Chapter 5

Sera POV

The water of the Sacred Spring was bone-chillingly cold, carrying the rusty tang of old iron.

When I released my grip and let my body sink into the depths alongside that white ceramic urn of ashes, I had expected to be greeted by suffocation, by darkness, by eternal nothingness.

Lily's ashes dispersed in the water like a white mist, swirling around my fingertips. I opened my mouth and gulped down mouthfuls of spring water, letting that frigid coldness flood my lungs. Since this world had no place for us, we would go to the bottom and find the Moon Goddess to judge our case.

The water pressure gradually increased, my eardrums buzzed, and my vision began to blur.

Just as my consciousness was about to dissipate, something changed.

The spring water, once ice-cold, suddenly became scalding hot. It seemed to come alive, forcing its way into my body through every orifice. My blood felt like it was boiling, every blood vessel burning, every inch of bone being hammered by an unseen force.

"Ugh..." I wanted to scream, but only bitter spring water poured into my mouth.

In this near-death agony, my senses were suddenly amplified to an impossible degree. I could hear the deafening symphony from the banquet hall two kilometers away, the crisp sound of wine glasses clinking, and even Caden's cold, cruel whisper—though I couldn't make out the words, the disgust in his tone, even from this distance, still cut my heart like a knife.

Through the murky water, I could somehow see clearly every grain of sand on the bottom, every blade of underwater grass swaying in the current.

This clarity was something the Wolfless me could never have imagined.

My sense of smell became even more terrifying. I could smell the earthy scent of earthworms deep in the soil, the odor of rotting leaves in the forest, and even the faint metallic tang emanating from my own blood.

What... what was happening to me?

According to legend, the Sacred Spring was where the Moon Goddess cleansed sins, and no one who entered had ever come out alive. I thought I was going to die, but why was my body resisting death? It was as if the spring water was... transforming me?

Just as I was immersed in the shock of these sensory changes, the water surface suddenly exploded.

A massive wolf claw covered in gray-black fur plunged into the water and clamped down hard on my shoulder.

A sharp pain shot through me—the sensation of claws piercing flesh.

I was forced to open my eyes and saw an enormous gray wolf. It was one of the pack's guards, ordered to seal off the Sacred Spring, who hadn't expected to find me here looking like some kind of human-shaped water ghost.

He was startled by my appearance. After soaking at the bottom for so long, my skin had become deathly pale and swollen, yet my eyes glowed an eerie silver from the spring water's irritation.

But he didn't release me. Instead, he bit down more viciously on the back of my neck—the way wolves treat pups or lower-ranking members—and dragged me toward the shore like a piece of cargo.

"Let go... let go of me..." I struggled weakly, my throat producing a sound like a broken bellows.

I still didn't want to live.

Lily was dead. What meaning did my life have? Even if my body had grown stronger, so what? I was still that Wolfless waste who couldn't protect anyone.

But the wolf was too powerful. He threw me violently onto the grass by the shore.

Thud!

I landed like a pile of mud, water and bile spewing from my lungs.

Immediately, countless torches lit up around me. The blinding light made me instinctively squint. At the center of that light, Caden had arrived.

I struggled to lift my head and through my dripping wet hair, I saw the man I had loved for half my life. He wore a black haute couture suit, utterly out of place in this wilderness. His face was frighteningly dark, his eyes churning with a violence and... panic I had never seen before.

"Sera! You crazy woman!" He strode up to me, grabbed my collar, and hauled me up from the ground.

His hands were trembling.

Was it from anger, or from that momentary loss of composure?

"Do you know what you're doing?!" he roared at me. "You want to die? You think you can threaten me with this despicable method? You think I'd feel sad if you died?!"

I looked at him quietly, my eyes as hollow as a dried-up well.

"Caden..." My voice was so hoarse it sounded like I'd swallowed charcoal. "Lily... Lily is gone... let me go be with her..."

At the mention of Lily, Caden's hand visibly stiffened. But he quickly recovered his coldness, even tightening his fingers with more force, making it difficult for me to breathe.

"Shut up!" he growled. "That bastard's death was her fate! How dare you disrupt my ceremony at a time like this for a dead person? Do you know the entire pack is watching me right now?!"

The entire pack was watching him.

In his eyes, my life, Lily's life—neither mattered as much as his ridiculous dignity.

At that moment, the crowd parted automatically, and Elena walked over gracefully. She wore that flowing gown prepared for the coronation ceremony, looking as noble as a true queen. She glanced at my wretched state, a flash of satisfaction crossing her eyes, but it vanished instantly, replaced by an expression of sorrowful compassion.

"Caden, don't be like this." Elena gently tugged at Caden's arm, her voice so tender it could drip honey. "She just lost her daughter. Being mentally unstable is understandable. Don't stoop to her level—you'll make yourself sick with anger."

She turned to look at me, those beautiful eyes filled with "sympathy."

"Sera, I know losing your beloved daughter is painful. But how could you do something so foolish? If you died, how would you face your father in the afterlife? How would you face the pack that took you in?"

The surrounding pack members began to whisper.

"The Luna is so kind, still speaking up for that crazy woman at a time like this."

"Yeah, Sera is utterly ungrateful. The Luna bears no grudge, yet she still causes trouble today."

"That's the difference—the Luna is a true lady of refinement."

Elena was satisfied with this effect. She took a step forward, crouched down, and looked at me with an almost pitying gaze, her lips moving slightly.

She appeared to be comforting me, but was actually speaking in a voice only the two of us could hear:

"Sera, accept your fate. Look at yourself now—like a drowned dog. Lily is dead, and you're useless now. Rather than embarrassing yourself here, why not hurry up and die? Maybe you can go to hell and keep her company."

With that, she stood up and gave Caden a perfect smile. "Caden, don't be angry. Today is our happy occasion. Don't let your mood be ruined by irrelevant people. As long as she behaves herself from now on, I won't hold anything against her."

I let out a cold laugh. Who was this sorrowful act for?

Just then, old Alpha Victor also walked over. He looked at me and snorted coldly:

"Disgraceful! Is the Sacred Spring somewhere you can just enter as you please? That's Iron Moon Pack territory! Not only did you, a Wolfless, desecrate the divine, you tried to gain sympathy through suicide? You're absolutely beyond redemption!"

He turned to look at Caden, his tone severe. "Caden, don't forget you're the Alpha. Someone who corrupts our values like this must be severely punished! Tomorrow morning at first light, convene a full pack tribunal. I will personally determine her sentence!"

"The urn..." I suddenly realized something and looked frantically toward the water. "My Lily!"

That white ceramic jar had already sunk into the depths, vanishing from sight.

It was my last remembrance of Lily, and now even that was lost.

I tried to throw myself back into the water like a madwoman, but Caden slapped me hard across the face.

"Smack!" The crisp sound of the slap echoed through the night.

My head snapped to the side, a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of my mouth. Half my face went numb instantly, the ringing in my ears starting again.

"Enough!" Caden's voice was as cold as ice shards. "Take her away! Lock her in the dungeon! At sunrise tomorrow, we convene a full pack tribunal!"

I was hoisted up by two burly wolf soldiers. As I was being dragged away, I looked back one last time.

Caden was lowering his head to fix Elena's hair, disheveled by the night wind, his movements so gentle as if she were a fragile treasure.

And Elena nestled in his embrace, a victor's smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

That smile was full of mockery for me, the loser.

I was roughly dragged into the dark dungeon. Behind me, the pack's celebration continued in raucous revelry.