Volume 4, Chapter 16 – Deceived

“How could that be… how could I possibly not like you, Xiaoyin?”

Tianyin’s sudden words clearly left the girl a little stunned.

However… that only made Seles’ thoughts pause for a brief moment.

“I really, really like you so, so much, Xiaoyin.”

The girl’s voice was unusually serious.

After that, Seles’ figure appeared directly in front of Tianyin’s line of sight.

Because Tianyin’s hands and feet were restrained, up until now the only thing her gaze could face straight on was the ceiling of this room.

And at this moment, Seles, this Dark Elf whose beauty alone was enough to topple cities, appeared within Tianyin’s field of view.

“Xiaoyin… actually, right from the very beginning, I wanted to make you mine.”

As if talking to herself, Seles leaned down in Tianyin’s eyes, her exquisite pretty face drawing closer and closer to Tianyin.

Slowly, the girl’s face came close, then stopped at a distance where Tianyin could practically feel the other’s hot breath.

There was still a little space between the two of them, but because Seles was above Tianyin, the tips of the girl’s hair, carrying a faint fragrance, still hung down and brushed against Tianyin’s face.

“Someone as cute, as pure as you, Xiaoyin, like an angel… the moment I saw you, I fell head over heels for you and couldn’t pull myself out… Xiaoyin…”

She was clearly voicing feelings that sounded absolutely sincere, yet in Tianyin’s eyes Seles’ gaze right now was utterly empty.

Rеаԁ oո KαtReaԁіnɡСаfе

“Xiaoyin… you can’t question my feelings for you, understand? I like you, so I like you. You need to know that for your sake I have been enduring for such a long, long time…”

Enduring for such a long time?

Tianyin was slightly taken aback.

“Enduring what?”

“You don’t know?”

Seeing the confusion on Tianyin’s face, Seles reached out her hand and slowly caressed Tianyin’s cheek.

Even though she knew now was not the time for flirting, the girl’s unbelievably gentle movements still made Tianyin instinctively feel shy.

“Xiaoyin really is cute…”

Watching Tianyin’s cheeks turn red, Seles’ eyes were still empty.

“However, it looks like Xiaoyin is wondering what it is that I have been enduring, right? Well, actually, I can tell you all about that, you know~”

“Whenever there’s something I want to obtain, I always take the initiative and reach out for it. Before the other side even has time to react, I grab it, then… let it understand just how much I care about it.”

Tianyin very sharply caught on the word “something,” which made her extremely concerned.

“Something? Am I an item too?”

“No, you are not. To me, Xiaoyin is special, different from those items that become useless once I kill them. In Xiaoyin’s case… you are extremely important, so important that I cannot bring myself to destroy you… a Xiaoyin like this is absolutely, absolutely not an item.”

Rеaԁ οո KаtRеaԁіոɡСаfе

“Kill… them…?”

Only in this moment did Tianyin finally recognize the terrifying dark side hidden within the girl before her.

For the things Seles cared about, or rather, for living people just like herself, she would grab them and bring them back without the slightest hesitation.

And for the ones she brought back, Seles would imprison them, then subject them to never ending torment until they died.

Of course, this was Tianyin’s guess. It did not necessarily mean Seles really did exactly that.

Even so, Tianyin’s guess was very close.

“Then… are you going to kill me too?”

“I will not. Xiaoyin is that important to me, how could I possibly kill you? And did I not say it already? I like you very, very much, Xiaoyin…”

“… Like or whatever, you don’t like me at all. What you feel for me is just a twisted sort of emotion. I don’t know why you became like this… but I don’t like you, Seles.”

Tianyin very decisively denied the feelings Seles had expressed.

Not only that, the good impression Tianyin had originally held in her heart for the Dark Elf before her vanished completely over the course of their conversation.

And this time, Tianyin no longer called her Sister Seles, but instead used a very cold voice to address Seles by name.

“Xiaoyin… it doesn’t matter if you do not like me. It is enough that I like you.”

The elven girl completely disregarded Tianyin’s thoughts and spoke in an extremely forceful tone.

Read оո KatRеаdіոɡСαfe

“Speaking of which, during that previous week, I obviously kept adding a mental potion that can slowly corrupt a person’s thoughts into Xiaoyin’s food. Why has it never taken effect… that is really strange… or is Xiaoyin’s heart truly so pure that it cannot be tainted?”

Just as Tianyin was feeling a little helpless about Seles’ forceful attitude, Seles suddenly said something like this.

“You said… what?”

Thinking she had misheard, Tianyin subconsciously wanted to confirm it.

“What potion?”

“A potion… something like that is only natural that Xiaoyin would not know about it~”

Seles did not notice the abnormal shift in Tianyin’s emotions. Of course, it was also possible that she simply did not care about Tianyin’s feelings.

While ignoring the changes in Tianyin’s mood, she still answered Tianyin’s question with an as-a-matter-of-course tone.

“That kind of potion is extremely precious… it is a special potion concocted with the still unripe Elven Fruit from the Fallen Ancient Tree as the main ingredient. It has the special effect of corrupting a person’s mind without them realizing it and making them fall into depravity… so, how is it? Does it feel very novel?”

“You actually… you actually drugged me from the very beginning?”

Tianyin’s feelings right now were a mess.

So… so from the very beginning she had been drugged?

No wonder, no wonder during those days, during that week, she had subconsciously chosen to passively wait for the teleportation circle to be repaired… instead of thinking about actively solving the problem herself…

So even back then her own thinking had already been affected?

Reαd oո KαtRеаԁіոɡСаfе

Tianyin finally understood. From the moment she encountered Seles, this Dark Elf standing before her, Seles had already begun deceiving her and ensnaring her.

No… thinking carefully, that whole thing before when she could not find an inn anywhere… could that also have been Seles’ doing on purpose? After all, Seles was one of the rulers of this underground city. Making it so that Tianyin could not find a place to stay would be an easy thing for her, would it not?

Only at this point did Tianyin finally understand.

From the instant she arrived in this underground city, she had already been targeted by this Dark Elf before her.

Yet the foolish her at that time still thought it was some sort of fated encounter and even naively and sweetly called the Dark Elf before her big sister…

She was deceived…

‘So… I was deceived right from the very beginning?’

Tianyin felt a dull ache in her heart.

And at this moment, the elven girl’s voice slowly sounded again in front of her.

“Ah, right… Xiaoyin, you probably don’t know yet, right? Elven Fruits are actually the source of all of us Dark Elves. Even I was hatched from an Elven Fruit, so in fact, Xiaoyin, you have been continuously eating Elven Fruits for an entire week, you know. Surprised, huh?”

“You… ugh…”

After hearing these words, Tianyin felt her stomach begin to churn violently of its own accord.