Clan Building System: I'm not the Protagonist?!-Chapter 97: A Beauty [3]

Fang Yuan looked at her, confused, his hand still resting on her forehead.

Just as he was about to pull away—

She lunged forward and hugged him tightly, arms wrapping around his waist like a vice.

Her nails dug into his back with eerie precision, piercing through the fabric of his robes and grazing skin.

"H-Husband..." she whispered, breath warm against his chest. "Hold me... I feel dizzy..."

Fang Yuan winced. Not from her words but from the sharp pain biting into his flesh.

This woman...!

He gritted his teeth, gaze lowering to her arms clinging to him like a starving beast.

Blood didn’t drip, but he could feel the crescent-shaped dents forming.

"Zhaoyue," he began slowly, with the careful patience of a man about to defuse a land mine. "Are you trying to stab me with your nails—"

But before he could finish, she abruptly collapsed in his embrace like a wilting flower.

Her head lolled against his chest with an exaggerated sigh of frailty.

"Don’t worry, Xiao Pei..." she murmured faintly, her tone as tragic as a dying heroine in dramas. "My husband will take care of me..."

Xiao Pei, still rooted to the ground like a frozen carrot, just blinked, eyes darting from Fang Yuan to Lin Zhaoyue’s pale, trembly act.

Then she tilted her face up toward Fang Yuan, her large eyes shimmering with forced innocence.

"You are my husband, right?" she asked sweetly. "You won’t let your wife suffer... would you?"

Fang Yuan stared down at her. His mouth twitched.

Not from affection.

From shock. Disbelief. A little pain.

And mostly, existential dread.

This woman...

In his head, the ranking of women he absolutely needed to avoid had just been reshuffled.

Out of nowhere, the girl clinging to him snatched the number one spot—

Effortlessly pushing his Aunt Jingyi down to second place.

And no, there wasn’t a number three!

He sighed as he turned to Xiao Pei, "Xiao Pei, stop standing there and go call Doctor Mu. She’s definitely hallucinating."

Xiao Pei, who had been halfway between pity and terror, jolted like a rabbit.

"Y-Yes!" he shouted, nearly tripping as he dashed off in a blur of panic. "D-don’t die, Miss Zhaoyue! Brother Fang, stay alive!"

He was gone in seconds.

Fang Yuan sighed. Deeply. Weighed down.

And slowly looked down at the clinging girl whose grip refused to loosen.

"...Zhaoyue." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"Hm?" she blinked up at him, all fluttery lashes and wide eyes.

"Are you done pretending to faint yet?"

She smiled sweetly. "Nope."

Lin Zhaoyue then leaned in, her voice soft and sweet as a spring breeze.

"Husband, you smell like faint plum blossoms today."

Fang Yuan pushed her away with a flick of his sleeve.

"What are you trying to do here?"

Her expression faltered for a heartbeat, hurt flashing in her eyes but it vanished just as quickly beneath a smile too smooth to be innocent.

"Ah well... Husband, would you mind giving me some resources? Just enough to stay alive, at the very least?"

Seeing Fang Yuan still staring at her in silence, she leaned forward slightly, voice soft, almost pitiful.

"You wouldn’t want your beloved wife to freeze or starve to death out there... right?"

Her eyes shimmered faintly beneath lowered lashes, the trace of a smile curling at her lips.

A smile that seemed both fragile and laced with something far darker, as if daring him to say no.

Fang Yuan sighed as he then reached into his sleeve and pulled out a hairpin and spatial ring both of which he had taken from her during his trip to the dark forest.

"Here. These should suffice."

Lin Zhaoyue took the items, turning them in her hands briefly before sighing.

"Husband... look inside my spatial ring. There’s nothing in there I can use to survive."

Fang Yuan blinked.

Now that she mentioned it, he realized he had never once checked its contents. He extended his spiritual sense into the ring and frowned.

All he saw were clothes. Dozens of sets. Elegant robes, delicate undergarments, embroidered veils, and scented sachets.

Not a single spirit stone. No pills. No rations.

"...Why not rob a person or two along the way?" he asked, a bit annoyed.

She smiled sweetly, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Oh, husband. Stealing is wrong..... unless it’s your heart."

Then, as if it had only just occurred to her, she said, "But are we really going to stand and chat like this? Why don’t we take a seat?"

They made their way to a small garden pavilion nearby and took a seat at the stone table.

The air between them thickened with unspoken tension.

The moment she sat down, Lin Zhaoyue folded her hands neatly on her lap and tilted her head, her gaze never leaving his face.

"So... You sent Xiao Pei away just to speak with me?"

Her voice was gentle, but there was something unsettling in how unwavering her eyes were.

Fang Yuan didn’t look away.

"No. You sent yourself to speak with me. So tell me, what are you really doing here?"

She blinked innocently.

"Oh, I live around here."

Fang Yuan’s brow twitched.

"You live around here?"

"Mhm." She nodded, her eyes never once leaving him, unblinking, devoted and far too steady.

As she spoke, her delicate fingers began to idly trace circles on the stone table, slow and deliberate, like she was drawing invisible seals only she could see.

"What a coincidence, right?"

She tilted her head ever so slightly, lips curled into a soft smile that never quite reached her eyes.

Under the table, her leg shifted slightly. Just enough.

Her knee brushed against his.

Then, just a little more, her leg slid deliberately to press against his under the table, smooth and warm through the fabric.

Her expression didn’t change, but her fingers halted for the briefest second, like a predator gauging a reaction.

Fang Yuan’s brows twitched faintly.

He leaned back a fraction, calm on the surface but already preparing a dozen contingencies in his mind.

She, of course, pretended not to notice at all.

Or rather, pretended to pretend not to notice.