Luo Wei stared at Ophelia, who wore a faint smile on her face.
His heart was filled with terror.
If she could truly see through his inner thoughts, wouldn't that mean she would know every scheme and negative thought he harbored about her?
Wouldn't that make him completely transparent?
Luo Wei had never considered the possibility of defeating her through strength; his only chance was through conversation...
If this was true, his greatest advantage would be completely lost...
As he pondered this, several expressionless maids entered, carrying various dinner platters.
As the exquisite dishes were placed on the dining table, Ophelia smiled gently and began introducing them to Luo Wei.
"Luo Wei, I recommend you try this foie gras first."
"Oh?" Luo Wei raised an eyebrow, displaying an expression of anticipation.
"This dish has quite a long history in the Empire," she said, moving her gaze toward him while using her fork to transfer some food onto his plate.
"The source of ingredients, the complex preparation process, and the finest matsutake mushrooms as accompaniments are all key to its rich flavor. Give it a try."
Hearing her recommendation, Luo Wei nodded with a smile and eagerly put the foie gras in his mouth.
"This is my favorite dish. How is it?"
Under Ophelia's somewhat expectant gaze, Luo Wei furrowed his brow as he savored it.
"Hmm..."
"It's quite good."
In truth, it wasn't good at all - it was fatty, greasy, and had an unpleasant fishy taste.
Not as good as braised pork intestines.
But faced with that gaze, Luo Wei could only give her an insincere answer.
However, right after he spoke.
Ophelia's smile remained unchanged, but the character information above her head suddenly changed.
[Ophelia]
[Corruption +5]
[Corruption: 23↑]
Luo Wei became even more confused - could she really read minds?
When they first met, she had expressed her dislike for his lying, so if she was angry now because she discovered his lie, that would make sense.
But then...
Luo Wei quickly corrected himself: "Actually, it's not that good... it's a bit greasy."
[Corruption +10]
[Corruption: 33↑]
Luo Wei's eyes widened as he watched the corruption level jump up again!
What was going on with her?
He wasn't lying this time - saying it was good wasn't right, saying it wasn't good wasn't right either. How was it that everything he said seemed to displease her?
"If you don't like it, then let's have it removed."
Ophelia's face still showed no obvious emotional change. She glanced outside, and the maid bowed her head and took away the foie gras.
This increasingly bizarre candlelit dinner continued.
Looking at her breathtakingly beautiful face so close to him, Luo Wei's heart pounded...
The corruption level had risen so high in just this short time - what would happen if it reached maximum?
What was even more bizarre was—
Ophelia's behavior was too normal, maintaining that proper expression throughout, with only occasional ripples of emotion showing in her gentle smile when facing him.
Yet it was precisely this "normalcy" that made him feel a hint of fear...
His body unconsciously tensed up.
As a result...
"Luo Wei, why are you sitting so far from me? Are you afraid of me?"
Ophelia said with a smile as she quietly poured him a glass of red wine.
This time Luo Wei remained silent.
[Corruption +5]
Luo Wei was completely dumbfounded...
He suddenly realized that Ophelia wasn't simply displeased with him lying to her...
She disliked any thoughts that went against her wishes!
Even when eating something, it had to be completely according to her preferences, and his feelings had to be genuinely sincere...
This level of controlling behavior was absurd!
"Cheers... to our reunion..." Luo Wei forced a big smile.
He looked at Ophelia, who had moved her seat almost right next to him and was observing his every move.
With a death-wish mentality, Luo Wei secretly cursed in his mind:
Fool.
After cursing, he quickly glanced at Ophelia's character information.
The corruption level hadn't changed.
His heart immediately relaxed, and he gulped down the red wine in his glass.
It wasn't mind reading.
Rather, it was some ability to detect the subtle emotions expressed through his words and actions.
The counter-strategy was simple.
Keep quiet, speak less.
It made sense - although this world was strange, an ability as outrageous as mind reading couldn't possibly belong to her. Such abilities would at least belong to deities or Old Ones, beings who could easily dominate minds...
During dinner, Ophelia talked about the past.
"Back then, I was probably the most pitiful member of the royal family. Father King abandoned me outside from childhood, and we might not see each other even once a year..."
"I heard they were all quite afraid of me, which makes sense..."
Ophelia rarely opened up about her feelings like this, but upon seeing the person she had been longing for, she couldn't stop talking.
"I caused my mother's death, and whenever I had an episode, I would become like that, and they were all afraid of me..."
"The servants and my brothers and sisters were one thing, but Father King was so cold to me too..."
She gently leaned closer, her silver-white hair falling onto Luo Wei's shoulder.
"If you hadn't appeared, I might have been locked up in that manor forever, like a bird without wings..."
Ophelia quietly rested against Luo Wei's shoulder, speaking intermittently.
Luo Wei listened attentively.
When he had played through the character storyline before, he knew that Ophelia was never truly a 'emotionless white-haired girl.' She was actually quite lively.
At least, that afternoon when he picked the lock and helped her sneak out, she revealed her true nature.
She pretended to be a commoner girl, curious about everything around her, asking about this and that, and even wanted to help in the muddy fields like real farmers.
She ended up covered in mud, rolling around happily in it, impossible to stop...
As they talked about this, Ophelia's smile gradually broadened, "Later, Father King found out about our sneaking out, and he was extremely angry."
"But what I didn't expect was that he actually asked me about it seriously, which was quite rare."
From then on, Ophelia finally gained a rare bit of freedom, able to follow Luo Wei to that old house and investigate strange cases with him.
It was a precious and beautiful time.
Until...
"Why did you leave four years ago... Do you know how upset I was then..."
Her moon-like silver-white hair lifted slightly, and her normally light blue eyes gazed seriously at Luo Wei.
Luo Wei had been listening to her speak, occasionally nodding in agreement.
However, now it was finally his turn to speak about this topic...
+【Epic Battles!】 "Your Highness, they say Linxi Temple is miraculous. Won’t you make a wish?" "A wish? It should be making wishes to me." "That may be so, but since you’re already here..." "..." "Fine. Then grant this princess a consort to play with." "He must be obedient, devoted, and utterly infatuated with my body—so much so that he’d kneel and kiss my feet." "Your Highness, that’s not a consort. That’s a dog." "Then add clever, witty, heroic, ambitious yet pragmatic..." "Hmm, that’s enough for now. I’ll add more later." After tossing out these words half in jest, Princess Anle departed the temple—only to catch a fleeting glimpse of the Bodhisattva statue smiling at her. Meanwhile, Yang An, fresh out of university, was having a very bad day. Good news: He’d transmigrated into another world with a cheat granting tenfold combat power. Bad news: He’d immediately fallen into the clutches of a certain villainess. Good news: Said villainess possessed peerless beauty and royal status. Bad news: She was absolutely monstrous!!! In the frozen wilderness, Yang An knelt beneath Qin Guo’er’s feet, drenched in sweat despite the cold. Desperately clutching her porcelain-perfect foot—the very one poised to crush his throat—he could only think: How do I survive this?! Need answers NOW!
d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!
ts me of treason?" "Correct. The host must return to the capital and gradually build up influence." "Wait—I have half a million soldiers, and you want me to go back to the capital to 'build influence'?" "Host, you are currently the Northern Garrison General, loyal to the Great Xia Dynasty." "Of course I am loyal to Great Xia! Absolutely loyal!" "But you keep referring to yourself as 'We'..." "Never mind the details! Summon all the regional commanders and military officers! We suspect treacherous officials are manipulating the court! They shall march with Us to the capital and purge the corrupt!" "......"
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
