Chapter 60 I Can’t Breathe

The maidservants gasped, some covering their mouths.

Even Han Luo’s eyes widened. ’She...She actually ate it.’

Xue Yao chewed slowly, carefully tasting every bite before swallowing.

"Mmm..." She nodded thoughtfully. "It’s pretty good."

After thinking for another moment, she gave her final verdict. "A little better than ordinary fish."

Silence settled over the courtyard once again. Little Ancestor looked at her with pure admiration. She actually dared to eat it.

Han Luo, on the other hand, looked as though his soul had quietly left his body.

As for Lie Lang...

Crack.

The sturdy wooden table beside him split apart beneath his hand. Long cracks spread across the polished surface before the entire corner collapsed with a sharp snap.

Only then did Xue Yao finally realize something was wrong. She looked at Lie Lang, then at the broken table. Then back at the piece of fish resting between her chopsticks.

A very dangerous feeling slowly crept into her heart. "...Why are you looking at me like that?"

Lie Lang took one slow step forward. His eyes never left the plates on the table.

"Bai Xue Yao." He spoke each word with unsettling calm. "Do you know... what you’ve just eaten?"

Xue Yao instinctively hugged her plate against her chest and took a cautious step backward. "A... fish?"

The tension in the air was so thick that a knife could slice through it.

She looked at Lie Lang, then at Han Luo, and finally at the maidservants whose faces had all turned ghostly pale.

Only then did a thought quietly appear in her mind. ’...Did I cook something I wasn’t supposed to? Why are they staring at me as if I cooked their ancestors?’

She looked down at the steaming fish one last time before hesitating for a couple of breaths. Then, with obvious reluctance, she slowly pushed one of the plates toward Lie Lang.

"If..." she said carefully, "...you’re really that angry..."

Her fingers lingered on the edge of the plate for a moment before she sighed in defeat. "...I can let you have one."

The courtyard gradually fell into silence.

The plate Xue Yao had pushed toward Lie Lang remained where it was, untouched. Steam still drifted from the freshly cooked fish, carrying its rich aroma through the courtyard, yet no one paid the slightest attention to it anymore.

The maidservants kept their heads lowered, their shoulders tense as though they didn’t even dare breathe too loudly. Han Luo’s usual carefree smile had long disappeared, and even the little prince had stopped staring at the fish. He quietly looked between Lie Lang and Xue Yao, sensing that something was terribly wrong.

Xue Yao looked around, then back at Lie Lang. The longer he stayed silent, the more uneasy she became. She had already offered him a whole plate, so why did everyone still look as though disaster was about to strike?

She forced another awkward smile and gently nudged the plate a little closer.

"...I said if you are really that angry," she said, trying to lighten the mood, "you can have this one."

Lie Lang’s gaze narrowed dangerously. He didn’t even spare the plate a glance.

His eyes rested quietly on her face before lowering to the half-eaten fish on her own plate. The bite she had already taken seemed to hold his attention for a long moment before his gaze slowly moved across the remaining dishes spread over the table.

His expression became darker by every passing second.

That frightened Xue Yao far more than if he had raised his voice. She unconsciously swallowed. ’...Why isn’t he saying anything?’ She felt a chill running up her spine.

Her eyes drifted toward Han Luo, silently asking for help, but he only stood there rubbing his forehead without meeting her gaze. It was the first time she had ever seen him look so helpless.

Even the little prince looked unusually quiet.

No one dared to speak or move.

The silence slowly spread itself around the entire courtyard until even the crackling fire beneath the stove sounded strangely loud.

Xue Yao laughed dryly. "...One isn’t enough?"

She looked down at the remaining fish, hesitating for a moment before looking back at Lie Lang. "I can let you have two."

Still... Lie Lang simply stood there, looking at her with those burning golden eyes.

A strange feeling slowly crept into Xue Yao’s chest.

’...Wait... don’t tell me... is he angry because I ate from the fish?’ The more she thought about it, the more reasonable it sounded. ’That can’t be helped, wasn’t the fish prepared just to be eaten?’

Just as she was wondering whether she should offer him another plate to calm him down, Lie Lang suddenly disappeared.

One moment he was standing several steps away. The next... He was right in front of her.

Xue Yao’s pupils shrank. ’So fas...’ Her thoughts came to an abrupt stop as a large hand suddenly closed around her throat.

"Cough...!"

The plate slipped from her hands and crashed onto the stone floor, shattering into countless pieces. Hot broth splashed across the stones, but Xue Yao didn’t even notice.

Her feet slowly rose above the ground. For a brief moment, her mind went completely blank. She stared at Lie Lang in disbelief, unable to understand what had just happened.

His fingers tightened around her neck with terrifying strength.

Both her hands immediately grabbed his wrist, desperately trying to pull it away, but it felt as though she were trying to move solid steel. No matter how hard she struggled, his hand didn’t budge in the slightest.

She desperately tried to pull another breath into her lungs, but nothing came. The harder she struggled, the tighter his fingers seemed to become until a dull pain spread through her chest. Panic quickly swallowed every other thought, and for the first time since coming to this world, she realized she might not survive this.

’...I can’t breathe.’ She panicked inwardly.

She opened her mouth, trying to force in even the smallest breath, but only a broken choking sound escaped her lips.

The terrifying pressure pouring from Lie Lang exploded throughout the courtyard, splitting the ground beneath his feet in pieces.

Even the flower petals were ripped from the trees and scattered into the air. The pond rippled violently, and the servants faces turning pale under the overwhelming pressure trembling as cold sweat trickled down their faces.

"Alpha!" Han Luo’s voice broke the silence. He took an instinctive step forward.

"Stay back." Lie Lang growled. A short burst of furs rippled across his body as if he was trying to control his beast.

Han Luo froze where he stood as though his entire body had been nailed to the ground. Every instinct screamed at him not to move another step.

Little Ancestor instinctively hid behind him, clutching the back of Han Luo’s robe with both hands.