Chapter 4
Later, he wasn’t satisfied with my first draft. He had me revise it again and again.
I placed the final version of the wedding gown design on Alpha Lucius’s desk — it was in the exact style Olivia loved.
Lucius gave it a quick glance, and his brows immediately furrowed. “Too complicated.”
His finger tapped the lace embroidery on the hem. “She doesn’t like so many embellishments.”
I gripped the pencil in my hand tightly. “You said she prefers simplicity, but lilies of the valley are her symbol—”
“I said no, so it’s no.” He cut me off coldly. “Start over. I want it by this afternoon.”
“Alpha Lucius!” Amy’s wolf tail bristled in fury. “You know damn well—”
I silenced her spectral form with a mental command, leaving a deep crease across the paper with my trembling fingertip. “Understood.”
As I turned to return to the guest room, I saw Olivia sitting in the living room, sipping milk.
“Leina?” she called softly, voice smooth and sweet.
Her finger traced the rim of the glass. “Staying here all the time… watching us like this, it must be hard for you, right?”
“Whether I stay or leave has nothing to do with you.” My voice was cold as ice.
But Olivia wasn’t annoyed. She just smiled lightly. “I just think… you should have your own life. Always orbiting around Lucius — that’s no way to live.”
Her words were perfectly reasonable —
Yet each one was a soft blade, slicing through my heart.
By the time I handed in the 15th revision that afternoon, Lucius was on the phone.
“Use white roses. Yes, cover the entire garden.” His voice was unusually patient. “Put the ring at the top of the champagne tower. No mistakes.”
After hanging up, he finally picked up my design draft.
This time, he didn’t say it was too simple or too complex. He simply said, “This will do.”
As expected, he quickly added, “The proposal will be at the hilltop estate. Go supervise the setup. Beta Mia will coordinate with you — report to her if anything comes up.”
“Why do I have to go?” My nails dug into my palm.
“You’re my niece. Helping me is the least you can do,” he replied as if it were only natural.
On the day of the proposal, a light rain fell over the hilltop estate.
I stood in the corner of the banquet hall, watching Beta Mia direct the omegas to arrange the champagne tower.
And suddenly, I found it all absurd.
That’s when the music began.
Lucius appeared in a black suit, holding a ring box, walking step by step toward Olivia.
The moment he knelt on one knee, applause erupted through the hall.
“Olivia, marry me.”
His voice came through the microphone — soft, tender, a tone I had never heard before.
Olivia’s tears spilled over. Her wolf ears drooped, soaked and trembling. “I do.”
As he slipped the ring on her finger, their lips met.
Before I could move, Beta Mia approached.
“Miss Leina, it’s time to go.” Her tone was flat, and in her hand was a plane ticket to the Southern Border.
I stared at the pair embracing under the golden lights and suddenly laughed.
So from the beginning, I had been nothing more than a joke.
As I was forced into the car, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
It was Lucius.
“Did you see the ticket Mia gave you?”
His voice came through the speaker, calm and steady.
“The apartment in the Southern Border is ready. Live well there.”
The roses outside the window grew smaller and smaller.
And I found myself asking, “Why?”
“What do you mean, why?”
“Why do you have to be this cruel?” My voice trembled. “Do you really not want to see me ever again?”
There was a pause. Then he said, “Yes.”
Just one word —
And it hit like a hammer to the heart.
“Don’t come back,” he added. “I never want to see you again.”
The call ended as the car pulled away from the hilltop estate.
I looked out at the scenery rushing past the window, and finally…
The tears fell.
So this is what it meant —
When some goodbyes are meant to break you,
They do it in the most merciless way possible.
