Free Web NovelChapter 292: Chapter 292: The Chilling Warning
Yue Yue watched him, her heart thumping. She looked at Lin En, who was treating Han Ruyan like a "dog" while she chased the lion man. She felt a flicker of pity for him, as he was clearly dejected and unloved by the woman he had walked through hell to find.
But then, Han Ruyan’s voice dropped to a barely audible whisper. He leaned in just an inch, his eyes darting toward Lin En to make sure she wasn’t listening.
"Sister-in-law... listen to me carefully," he hissed. "You need to get away from Lin En. Immediately." ƒreewebɳovel.com
Yue Yue froze. "What? Whyyy..."
"She has no good intentions toward you," Han Ruyan interrupted, his voice urgent and sharp.
"I know you think you’re friends, but this isn’t the time to be naive. I’m telling you this only because you are my brother’s mate. If something happens to you, Han Soi will fall into despair, and I won’t let that happen to him."
He looked her dead in the eye. "I’m not trying to sow discord. I’m telling you the truth. She is targeting you. She wants to harm you. Find a way to disappear from this group the moment you can."
Before Yue Yue could ask a single question, Han Ruyan stood up abruptly. He grabbed the plate he had offered her and walked back to the fire, beginning to decorate a plate for Lin En as if nothing had happened.
Lin En strolled back a moment later, her eyes scanning the scene. She saw Yue Yue sitting there looking "stupid" and shocked, and she saw Han Ruyan busy cooking like a loyal servant.
What a useless woman, Lin En thought, her gaze full of pride and contempt. And what a loyal dog Han Ruyan is. He probably just apologized to her to make my life easier.
Lin En wasn’t worried. She knew Han Ruyan detested Yue Yue in the past. She assumed he was just as "bad" as she was. She never imagined that the man she kept as a pet would actually betray her to save his brother’s wife.
"Is the food ready, Ruyan?" Lin En asked, her voice sweet and demanding.
"Almost, my dear," he replied, his face a perfect mask of devotion, though his heart was heavy with the secret he had just shared.
Yue Yue sat in the shadows, her hands trembling. She looked at the nutritional solution in her lap, then at the "friend" who was supposedly her enemy, and finally at the silent masked man.
The scent of seasoned meat swirled through the cold air. For anyone else in this desolate wasteland, it would have been a dream, but for Yue Yue, it felt like sitting at a dinner table with ghosts and demons.
Lin En didn’t hold back. She picked up the skewers Han Ruyan had prepared, biting into the succulent meat with a look of pure bliss. She ate with an air of entitlement, as if the world owed her this luxury while the empires burned around them.
The men, however, did not touch the real food. For high ranking beastmen like Han Ruyan and Lu Huoyan, physical hunger could be suppressed by their internal energy or a simple tube of nutritional solution.
To them, these fresh ingredients were priceless treasures, far too precious to waste on themselves. Every bite was meant to be saved for the females they were protecting.
However, as the minutes passed, Lu Huoyan’s ruby red eyes narrowed. He looked at Lin En, who was halfway through her second plate, and then he looked at Yue Yue, who was sitting in the shadows, clutching her cold, gray tube of nutritional slime.
A seed of unease began to sprout in his heart. If they are such "best friends," why is she eating like a glutton while the female sits there with nothing?
He cleared his throat, his voice dropping an octave. "Lady Lin En," he said, his gaze sharpening. "The meat is plentiful. Perhaps you should share your joy with Lady Yue Yue? After all, she has been through quite a struggle today."
Lin En froze. A piece of meat was halfway to her mouth when she felt the weight of Lu Huoyan’s judgment.
Damn it! she cursed inwardly. She had been so caught up in the delicious taste, a rare treat in this ruined dimension, that she had forgotten to maintain her "kind and selfless sister" persona.
She saw the suspicious look in the Lion Prince’s eyes and the dark, unreadable expression on Han Ruyan’s face.
She couldn’t lose face now, not when she was so close to making Lu Huoyan her own.
"Oh! My goodness, I am so sorry!" Lin En cried out, her voice shifting into a sweet, high pitched tone that made the hair on Yue Yue’s neck stand on end. She put on a look of extreme clumsiness and regret.
"Yue Yue, look at me! I was so hungry from all that running that I completely lost my head. Come here, sister! Have some of this braised pork. It’s so delicious!"
She held out a plate, her eyes shimmering with fake warmth.
Yue Yue looked at the plate, then at Lin En’s "sweet" smile. After the chilling warning she had just received from Han Ruyan, the meat didn’t look delicious at all.
From the look in her eyes... she might just poison me right here, Yue Yue thought, her stomach doing a nervous flip.
"Thank you, Lin En," Yue Yue said, her voice soft but firm. She forced a polite, distant smile.
"But I’m actually fine. My stomach has been a bit upset since we fell into this zone. I think the nutritional solution is safer for me right now. You should eat your fill; you need the strength more than I do."
Lin En’s smile twitched. It was a rejection she didn’t expect. "But Yue Yue, it’s real food! You used to hate the solution. Don’t be shy with me!"
"I’m not being shy," Yue Yue replied, scooting back just an inch. "I really just can’t stomach it." frёewebηovel.cѳm
"Are you sure?" Lin En pouted, her voice becoming "spoiled" and whiny. She turned to Han Ruyan, tugging on his sleeve. "Ruyan, look at Yue Yue! She’s being so distant. Did I do something wrong? I feel so bad now... I can’t even enjoy my food if she’s sitting there like that!"
She began to act out a small drama, pretending to be heartbroken by Yue Yue’s politeness. She sighed, pushed her plate away, and looked down at the ground with watery eyes, waiting for the men to comfort her and blame Yue Yue for being "difficult."
Han Ruyan looked at Lin En’s performance, then at the girl in the corner. He knew exactly what Lin En was doing.
"If she doesn’t want to eat, don’t force her," Han Ruyan said coldly, his voice cutting through Lin En’s acting. "She said her stomach is upset. Let her rest."
Lin En bit her lip, her eyes flashing with a brief, murderous spark before she hid it. "Fine. If you say so."
She went back to eating, but the atmosphere had turned sour.
Yue Yue quietly sipped her flavorless nutritional slime in a daze.
