Chapter2

Time until the Ash Gate opens: 5 days.

My only task today was clearing out my private chambers.

My handmaids claimed the mountain of clutter on my rug held deep sentimental value for me.

But thanks to the memory severing, my brain registered zero sentimentality. To me, it was just a pile of useless junk.

With methodical precision, I began tossing things into a heavy incinerator sack.

The moon-tide cloaks I had painstakingly stitched to soothe his volatile Alpha temper? Tossed aside.

The meticulously drafted supply ledgers granting his troops access to our tribal lands? Trashed.

The hundreds of marriage oath drafts I had copied by hand? Discarded.

As the final item put into the sack, I exhaled. The room was finally clean.

I turned to find Kaelzen standing in the doorway. His amber eyes locked onto the discarded items—the ledgers, the cloaks, the vows I had supposedly bled for.

"Why are you throwing those away?" His voice was raspy with raw disbelief.

"Trash is meant to be thrown away," I replied, my tone entirely clinical.

The moment the words left my lips, an unprecedented relief washed over me.

I found the very sight of this hypocritical Alpha utterly ridiculous.

Kaelzen’s fists clenched, the veins straining against his forearms. He took a sharp breath, forcing a veneer of arrogance over his primal panic.

"I lost my temper yesterday. The banquet is tonight. Get dressed. You are coming."

I didn't argue. I simply grabbed my cloak and headed for the car.

Vesya was already seated inside, offering a sickly sweet smile. I merely nodded and sat in the back.

During the ride, Kaelzen put on a theatrical display, softly asking about her 'fragile condition.' He pitched his voice perfectly, doing it on purpose, clearly expecting to provoke a jealous fit. But when he glanced at me to gauge my reaction, I remained perfectly calm, staring blankly ahead. My profound apathy visibly rattled him.

When we entered the Great Hall, his intent to humiliate me became brutally clear.

Right at the front of the hall stood two luxurious, fur-lined chairs reserved for Kaelzen and his destined Matriarch. Under the watchful eyes of the tribal elders and elites, Kaelzen did the unthinkable. He bypassed me entirely, grasped Vesya’s hand, and seated her in the Matriarch's chair.

Then, he coldly looked down at me.

"Take a seat at the lower flank," Kaelzen commanded loudly, ensuring the entire hall heard. "The heat up here is too stifling for you anyway."

The biting draft of the lower flank instantly drained the color from my face, yet I didn't utter a single word of protest. I quietly walked down and took the isolated seat.

The hall fell dead silent.

Lady Morwenna, the respected wife of a senior war commander, slammed her iron goblet onto the table, her eyes brimming with outraged pity.

"Lord Kaelzen, this is an absolute disgrace!" she snapped, her voice trembling with indignation. "She nearly died in an ambush for you! Yet you humiliate her openly like this? Look at her! She can barely sit upright!"

Kaelzen’s jaw tightened defensively. He pulled Vesya closer. "Vesya is carrying my heir. She requires my care. Sevran is resilient enough to endure it."

Murmurs of profound sympathy and disgust rippled through the hall.

"To be discarded so ruthlessly after giving him everything..." an elder whispered, looking at my pale face with deep sorrow. "No wonder the poor girl hasn't spoken a word. She must be entirely broken inside, forcing herself to swallow this humiliation just to maintain her dignity."

I remained deaf to their pity. The old me would have been shattered, shedding silent tears in the cold. Now? I just pulled my cloak a little tighter. I felt absolutely nothing for the Alpha on the dais.

Enduring the spectacle until the main courses were cleared, I quietly stood and retreated down the hall to the ladies’ anteroom to escape the draft.

Pushing the door open, I caught Vesya frantically shoving something padding back into her gown. Her fake belly —used to fake a gravid figure—had slipped out of place.

She jumped, terrified.

"You aren't pregnant," I noted, my voice was mocking

Her demure mask shattered instantly. "What? Are you going to run to the elders?"

"I don't have the spare energy. I don't love Kaelzen anymore. What benefit is there in exposing you?"

"You mean that?" Her rigid tension slowly faded as she studied my icy gaze. "Don't judge me. He is my only way out of poverty. I have to secure him. By any means."

I gave a brief nod. "I hope you get what you ask for."

Having no desire to tangle with her any further, I turned to leave.

I only made it three steps before a violent force slammed into my back.

I pitched forward, plunging down the steep marble flight. I crashed hard onto the landing. A sharp, agonizing ache instantly flared in my lower abdomen.

Gasping, momentarily blinded by the pain, I looked up.

Vesya descended the stairs, her feigned fragility replaced by a chilling sneer. "I'm sorry, but I don't believe you."

Before I could process her words, she threw her head back and unleashed a shrill scream. She threw herself onto the marble next to me, violently rupturing a concealed blood-pack beneath her skirts. A horrifying pool of crimson rushed across the white tiles.

Footsteps thundered down the corridor. Kaelzen burst into the stairwell, his face turning an ashen white. Overcome by panic, he dropped to his knees. "Vesya, what happened?!"

She clutched her faux-stomach, crying . "Kaelzen! She was jealous that I was carrying your child! She pushed me and tried to kill our baby!"

Fighting through the severe pain in my lower belly, I tried to speak—to explain that it was a set-up, to demand him examine the dry stairs above us.

But he didn't listen.

Kaelzen turned to me. His eyes were feral. He already deemed me the murderer without any solid evidence.

Without hesitation, the Alpha stood and kicked me squarely in the belly by his right foot.

The immense force lifted me off the ground. The back of my skull slammed mercilessly against the wall.

The pain in my abdomen twisted into pure, unbearable agony, and I felt a surge of warm blood suddenly flowing beneath me.

As my consciousness rapidly bled out into the void, my final sight was Kaelzen scooping the weeping Vesya into his arms and sprinting away without a single backward glance.

Then, everything went black.