Transmigration:The Villain Wants A Happy End Without His BeastHusbands-Chapter 152: Time Is Running Out

Loss.

Yan Wuhen had never learned how to endure it. He had grown up with everything. Power. Status. Devotion.

A twin sister at his side. A father proud of his strength. A mother who adored him. A clan that feared and respected him in equal measure.

From the moment he could walk, he had already begun carving his name into the world.

He did not lack. He took. And the world gave.

The first time that certainty fractured... was Ningyan.

When he disappeared back at the academy. When he had gone to Lan Meishan to repair his core.

Wuhen had nearly torn the academy apart that night and would have reduced it to ash if not for Rong Yue holding him back.

That was the first time he felt it.

Fear.

It was raw and unfamiliar. It burned through him like poison.

But even that was nothing like this.

This time... time was running out.

The screams around him blurred into noise.

Pleas. Apologies. Denials.

They meant nothing. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Steel flashed.

A body split cleanly in two.

Blood hit the floor in a wet, heavy spill.

Wuhen stood in the center of it, unmoving. His robes were stained. His sword dripped. His red-gold eyes burned with something far beyond anger.

"You are all very loud," he said calmly.

Another attendant sobbed somewhere behind him. "I didn’t do anything.. please, Your Highness, I swear—!"

Wuhen turned.

The man was crumpled in the corner, shaking so violently he could barely form words. Tears streaked down his face, his entire body folded in on itself like prey that already knew it was dead.

Wuhen stepped closer.

"You had nothing to do with it?" His voice was low and heavy.

The man nodded frantically, choking on his own breath. "Yes..yes! I swear—!"

Wuhen tilted his head slightly as if he was considering his answer. As if it mattered.

"Hurry!" A sharp and sudden scream tore through the hall.

Wuhen’s gaze snapped toward it. And then, he vanished.

In the next instant, he stood at the far end of the corridor, across a trail of bodies.

Three attendants huddled beneath a half-open hatch, their hands clawing desperately at the wood above them.

An escape.

They had almost made it.

Then they saw him.

All three froze and screamed.

"Your highness!"

"Please!"

"We didn’t do it! We didn’t poison him."

Wuhen looked at them. His tails flared behind him like living fire, heat distorting the air.

His sword hummed in his grip, saturated with his qi.

For a moment, he said nothing.

Then, softly, "If none of you did it..."

He took a step forward. "...then why is he dying?"

"Please... Your Highness... mercy. Have mercy!"

The plea barely finished leaving one of them lips before steel moved.

Wuhen’s sword drove clean through her neck. The blade punched into the wall behind her with a dull, final crack.

Blood slid down the steel in slow, thick lines.

The other two attendants screamed.

One collapsed instantly, her body hitting the ground with a lifeless thud.

The last one remained. Barely.

Her back hit the wall as she shook violently, her arms wrapped around herself as if she could somehow hold her body together. Her teeth chattered uncontrollably, eyes wide, unfocused. She was breaking.

Wuhen crouched in front of her slowly.

His crimson hair hung loose around his face, strands clinging to his skin, damp with sweat and blood. In that moment, he did not look like a prince.

He looked like something dragged out of a battlefield. Something that had forgotten how to stop.

He watched her silently.

"Have you ever had nightmares?" His voice was quiet.

The woman choked on her breath, her lips trembling but no sound came out.

Wuhen’s gaze darkened. "I asked you a question." Each word was pressed out, sharp and controlled.

"Y-yes!" she gasped, nodding frantically.

Wuhen tilted his head slightly.

"Nightmares where you wake up screaming," he continued softly, "your body drenched in sweat... your heart trying to claw its way out of your chest..."

He leaned closer. "...where it feels like something is devouring you from the inside."

Her breath hitched.

"...your bones snapping... one by one..." His voice dropped further. "...like teeth grinding through them."

The woman let out a broken sob, her entire body curling in on itself. "I.. please—"

Wuhen’s hand shot out. He grabbed her chin, fingers digging in hard enough to bruise, forcing her head up. Forcing her to look at him.

"Am I worse," he asked quietly, "than any nightmare you have ever had?"

Her vision blurred with tears.

"Yes..." she sobbed. "Yes..!"

