Chapter Two

I stood outside the door, letting the cold wind blow across my blood-stained body.

But I wasn't willing to give up.

Three years of feelings couldn't end like this. Maybe she was just angry, maybe detecting my mind-reading had made her even more furious. I had to try once more, even if it was the last time.

An hour later, I sat in the most expensive booth in the wasteland restaurant, waiting for Lena's arrival. This was the only decent place left in the outpost. Under the dim yellow light, several tables of mercenaries conversed in low voices. I had spent a full hundred contribution points to reserve this spot—enough for an ordinary person to live for a month.

Lena arrived.

She wore a black long coat, sitting across from me expressionlessly, deliberately maintaining a meter's distance. Even across the table, I could still feel the tension and rejection in her body.

"Victor." Her voice was cold as a blade. "Speak. What is it?"

"I want to marry you," I said straightforwardly. "A formal wedding, this month."

Lena's body suddenly stiffened, a flash of pain and despair crossing her eyes.

"No."

"Why?" I lowered my voice. "Lena, we've been engaged for three years. I know your health hasn't been good lately, but I can take care of you. We..."

"I said no." She interrupted me, her voice beginning to tremble. "Now isn't the time."

"When will be the time?" I couldn't help raising my voice. "You always say it's not the time! Two years, Lena, for two whole years you've been pushing me away. If you don't love me anymore, just say it directly."

"I..." She opened her mouth but couldn't speak. I could see the struggle and pain in her eyes, but even more was fear.

I reached out to hold her hand: "Tell me what's wrong. I can help you."

"Don't touch me!" Lena jerked her hand back, her whole body recoiling as if my hand were some venomous snake.

This reaction cut me deeply. Three years ago, she would never have avoided my touch like this.

"Lena, I'm your fiancé."

"I know who you are." Her voice became even colder. "But I don't want to explain anything right now. Victor, please stop asking."

"Don't want to explain?" I felt absurd. "We're getting married. Won't you give me even the most basic trust?"

"I told you, now isn't the time." She stubbornly repeated this phrase, her eyes dodging, not daring to look at me.

Just then, a gentle voice sounded behind us:

"Victor, Lena, what a coincidence."

I turned to look. Elias stood beside our table, wearing a clean white doctor's coat, a gentle smile on his face. But I noticed barely concealed exhaustion in his eyes, and his fingers were trembling slightly.

"Dr. Elias." Lena's voice instantly became urgent, completely lacking the coldness she'd shown me. "Why are you here?"

This differential treatment ignited the fury in my heart.

"Just passing by." Elias's gaze lingered on Lena's face for a second, his eyes carrying some concern I couldn't understand. "You don't look well. Is it time again?"

Time again? What time?

"I can hold on a little longer." Lena gritted her teeth. "But if you're not feeling well either..."

This ambiguous understanding between them made me explode completely.

"Enough!" I shot to my feet. "Elias, what do you want? I'm talking with my fiancée."

Elias smiled gently: "I'm just concerned about a patient's condition. As a doctor, it's my duty."

"Patient?" I sneered. "What illness requires you two to discuss it so... intimately?"

"Victor..." Lena tried to stop me, but I was beyond caring.

"Or rather," I pressed closer to Elias, "do you have some other intentions toward my fiancée?"

Elias's smile finally disappeared, but he maintained his doctor's gentleness: "Victor, you misunderstand. Lena and I are just..."

"Just what?" I grabbed his collar. "Why is she willing to tell you about her physical condition but won't say a word to me? Why does she seem more... when she sees you than when she sees me..."

Before I could finish, sharp pain suddenly tore through my chest.

The aftereffects of forcibly breaking through to King-level erupted at this moment. The fractured ribs stabbed into my lungs like knives, and psychic backlash struck my brain like a heavy blow. I released Elias's collar, clutching my chest as blood gushed through my fingers.

"Damn..." I gritted my teeth, but the intense pain made it hard to stand.

"What's wrong?" Lena suddenly panicked, her body instinctively wanting to rush over, but then she abruptly froze.

At that moment, Elias also suddenly paled, his body swaying as he nearly fell. A trace of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth, and he doubled over in pain.

"No..." he murmured, then collapsed to his knees, hands braced on the ground, breathing heavily.

Both he and I had suddenly collapsed.

I clutched my bleeding chest, looking toward Lena through the intense pain. Hoping she would come help me, even just a concerned glance. We'd been engaged for three years—she should be most worried about me.

But the moment Lena saw Elias fall, she immediately fell into extreme panic.

"Elias!"

She let out a scream, unhesitatingly stepping over me as I coughed up blood, scooping up the medical officer. Elias leaned weakly in her arms, and she held him like this, rushing toward the restaurant exit without looking back.

"Hospital... quickly..." Elias said weakly.

"Hold on, we'll be there soon." Lena's voice carried a tenderness and concern I had never heard before.

She didn't even give me half a glance. In her eyes, the life and death of me, her fiancé, couldn't compare to an outsider.

I knelt alone in the restaurant, blood dripping on the expensive carpet. The surrounding mercenaries stopped their conversations, watching me with pitying or mocking gazes.

"Tsk tsk, King-level hunter got dumped by a woman."

"That woman obviously likes the doctor. Even a blind man could see it."

"Victor brought this humiliation on himself."

Their whispers cut at my dignity like knives. I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth and forced myself to stand.

Three years of feelings, and in a life-or-death moment, she chose another man.

The last shred of hope in my heart completely shattered, my entire heart frozen to ice.

But I still wanted to know why.

Why would she treat me this way, why was she so concerned about Elias, why would she rather tell him secrets than say a single word to me.

I dragged my severely injured body toward the base hospital.

In the night, my figure appeared especially desolate.