Chapter 3
Sera POV
The maid told me later that in Lily's final lucid moment, she had asked her: "Mommy... has Uncle Caden... come back?"
Yes, Lily wasn't even allowed to call Caden 'Father.'
When she had just learned to speak, she had nearly been slapped simply for asking, 'Is my father that man called Caden?' She was just a child who understood nothing.
Even old Alpha Victor kept silent about what had happened to us, pretending nothing had occurred. Because he had been the sole witness to Caden's oath, the Pack only knew that my father had saved him, but they didn't know that Caden had sworn an oath, nor did they know that I was Caden's true fated mate. They all thought I was delusional, trying to climb the social ladder by currying favor with Caden.
At first, Victor had been wary that refusing to acknowledge my status as 'fated mate' might have consequences for Caden, but later, when nothing happened even as the Pack members scorned and bullied Lily and me, they began to intensify their humiliation and abuse.
Victor even assured Caden that someone of my lowly bloodline would never receive the Moon Goddess's protection.
So at that moment, the maid had only looked at Lily with pity, listening to my pleas and roars echoing faintly through the night sky, and told her that I wouldn't be coming back that night.
Lily closed her eyes. Though young, she was clever and understood everything.
She whispered softly: "That's okay... tell Mommy that Lily doesn't hurt anymore. Lily will always love her."
Once her eyes closed, they never opened again.
When I was finally released, I immediately ran toward the wooden cabin where we lived. On the way, I happened to see several servants dragging something with disgust.
A small, bloodless hand extended from the sheet hastily wrapped around her body. I recognized it instantly—it was Lily's hand.
"Hurry up, don't leave this bad luck on Pack grounds," one servant cursed, kicking Lily's foot.
I rushed over like a madwoman, using every ounce of strength to push them away and reclaim my daughter.
"Lily! My daughter! No!"
I screamed in despair, holding Lily's body, but the small person in my arms remained motionless, her eyes tightly shut, lifeless against my chest.
There would never be anyone to sweetly call me 'Mommy' again. No one would pull my hand to look at the sparrows and wildflowers in the yard. No one would stand in front of me when the Pack members gossiped, saying with a trembling voice despite her own fear, 'Don't bully my mommy.'
I wasn't allowed to handle Lily's body within the territory because they feared Elena might 'smell the smoke and be displeased.' I could only go to the edge of the territory, near the garbage dump, and personally light her body on fire.
Now, Lily had become the ashes in this box. And outside, the music grew louder—it was Caden and Elena's celebration.
Holding the box, I walked toward the Sacred Spring deep in the forest.
The path to the Sacred Spring was difficult. Thorns tore my dress, but I felt no pain.
My adoptive mother Vera didn't come to see Lily off. She was the guardian the Pack had assigned to me during my adolescence. At first, she had respectfully called me 'Miss,' probably thinking I could become Luna.
But after everything that happened, she essentially abandoned me. After I gave birth to Lily, she thought I could rise through my child and was attentive to me for a while.
However, I hadn't seen her at all these past few days. It wasn't until this morning that I learned from the gossip of kitchen maids what Vera had been doing during Lily's critical illness.
"Did you hear? Lady Vera really bet on the right horse this time."
"Yes, she's been running around preparing Miss Elena's coronation gown. I heard Miss Elena is very pleased and plans to make her a personal attendant."
"Hmph, that jinx Sera, with her sickly daughter, only brings shame to the Pack. Lady Vera is smart—she knows to cling to the Luna's coattails."
Those words pierced my ears like needles.
A memory I had overlooked suddenly exploded in my mind.
Three months ago, Elena had just returned to Ashenford. She had approached Vera on her own initiative.
"Aunt Vera, I know you have a good relationship with Sera. And Sera is quite special to Caden, isn't she?" Elena held Vera's hand, her tone intimate. "Caden and I have known each other for a long time, so I'm willing to become her friend too. To better understand and care for her, could you tell me more about her situation? Like, does she have any other family? What does she like or dislike?"
Vera thought this was a heaven-sent opportunity, a ladder to climb to power.
So she told Elena everything—all my secrets, my weaknesses, even Lily's existence and health problems, without reservation.
From that day on, Elena began regularly bringing gifts to visit Lily.
Exquisite pastries, sweet honey, and those "northern herbal supplements" in pretty little bottles.
"This is to strengthen her constitution," Elena had said gently, stroking Lily's head, her eyes full of affection. "Only Pack VIPs can enjoy these. Lily is so adorable, she must stay healthy."
