Third Person POV:
Austin held Marlene's body, waiting for her to wake up. From his perspective, only an hour had passed, but he knew that just this hour would be a lifetime for Marlene. The perfect illusion traps he set up slowly eroding her mind, the extreme increase in her emotions, plus everything he is making her go through, will break through all the barriers in Marlene's heart.
He already had a part of her heart, but after this, there would be nothing in the world that will stop Marlene from trying to be with him. In all matters of the word, she would be completely in love with him.
"Urgh....."
Hearing Marlene moan out, his eyes focused on her. Her eyelids were slowly trembling. Right now, Austin was leaning against the wall while tightly clutching onto Marlene. The current situation is quite ambiguous, but Austin knew such a situation was required for what is to come. Soon, Marlene's eyes opened, her gaze focusing on him.
At first, only confusion filled her gaze, seemingly she still believing that she is lost. But Austin's words soon cleared all those thoughts out.
"So, how was the trip?"
His words laced with mischief were responded to with a quick, hard hug from Marlene as she cried out.
"Don't leave me!"
"Woah! Are you okay?"
Austin asked back in confusion as he held Marlene's trembling body. She was right now hugging him tight with her hands wrapped around his neck. He could even feel some tears flowing down his chest.
'Is this still the battle-hardened woman that didn't make a sound when even stabbed through?'
Holding back his question, Austin responded with kindness as he hugged Marlene back. His hand had slow rhythmic movements as he kept patting her back, his words slowly soothing up Marlene.
"Don't worry, I'm here. I'm not going anywhere..."
It took 15 minutes for Austin to finally calm down the emotionally unstable Marlene, a small surprise considering that he accounted for Marlene having more mental strength. Soon, a deafening silence filled between the two of them, with Austin remaining hugging Marlene, and she too hugging him back.
Marlene had already regained her senses, but she still refuses to let go of Austin, in both embarrassment and desire. While embarrassed to have shown such a side to Austin, above that, she truly doesn't wish to let go of him. Each and every moment she spent with him in the illusions hit her like a brick.
Her emotions for Austin rose higher and higher without a stop, Marlene never knew she could love someone like this. It seems bizarre to her that her feelings for Austin only seem to keep rising higher and higher without a stop. Now, in her entire life, the most comforting feeling for her is to lie within Austin's embrace.
Gone was the completely independent woman that didn't need anyone else's attention or focus. Such a woman had died back in the 10th illusion. Now, all that remains is a Marlene that won't be able to live without Austin being by her side. She couldn't even now begin to imagine a life without Austin beside her. The two of them together going to accomplish great things.
'I want to get married quickly.~'
'Like in the 15th illusion, we should have that wedding...~'
'We should have 5 kids and name them like that....~'
This thought brought a small blush to Marlene's face.
'I should inform my father about an engagement.'
'I should also deal with any bastards that rise to make an issue.'
'Plus, I also need to deal with Catherine....'
The constant loss of Austin had taught Marlene to never giving up on Austin, even not for her best friend. She was able to do it 5 times in the beginningof the illusion, but each time the regret in her only kept getting larger and larger until she wasn't even able to handle it. She didn't care about the rest. Even if Catherine stood in her way, she would do whatever to get Austin.
All those years she spent within those illusions have already taught her that Austin is the only one for her. No matter what path she took, without Austin by her side, she would live a lonely and dull life. He is her path, he is her destined partner. Fate had intervened to get them together. She is incomplete without him, and he completes her.
She loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him...
The current Marlene was out of control, all those illusions, all those loves, all those failures, all those pain and happiness were hitting her again and again. This kept happening when the curse within her was amplifying her feelings to another level. All of this hit Marlene's head pretty hard, even if it was an Origin Level 10, he would have his mental stability affected much less than Marlene.
It would be more appropriate to say that it's a constant hypnosis and memory and emotional control but on a higher level. By the end of it, Marlene had changed on a fundamental level. The woman was willing to give up her love for her friend was no more. In fact, when it reached the end, Marlene had even murdered Catherine in one illusion when her mind broke.
Once during the constant illusion, Marlene's mind completely broke. She lost all her values, and her only solace became being with Austin. She killed and even plundered her whole Empire once just to make Austin happy. The trial has broken her completely, and she understood her task was not to fall into any madness, unfortunately, she did.
But luckily for her, even in the illusion, Austin became a guiding path for her. Even when she became a villain and started mindless slaughtering, he stayed by her side. He fought against her to bring her back, and when he defeated her, he then stood by her side while the world wanted her dead, at the end dying to save her life.
It was then that she even regained her mind, at least part of it. Then the illusion became a path that taught her how to move forward, and she understood how much her path lies with Austin. Though by then some issues were already drilled into Marlene's mind.
She had ruled like a benevolent queen, and she had ruled like a tyrant. She had lived the life of her losing her children with Austin to the trick of others, while she had seen herself grow older as Austin enjoyed his happy life with Catherine.
She had seen several different situations, and she had her mind completely broken and fixed. Overall, after the illusion, Marlene had changed as a person. She has grown in ways she could never have, both as a person and a ruler. Marlene now understood herself on a more fundamental level.
But it doesn't change one main thing, that is right now she is.....
.....Batshit crazy.
'Ah~how I missed your hug~'
'Ah~How I longed to hold you for real~'
'We will definitely end up together~'
'I will make you the happiest man in every realm~'
'We will rule over everything as one family and as one~'
'This time no one will ever try to take you away from me!~'
'Um~ my love for you just keeps getting stronger~'
'Sigh...how I want to just stay like this~'
'Do you know hubby? I love you more than anything in the world~'
'I am willing to give up everything I have for you~'
'I will definitely kill all those bitches that seek you~'
'This time I will lock you up so that no one will be able to hurt you~'
'You will be my darling, and we will conquer everything together~'
'No one will take you from me, and no one will hurt you.'
'Ah~I love you soooooo much'
While the silence from Marlene was due to her increasing level of madness and thoughts, Austin stayed silent for an entirely different reason.
+100,000 affection
+1,000,000 affection
+10,000,000 affection
+100,000,000 affection
+1,000,000,000 affection
+10,000,000,000 affection
Seeing all those notifications flashing in front of him, Austin suddenly felt a little lost.
'Okay, maybe I went a bit overboard.'
[You think?]
The system asked back.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om