The Prison-Made Queen novel Chapter 490

Looking at her, even Abel felt phantom pains.

"Payton, maybe give her a break..." Abel couldn't help but plead for her before Leilani even spoke.

"I don't like interruptions when I'm training," Payton interrupted coldly. "Real enemies won't let her rest."

At this moment, the calm, disabled man vanished, replaced by a cold-blooded assassin who wouldn't blink at taking a life.

As he spoke, Payton turned his wrist. The branch changed direction mid-air, thrusting straight for Leilani’s throat!

Leilani’s pupils constricted. She instinctively dodged sideways while simultaneously forming a claw with her right hand, lunging to grab Payton’s wrist—the move she had practiced most over the last three days.

But as if he had anticipated it, Payton retracted the branch in a tight spiral and—“thwack”—whipped it across her knuckles.

"Ah!" Leilani recoiled, her fingers burning so intensely they went numb.

Payton withdrew the branch, his tone steady. "Sparring with Abel made you dependent. The Filament Fist isn't about dead patterns; it's about adaptation."

He faced her. "You rely too much on the routine."

Leilani gasped for air, her chest heaving violently. She had thought she was making rapid progress, but in front of Payton, she was like a toddler just learning to walk. She realized how arrogant she had been.

Moreover, she sensed that Payton was still holding back.

The realization ignited a fire of defiance in her. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and took her stance again, her eyes burning with stubborn determination. "Again."

The corner of Payton’s mouth lifted imperceptibly. "Good."

...

Leilani shook her head, watching Payton disappear. Her gaze deepened. The history between Paulina and this man was likely far more complex than she had imagined.

And what she had learned was far from enough. If a man as skilled as Payton could be tortured into this state, what chance did she have?

It was no wonder he had reacted that way when she offered to cure him. She simply wasn't strong enough yet.

Driven by this realization, Leilani threw herself into the training with even greater ferocity.

Finally, her last day in Garrison City arrived.

At dusk, with the shadows of the plum trees swaying around them, Payton sat in his wheelchair, tracing the rim of his coffee cup.

"The time we agreed upon has come," he said, his voice low.