Lynn followed Callum into the opulent restaurant.
The restaurant is so beautifully decorated that it's hard to look away, and some of the sculptures are incredibly lifelike.
It's like a real human being petrified.
Some of the oil paintings were so vibrant that even Lynn, who had a keen eye for the internet, found them novel.
There's something strange about the paints and canvas.
Finally, we arrived at the main dining table.
The long dining table was laden with a dazzling array of tableware, and servants moved about silently.
The main seat is empty; that's where Caladogon sits.
Callum invited Lynn to sit in the guest seat, while he sat opposite her.
One dish after another was served.
Snow beef, frozen fish, and vegetables Dorito from Dorido—in Brevis, these things are more expensive than gold.
Every dish looked so delicious that Lynn couldn't help but swallow.
Lynn picked up her knife and fork and cut a small piece of meat.
Put it in your mouth.
Lynn was certain he had never eaten anything so delicious.
He wasn't a big eater, but at this moment he couldn't stop eating.
Meanwhile, Callum, sitting opposite him, smiled even more broadly.
He had been observing Lynn until Lynn looked up at him.
He took only a small sip of the soup before angrily summoning the chef.
The cook wore a completely sealed helmet, but his actions and words revealed immense exhaustion and fear.
"This soup should be piping hot like lava, but with a lingering sweetness reminiscent of ancient ice on a frozen plain."
How many times have I told you?
This was the first time Lynn had seen Callum with an expression other than a smile.
But as Callum became emotionally unstable, Lynn felt as if she had suddenly become more lucid.
He watched Callum berate the cook, watched the poor wretch tremble and kneel on the ground.
For the first time, Callum's face showed anger, a reaction other than a smile.
In the instant Callum's emotions surged, Lynn felt a "buzz" in his head.
It was like a tightly closed door that was suddenly cracked open.
He blinked, and then he realized.
Where's Doudou?
That 2.6-meter-tall Ogryn, his personal guard captain, was clearly following behind him the whole time, where is he now?
Lynn looked around; besides him and Callum, the only other people in the restaurant were the silently moving waiters.
There was no Doudou or anyone else.
He himself hadn't even realized it just now.
He looked down at the plate of snow beef in front of him, which was already mostly eaten, and suddenly felt a churning in his stomach.
wrong.
Lynn closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and silently recited in her heart:
"System!"
A pale pink, semi-transparent interface unfolded at the edge of his field of vision.
In that instant, the world changed in his eyes.
The "delicious snow beef" on the plate had turned into a piece of meat he had never seen before, a bright red chunk of meat dotted with yellow fat.
The bowl of "Icefield Fish Soup" had several small, unidentifiable pieces of something at the bottom.
The precious "fresh vegetables" were actually a wriggling ball of flesh with eyes.
Lynn's stomach clenched violently, and she was about to vomit.
But he forced himself to suppress it and looked around.
The exquisite murals were transformed into distorted, blasphemous paintings depicting unspeakable obscene scenes.
Those lifelike statues are not carved from stone.
They were clearly petrified humans, their faces frozen in an expression that was a mixture of extreme pain and extreme pleasure.
Finally, he looked at Callum.
That extremely handsome and elegant lord who made people feel like they were basking in a spring breeze.
At this moment, in Lynn's eyes, everything had completely changed.
His face was still the same face, but his skin had taken on a sickly pale purple hue, and a small, curved bony horn had grown from the left side of his forehead.
His eyes were no longer a clear green, but deep purple vertical pupils, with a lewd flame burning deep within them.
His smile was still perfect, but beneath that perfection lay something that sent chills down Lynn's spine.
That's the satisfaction a predator shows when watching its prey fall into a trap.
Slaanesh.
Lynn silently recited the name in her mind, her grip on the fork tightening unconsciously.
Lord of Pleasure, the youngest and most dangerous of the Chaos Gods.
His realm is the ultimate desire, the infinite amplification of the senses, and the madness resulting from the distortion of all normal emotions.
His followers seek a "perfect experience".
Callum, however, has clearly fallen completely into it.
Lynn took a deep breath to calm herself down.
Although I feel trapped, it's not a dead end yet.
Moreover, judging from Callum's confident demeanor, he clearly hasn't realized that he's already "out of trouble."
Lynn thought quickly.
How much power can he currently utilize? The system is still active, but he can't contact Rena.
Moreover, he discovered a strange sense of blockage within his body, as if something was suppressing him.
The fact that he couldn't exert any strength suggests that there was indeed something wrong with the food.
But the system allows him to see the truth, and that's enough.
He needed time, he needed to figure out what Callum was up to, and he needed to find a way out.
So Lynn lowered his head and continued cutting the strange pieces of meat, but after cutting for a long time, he made no real progress.
