Hearing the other party's words, Lynn fell silent.
After a moment, he lowered his head and said, "That sounds... not bad? So, what do you need me to do?"
The masked woman appeared to have thought it through already and did not hesitate, "I need you to return to the Imperial Capital, inherit your father's title, and then have the entire family swear allegiance to me."
"The Bartleion family is considered an old honorable family, unlike those new powers without any foundation, and your influence in the Military Department is significant."
"Although it's somewhat declining now, it still represents a force that cannot be ignored."
"What's more," the masked woman paused and looked at Lynn with an inexplicable gaze, "your family seems very wealthy."
"I need your family to provide me with a continuous flow of financial support."
"Currently, your father is critically ill, on the brink of death, and your brother died on the battlefield. Apart from your sister, you are the only one left in the Bartleion family... of course, excluding the child in your sister-in-law's womb."
"So, for you to inherit the title would be the natural course of things."
Lynn shook his head, "Madam, you should know, in the Imperial Capital, I am a target for everyone; they won't let me inherit the title easily."
"That is for me to worry about; you just need to answer me, agree or disagree."
At this, Lynn shrugged, "It seems I have no reason to refuse?"
If this was indeed the reason they had captured him, then Lynn might accept the proposal.
Even if he had to feign agreement on the surface and secretly look for an opportunity to escape, it wouldn't be impossible.
After all, the other party really had made a huge demand, nearly wanting to devour the entire Bartleion family.
Perhaps it wasn't just her, but also those nobles in the Imperial Capital who were eager to get a share.
And all of this could be attributed to his fiancée.
Lynn sneered internally.
It seemed that the other party had seen through his thoughts and continued, "Wait a moment, I haven't finished stating my conditions yet."
"This deal between us doesn't have any guarantee, as you should be well aware," the masked woman said, resting her chin in her hand and revealing a patch of her snowy wrist, which added a few charming qualities to her usually cold demeanor, "so before this, you will need to cooperate with us in an experiment."
Lynn furrowed his brows slightly.
The other party clearly wasn't foolish and couldn't possibly base such significant cooperation merely on verbal agreements.
"An experiment related to mind control," the masked woman pointed to her forehead, "in other words, a hypnosis experiment."
"You want to make me your puppet?" Lynn scoffed, "Without spending a penny, you could devour the century-long accumulation of the Bartleion family. That indeed is a lucrative deal."
"So, what is your answer?"
Of course, Lynn could not agree.
If he really underwent that experiment, he would be completely handing over the power over life and death to the other party.
Once he became an utter slave, he would no longer be able to resist.
"Can you tell me the reason?" The masked woman seemed unsurprised, "Apart from this path, it seems the Bartleion family doesn't have any other chance for a turnaround."
Lynn smiled, "I don't want to become a prisoner without any autonomy. I'd rather die than that."
"What if I assure you that I won't manipulate your will through hypnosis unless you betray me first?"
"That's still not possible."
Now, the masked woman was genuinely curious.
From her point of view, the conditions she was able to offer should be irresistible to a fallen noble seeking revenge.
She had seen people driven by vengeance.
To achieve their goals, they wouldn't hesitate to plunge into hell.
But the young man before her seemed to have no such thoughts.
"Why?" She asked succinctly, then seemed to suddenly realize something, "Perhaps you don't know who I am, then I..."
"It has nothing to do with that." Lynn cut her off, "For instance, Madam, would you board a ship that is destined to sink?"
"What does that mean?"
The masked woman slightly furrowed her brows.
"It means... no matter who you are or what you want to do, with only this ragtag bunch at your disposal, you won't be able to accomplish anything."
Lynn leaned back in his seat and said calmly.
It seemed that her disdain had registered, and the masked woman's voice grew colder, "Do you have some sort of misunderstanding about me, thinking I'm easy to talk to?"
"Lynn Bartleion, you have only two choices before you."
"The first is to accept my proposal and become my subordinate after the experiment is completed."
"The second, after extracting your memories, I'll have someone transform into you and take over as the new head of the Bartleion family."
The outcome of the second choice went without saying.
She was not running a charity.
Once he had outlived his usefulness, his only fate would be death.
"Or perhaps... there is a third option."
Lynn suddenly stretched out lazily.
Following that, he leisurely placed a revolver, loaded with bullets, on the table.
"I could take you hostage and escape from here."
A sudden change occurred.
The masked woman's gaze intensified.
Right now, the shackles had not been opened, yet Lynn's right hand had somehow freed itself.
Upon closer inspection, the base of his thumb was distinctly swollen.
This thumb dislocation technique, which Lynn had learned from a book in his previous life, had worked the first time he tried it.
He looked at the silent masked woman and smiled cheerfully, "See, wasn't I right?"
"These men under you are nothing but a disorganized mob."
While fiddling with the revolver, Lynn continued to speak.
The gun that had originally belonged to Werner had been confiscated.
The gun in Lynn's hand now had been smoothly pilfered from Rhein while they had whispered to each other earlier.
It only required a bit of sleight of hand to effortlessly achieve this.
He had already said it.
Dealing with people like Rhein only required making them feel everything was under control; their own arrogance would devour them until they showed a flaw.
And Lynn, had seized that flaw.
Thus, at this moment, the situation had completely reversed.
"From the beginning, you intentionally pretended to be compliant, just to make Rhein let his guard down and create a situation where we were alone?"
The masked woman examined Lynn up and down, as if seeing him anew.
"Exactly." While speaking, Lynn pried open his mouth, revealing the bite marks inside, "He probably thought I was too weak to resist after seeing me spit blood, which was incredibly stupid."
"Lady, once this is over, you should consider getting more reliable subordinates."
"Do you think you can escape this dungeon?" The masked woman remained calm throughout, "Even if you managed to get to the surface, this area is still our territory..."
"Save your bluster," Lynn interrupted her again, "Lady, you can't fool me with that."
The masked woman looked at him with interest.
"You think that because you blindfolded me and tied my hands during transport, I was utterly helpless?" Lynn stood up and walked towards her, "When I was captured, it was about 9:40 PM, and when I woke up, the clock tower in the center of Orn City had just struck ten."
"The sound of the bells didn't give me enough time to leave the city but allowed me to deduce our relative position."
"As for the rest of the way, I judged it by the time I felt moving and the general direction... Plus, a person's pulse, breathing, even heartbeat, can serve as tools to measure time."
"With all these factors combined, and my memory of an aerial map of Orn City, it's easy to figure out where we are now."
"108 King's Avenue underground, am I right?"