"Seriously? You want me to jump? I will die if I jump. How can I love you then?"
Ivy excused herself, looking down. She moved her lips, then closed them. Outside, her face appeared innocent, but inside, her heart was raging.
Never had she expected this. The villain was asking her to jump!
Did he want her death?!
"You are very smart, Ivy. A very smart way for you to twist my mind," Lucien smiled, leaning closer and stating. His gaze was fixed on her, his eyes cold, the emotions in them well hidden.
Lucien used the base of his thumb, rubbing it on Ivy's cheek. Ivy flinched, then gulped—all actions he noticed.
Ivy took the opportunity, hugging him. "Yes, honey... but it is the truth, you see," she said, smiling, her eyes peeking at him to see his reaction. She felt his scent in her nose as she hugged him. She felt how very hot his body was because of his powers. Peeking up, she saw Lucien's expression shifting to something—but the villain hid it before she could tell what it was he was hiding.
"Yes, the truth indeed. Now let me tell you, bunny," Lucien held her hand, stopping her from clinging to him.
Turning, his gaze locked with hers, and his voice followed with a dangerous growl.
Let her do it. She said she loved him. Let her prove that her words were not empty words.
The last words he said with his own reasons. His tone was as if he would kill her if she did anything different or wrong.
"If you don't jump, all your plans, your mission, your quest will fail."
Ivy's heart raced with alarm, hearing what he had said. What was he talking about? She bit her lips, slight panic visible in her eyes. Lucien's words were very vague and suspicious.
He was very cunning. Her heart was screaming—had he found out that she was not the real Ivy but someone else in her body?
If not, why was he talking like he had discovered everything?
What was he talking about?
Let it not be what she was thinking.
"What are you talking about?" she blinked, asking the question in her mind. She felt her palm sweaty under his gaze. His gaze was so intense on her, like it would bore a hole into her head.
Lucien wanted to force information from her that she wasn't meant to say.
"You know what I'm talking about," Lucien chuckled, his hands squeezing her cheeks, making her mouth part out like a fish. He had shifted from her chin to her cheeks for reasons Ivy could not understand. Ivy muttered, not feeling her tongue. She used her hand and removed his hands from her chin slightly.
"Alright, I'll jump, Lucien..." she declared, looking at him, her eyes shining with something like determination. "It's not because of whatever you are saying. I'm jumping because I really love you," she added, her voice stuttering, her eyes looking at him repeatedly as if he would say something to stop her.
Come on, Lucien, speak up! Why are you quiet? Won't you stop me?! Ivy screamed in her heart, almost crying. Physically, she kept a calm composure, keeping her face like a loyal wife who was willing to die for her husband—and she would prove it now, right at this moment.
"Go on, jump." Lucien let out an indifferent chuckle, hearing her words. "Don't waste time jumping."
He nudged her coldly into the face of death. Ivy cried in her heart, her emotions mixed—she was crying and smiling at the same time.
Ivy smiled at him, giving him sad eyes. "Okay, here I go."
Inside, she chanted, Empathize, Lucien, stop me from jumping. Don't look at me like that.
"Go on then," Lucien laughed, his voice cold like the devil. "I'm watching you."
Ivy knew that she had no way out. With Lucien's determination to make her jump, if she didn't, she would stay alive but still be as good as dead. Her act of loving him would be exposed as fake. The system would kill her for failing the mission. The villain would kill her—or do something even worse—for lying to him.
So, she had no way out. Ivy sighed, walking closer to the edge of the rooftop. Her feet trembled at the position, and she wanted to back away. But she couldn't. Everything would lead to her death anyway, so she should just do what she knew. Maybe she might get lucky.
With one last thought, her feet left the roof, sending her body falling, losing any balance of normal motion. She closed her eyes, feeling the unfamiliar sensation of her body plummeting. It was as if she had completely let go of herself to the world.
In her heart, while it felt like her last moment, Ivy thought with a slight tear on her cheek,
"I'm stupid. This is so stupid. Everything is stupid. Why did I jump? Maybe Lucien doesn't know anything, and I panicked and did what he said."
Ivy snapped her eyes open, thinking, Ivy, you are very dumb, and now all your hard work will fail.
She should have been more decisive. She could have found some other way to stop Lucien from insisting she jump.
Why was I so stupid? Ivy scolded herself. If she weren't falling right now, she would have hit herself on the head.
"Host, why are you falling off the roof?"
The system appeared beside her at that moment. Its glassy eyes were looking at her with a dirty sneer.
Ivy rolled her eyes. "Falling to death. Can't you see, system? Come fall to death with me because we've been busted," her voice was filled with sarcasm and irony, laughing at herself.
She was falling, and the system was falling alongside her. Did the little guy want to die beside her? Her lips stretched into a sweet smile with the lingering thoughts that came.
"What are you talking about, host? We have not been busted," the system said, yelling at her. "If we were busted, the system time bomb would have puffed you into nothingness."
What did the system just say?!
Ivy wasn't bothered by the fact that she would have been blown up into nothingness if the villain had found out her true identity, but she was worried about the fact...
She still had a chance!
"Where are you, Lucien? Come save me! I can't love you if I die!"
She immediately yelled, bouncing in the air as if trying to walk herself out of falling.
Lucien, this bastard! She gritted her teeth, thinking of how he had fooled her. If she could survive this, she would punish him, keeping him under her claws.
Lucien's eyes narrowed, hearing Ivy shout. He didn't know why, but he immediately burst away, falling over the roof. Ivy was falling, bouncing in the air, and he sneered, seeing her display.
With a swift motion, activating the flames that filled him, he led himself to her, holding her arm.
The two of them were like two tangled birds in the sky. Ivy took a deep breath, glaring at him. He had brought them safely to the roof.
Her lips were pouted like she would say the most foul curse if she opened them. Lucien smiled, seeing her reaction. He brought his hands, cupping her face.
"Mission well performed. Now I can see, Duchess, that you love me very much," he said to her, like speaking to a child, his hands then touching her ears.
He should stop touching her ears! Ivy screamed in her mind, forcing the frown on her face not to crack.
"Yes, I love you very much," she said, finding the chance to make him believe her. "I really do, Lucien," she added, tears streaming from her face.
Lucien looked at her with disgust.