After reprimanding the cook, Callum turned around, his anger gone, replaced by that perfect smile.
"I'm sorry to have made you look foolish, Your Excellency," he said, returning to his seat.
"These servants are never attentive enough."
Lynn looked up, a smile on her face that said, "I just had a great meal."
"Not at all," he said.
"Lord Callum's pursuit of fine food truly impresses me."
Callum's eyes lit up.
It was the kind of radiance that comes from "meeting a kindred spirit."
The conversation that followed went much deeper than before.
Callum started talking about food, art, and music.
His taste is indeed very refined, if one ignores the distorted nature hidden behind those topics.
The dish he described, in reality, was a pot of soup with wriggling maggots.
One of the paintings he admired depicted a woman being slowly tortured to death from a realistic perspective.
But Lynn listened, nodded, and at the right moment showed an expression of "admiration".
"So," Callum said, picking up the flask on the table and filling Lynn's glass with a glass of purple liquid.
"Your Excellency, would you like to experience the true ultimate?"
He pushed the cup towards Lynn.
The liquid was bubbling in the glass, with an eerie layer of color floating on the surface, while emitting a cloyingly sweet aroma.
"This is a treasure bestowed upon me by the Lord of Pleasure," Callum's voice became seductive.
"Drink it, and you will receive His blessing."
"At that time, you will experience unprecedented joy, and you will see the truth of this world!"
His eyes turned fervent.
If Lynn drinks this glass of wine, he will uncover the secret hidden within this man.
Gain more of His favor!
Lynn looked at the glass of "wine" and quickly made a mental calculation.
He's powerless now, has lost contact with Rena, Doudou is nowhere to be found.
If they go toe-to-toe, they're probably no match for Callum.
But after drinking this stuff...
He looked at the pool of writhing liquid, and his stomach churned again.
You absolutely cannot drink it.
He had to find a way to refuse, but he couldn't refuse too obviously.
Lynn swirled his wine glass, pondering what to do, when Callum himself offered a way out.
"Your Excellency," he suddenly changed the subject.
What do you think of High King Caladogon?
Lynn's heart skipped a beat. Here they come!
He hesitated for a moment, looked around, and then lowered his voice:
"To be honest?"
Callum leaned closer, his eyes gleaming with anticipation.
"To be honest."
Lynn sighed.
"That's too domineering."
"I've been in Brevis for so long, and he wanted to see me, so he sent me."
"If he doesn't want to see me, then tell me to get lost. In his eyes, I'm probably just a figurehead."
Callum's eyes lit up even more.
"You think so too?" His voice trembled slightly.
"You've... had enough of him too?"
Lynn nodded, a look of sympathy on his face.
"Who can argue with that?"
Callum's psychological defenses crumbled at that moment.
He began to speak.
He spoke of his childhood, his adolescence, and all the regrets he carried throughout his life.
"I've loved fighting since I was a child," he said, his eyes gazing into the distance, as if recalling something.
"I first touched the control stick of the Knight mech when I was eight years old, and at that moment I knew that this was what I had been searching for all my life."
"I want to be a paladin, I want to pilot a mech and charge at the forefront, I want everyone to see my brilliance."
Lynn listened quietly.
"My talent is even better than my older brother's," Callum continued, his voice beginning to tinge with resentment.
"The instructor said that if I were to pilot a mecha, I could become one of the strongest paladins in the history of the St. Garus Family."
"But..."
He paused, a flicker of pain crossing his eyes.
"Just because I'm the second son, just because the family needs an 'internal affairs lord' to manage those trivial matters."
"Because of those damn rules."
"I have been disqualified."
His voice became shrill.
"My older brother can go to the battlefield, pilot a mech, and become a hero."
"And I can only sit in the castle, managing the accounts, handling disputes, and receiving guests."
Do you know what that feels like?
He looked at Lynn, his eyes burning with something intense.
Do you know what it feels like to watch others do what you love most every day, while you can only do those boring, trivial, and meaningless things?
Lynn remained silent.
He didn't know what to say.
But he knew that the most important thing now was to get Callum to keep talking.
"Later," Callum's voice deepened, "I met Him."
Lynn's heart tightened.
"He taught me that fighting isn't the only ultimate goal."
"What is glory on the battlefield? It's just the most superficial kind of pleasure."
"True perfection lies in the infinite amplification of the senses and the infinite sublimation of experience."
"Food, wine, music, art, and..."
He looked at Lynn, his gaze becoming ambiguous.
"Something even more wonderful."
Lynn felt a chill run down his spine, but he still wore that "understanding" expression on his face.
Callum was engrossed in his own world and didn't notice Lynn's subtle actions.
Lynn took the opportunity to pour the wine from her glass onto the floor.
The purple liquid seeped into the carpet silently.