Chapter 143

Chapter 143: Seeds of Doubt

Lower back and armpits.

For women, these are two extremely private areas.

Aside from oneself, perhaps it’s only the opposite sex promised for life that would see these parts.

Even now, with Xia, the curse repelling men has yet to be lifted from Tiya, and he hasn’t had a chance to see.

But right now, a black-haired youth, whom she just met and even clashed with moments before, was eerily commenting on such private information.

Xia wanted to scoff at this.

But upon seeing Tiya’s expression of despair, he felt like he was about to crumble.

“Tiya, what’s wrong?”

Xia, who had been sailing smoothly until now, refused to consider the worst-case scenario.

So even though his brain was buzzing, he forced a smile and asked.

“Him, I…”

Tiya shook her head slightly, trembling and instinctively hugging her arms.

At this moment, a chill ran through her body.

It felt as if she had been under the gaze of an invisible pair of eyes for a long time, as every detail of her life was being watched.

But… how could this be possible?

By the Goddess of the Crescent Moon, she would swear on her life that she hadn’t even met this boy named Lynn until today!

So why did this guy know about a mole under her armpit and on her lower back — such intimate details?

Even she didn’t know about them until a nun mentioned them during a bath together.

In an instant, Tiya fell into a kind of mental turmoil.

And upon seeing her expression, Lynn stepped forward, a glimmer of hope appearing in his previously sorrowful eyes: “What’s wrong, Wiya? Did you remember something? Do you still recall…?”

Meanwhile, the Liars’ Devourer’s invisible aura spread out, subtly influencing the mental states of both parties.

Although it was faint, it was quite effective.

“Shut up! You… shut up!!!”

Tiya shouted as she covered her ears, her tone trembling as if she had been violated by the person before her.

Seeing this, Xia finally understood what was happening.

What that guy said… was probably true.

Damn it.

He clenched his teeth, eyes narrowing, his palm flickering with the glow of bestowed power.

Xia, of course, didn’t believe that someone as emotionally cold as Tiya would expose herself in front of a complete stranger.

But the way he spoke, so vividly, didn’t seem like a lie.

This was something a self-proclaimed heroic protagonist simply couldn’t endure.

He wanted to eliminate Lynn right then and there.

This guy looked weak, seemingly only at the second stage, Xia could turn him to ash with a flick of his wrist.

However, whatever was happening here had already attracted the attention of the soldiers nearby, even Colonel Hayden threw a wary glance, afraid that these two parties might clash again.

Moreover, could he withstand the wrath of a Sixth Stage Half-Divine later?

After a moment, Xia took a deep breath and tried to suppress his chaotic emotions: “Tiya, I’ll only ask this once.”

“You never saw this person before and nothing happened between you, right?”

His voice seemed to regain calm.

Tiya’s expression was flustered: “Brother Xia, you, you believe me! I’ve never seen this jerk before and I have no idea what happened with him, but, but…”

She wanted to assert this confidently but felt unsure.

Because everything he said about her life details and interests matched exactly.

Additionally, there was something she had never told Xia.

Though born in the Elven Royal Court and revered as a saint, she harbored a secret deep within.

Her memories of her past life were fragmented, incomplete.

At least as far as Tiya was concerned, her mind seemed to lose all recollections from before she turned twelve, as if she had just appeared out of thin air.

Could it be that this guy was someone she encountered during that memory gap?

And had she shown him her body back then?

No, it’s impossible!

I’ve always only loved Brother Xia!

Tiya instinctively denied this reasoning in her mind.

On the other hand, Xia appeared to discern her current pain: “If that’s the case, let’s not bring this up again.”

“I believe you.”

With that, he patted his companion’s head to offer comfort.

However, when he looked at Lynn, a persistent darkness lingered in Xia’s eyes.

Since his emergence, he had only known how to step on others and show them up; this feeling of being cornered was a first for him.

Xia clenched his fists, suppressing the killing intent within.

Hearing Xia’s words, the elven girl was naturally deeply touched, a wave of tender sentiment rising within her.

“Brother Xia, thank you…”

She wiped away her tears and, ignoring her weakened state, held Xia’s hand tightly.

For a moment, it seemed like the ice between them had melted and all barriers vanished.

But was it really so?

[S-rank character “Tiya Youhest” has had their plot deviation raised to 0.55%.]

Hearing the system notification once more, Lynn chuckled.

Some things aren’t truly forgotten just because you say you don’t care.

At least with a hot-headed guy like Xia, who was intolerantly righteous and a bit arrogant, he wouldn’t easily let things slide.

The seed of doubt had been planted.

Even if they could get past this time supported by their trust, what about the second or third time?

After all, for a woman, infidelity is either zero or countless times.

