Bengtie, I'm really not a villain!

In Raiden Mei's heart, your image, which had crumbled to pieces, seemed to be reshaped into something sublime.

[However, it's really hard for Raiden Mei to accept that the image she harbors resentment and anger towards you, the image you personally destroyed, is being rebuilt...]

Although filled with doubts, Raiden Mei didn't believe you were in cahoots with the attackers.

[Could it be that you knew about the mole all along and devised a plan to ambush her on the battlefield?]

Why didn't you make it clear from the beginning? Why didn't you tell everyone so they could be prepared and set a trap to catch the other side...?

[Raiden Mei suddenly remembered that in everyone's eyes, you were nothing more than a useless piece of trash who couldn't even wield a sword.]

Unlike her, who is cherished like a precious gem, in everyone's eyes you are nothing more than a coward who dares not touch a knife.

Compared to Raiden Mei, who is anticipated by everyone, you are not even considered as one to go to the battlefield. This is the reason why you can imprison Raiden Mei as a matter of course.

Aside from her, perhaps no one else will believe you.

Even Raiden Mei probably wouldn't believe what you said without reason, after all, there's a traitor in Izumo trying to launch a sneak attack and sabotage the battle against Takamagahara...

[The idea that she would kill everyone else is so absurd that no one could possibly believe it.]

Even Raiden Mei, before hearing Himeko say it herself, would at most believe that someone was targeting her for assassination, but would not believe that someone was so ruthless as to want to kill everyone else present.

Even if Raiden Mei believes you, she will find it difficult to explain the source of this information to others, and therefore unable to persuade them to formulate a plan...

After all, although Raiden Mei is known as the "Queen of Lightning," she was just a pretty girl with no real combat experience before stepping onto the battlefield.

Without enough WeChat contacts, how could Raiden Mei possibly command the others?

Thinking about this, Raiden Mei now seemed to vaguely understand why you did this.

[You drugged her, forcibly imprisoned her to prevent her from immediately joining the battle, precisely to avoid those people's sneak attacks, right?]

[But if Raiden Mei thinks about it carefully, she'll understand. It's the same logic as before: even if she believes what you say, she'll still be the first to stand on the battlefield.]

Because Raiden Mei herself knew that she couldn't overcome that mental hurdle.

Even knowing she would be ambushed, Raiden Mei couldn't bear to stand by and watch her comrades bleed while she hid.

[You probably saw through this, so you simply didn't bother explaining further and chose the most effective approach.]

Since we can't persuade her to stay with simple words or just talk, we have to use the most direct method.

[You detained her without any explanation, and only released her now at this opportune moment; in hindsight, it was the best arrangement.]

As for why you didn't choose to knock her unconscious, but instead used the despicable method of drugging her...

Raiden Mei really doesn't understand.

[Raiden Mei would rather be knocked unconscious by you than see you use such a despicable method as drugging her.]

[Because Raiden Mei still believes you are strong, even now she still believes so.]

[Because when she broke free from your control as the effects of the drug wore off, the strength you displayed convinced her that you were very powerful.]

[What's more, you also have the ability to forge such powerful and terrifying blades.]

[But if she really didn't beat you, and you knocked her unconscious and imprisoned her, then Raiden Mei would be completely convinced.]

There's nothing shameful about losing to a stronger opponent; Raiden Mei is also willing to witness your strength.

[But you use such despicable methods to destroy the image of you in Raiden Mei's heart.]

[And why didn't you completely drug her? Why did you keep her conscious until she fully understood what you did, and clearly heard your humiliation and mockery...?]

Raiden Mei couldn't believe this was your twisted sense of humor; she didn't believe you were simply satisfying your warped desires.

Therefore, Raiden Mei believes this strangeness might stem from the knife in her hand?

[Raiden Mei carefully recalled the moment when that sword truly transformed into such a powerful and terrifying weapon; it seemed to be precisely the moment she was driven to the brink of collapse by your provocation.]

When you deceived her into believing that we would be facing the defeat of the Izumo Kingdom, Raiden Mei's inner turmoil reached its breaking point, to the point that her bottom line was broken...

It was at that moment that the knife in her hand completely transformed into such a ferocious and terrifying power.

[Raiden Mei looked down at the knife in her hand, and she was surprised to find that as her beliefs were challenged and negative emotions arose in her heart, the patterns on the blade became even more beautiful.]

