Although Ivyst always liked to catch Lynn off guard with unforeseen beginnings, as they spent more time together recently, Lynn had gradually been able to react.
So, the moment he heard her speak, he was always ready to trigger the Lie Swallowing state.
The long-missed sensation of awkwardness swept through him, and Lynn re-entered the wondrous state of soul out of body.
Gazing at the bewildered boy behind the crow mask, Ivyst's eyes flickered with complexity, and she remained silent for a long while.
After a while, she suddenly stood up, slowly approaching Lynn, bent down, and gently removed the mask from his face.
The handsome countenance of the young man came into view.
Feeling the extreme closeness of the two, Lynn's heartbeat skipped.
What is this woman... going to do?
At that moment, Ivyst's sweet breath, like orchids and musk, lightly sprayed on his face, which was somewhat distracting.
But she herself seemed unaware of it.
Or perhaps, in her view, since he was currently under hypnosis, she thought he would never notice regardless.
But for Lynn, it was a severe test.
Having caught a fleeting glimpse of the smooth ravine beneath Ivyst's neckline, he nearly failed to maintain the pretense of the Lie Swallowing state.
Not only that, but Lynn suddenly had an illusion.
Why did it feel as if her posture... was about to kiss him?
But he was very clear that this was impossible.
Ivyst seemed to just want to take a good look at Lynn's appearance, her crimson eyes constantly focused on his face.
Beyond that, there were no further actions.
It was as though... she was rediscovering Lynn Bartleion.
After an indeterminate amount of time, she finally ended what felt like an extremely long "interrogation" for Lynn, and sat back down across from him.
Ivyst let out a soft sigh, casually removed her mask, revealing her beautiful face, and looked out the window.
What she saw was the still bustling night view of Orn City, but she had no heart to enjoy it.
"The first question," Ivyst said softly amidst the mild jolting of the carriage, "when you intervened on my behalf just now, what were you thinking?"
I was thinking about how to stop you from killing everyone present.
Lynn complained inwardly.
However, the reply obviously could not be that.
He suddenly realized something.
The events of the evening had been too fraught with complications, far beyond anyone's expectations, even Ivyst herself.
Therefore, his perfect handling of the situation likely left a very profound impression on her.
This impression was different from before, when he had coerced Ivyst with suicide to face her true feelings.
It was purely a positive impression.
For instance, if this were a galgame event and Lynn the player had chosen all the correct options, then the heroine Ivyst's favorability might have slightly increased.
Although he didn't know by how much, it was undoubtedly an unprecedented improvement.
This was different from his previous flattery or deceiving her under the guise of hypnosis.
It was an act of rescue that Lynn had taken, of his own volition.
Ivyst seemed to have felt his sincerity.
With that in mind, Lynn had an idea.
"I was thinking, it would be great if I could kill all those people who were disrespectful to Your Highness," he answered woodenly, "but I can't do that, and I can't bear to see Your Highness helpless and alone, so I had to choose to help you in my own way."
At this very moment, Lynn had utterly forgotten the conversation he had with Glaya.
He wanted to seize this rare opportunity to boost favorability, to make her lower her guard in the days to come!
"I... also felt sorry for you at that time."
Lynn's response was startling.
Yet Ivyst merely paused for a fraction, not bursting into fury.
After a moment of silence, she said indifferently, "You've got quite the nerve, but don't take this as a precedent."
For some reason, he now detected a faint sense of world-weariness in Ivyst.
He had no idea what Duke Tierus might have said to her just now.
"The second question," Ivyst did not give him time to think, "After you fired the shot, were you scared of the pressure Duke Tierus's uncle brought upon you?"
"Then why did you dare to fire?"
"You once said that without your permission, I can't die. At that time, I was quite certain I had not heard you issue a 'go die' command... so I understood, no matter what I did, I would not die."
"Because you did not permit it, so I would never die."
"Even if Duke Tierus personally took action, it would be the same."
Though his voice was somewhat monotonous, his words were very sincere.
So sincere that they gave Ivyst a pause, and she fell into an ineffable silence.
She had not expected that he would take such an insane action simply because of a command she had given before.
"...The last question." After a long silence, she spoke again, "It seems you never care about what others think?"
"How do you manage that?"
At this moment, she recalled what Duke Tierus had said in his study room.
Those swayed by emotions can never become qualified leaders.
Though Ivyst did not believe there was anything she needed to correct, she still kept those words in her heart.
Thinking about it carefully, this guy in front of her seemed to be living proof.
All along the way, except for that inexplicable suicide attempt that night, he seemed to have shown a bone-deep calmness from beginning to end.
No circumstance could provoke severe emotional fluctuations in him, let alone influence his judgment.
Perhaps that was the reason he had been able to perfectly resolve all matters.
Therefore, Ivyst was very curious to hear his answer.
"When a mirror is dirty, we don't think our face is dirty," Lynn began slowly, "So why should we feel that it's our problem when facing others' mockery and malice?"
To put it simply, if a thousand people doubt me, then those thousand people are all idiots.
That was Lynn's philosophy of life.
A trace of surprise appeared in Ivyst's eyes.
After a while, she came back to her senses and a faint smile lifted the corners of her mouth.
"That's really in your style."
After saying that, she turned her head again, looking out the window.
The shadows of buildings cast through the window and the lights on both sides of the road rapidly shifted back and forth in the carriage as it sped along.
Everything around was eerily quiet.
Even with the Lie Swallowing, Lynn felt somewhat restless at this moment.
You, woman, say something, will you?
And this thought soon turned into reality.
Gazing at the swiftly passing view outside the window, Ivyst seemed to think of something.
She suddenly said this out of the blue.
For an instant, Lynn thought he was hallucinating.
But then he realized it was neither false nor illusory; it was truly happening before his eyes.
Looking at her own reflection in the carriage window, Ivyst's lips parted.
She seemed to want to say something else.
But in the end, she couldn't utter a word.
At last, those complex and awkward thoughts still condensed into the briefest of phrases.
"...Anyway, thank you."