Deception

'Huh? She stopped moving?'

Northern's interception had been swift, perhaps too swift—so fast that she hadn't even registered it properly. He had expected some kind of instinctual reaction, some frenzied movement the moment he stepped tightly into her space.

But instead, she froze.

Wide-eyed. Motionless. Hands suspended mid-air, not even attempting to maneuver her strike. She simply stared at him, blinking.

He didn't understand.

Then again, he had never truly understood women—not in this world, not even in his previous one.

Back then, he had been grateful that someone had loved him first, approached him first, married him first—so he never had to wrestle with the complexities of navigating the mind of a woman.

But of course, that person had turned out to be a liar. A cheater. A betrayal carved into his bones.