Lily had liked her very much. Each time after drinking the supplements, she would smile happily and carefully put away the bottles.
"Mommy, Miss Elena is so nice. She's not at all like the cold person in the rumors."
I had never suspected anything. I thought she genuinely liked us. She was the eldest daughter of the Caldwell family, born into deep-rooted privilege.
I believed someone of her noble status wouldn't harm us and would accept us into the Pack.
If we could gain her protection, even if Lily and I weren't acknowledged as related to Caden, at least we could have a place in the Pack.
Though Lily was frail, under my care she could still grow up safely.
I hadn't seen the viciousness hidden in Elena's eyes.
At this moment, standing in the dark forest, I pieced together these fragments for the first time.
Those supplements.
Lily's increasingly failing organs.
Dr. Maren's cold "not within treatment scope."
And Vera's face—one that could betray anything for profit.
My stomach churned violently. I leaned against a tree and dry-heaved several times.
Was this what betrayal tasted like?
Being sold out by the person who should protect you most, your daughter poisoned by the person you trusted most.
I clutched the urn tighter, my nails digging deep into my palms.
Once, I had naively believed that as long as I stayed obediently by Caden's side, as long as I tried to be a qualified Pack member, he would eventually fulfill his oath.
I had watched him countless times at the training grounds, watched him instruct young wolves in combat, watched him dripping with sweat. His black tank top soaked through, outlining his sculpture-perfect muscular lines.
He was tall, strong, with eyes sharp as an eagle's—the absolute authority of a future Alpha.
He was the Alpha everyone aspired to, including me.
I had served him as carefully as a personal maid, only hoping he would spare Lily and me one more glance.
That day, I had walked up to him with a cup of hot tea, wanting to ask when he could formally acknowledge our official Pack member status.
"Alpha, you've worked hard." I kept my head down, my voice trembling, my cheeks burning. Though we had been intimate, I still blushed and my heart raced when speaking to him.
Even though he treated us mother and daughter so coldly, I still harbored fantasies about him.
Immediately, harsh laughter erupted around us.
"Oh, isn't that Sera? Still trying to climb up?" A female wolf covered her mouth mockingly. "Alpha Caden is going to marry a strong she-wolf as Luna, not a single mother without a wolf spirit!"
Caden didn't stop their mockery. He only looked at me coldly, as if looking at a piece of non-recyclable trash.
He took the tea, and I saw a glimmer of hope in my eyes, but the next second he casually poured the hot tea onto the grass beside him.
"Sera," his voice was ice-cold, "mind your own business. Your little schemes only disgust me. Stay away from me."
He turned and left, leaving me with a resolute back.
At that moment, standing there, shame nearly drowned me.
When I returned home, Vera looked at my disheveled, crying face with no trace of sympathy—only thick disgust.
I had thought she would comfort me, or at least tell me not to mind the gossip.
But she didn't.
"Sera, do you have any brains at all?" she scolded harshly. "I told you to please Elena and Caden, not to harass him! Now look, the whole Pack is laughing at you!"
From that day on, Vera completely gave up on me. She even said coldly when I was desperate about Lily's medical expenses: "Don't bother me. If that sickly child dies, she dies. Don't drag me down and get me expelled from the Pack too."
How foolish. How ridiculous.
Now Lily was dead.
And that man I had once wanted to approach despite humiliation, that man who bore his father's oath and should have been my mate, had personally cut off my last lifeline and abandoned his own biological daughter.
He didn't just despise me—he didn't even care whether I lived or died. His indulgence of Elena, his protection of that "Luna" title, was built on the absolute trampling of "ants" like us.
"Lily," I murmured to the box in my arms, tears finally breaking through, "I'm sorry. Mommy is taking you to get washed clean. It's too dirty here. We don't belong here."
The water had already reached my waist.
I looked down at the white ceramic box in my arms. Moonlight scattered across the water's surface, shimmering.
"Lily, look," I said with a trembling voice, slowly submerging the urn into the water. "This is the Sacred Spring. The Moon Goddess will watch over you. This time, no one can hurt you anymore."
I continued walking without hesitation, with no reason to stop.
Since this world couldn't accommodate us mother and daughter, since the so-called Alpha and Luna could trample oaths and lives at will, then I would demand an explanation here from this hypocritical deity.
The water rose past my chest, past my neck.
I took one last look at the brilliant lights in the distance, then let go.
The white urn slowly sank in the water, like a teardrop falling into the abyss.
And I, following it, plunged together into this icy darkness.
