They Hated Me in My First Life, But Now I Have the Love System
Chapter 339: What... What Am I Seeing?

Chapter 339: What… What Am I Seeing?

His eyes widened. Time froze.

Karen.

She was being escorted in, head low, shoulders straight, face unreadable.

John couldn’t move.

What… what am I seeing?

Is my mind playing tricks on me? Isn’t she a prisoner like me? Or

But then King Eglon’s voice sliced through the air like a blade.

“Come over here, my dear,” he said, eyes gleaming with triumph.

But Karen didn’t move.

She stood frozen, her feet glued to the floor as if rooted by guilt. She could feel John’s eyes burning into her, full of confusion, betrayal… and hurt.

Her heart pounded. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

King Eglon had promised. He said no one would ever know. He said he would cover it all up, release them the next day, cancel the death sentence, pretend none of this had happened.

So why was he exposing her now?

Why now?

The king glanced over and noticed her hesitation. His expression darkened for a moment before he waved a lazy hand at the guard beside her. The man stepped forward and gave her a rough shove toward the center of the throne room.

Karen stumbled, then steadied herself, but still kept her head down, her shoulder length hair falling like a curtain over her face.

John stared at her, unmoving.

He didn’t speak.

He didn’t blink.

He just kept staring, as though if he looked hard enough, he could find some version of the truth written on her face.

But Karen refused to look up.

She couldn’t.

Not now.

Not with that look in his eyes.

“Won’t you say hello to your close friend?” King Eglon said casually, though his smile was as cold as ice. “Come now. This is such a touching reunion. It’s been so long… fifteen twenty minutes since you last saw her. ”

Then his gaze shifted to John. The fake kindness dropped from his voice like a mask falling.

“So now you know I’m not stupid,” the king said, his voice sharp and mocking. “You were lying, weren’t you?”

He chuckled. “All that drama in the prison… So dramatic. So loyal. I almost believed it.”

He leaned forward on his throne, resting his chin on his hand.

“I wonder… What was your grand plan?” he asked, eyes gleaming. “Tell me, John. I’m so very curious. Entertain me.”

John clenched his jaw, but inside, his world was cracking.

John shook his head and looked away.

It was over.

The plan had failed, completely.

He had hoped to pretend betrayal, play the role of a desperate coward in order to earn King Eglon’s trust. Then, from the inside, he would look for a way to help his friends escape.

But he hadn’t known… he hadn’t imagined… that there was a real traitor among them.

A traitor who had already handed them over long before he ever stepped into the throne room.

John’s heart clenched in his chest. His breathing came faster.

Not because of the failure.

Not because of the danger.

But because the traitor… was her.

Karen.

Not just anyone.

Not just a friend.

The girl he had quietly loved for years. The one his heart beat for whenever she smiled, whenever she walked into the room. But he never said a word, because she had always been drawn to Abuchi.

Everyone knew it.

So John had stepped back. If there was even the smallest chance that things could work between her and Abuchi, he would never come between them.

He respected Abuchi.

He loved Karen.

And he would sacrifice his own happiness if it meant she could have hers.

But when Abuchi fell for Ruth instead… for a moment, just a moment, hope had bloomed in John’s chest.

He told himself: Maybe… maybe after the war. Maybe when Karen gives up on Abuchi… maybe then.

But now?

That hope shattered.

She had broken it with her own hands.

A thousand questions screamed in his head. Why? How could she? When? Was it fear? Or something worse?

Karen still wouldn’t look at him. Her silence was more painful than a confession.

King Eglon watched John carefully, enjoying the turmoil dancing across his face.

It wasn’t like John hadn’t noticed the red flags. He saw the cracks, those strange moments, the times Karen seemed too cold, too quick to judge Nnenna, too harsh when she didn’t need to be. But love… love had blinded him. He made excuses. He let things go.

Because love, he believed, was patient. It was kind. It was willing to compromise, to forgive, and even to teach when necessary.

On their journey, he had seen Karen clash with Nnenna more times than he could count. But instead of stepping in, he chose silence. He only ever spoke when things became too much, when it could no longer be ignored.

He remembered the shift most clearly during their time in the Forest of Regrets. Karen had started to feel like someone else entirely, like a stranger trapped in the body of someone he once knew. But even then, he held on. Maybe it was the pressure of their situation. Maybe it was fear, or confusion. Maybe… it was survival.

And who was he to judge? He wasn’t perfect either. He had made mistakes. He had used lies and deceit in hopes of saving his friends. So who was he to throw the first stone?

Still, he couldn’t shake the pain now. The betrayal tasted bitter in his mouth. And the person who caused it, was her.

The girl he had secretly loved for years.

The girl he had hoped might one day look his way… once she gave up on Abuchi.

But now… now he wasn’t even sure who she was anymore.

“Karen,” he whispered, voice hoarse, eyes heavy with heartbreak.

And yet, she still wouldn’t meet his gaze.

Why?

The silence between them grew loud, too loud.

Between them stood something broken.

Something jagged and bleeding. Betrayal.

The kind that doesn’t just hurt, it burnt… like a raging fire in his chest.