realized that the moon-white glow around Tiya’s staff had somehow vanished.

She remained there, half-kneeling on the ground, staring blankly. Her verdant eyes were filled with a hint of shock, as if she had just heard something unbelievable.

「How do you know that name?」

Seeing the wariness in Tiya’s gaze, Lynn sighed inwardly.

Come to think of it, last night after he left Yveste, the witch lady had suddenly contacted him via a piece of parchment.

Though her tone was still laden with that cool, aloof air, Lynn sensed something off. It was as if she had become much more urgent about breaking her seal.

She had never hurried him about such matters before. Yet this time, she uncharacteristically demanded that he influence at least one person’s fate within a week—and at the very least, shift the minimal parameters.

That person was none other than the future second-generation Goddess of the Moon, the elf-blooded girl currently kneeling before him: Tiya Yuhesti.

She corresponded to the Chain of Order on the witch lady’s right wrist.

Right now, in Lynn’s view, it was an excellent opportunity.

Due to Yveste’s Plot Deviation having reached 12.07%, the novel’s storyline had already been greatly altered.

For instance, the moment Shia—who should have had a triumphant “soldier-king returns” moment in Glostein here at the Imperial Capital—stepped out of the teleportation matrix, he had fallen flat on his face instead.

Why? Because Yveste, who should have been slumbering, had shown up in the Imperial Capital far too early, so Shia and his companions hadn’t had time to level up.

That massive power gap caused the novel’s male protagonist to take a harsh beating.

It was something not mentioned in the book.

Hence, the current scenario—where our side is strong, the other side weak—is, for Lynn, the best chance to complete the Witch’s Trial.

And for the unstoppable, overpowered hero type, the most intolerable thing is what?

Naturally, it’s when the woman who was supposed to be his ends up having some unexpected development with a man he considers his enemy.

「Answer my question!」

Tiya finally snapped out of her confusion, her expression icy as she raised her staff in interrogation.

Under her steely gaze, a glimmer of dazed despair flickered across the youth’s azure eyes: 「Viya… do you really not remember me?」

「I have never met you.」

Tiya’s tone was impassive, pushing him away with her frosty demeanor.

I’m sorry.

Though you and I have never truly met, for the sake of venting the witch lady’s hatred toward this so-called hero—and to raise the Plot Deviation so we can unchain her shackles—please just bear with this for now.

With that thought, Lynn once more turned to the elf-blooded girl before him.

A faint sorrow appeared in his eyes, right on cue. 「Your real name is Viya. Before you left the clan according to the ancient prophecies, as the saintess of the current Elven King’s Court, your sister, Viola, gave you that name.」

「You grew up on the branches of the World Tree and used to sneak off to play in the Elven Spring, only to get caught and scolded by your sister in the end.」

「Though you are a devotee of the Goddess of the Moon, your aesthetic taste leans more toward Fertility. You like wearing green dresses, you don’t fancy makeup, but you love bathing in various flower petals, saying you like their pleasant scent.」

「You adore sweets, especially freshly baked financier cakes. You love wearing white stockings, and you also enjoy painting your toenails a soft cherry color. You—」

「I know everything about your life.」

Lynn recited every detail with ease.

With every sentence, Shia’s face darkened further.

Because he knew absolutely none of these things.

He’s definitely making this up, right?

That’s what he kept telling himself—until he took a quick look at Tiya beside him and saw her expression suddenly turn tense.

「Have you… been stalking me?」

Tiya’s voice was chilling as she gripped her staff.

Seeing her react that way, Shia felt his heart tighten instantly.

Th-Those details… are real?!

Impossible!

Shia’s mind went blank in a swirl of chaos.

Observing him, Tiya seemed to grow agitated. 「Shia, d-don’t listen to his nonsense. I really have never met him!」

Her nerves finally broke through her usual doll-like coldness, revealing rare traces of panic.

Hearing her words, Shia drew a deep breath and forced a smile. 「I certainly won’t believe him.」

Tiya exhaled slightly in relief, then fixed Lynn with an incomparably frigid gaze. 「What exactly is your goal here?」

「My goal?」 Lynn shook his head softly. 「I only hope you can remember me.」

He glanced at the unmoving Plot Deviation indicator and decided to up the ante.

「If you truly don’t believe me, I’ll mention one more thing—something perhaps only someone very close to you could possibly know.」

Lynn’s eyes glimmered darkly as he looked at her.

Not sure why, but a sense of foreboding suddenly rose in Tiya’s heart upon seeing that gaze.

「There’s a small mole on your left hip… and another beneath your arm.」

Shia wanted to scold Lynn for speaking such nonsense, to tell him to shut his mouth. But out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly noticed Tiya’s expression.

She was kneeling there with a blank stare, her pretty face pale and utterly disheartened!

Seeing her like that, Shia froze for a few seconds. Then his mind exploded in a deafening roar.

Meanwhile, Lynn’s long-awaited System Prompt finally echoed in his ears:

[System Prompt Sound]: “The Plot Deviation of the S-level storyline character 『Tiya Yuhesti』 has increased to 0.50%.”