Chapter 142

“There are cows! There are cows!”

“Your Highness, we can part ways from here.”

As Cyrilina hurried away, Lynn stared at his hand tightly held by Ivyst and whispered.

“No way.” Ivyst frowned and insisted, “You should join us for the celebration banquet; after all, this is your honor too.”

“With me around, no one would dare to point fingers at you.”

After the Level 0 Sealed Item incident where he went missing, everyone in the Imperial Capital who knew about it collectively erased Lynn’s contributions from the event, as if trying to cut off the Bartleyon Family’s resurgence completely.

Everyone thought he was dead, so naturally, the banquet had nothing to do with him.

It was terribly unfair.

Yet, Lynn could only sigh helplessly.

If he got dragged into that banquet, and Ivyst publicly declared, “He is my husband,” it would be like roasting him over a fire.

Besides, Lynn had more important things to do right now.

It had been over a year since he left the Imperial Capital.

In that year, too much had happened to the Bartleyon Family; his elder brother died in battle, his sister-in-law went missing, leaving only his sister Eleanor to guard the family in a dire situation.

He had to get back and let those mindless buffoons know that, as the last man of the Bartleyon Family, he was still alive.

“Your Highness, this is something we agreed upon early on.” Lynn crouched down, looking Ivyst in the eye. “You don’t need to worry about me; just enjoy the banquet. I have my own things to deal with.”

“Then leave these people here.” Ivyst patted his head, “If anything happens, just let someone notify me.”

“As you command.”

Watching the crowd depart, Lynn fell silent.

In reality, they might not be parting ways for long.

He just wondered how messy things would get by then.

“Xia, are you okay?”

Tia stifled the wave of rejection and dizziness flooding over her, gently supporting Xia’s unsteady body.

At that moment, the golden-haired boy’s palm was bleeding, with flesh torn by clenched fists.

A unique feeling of defeat and humiliation shrouded Xia, stirring up a wildfire of anger inside him.

“I’m fine, thanks for earlier, Tia.”

After a moment, he took a deep breath, forcing a smile to calm Tia’s tense nerves.

Seeing this, the elven girl seemed to relax a bit, then slowly released her grip on him, “I’m sorry.”

Her pallid face swayed slightly, clearly indicating a health crisis.

However, Xia didn’t notice this; his gaze darkened as he watched Ivyst and the others pass by him.

That guy.

The black-haired, blue-eyed youth originally with the Third Princess had now drifted to the back of the group.

Then, he stopped in front of Xia.

At this moment, Xia was still half-kneeling, trying to regain his composure from the confusion caused by Ivyst.

Seeing Lynn stop in front of him and inexplicably lean down, offering a hand as if to clear the air between them, Xia’s eyes flashed with a hint of humiliation: “Get lost, I don’t need—”

But before he could finish, Lynn’s hand easily redirected to Tia standing beside him.

Looking at Lynn, who wore a slight smile, Xia suddenly felt a surge of annoyance and uneasiness. What was he up to?

Meanwhile, Tia was frowning at this unfamiliar boy who stretched his hand toward her, recalling how he had publicly persecuted her brother before.

Without saying a word, she conjured her moon-white glowing staff, adopting a barely discernible defensive stance, implicitly expressing her disapproval of Lynn’s actions.

Get lost!

Though unspoken, her emotion was clearly reflected in her puppet-like, emotionless eyes.

Seeing this, a flicker of regained joy shone in Lynn’s brilliant blue eyes.

“Sorry, maybe I scared you.” His expression was sincere and earnest, “I just wanted to say it’s been a while, Vaya.”

Vaya?

Who is that?

Xia sneered internally, thinking this lowlife trying to frame him was nothing but a clown.

He stumbled like this just to hit on a girl without even knowing her name? What a self-inflicted embarrassment.

With Tia’s personality, there was no way she would find anyone else attractive aside from him!

With that thought, Xia stood up and prepared to help Tia up.

But in that moment, when he turned his head, he noticed Tia’s staff, which had been glowing white, had somehow gone dark.

She sat there dumbfounded, her green eyes reflecting a hint of shock, as if she’d heard something unbelievable.

“How do you know that name?”

Feeling Tia’s wary gaze, Lynn sighed inwardly.

