Stop Hypnotizing Me, Villainous Princess!

Chapter 142: Seeds of Doubt

The lower back and underarm.

For women, these are exceptionally private areas.

Apart from oneself, only a lifelong partner might ever glimpse such places.

Even now, Xiya, who hadn't yet resolved the male-repelling curse on Tiya, hadn’t had the chance to see them.

Yet here stood a black-haired youth, whom they had just met and even clashed with moments earlier, staring at them with an eerie calm as he spoke this information aloud.

Xiya had been about to scoff at him.

But seeing the lost and distraught expression on Tiya's face, he felt as if he were on the verge of exploding.

“Tiya, what… what’s wrong?”

Xiya, who had always sailed through life with ease, didn’t want to assume the worst.

Even as his mind buzzed incessantly, he forced a strained smile and asked, “Is it true?”

“He… I…”

Tiya shook her head slightly, trembling as she instinctively shrank back, wrapping her arms around herself.

A chill seemed to engulf her body entirely.

It was as if she had been under the gaze of an invisible eye for years, every detail of her life meticulously observed and stripped bare.

But… how could this be possible?

Under the watchful Moon Goddess, she would swear on her life that she had never met this youth named Lynn before today!

So why did he know about the mole on her underarm and lower back, such an intimate detail?

Even she had only learned about it when a nun, helping her bathe, had teasingly pointed it out.

Tiya found herself spiraling into a kind of mental chaos.

Seeing her dazed state, Lynn stepped forward. The sorrow in his eyes flickered with a trace of hope.

“What’s wrong, Veya? Are you remembering something? Do you recall what happened back then…?”

At the same time, the intangible waves of the Lie Eater rippled outward, subtly but persistently influencing their mental states.

“Shut up! You… shut up!!”

Tiya clutched her ears and screamed at him, her voice trembling as if she were being desecrated.

By now, how could Xiya not understand what was happening?

This man’s words… they were likely true.

Damn it.

Xiya’s jaw clenched tightly, his eyes blazing with fury. The glow of the Divine Factor in his palm flickered erratically.

He didn’t believe that someone as aloof as Tiya would ever expose her body to a complete stranger.

But the youth spoke with such detailed accuracy, it was hard to dismiss him as a liar.

For a protagonist of his own story, this was utterly intolerable.

He wanted to kill Lynn on the spot.

This man was weak, seemingly just a Second-Rank Extraordinary. Xiya could reduce him to ashes with a mere gesture.

But the situation here had already drawn the attention of lingering soldiers nearby. Even Colonel Hayden occasionally glanced over, wary of another clash.

Besides, could he withstand the wrath of a Sixth-Rank Demigod afterward?

After a long pause, Xiya took a deep breath, suppressing his turbulent emotions.

“Tiya, I’ll only ask this once.”

“You’ve never met this man before, and nothing ever happened between you two, right?”

His tone seemed calm again.

Tiya’s expression turned panicked.

“Brother Xiya, you—you have to believe me! I’ve never seen this jerk before and absolutely don’t know anything about him! But… but…”

She wanted to firmly declare her innocence, yet she faltered with hesitation.

Because everything he mentioned about her life’s details, her preferences, it all lined up.

Moreover, there was one thing she had never shared with Xiya.

Although she hailed from the Elven Royal Court and held the noble title of Saintess, she harbored a secret deep within her heart.

Her memories were incomplete.

At least, in her view, everything before the age of twelve was a blank void.

It was as if she had materialized out of thin air.

Could this man have been someone from that forgotten period?

Was it during that time that she had shown herself to him?

No, impossible!

From beginning to end, the only one she had ever loved was Brother Xiya!

Tiya rejected the notion instinctively.

On the other side, Xiya seemed to sense her inner turmoil.

“In that case, let’s not bring this up again,” he said gently.

“I believe you.”

As he spoke, he patted her head in a comforting gesture.

Yet when he turned to face Lynn, the shadow of anger in his eyes remained deeply etched.

Since his meteoric rise, Xiya had only ever been the one to step on others and humiliate them. This suffocating humiliation was a first for him.

His fists clenched tightly, barely suppressing his murderous intent.

Hearing Xiya’s words, the elven girl felt deeply moved. A surge of tender emotion welled up in her heart.

“Thank you, Brother Xiya…”

She wiped away her tears and ignored her own frail condition, pale-faced as she gripped Xiya’s hand.

For a moment, the tension between them seemed to dissolve, all barriers melting away.

But was that really the case?

[S-tier storyline character “Tiya Yuhesti” deviation rate increased to 0.55%.]

Hearing the system’s prompt in his ear, Lynn chuckled softly.

Some things aren’t forgotten just because you claim they don’t matter.