The patterns on her body became even more vibrant, seemingly stimulating her to constantly recall what you had done to her on her snow-white skin.

This solidified Raiden Mei's suspicion—was everything you did for her ultimately for the creation of this sword?

Although Raiden Mei cannot understand what power you possess to accomplish such a miracle, if it were you, Raiden Mei believes you have the capability.

So, Raiden Mei kept this question in mind, planning to ask you about it after she returned.

At this moment, Jing Ye stared wide-eyed at the content displayed on the villain simulator.

Huang Quan, the beautiful girl who is still called "Raiden Mei" in the dungeon, is so smart, isn't she?

How could so many things be deduced based on such a small amount of information?

Even the effect of the "Blade of the Soul" entry was to cause her emotional breakdown, and "Raiden Mei" was able to guess it.

From this perspective, it seems that "Raiden Mei" is far more useful than a certain cook.

Jingye began to look forward to what it would be like if he really met the cook from Honkai Impact 3rd.

Who knows, Raiden Mei, the cook, might get a harsh rebuke from Yomi.

Jingye's amusement detector beeped, making him lick his lips with slight excitement.

In the villain simulator, Huang Quan constantly speculates on his motives, almost to the point of praising him.

Although it's certain that Huang Quan still can't let go of the evil deeds she was wronged with, she probably doesn't realize that her suspicions about Jing Ye have reached the point of respect.

Normally, these flattering words would be spoken by a villain simulator, but this time the spotlight was stolen by "Raiden Mei".

The villain simulator seemed rather disapproving, making "humming" and "uh-huh" noises from the sidelines.

"The host truly lives up to her reputation, managing to devise such an ingenious method, maintaining a sliver of consciousness while simultaneously rendering Huang Quan unconscious, thus stimulating her mental breakdown."

"Compared to directly knocking her unconscious in the underworld, making her realize she missed the battlefield and was belatedly subjected to your sweet treatment after waking up is far more distorted by making her personally experience the feeling of losing everything."

"No wonder the blades forged by the host using this method are so powerful."

"The host's methods are simply art; praise the host with humming and groaning sounds."

The villain simulator, as if vying with Huang Quan for attention, emphasized its praise of Jing Ye once again.

Of course, Raiden Mei probably wouldn't know that the reason for drugging her instead of knocking her unconscious was indeed due to a twisted sense of humor and perverse desires.

Of course, as Raiden Mei guessed, it was mostly for the effect of the "Blade & Soul" entry.

For the past decade or so, Jingye has been refining the effects of your "Swordsmith" skill, and now he's finally starting to truly synergize it with "Blade Spirit."

But how can one possibly influence Raiden Mei, a young lady born into the Raiden clan, who possesses wealth, powerful talent, and is revered by many, with ordinary "love" and "kindness"?

For those who already possess a wealth of positive emotions, continuing to use so-called "love" and "kindness" will not reach the ultimate emotional fulfillment.

Therefore, the effects of the "Blade of Souls" stats cannot be fully utilized, Raiden Mei cannot unleash her peak emotional power, and her blade cannot be imbued with sufficiently powerful energy.

Jing Ye's understanding of "the extreme of emotion" remains the same as before, fixated on negative and distorted emotions.

In the Estella instance, to make everyone in the instance lose their memories, the emotional threshold required was reached. Jingye chose to make Estella's parents regret to the extreme.

In the Firefly instance, when trying out the effect of "Puppet on a String", Jingye also chose to make her regret and despair to the extreme, so that her body would submit to him and be able to be modified.

Even now, in order to test the effects of "Blade & Soul," they still chose to plunge Raiden Mei into deep despair and anger...

Despite Raiden Mei's incredibly delicious expression and posture, her glistening tears made Jingye's taste buds tingle...

However, Jingye was still not satisfied.

Just as a gluttonous believer's appetite grows even larger after he has obtained pleasure, Jingye once again craved more twisting.

In Jingye's eyes, Raiden Mei could have been even more desperate.

Raiden Mei was far from reaching the limit of despair and collapse in her heart.

Beyond family honor and village criticism, Jingye knew that Raiden Mei could probably trigger even more irritation.

However, Raiden Mei, who is still just a teenage girl, hasn't had enough experience to cherish enough things in her heart.

Only by keeping her alive can she have more things to cherish, which means...

Only then will there be more pain points that Jingye can trample on and destroy, that Raiden Mei can fall into deeper despair and collapse.

