Chapter 1275: Collapse of Reason

"Your Highness, we have already gone very deep."

"I want to go ahead and look, see if there's any suitable game."

He stopped and turned his head.

Lin An lowered his voice, feigning a respectful attitude, bowed his head, and gestured to the girl that he wanted to check ahead.

Although he didn't think the girl later would realize he was setting all this up, out of caution Lin An still decided to put on an act.

She blinked slightly, already feeling a faint unease; the girl hesitated for a moment, then still nodded proudly.

Feeling the chill deep in the forest and the somewhat gloomy surroundings, although she was not quite used to it, she would not say to let the attendant official stay behind to protect her.

Of course, in her mind, there was also no situation where she needed to speak.

These loyal servants would naturally give their lives to protect her; there was simply no possibility of anything happening that would put her in danger.

Moments later, with the sound of hurried hooves, Lin An disappeared from her sight and rushed straight into the deeper forest.

"Whooo"

"Ti.."

As Lin An left, Shen Yan, who was holding the reins with both hands, suddenly felt a faint sense of unease and loneliness surround her.

For some reason, she kept feeling as if she had been secretly abandoned.

In the gloomy forest, it seemed as if only she remained alone, and in the unknown shadows, an unsettling presence seemed to lurk.

Her small hand gripped the reins, and the horse beneath her seemed to sense something was wrong, nervously snorting.

Due to her lack of wilderness experience, Shen Yan failed to notice that the horse beneath her was already giving a warning.

That was the animal's instinct, wanting to leave because of the scent of wild beasts.

"Quiet down!"

Perhaps annoyed by the hunting horse beneath her, the girl snapped coldly and habitually tugged the reins.

But in the next second, a rapid, dense sound suddenly erupted from behind.

That was—!?

Goosebumps erupted all over her body.

The girl turned her head in panic, and in an instant saw a gray shadow rushing toward her at high speed. Like a predator, the wild wolf crouched low in the forest, moving at a speed humans could hardly react to, lunged out, its bloody jaws dripping with foul saliva as it opened wide.

"Bang!!"

In an instant, the wild wolf, born for hunting and like a small mountain, knocked the girl off her horse.

"Xilvlv!"

The frightened horse also instinctively reared up its hooves at this moment.

"Ahhh!!"

Her whole body was wracked with pain.

At the moment the wolf knocked her off the horse, the girl felt as if her arm had been broken, and she immediately cried out in pain.

However, the prey's cries only made the beast more frenzied; baring its fangs, the wolf, driven by its predatory instinct, lunged to bite the arm the girl had raised in front of her.

With another anguished cry, the girl's slender arm was instantly bitten, drawing blood.

If not for the leather guard protecting it, this bite alone could have crushed her entire arm.

Fear, despair.

For the first time facing death so directly, no matter how proud the girl usually was, her mind froze at this moment, retaining only the instinct to survive.

"Lin... An!!"

"Attendant...!!"

Instinctively shouting Lin An's name and struggling desperately, the girl had never been so fearful.

However, Lin An, sitting silently on his horse not far away in the shade, seemed devoid of emotion, merely gazing indifferently at the scene before him.

He had deliberately bled and lured the wild beasts to attack the girl.

But not to play the hero saving the beauty.

Rather, he used the threat of death to completely shatter the girl's proud psychological defenses.

He knew well that a girl of this sort, proud as a princess, would not benefit much even if he rushed to save her in time.

On the contrary, having been educated that everyone would sacrifice their lives to protect her, the girl would only think it was his duty to do so.

Even, she would become angry because of his 'mistake'.

Therefore, from the start, Lin An had no intention of following the clichéd script.

"Not enough.."

He continually used mental power to control the wolf; although the instance limited his ability to control NPCs, it did not restrict his influence over other creatures.

With a beast of extremely low intelligence, he found it effortless to decide when it would bite the girl to death.

"Not scary enough.."

He constantly analyzed Shen Yan's emotional state at this moment; Lin An, like an emotionless machine, kept gathering data on the girl.

As an ordinary person, fear often honestly manifests in the body.

Hormone secretion, adrenaline surges, even incontinence—these are indicators used for judgment.

In Lin An's judgment, at this moment Shen Yan was merely startled by the sudden attack, her mind blank, not yet in a state of extreme terror or despair.

If fear had a numerical value, then at this point it would be just a 0 that had not yet begun to increase...

True fear only arises when one is awake, repeatedly despairing...

What he wanted was not for the girl to be frightened and terrified, but...

After prolonged extreme fear, the mental defenses are overwhelmed, leading to the collapse of reason.

Amid the miserable cries and the beasts' roars, the deep, tranquil forest seemed to be staging an extraordinarily cruel performance.

Under the wolf's repeated tearing bites, the girl's upper body seemed ripped apart; beneath the torn leather jacket, her snow‑white delicate body was exposed, and copious fresh blood seeped from the gaping wound.

Removing the leather jacket would surely make anyone feel heart‑pained and unable to bear the sight.

Such a beautiful body being destroyed is like a perfect artwork cruelly sliced with a small knife, leaving many cuts.

Only in Lin An's eyes did it possess a different kind of beauty.

That is a fragmented beauty....

「Almost... enough... 」

He muttered softly.

Lin An gave a light chuckle, intending to continue to the next step.

Under deliberate interference with the wolf's attacks, the beast merely savagely tore and bit, but in fact it did not pose a real threat to life.

Besides looking more miserable and causing great pain, the girl's life was still assured.

Collapsed, her face turned pale.

The girl desperately tried to protect herself with both hands, helpless, and was about to faint from the pain.

Under the beast's tearing, the flesh on her arm was actually ripped off; the pain of flaying and broken bones is something even a strong man cannot endure, let alone her.

Am I going to die..!!?

Don't. I cannot die here.. I don't want to die...!!

I cannot imagine dying in this monster's jaws, with even my corpse torn to rags and eventually turned into feces.

As large amounts of blood flowed away, the girl felt her resistance weakening; no matter how she cried out, Lin An, who should have been protecting her at all times, seemed to have vanished and never appeared.

She collapsed in tears, her breastbone crushed by the wolf's claws, her whole body tossed about like a piece of meat by the beast, as if the wolf's mouth were searching for the right angle to devour her; at this moment the girl's reason completely broke down.

As the huge jaws opened again, as if to crush her skull, the powerless girl kept spouting large mouthfuls of fresh blood, her eyes filled with despair and gloom.

Her whole body was icy cold, even her thoughts had become blurred.

The world spun, as if being dragged into an endless abyss.

Just then, a calm voice rang out beside her like heavenly music.

「Your Highness, I have come late. »

「Pfft! 」

Only saw Lin An strike casually; the long sword in his hand precisely and violently pierced through the wolf's skull from behind, directly killing the beast.

The bloody stench dripped from the sword, falling onto the girl's pale, bloodless face.

Looking down at this imperial miss, Lin An gave a light chuckle, directly drew his sword, then squatted down and casually patted the girl's face with his hand.

Good.

The person has already become «stupid».

In the girl's trembling mouth, as if she wanted to say something, and in her vacant eyes, Lin An began to remove the girl's leather jacket without any psychological burden.

It must be said that even in such a miserable state, the girl is still very beautiful; moreover, she possesses an added beauty of regrettable imperfection.

Snow‑white skin paired with red blood is like a discarded doll.

At the mercy of others.

Desire, alluring.