“Damn!”
Lin Nuo’s expression froze for a moment.
‘Who just said they wouldn’t use this thing on me?’
Even if he came clean with XÄ« now, admitting he actually wasn’t hypnotized, it obviously wouldn’t make her angry or anything.
But just as he was about to speak, he seemed to catch a trace of melancholy in XÄ«’s eyes.
Moving swiftly, Lin Nuo stared into the blood-red pupil in her palm, slowly acting out a rigid, expressionless demeanor, a flicker of struggle in his eyes, but otherwise the vacant, unfocused look of someone who’d lost their will under Hypnosis.
Of course, Lin Nuo hadn’t actually been hypnotized.
His thoughts were quite calm: ‘It’s rare to see her like this.’
‘Let’s see what she wants to say or do to the hypnotized me first…’
XÄ« took in his confused look, pinched his cheek, and seemed to truly believe Yosena’s Hypnosis had worked.
She gently wrapped her arms around his waist.
Only when nestled in his embrace did those nerves that had been taut since yesterday finally relax completely.
“There are things I want to tell you, but I can’t say them to your face… Noble Young Master, do you know what I originally wanted to do to you?”
She looked up at Lin Nuo’s blank face, recalling Yosena’s words—that people under Hypnosis would remember nothing that happened while hypnotized once they woke up.
Relieved, she spoke: “I want to bind both your mind and body firmly to my side, so that every moment, you can only think of me, so that I’m the only one by your side…”
“I don’t think I’m selfish, I just think…”
XÄ«’s eyes flickered: “I can offer you my everything, and I want the same from you. That’s all.”
“…..”
“But seeing that worthless fake with the same face as yours, I suddenly realized, what I want isn’t a you controlled and dominated by me, obedient in every way but without your own will.”
“Back then, I only knew that having your soulless shell would never make me happy. As for what I truly yearned for, I couldn’t really say…”
“Until—”
XÄ«’s eyes shone even brighter, filled with nothing but the desire to rely on him.
Her hold around his waist tightened noticeably.
“In that Illusory Realm, discovering that you never once thought to abandon me from the start, just as I never thought to abandon you… Do you know, Lin Nuo?”
“The warmth you gave me—the feeling of being embraced and accepted by the one I love—is an experience I’d never had before. Not the joy of touching, hugging, biting, or possessing your body.”
“I felt my heart pounding then, and from that moment I knew: what I wanted was truly being chosen by your heart.”
For a moment, Lin Nuo was a bit stunned.
This was, since they started, the first time XÄ« had ever called his name so intimately, the first time she so sincerely bared her feelings.
–All because she thought he was under Hypnosis and would remember nothing after.
XÄ« continued, her tone honeyed like a confession, “I even fantasized, using Hypnosis to make all your maids, your parents, everyone you know, isolate you—then I’d come to your side as a savior, reach out my hand to redeem you, making you rely on me alone from then on.”
“But those things, compared to you, in danger, holding me in your arms like a little quail, shielding me from possible explosions, and saying just one word to me—’Hold tight’…”
“That all just seems so cheap and meaningless.”
“I can’t quite describe the happiness of that moment, but I know what I want is the real you, the one who accepts me with your heart and soul.”
“But I can control your thoughts, make you treat me as the only one under Hypnosis, bind your body so you’re at my mercy, unaware… But what you really think, that’s something I can never control…”
“I feel so powerless…”
Her tone faded with her strength: “If I stay by your side any longer, I might not be able to resist binding you again. That could scare you, drive you farther away from me, and that’s not what I want.”
XÄ« whispered: “I think I should leave.”
“You’ve actually always hated me deep down… haven’t you?”
“….”
Lin Nuo said nothing.
Words spoken under Hypnosis are the truest thoughts.
Lin Nuo knew this.
By all rights, he should have responded right away.
But he didn’t think there was anything to hate about Xī—those eight years she’d cared for him so attentively spoke for themselves.
As for these past few days, at worst, it was just indulging the unique kink of the neighborly big sister he’d known for so many years—playing along for a while…
Well, call it role-playing and a little tying-up play?
Besides, nothing truly painful had happened in the process…
If he had to say something bad about her, maybe it was that there was some resentment about being mentally controlled.
But what Lin Nuo didn’t say was, when he and XÄ« worked together in the Illusory Realm, she had handed over all her trump cards to him without hesitation…
Trusting him, a complete rookie at magic, with everything—he knew that was rare.
Not to mention, during the battles, the Magic Book’s healing skills had come in handy.
And really, nothing special had happened between him and XÄ« during this time…
…What?