For example, after she and Himeko survived this time, the one who will appear is Kiana, who belongs to "Yomi".

Jing Ye wanted to see what this "Kiana" was all about.

How could Himeko die and Kiana die with her?

And what exactly happened that led to Himeko and Raiden Mei's tragic end?

It was precisely to deal with that unexpected crisis that Jingye wanted Raiden Mei to remain conscious while he manipulated her with Iaijutsu, so that she could infuse the sword with its strongest power to date.

According to the villain simulator, the hint given by "Observation Haki" is that even if you infuse it with a blade that Raiden Mei is good at, you still won't be able to get through that crisis, which is why Jingye took so long to release Raiden Mei.

After hearing the news of Raiden Mei's intervention, the crisis will surely devise another plan to launch a sneak attack, and thus the plan to strengthen Raiden Mei will inevitably continue.

As Jingye watched the content in the villain simulator, Raiden Mei finally saw her fame reach its first peak after her debut:

Raiden Mei, returning victorious from the battlefield, exudes a composure and fortitude forged in the crucible of war.

Compared to her previous gentler demeanor, Raiden Mei now possesses a more chilling and awe-inspiring aura.

[Of course, this is how it appears to outsiders. Only Raiden Mei herself knows what you did to her that caused her to have this silent exterior.]

[The evil deeds you committed against her, and the fact that she was questioned by everyone on the battlefield, are what made Raiden Mei so cold-hearted.]

When the people of Izumo returned, the crowd surged forth like a tidal wave, their cheers and applause weaving into a stirring symphony.

[Although Raiden Mei's absence from the initial expedition led everyone to believe she was a shameful deserter]

However, after news of Raiden Mei's devastating exploits on the battlefield spread, coupled with the well-intentioned lies previously fabricated by Himeko, people realized that she was not a "deserter" but rather a "trump card."

Therefore, their eyes were filled with reverence and affection for this young beauty.

[Moreover, Raiden Mei has the reputation of the Raiden clan, and the public doesn't really believe that Raiden Mei, as the eldest daughter of the Raiden family, would be a deserter.]

The Raiden family's power is also being exerted in secret, preventing people from discussing Raiden Mei's earlier disappearance.

The crowd cheered as they welcomed the returning samurai, their eyes particularly drawn to Raiden Mei.

While marveling at Raiden Mei's stunning beauty, the crowd's attention was also drawn to the mysterious, exquisite, and alluring patterns adorning her body.

"This...doesn't it sound like someone's name?"

A question raised by the public made Raiden Mei's heart tighten.

Chapter Ninety-Eight: Take My Clothes Off

The vibrant colors and patterns shimmered with a strange and captivating luster, making Raiden Mei breathtakingly beautiful.

However... the fact that Raiden Mei, with her cold and beautiful demeanor, has such exquisite and bewitching patterns on her body feels a little strange.

It's as if... Raiden Mei has been labeled by someone, expressing a sense of belonging.

"Could it be that the esteemed Raiden Mei is someone's personal possession?"

But how could such a thing be possible? Therefore, the public did not say much about it.

The patterns became even more beautiful due to Raiden Mei's changing state of mind, as she was filled with inner conflict and her heart was wavering.

When Raiden Mei realizes that your actions were truly saving her, and even everyone's lives, her resentment towards you begins to waver.

[Mei Raiden, overwhelmed by inner conflict, felt her heart shaken by the shock. The twisted emotions made her patterns and power even stronger and more magnificent.]

The patterns on Raiden Mei's body now faintly outline the characters "Kageyo," leaving Raiden Mei with no way to avoid them.

However, to Raiden Mei's surprise, the mysterious patterns on her body were regarded as a miracle by outsiders.

"It must be divine protection that caused such a miraculous sight to appear on Lady Raiden Mei!"

Everyone speculated about the origin of the pattern, but no one knew the painful past hidden behind it. Only Raiden Mei herself knew the reason.

The patterns on Mei's body were regarded as a miracle and a divine intervention; everyone talked about these patterns, as if they had become a symbol, a symbol of hope and victory.

All of this made Raiden Mei feel shy. As she walked along the triumphant road, receiving many gazes, Raiden Mei lowered her head slightly, a blush rising on her cheeks.

That blush was a mixture of embarrassment and shyness, along with the shame and anger of being forced to recall what you had done to her.

However, these expressions were seen as Raiden Mei's humble qualities and girlish politeness.