Lin Zhaoyue leaned forward just a little more, her leg still pressed uncomfortably close against Fang Yuan's beneath the table, as if anchoring herself to him.
Her finger ceased its idle tracing and tapped the stone surface.
"Since I live around here now, Husband…" she began, her tone featherlight, dripping with faux innocence but beneath it, a quiet steel rang clear.
"…it's terribly inconvenient, you know. To keep traveling back and forth… just to catch a glimpse of you."
Her lashes fluttered dramatically, like a delicate bird pretending to be wounded. "Especially when I feel so… faint."
She lingered on that word like it was a performance, sighing softly as if she might collapse again right there.
Then, slowly, her head tilted, and her gaze locked onto his, steady, unwavering, too intense to be playful.
"Wouldn't it be simpler," she continued sweetly, "if I just stayed… here? In the Fang estate."
