Chapter 7

Sera POV

I didn't expect him to show mercy at this moment, but before he could make his decision, Vera rushed out first. Having ingratiated herself with Elena, her status had risen dramatically. Not only had she avoided criticism for being my guardian, but she had become Luna's confidante.

"Sera, have you had enough of your madness?"

Vera stood with her hands on her hips, her voice shrill and piercing. "You think you can survive by leaving the pack? Dream on! A worthless piece of trash like you without a wolf spirit—without the protection of the clan, you won't last three days out there! You'll be torn apart by other wolf packs, captured by hunters and skinned alive, and die even more miserably than that stray dog!"

She paused, putting on a face of "concern for you," and continued with mock earnestness:

"After all, I watched you grow up. Listen to me—don't be foolish. Stay here, admit your guilt honestly, and atone to the Alpha and Luna. As long as you're obedient, even if you become a slave, at least you'll have food to eat and keep your life. Wandering outside is a dead end. Only by staying in the clan do you have any chance of survival!"

The entire venue fell into dead silence.

I looked at her face, flushed red with excitement, and suddenly felt it was utterly laughable.

Once, I thought she was my closest person. For a time, I even regarded her as my mother. I picked fresh dew for her to drink to please her. To elevate her status within the clan, I went out of my way to please Caden.

But now I finally understood—she was just the most thoroughly domesticated dog.

I pulled at the corner of my mouth, revealing an extremely mocking cold smile.

"Vera," I looked at her, my voice terrifyingly calm, "you're always so clever, always so good at calculating for yourself."

Vera thought I had listened, and her face was about to show delight.

"But," I turned sharply, my gaze cutting across her face like a blade, "do you know that right now, with your tail-wagging, begging appearance, you really look like a dog?"

Vera's face instantly turned iron-blue. "You—"

"A dog that only wags its tail for its master." I coldly interrupted her. "Your master tells you to bite someone, you bite. Your master tells you to lie down, you lie down. You think you'll get a bone just by being obedient? No. In their eyes, you're not even worth a dog—you're just a chess piece that can be discarded at any time."

"Shut up! You ungrateful wretch!" Vera, hit where it hurt, trembled all over with rage and screamed as she tried to rush at me.

"Enough!" Elder Victor impatiently struck his staff, interrupting this farce.

He looked at Vera with a trace of disgust in his eyes, as if viewing a mad dog barking wildly.

"One thing at a time!" Victor said coldly. "Caden, give the order. Don't let this waste and her crazy mother waste everyone's time."

Finally, he turned his face away and said coldly to the executioner.

"Proceed with the punishment."

In that instant, my last glimmer of hope shattered.

On the pillar beside the execution platform hung a specially made thick leather whip.

It wasn't an ordinary whip, but a wolf-fang whip soaked in saltwater, each barb gleaming with cold light.

According to custom, the condemned were stripped naked. After all, slaves and traitors had no dignity.

But when the executioner prepared to strip my clothes, Caden suddenly stood up and turned to walk back.

"Let her receive the punishment with her clothes on." His back was to us, his voice carrying a barely perceptible irritation.

The entire venue erupted in commotion.

I had been ready to struggle desperately, but then I saw Elena's smile freeze on her face. She stared at Caden's retreating figure, jealousy nearly overflowing from her eyes. She clutched her skirt so tightly that her fingernails almost tore through the silk.

An inexplicable sense of satisfaction rose in my heart. She probably thought Caden still cared about me and didn't want others to see my body.

I looked at Caden's dark silhouette again and suddenly felt a wave of sickening irony.

He simply felt that having a wolfless fated mate was already embarrassing enough. Having me stripped and humiliated like a slave would only make him lose more face. So I shouted at Caden's back:

"What? Is the Alpha afraid of losing face? Afraid that everyone will know you chose a Luna who poisoned your own biological daughter, while driving your fated mate and another biological daughter to their doom?!"

"Crack!"

Before I could finish, the executioner's whip struck my face.

The sharp pain made my vision go dark, half my face instantly swelling, my mouth filling with the taste of blood.

"How dare you slander the Luna? Beat her! Beat her to death!" the executioner roared.

The first lash fell.

"Crack!"

Flesh tore open.

The pain was indescribable, as if someone were plowing across my back with a red-hot iron rod.

"One."

I counted silently in my mind.

The second lash.

"Crack!"

The burning pain made my entire body convulse.

I bit down hard on my teeth, refusing to let myself cry out.

"Two."

The surrounding clanspeople cheered and cursed.

Vera stood at the front of the crowd, her face bearing a satisfied smile, shouting loudly, "Well done! Beat this ungrateful bitch to death!"

Elena nestled beside Caden, gently feeding him a sip of water, but her gaze cut across my body like a knife.

The third lash, the fourth lash...

My back was already a bloody mess.

Each lash felt like it was whipping away my dignity.

But I didn't cry.

I stared fixedly at the ground, letting fresh blood drip from my fingertips.

Did it hurt? Yes, but this pain kept me clear-headed.

Those memories of Caden's tenderness, those fantasies about ancestral oaths, those images of Lily sweetly calling me "Mom"—all were forcibly stripped away with each agonizing lash.

I was no longer that naive Sera.

I was a vengeful spirit crawling back from hell.

When the count reached twenty, my consciousness was already beginning to blur.

But I still straightened my spine, like a nail driven into the punishment pillar.

I watched Caden sitting on the high platform, holding a wine glass, his gaze coldly observing everything, as if I were truly just an insignificant slave receiving punishment.

But I knew he wasn't comfortable. I saw that he hadn't touched a single sip of wine and was almost crushing the glass in his hand.

As my fated mate, his instinct told him to protect me, to stop all this.

But he suppressed his wolf soul's roar with powerful willpower. He chose Elena, chose that perfect Luna, and abandoned me.

"Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty."

When the final lash fell, I was on the verge of unconsciousness.

I collapsed like a puddle of mud, gasping heavily, fresh blood flowing from my back and staining the dust beneath my feet red.

"Throw her back to the wooden cabin. Without orders, she's not to come out." Caden stood up, dropped this sentence, and turned to leave.

I was dragged away like garbage.

But in the last moment before losing consciousness, the corner of my mouth curved into an extremely faint arc.

Just wait.

This blood debt—I'll make you repay it tenfold.