Fang Yuan's gaze locked onto Lin Zhaoyue, every muscle coiled. Battle readiness thrummed through him.
Who wouldn't abe wary?
The carnage before him was undeniable, her father, Lin Xukong, broken and gasping while her brother lay there, dead.
Lin Zhaoyue lifted her head. Her eyes, wide and glistening, found Fang Yuan.
A tremor ran through her voice, raw with desperate hope. "Husband! You're alive!"
Fang Yuan's stance didn't waver.
Trickery.
How could anyone behold their slaughtered kin and feel anything but rage or grief? This is likely a ploy, a feigned vulnerability to lower my guards.
His expression hardened, suspicion etched into every line.
She saw the cold disbelief in his eyes. A flicker of sadness crossed her face, vanishing as quickly as it came.
Her gaze drifted downwards, settling on her father's ruined form.
She knelt beside him, movements unnervingly graceful.