At least with Xiya’s obstinate, self-righteous, and somewhat arrogant nature, there was no way he would simply let this go.

The seed of doubt had already been planted.

Even if this time, trust between them could carry them through, what about the next time? The time after that?

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

And for a man, suspicion works the same way.

Yet, the degree to which Tiya’s storyline deviation increased caught Lynn off guard.

Compared to Yveste, Tiya seemed easier to affect.

Lynn wasn’t sure if this was just his imagination.

Perhaps it was due to the nature of their roles.

Yveste, as a villain in the original story, was akin to fighting against the world itself to change her fate.

In contrast, Tiya’s role in the original seemed to revolve around showcasing her charm as a woman before being "conquered" by the protagonist, Xiya, and falling into his arms.

Of course, it might also be because Lynn had violated one of the greatest taboos of power-fantasy novels.

In such stories, the male lead could endure setbacks, even lose a female lead—these were merely setups for greater triumphs later.

But if a woman who initially belonged to the male lead had an affair, or was seen naked by another man, that was unforgivable—pure narrative poison, enough to enrage the audience.

Thus, Lynn’s actions were undoubtedly a direct challenge to both the original protagonist and the will of the world.

And it had yielded significant results.

“Brother Xiya, I don’t want to see this person anymore. Let’s leave, okay?”

Not wanting to face the black-haired youth any longer, Tiya spoke softly.

“Alright.”

Xiya agreed.

There was a celebration banquet to attend later; wasting time here was unnecessary.

He cast Lynn a cold glance before withdrawing his gaze.

Lynn, in turn, played the part of a pitiful loser perfectly—his eyes reddened as if his beloved had been snatched away.

Stop making that face!

I don’t even know you!

Tiya felt nothing but irritation inside.

After a moment of silence, she said icily, “Lynn Bartleon, that’s your name, isn’t it?”

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

Gripping her staff tightly, she felt nothing but humiliation over what had happened today.

Perhaps only by killing this man could she dispel the chaos in her heart.

“Veya, if you want, you can kill me right now,” Lynn replied, unperturbed by her threat. He shook his head calmly.

“You know I would never refuse you, no matter what your request is.”

His expression was tranquil.

Tiya froze momentarily, then gritted her teeth and tugged at Xiya’s sleeve, hurrying away from the scene.

As the two figures disappeared into the distance, Lynn’s expression gradually returned to calm, as though everything earlier had been mere theatrics.

Having read the original novel, Lynn was well aware that Tiya had no memories from before the age of twelve.

This was why he had the confidence to make such bold claims, fabricating a connection with her past.

Because Lynn was certain she would never recover those memories.

The reason was simple.

They had never existed in the first place.

That’s right.

Tiya Yuhesti, as she was known, didn’t exist.

Her body was originally meant to serve as the vessel for the Moon Goddess’s descent into the mortal realm. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, a trace of unintended consciousness had emerged.

That consciousness was Veya—or rather, the current Tiya.

The elves of the Royal Court had attempted to erase this stray consciousness, but it was too late. It had already fused with the body beyond separation.

To avoid harming the vessel meant for the Moon Goddess and to fulfill the ancient prophecies, they had sent Tiya to the Saint Roland Empire, where she was discovered by the Silent Church, which also worshipped the Moon Goddess.

This was the story as recorded in the original novel.

The ending, however, was underwhelming.

As a harem novel, the author had played to the fantasy of readers by having Tiya’s consciousness merge with the Moon Goddess’s, allowing them to share the same body.

Xiya, capitalizing on Tiya’s natural fondness for him, successfully “conquered” the Moon Goddess.

But whether the two truly merged into one consciousness sparked fierce debates among readers.

How could such a tiny consciousness possibly retain its identity in the face of a god?

A more reasonable theory was that upon merging, Tiya’s independent will was entirely erased, and the Moon Goddess was merely influenced by her memories.

In the novel, Tiya ultimately became a sacrificial character to facilitate the Moon Goddess’s appearance.

Even if she was still called Tiya afterward, to Lynn, she was no longer that doll-like girl.

How pitiful.

From the moment of her creation, she was destined to exist only as an ornamental figure.

But what does any of that have to do with me?

A glimmer of indifference flashed in Lynn’s eyes.

He turned to look at the attendants left behind by Yveste, their expressions still caught in shock. A faint red light flickered in his gaze as he spoke.

“Just now… nothing happened.”

The intangible power of the Lie Eater erased their memories, leaving no trace of the earlier events.

Although Yveste trusted him highly and was willing to grant him freedom to spite the Witch, things would still become troublesome if today’s incident came to light.

“Let’s go,” Lynn said nonchalantly, striding toward the door under the watchful eyes of the soldiers.

“Where to next, Young Master Lynn?” one of the attendants asked.

“Home,” Lynn replied.