Come to think of it, after leaving Ivyst last night, the Witch Miss unexpectedly contacted him via sheepskin parchment.

Though her tone remained cold and noble, Lynn sensed something was off. It felt like she had suddenly grown eager to lift the seal.

She had never pushed him like this before, but this time, she absurdly asked him to at least influence someone’s fate within a week.

That person was none other than the future Goddess of the Crescent Moon—the very elven girl who was now half-kneeling before him, Tiya Youhest.

This corresponded to the Order Chains on the Witch Miss’s right wrist.

And right now, Lynn saw it as an excellent opportunity.

Due to Ivyst’s plot deviation now up to 12.07%, such a high value naturally led to significant shifts in the original storyline.

For example, instead of performing a comeback scene in the Imperial Capital, Xia suffered a crushing defeat right after exiting the teleportation array.

This was because Ivyst, who should have been asleep, had taken the stage in the Imperial Capital too early, leaving Xia and his companions no time to level up.

This immense power gap made him, the male lead of the original story, take a hard hit.

This was something never mentioned in the book.

Therefore, the current scenario where the enemy was weak while he was strong was actually the perfect time for Lynn to complete the Witch’s trial.

And what is it that a ‘hero’ in a typical power fantasy absolutely cannot tolerate?

It’s obviously when a woman who should belong to him has unexpected ties with an opposing man.

“Answer my question!”

Tia seemed to have finally snapped out of her confusion, her expression frosty as she raised her staff and questioned him.

Under her gaze, a flicker of surprise and despair crossed the boy’s brilliant blue eyes: “Vaya, do you really not remember me?”

“I’ve never seen you before.”

Tia’s expression remained cold, keeping him at a distance.

Sorry.

Although we indeed haven’t met, to give the Witch Miss, who hates heroes, a taste of revenge, and to raise the storyline deviation to free her from her shackles, I will put you through this.

With that in mind, Lynn looked at the elven girl before him again.

A hint of sadness surfaced in his eyes: “Your true name is Vaya, given to you by your sister Viola, the Holy Maiden of the Elven Royal Court, before you left your tribe following the ancient prophecy.”

“You grew up in the branches of the World Tree, loved sneaking off to the Elven Spring to play, even though your sister would catch you and punish you in the end.”

“As a devotee of the Goddess of the Crescent Moon, your taste slightly leans toward abundance. You like to wear a green dress with no makeup, but you enjoy bathing in flower petals because you love that fragrant scent.”

“Your favorite thing is desserts, especially freshly baked Financier cakes. You love wearing white stockings and painting your toenails a soft cherry blossom pink, you—”

“I know everything about your life.”

Lynn recounted every detail.

With every sentence, Xia’s face grew darker.

Because all this was news to him.

This has to be nonsense, right?

Thinking thus, he glanced at his companions nearby but found Tia’s face oddly distorted.

“You’ve been following me?”

Tia’s expression was icy, gripping the staff tightly.

Seeing her respond like this, Xia’s heart tightened!

This…this is real?!

How is that possible?!

In a flash, Xia’s mind was in complete chaos.

Seeing that, Tia seemed anxious: “Xia, don’t listen to this guy’s nonsense! I really have never seen him before!”

Finally panicking, her normally doll-like cold expression showed rare signs of distress.

Hearing this, Xia took a deep breath and forced a smile, “Of course, I won’t believe him.”

Tia sighed in relief and then shot Lynn a chilling glare, “What exactly do you want?”

“Want?” Lynn shook his head gently, “I just hope you can remember me.”

Looking at the unmoving storyline deviation, Lynn decided to throw in a heavy dose of truth.

“Since you don’t believe me, I’ll share one more thing—something perhaps only someone close would know.”

Lynn gazed deeply at her.

Feeling that intensity, Tia suddenly got a bad feeling.

“You have a small mole on your left hip and another under your armpit.”

Xia intended to reprimand Lynn not to talk nonsense, but his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of Tia beside him.

She was staring blankly at the ground, her face pale, as if she had lost her soul!

Seeing her like this, Xia was stunned for a few seconds, and then his brain went “buzz” and exploded.

At the same time, Lynn finally heard the long-awaited system notification.

[S-class storyline character “Tiya Youhest”’s plot deviation has increased to 0.50%.]

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