Chapter 62 Fallen From Grace

Lie Lang gave no response. He stood with his back to everyone, his hands hanging stiffly at his sides, still clenched into fists so tightly that his knuckles had turned white.

For a long time, he simply stood there without speaking, as though he was forcing himself to calm the rage still boiling inside him. When he finally broke the silence, his voice had returned to its usual calmness, but somehow it sounded colder than before.

"Our agreement..." He paused briefly before continuing. "...saved your life today." He slowly turned his back at her.

Xue Yao slowly lifted her head. Her throat hurt too much to speak, and even swallowing sent another sharp ache through her neck. She looked at Lie Lang through tear-blurred eyes, trying to understand what he meant. Then she remembered the agreement they had made on that fateful night and the promise he had given her.

A chill slowly spread through her body. ’If not for that... he really would’ve killed me.’

She lowered her eyes without realizing it.

Lie Lang still didn’t turn around to look at her. "Do not mistake my restraint for forgiveness. From this moment onward, you are confined to the Eastern Courtyard. You are forbidden from taking a single step outside without my permission."

Xue Yao frowned. She had only just managed to calm her breathing, and her voice came out rough and broken when she tried to speak. "But I didn’t..."

"And for the next three days," Lie Lang continued without giving her the chance to finish, "you will receive no food."

For a moment, she thought she had misheard him. "...No food? For three days." Her eyes widened in disbelief. "...Three days?"

She stared at him, completely unable to understand his reasoning. "How am I supposed to reflect on anything if I’m starving? I’ll only be thinking about food."

"That," Lie Lang replied without the slightest change in expression, "is your problem."

He finally turned toward the servants, his cold gaze sweeping over each of them. "Seal the Eastern Courtyard. No one is to let her leave, and no one is to bring her food. Anyone who disobeys my order will answer to me personally."

Every servant immediately lowered their heads even further. "Yes, Alpha."

"And every maids and servants should report to the black tower for your negligence." He added coldly.

The servants trembled, some already crying. "Yes Alpha." They shouted in unison. "Thank you for your grace."

Anyone who enters the black tower barely makes it out alive... and because of the human, they would lose their lives. Their gaze burned with hatred.

Without another glance in Xue Yao’s direction, Lie Lang turned and walked out of the courtyard.

Han Luo lingered for a brief moment, his eyes falling on Xue Yao before he quietly sighed. He looked as though he wanted to say something, but in the end he simply shook his head and followed after Lie Lang.

Little Ancestor looked back several times as he left, worry written plainly across his face, until Han Luo gently ushered him out of the courtyard as well.

Before long, silence settled over the courtyard once more.

Xue Yao remained sitting where she had fallen, absentmindedly rubbing the bruises around her neck.

"Ahhh." She flinched from the pain. They throbbed beneath her fingertips, reminding her just how close she had come to dying.

Her gaze slowly drifted toward the broken plate lying across the stone path. The fish she had worked so hard to catch and cook was scattered all over the ground, soaking into the cracks between the stones.

She stared at it for a long time before a confused frown slowly appeared on her face.

’...What exactly did I do?’

Just before she could ponder more on it, the gate to her courtyard burst open, and ten to twelve maids hurried inside. Without even bothering to acknowledge her, they immediately approached the five plates of fishes she had steamed.

Xue Yao grew alarmed. "What do you all think you are doing?" Her eyes grew red when she saw the maids taking the plates of her steamed spicy fishes.

One of the maids turned around. She stared at Xue Yao without complete arrogance. "The Alpha ordered for the fishes to be taken away."

Xue Yao stood up so abruptly that the bruise around her neck throbbed painfully. She winced but still hurried toward the table, spreading both arms protectively in front of the five plates.

"But why? They are already cooked." Xue Yao asked with a sad frown as the other maids began taking them away one after the other.

"That is none of our concern. We only follow the Alpha’s orders." The maid said, before turning to the maid. "Even the one on the ground, take them too, the pot of soup, take them too. Don’t leave anything behind." The maid barked orders.

The maids respectfully pushed her aside as they began to move everything.

Xue Yao wanted to fight back, but she was not a fool that couldn’t tell the fish held importance to Lie Lang. Else he wouldn’t have reacted the way he did.

She let out a tired sigh as she watched them take the plates of fishes away, even her pot wasn’t spared, the one on the ground was carefully packed too.

"Do you know why the Alpha was so angry that I cooked the food?" Xue Yao asked with a nervous expression.

The maid stared at her for a second longer. "Let’s get moving, we wouldn’t want to get on the bad side of the Alpha, else we end up in the black tower." She said with dry sarcasm, as she walked past Xue Yao.

She stopped midway. "You don’t belong here human, the sooner you leave the better and safer this place will be." Then she resumed walking again.

Xue Yao stared helplessly at their figures which soon disappeared behind the wooden gate. She let out a sigh as her shoulders drooped.

The headache which seemed to have disappeared while she was cooking, revisited again like a reoccurring bill.