You say she force-kissed him a bunch of times?
That’s just… at most, a kind of friendship by lips, right?
Using such a serious word as “hate” doesn’t fit at all, does it?
“Someone wants me to go back to Shilang Bay.”
Lin Nuo had just organized his thoughts to reply, when XÄ« softly spoke first: “I’ve figured it out too. Maybe the treasures I’ve hoarded in my memories and paintings about you are just footnotes in your life, and maybe my possessiveness over you would make you hate me.”
“I don’t want to be hated by you. I don’t want to face that situation again and have you really strike out at me. If that ever happens, I’d definitely cry.”
For the first time, XÄ« showed a vulnerability she’d never revealed before.
“Lin Nuo, have you ever liked me?”
She suddenly straightened, starlit eyes locking onto his with stubborn intensity: “All this time, even a little bit, have you ever liked me?”
“….”
No way…
Why did she suddenly start throwing such direct fastballs?
You think you can bowl people over just because you’re bold?
“Not saying anything?” Her voice dropped, pulling her clothes down a bit to reveal a stretch of alluring fair skin, “Even if it’s just my body, have you ever liked that?”
“…..”
Damn!
You might as well have asked the first one!
This one’s even harder to answer!
Even though Lin Nuo was supposed to be hypnotized, he still hadn’t responded after a long time.
It was as if even his subconscious had nothing to say to that question.
The light in XÄ«’s eyes dimmed even more: “I think I know the answer. You have no feelings for me at all. If I’m in your way, I’ll just leave…”
Lin Nuo’s mind was suddenly in a chaotic whirl.
He couldn’t handle XÄ«’s barrage of direct, heartfelt confessions anymore.
To hide and play the coward, trampling her sincerity, would be the act of a heartless wimp.
If what his nun wanted was his soul’s acknowledgement…
Then Lin Nuo felt he could give her a proper response.
“……What did you think of me the first time you saw me?” XÄ« still stubbornly wanted to know his first impression of her.
But after this question, Lin Nuo actually answered her immediately: “The perfect first love’s face, with a smile so cute it’s almost unreal, a stark contrast to your saintly aura. Honestly, you looked like a total bad girl.”
“..Huh?”
After so much one-sided confession, to suddenly receive an answer, XÄ« was a bit startled.
She dabbed at her eyes with her sleeve, looked at Lin Nuo in front of her, and recalled Yosena’s note—those under Hypnosis only speak their true subconscious thoughts…
The world seemed to brighten in an instant, her crescent-moon eyes curving in satisfaction.
“When you look at me now,” pushing her luck seemed like a maiden’s privilege.
XÄ« straightened his head, tugged her dress off her shoulder in a show of disbelief, revealing her creamy white shoulder, then reverted to her mischievous self, sticking out her pink tongue to lick her lips and striking an irresistibly seductive pose: “Every time you see me like this, what are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking about where our wedding should be, what our child should be named…”
“A wedding with who?” XÄ« instantly frowned, “What child or whatever…”
She pinched Lin Nuo’s chin and lifted it: “Say something normal.”
“I want*you.”
“!!”
At a distance where they could feel each other’s breath, Lin Nuo saw that in XÄ«’s clear pupils, all she reflected was his face.
Her soft, dewy cheeks, upon hearing such blunt words, froze completely.
As she pressed her lips together, from her ears down to her cheeks, a flush of shyness rarely seen appeared.
Her eyes grew subtly unfocused, as if she found the answer unbelievable, but thinking about it, it somehow felt reasonable.
Was this her look of satisfaction?
Seeing XÄ«’s reaction, Lin Nuo felt this was enough.
“Do you like me?” XÄ« immediately said, “Never mind, don’t answer that!”
She actually bit her lower lip in indecision, absentmindedly twirling the end of a three-stranded braid hanging from her shoulder.
“This doesn’t seem right…”
“……What’s not right?” Lin Nuo finally asked.
XÄ«’s unique fragrance surrounded him as she approached, wrapping her arms tight around his neck.
“Hug me.” Once again, XÄ« sweetly commanded him.
“…..”
Lin Nuo hesitated for a moment, then lifted his hands to embrace her delicate form.
Lost in her scent, his palm stroked her back, as if comforting a cherished pet who’d never shown vulnerability before him.
“You have to like me!”
The girl’s voice was hoarse as if soaked in warm water, filled with her unreasonable, domineering possessiveness, “Otherwise, I’ll love you too much, and you won’t love me back. That’s not fair… I won’t allow it, that’s not right…”