Wuhen held her gaze for a moment longer. Then released her.

"Your heart wouldn’t taste good," he murmured, almost to himself. "Nothing does today."

His hand moved again. This time wrapping around her throat tight.

She screamed. Air cut off instantly as his grip closed, lifting her slightly off the ground.

Her legs kicked weakly. Her hands clawed at his wrist useless.

"I—did it!" The words tore out of her desperate and broken.

Wuhen stilled.

"...What?" The single word was quiet. Dangerously so.

"The poison!" she choked. "Su Ningyan.. I..I poisoned him!"

Her chest heaved as she gasped for air, tears streaming uncontrollably down her face.

For a moment, Wuhen did not move or speak.

Then slowly, his grip loosened. Not fully. Just enough.

"You..." His voice had changed. Lower and sharper. "You poisoned my mate?"

She froze.

For a moment, her expression went completely blank like her mind had failed to catch up with her own words.

Then she broke.

"I didn’t.. I..." she sobbed, shaking violently. "It was Lan Shiyu!"

Wuhen’s eyes darkened and slammed her against the wall hard enough to rattle the wood. "Speak."

"My... my name is Ting!" she cried, choking on her own breath. "Lan Shiyu saved me!"

Wuhen’s grip tightened. "And?" he pressed.

"He...he threatened me!" she gasped. "He told me to poison Su Ningyan...I didn’t want to...I swear... I didn’t—"

Her words dissolved into sobs.

Wuhen stared at her and let go.

She collapsed to the ground, coughing violently, clutching her throat as she dragged in air like she had been drowning.

"I’m sorry," she cried, scrambling forward, grabbing at his robes. "I swear to the beast gods...I didn’t mean to—!"

Her voice dropped to a broken whisper. "The flute..."

Wuhen stilled. "...what?" he asked.

"I placed the poison on his flute," she said, trembling. "I..I didn’t touch him...I just.. I just made sure he used it—"

Wuhen’s body locked.

The flute.

He had heard it not long ago. That soft, familiar sound echoing through the halls.

Was that when it happened?

His fingers curled slowly at his sides.

"Lan Shiyu ordered you to kill him," he said.

Ting nodded frantically, her entire body shaking. "Yes.. yes!"

Wuhen let out a quiet scoff.

Of course. He had known.

From the moment Lan Shiyu appeared in the forest that night speaking to Lan Meishan like nothing in the world could touch him.

Wuhen had known. This was only a matter of time.

Still, knowing did not make it any easier to endure.

His jaw tightened.

In a sudden movement, he grabbed Ting by the arm and hauled her to her feet.

She stumbled, barely able to stand, her legs giving out beneath her.

"P-please, Your Highness..." she whispered.

Wuhen looked at her. Really looked at her. At the fear. At the desperation. At the weakness.

Then his grip loosened.

She sagged.

For a brief, fragile moment, she thought she had been spared.

Steel flashed. Clean and effortless.

Her head separated from her body before she could even react.

Blood followed a heartbeat later.

Wuhen caught her head by the hair before it could hit the ground.

Her body collapsed behind him with a dull, final thud.

He did not look back.

He turned and walked back to the chamber.

The door slammed open.

Jun Haoxuan sat beside the bed, one hand pressed to Ningyan’s chest, blue light pulsing steadily between them.

Lan Meishan was already on his feet.

Both of them turned.

Their gazes landed on the head in Wuhen’s hand.

"What’s happening?" Meishan asked, his voice tight.

Wuhen’s gaze flicked briefly to the portal hovering in the center of the room.

Then back to them.

"She did it," he said. "Lan Shiyu sent her."

Meishan’s eyes moved to the severed head.

Jun Haoxuan’s golden gaze sharpened, reptilian pupils narrowing as they glowed faintly. "So you were right."

Wuhen didn’t respond. His jaw clenched.

Without warning, he flung the head straight into the portal. It vanished instantly like it had never existed.

He stared at the portal after it was gone, his eyes burning with pure, unrestrained killing intent.

Jun Haoxuan exhaled slowly and turned his attention back to Ningyan.

Meishan, however, reached up and removed his glasses, a tense expression marring his face. "Time is running out."