And for a man, suspicion is the same.

However, Tiya’s plot deviation rise surprised Lynn a little.

Compared to others, it seemed to rise more easily than that of Ivyst?

Lynn couldn’t tell if this was a mere illusion.

Perhaps it’s due to the differences in their character roles.

Ivyst was akin to a villain in the original story; altering her fate meant going against the entire world.

However, for Tiya, her mission in the original seemed just to showcase her feminine charm and then be captured by the protagonist Xia in his embrace.

Of course, this might also be because Lynn’s actions committed the ultimate taboo in a power fantasy novel.

In such stories, the male lead could endure setbacks or even die at the hands of the female lead, as those are just setup methods.

But if a woman who originally belonged to the male lead had ever experienced infidelity or been seen by other men, that would be a big no-no in harem novels, leading to reader backlash.

Therefore, Lynn was undoubtedly going against both the original male lead and the will of the world.

This indeed provided considerable results.

“Brother Xia, I don’t want to see this guy anymore; let’s leave here, okay?”

Seemingly unwilling to face the black-haired youth any longer, Tiya spoke softly.

“Alright.”

Xia replied.

There was a victory banquet to attend later; he couldn’t waste time here.

He coldly glanced at Lynn before shifting his gaze away.

Lynn also promptly played the part of a pitiful failure, his eyes slightly reddened as if his beloved girl had been taken away.

Don’t show that expression!

I don’t even know you!

Tiya was feeling incredibly irritable inside.

After a moment of silence, she coldly said, “Lynn Bartleon, that’s the name, right?”

“I swear on the reputation of the Silent Saint, the next time we meet, I will kill you.”

She gripped her staff tightly, feeling profoundly humiliated by what had occurred to her today.

Maybe, killing this guy in front of her was the only way to dispel the chaos within.

“Wiya, if you want, you can kill me right now,” Lynn seemed unfazed by the threat, shaking his head, “You know I would never refuse your request, no matter what it is.”

His expression was utterly serene.

Seeing this, Tiya momentarily paused, then gritted her silver teeth, pulling Xia’s sleeve as they hurriedly left.

Watching the two depart, Lynn’s expression gradually returned to calm, as if what had just transpired was merely an act.

Having read the original work, he knew perfectly well that Tiya had no memories before the age of twelve.

This was why he had the confidence to carry out what he had done and dare to pretend they shared an unknown past.

Because Lynn was quite certain she would never remember those memories.

The reason was simple.

If something never existed, how could it be recalled?

Exactly.

The person Tiya Youhest was, simply didn’t exist.

She, or rather the body she currently inhabited, was initially a vessel for the Goddess of the Crescent Moon to descend into the world; however, due to strange circumstances, an unnecessary consciousness was born.

This consciousness was Wiya, or rather, the current Tiya.

The people of the Elven Royal Court had tried to erase it, but it was too late; the inexplicable consciousness had already seamlessly merged with the body.

To avoid harming the vessel of the goddess’ descent and to fulfill the ancient prophecy, they finally sent Tiya to the Saint Roland Empire, where she was discovered by the Silent Church, which also revered the Goddess of the Crescent Moon.

This was the story recorded in the original work.

And the ending was rather bland.

After all, this was a harem novel, so to satisfy the readers’ expectations of some upheaval, Tiya’s consciousness ultimately merged with that of the Goddess of the Crescent Moon, sharing the body.

Xia also successfully wooed the Goddess of the Crescent Moon, influenced by the innate affection carried by Tiya’s consciousness.

However, whether the two truly became one had sparked intense debate in the comments section.

How could such a minuscule consciousness maintain its own awareness before a deity?

A more reasonable possibility was that after merging, her autonomous consciousness was completely obliterated, with the Goddess of the Crescent Moon merely influenced by this fragment of memory.

So, the character of Tiya in the novel could be seen as a sacrificial pawn for the appearance of the Goddess of the Crescent Moon.

Even if she continued to be called Tiya later on, in Lynn’s eyes, she was no longer that doll-like girl.

What a pitiful character.

From the moment she was born, she was doomed to be a mere vase.

But what does that have to do with me?

A flicker of coldness gleamed in Lynn’s eyes.

He turned to the attendants left by Ivyst and said with a glimmer of red in his eyes: “Just now, nothing happened.”

The invisible power of lies instantly made these onlookers, who had been enjoying the drama, forget everything.

Though Ivyst currently held a lot of trust in him, and because she wanted to compete with the Witch Miss, she was willing to grant him certain freedoms.

However, if what had just happened became known, it could be troublesome.

“Let’s go.”

Lynn said indifferently, then quickly headed for the door under the gazes of the soldiers.

“Young Master Lynn, where should we go next?”

“Home.”