Chapter 3 WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?

"You are not an ordinary herbalist. Who are you really?" the man asked, full of suspicion. He snorted, trying to dissect the scent of the woman in his grasp. Luisa stared up close at the man's blue eyes, beautiful eyes, but which now looked empty due to temporary blindness.

"You already know who I am. I am just an outcast wolf. So, I don't feel the need to answer your question!" Luisa roughly brushed aside the man's hand, severing the physical contact between them.

"I helped you simply out of humanity. You are temporarily blind, so I will help you until your vision returns. But after that, leave. Forget this meeting, forget this place. Helping you will only bring trouble for me," Luisa asserted before walking away, leaving the man full of questions.

Luisa busied herself. She took several roots and leaves from her herbal jars, then ground them until smooth. Once the mixture was ready, she told the man to lie down and close his eyes. With efficient movements yet a cold demeanor, she applied the mixture to the man's eyelids, unaware that he was an Alpha.

"Elyndor… you can call me Elyndor," the man suddenly said, breaking the silence. "What is your name?"

Luisa did not flinch. She seemed indifferent to that big name. Without a single word, she turned and left Elyndor.

"Hey, you haven't answered what your name is!" Elyndor called out, but Luisa kept walking away without looking back.

Actually, Luisa simply wanted to cut ties with her old world. But unfortunately, fate trapped her into saving that man. She intended to return to the forest to look for the remaining medicinal plants she needed, remembering that yesterday she had not had a chance to get them because she had to help Elyndor. However, just as she was about to leave, her ears rang sharply as if pierced by a needle.

"Agh!" Luisa groaned while pressing her ear. "What's wrong with my ear?"

The ringing grew louder and more painful, as if there was a sharp frequency that only she could hear. She had never felt her ears ring so painfully like this. Impulsively, her heart urged Luisa to go back inside the hut and grab several finished herbal mixtures to put into her bag.

"I have to go. You wait here, don't move too much, and get plenty of rest!" she said briefly to the man.

"Where are you going?" asked Elyndor, his voice filled with suspicion as well as concern.

Luisa did not answer. She hurried outside, following the source of the ringing sound that seemed to forcefully pull her steps toward the human settlement. The closer she got to the village, the louder the ringing became, torturing her hearing until her head felt like it was about to explode.

Although Luisa had lost the ability to transform into a wolf, she still inherited wolf speed; she was able to dash ten times faster than an ordinary human. Her steps only stopped when she reached the edge of the human settlement. There, a horrifying sight greeted her. An outbreak seemed to be consuming the village. The residents were crawling on the ground with pitiful groans, their skin blistered and covered in itchy, inflamed sores.

"What happened here, ma'am?" Luisa asked one of the women who appeared to be in distress.

"I don't know... our village was suddenly struck by a disease outbreak," the woman answered in a hoarse voice, holding back tears and the pain in her body.

"Let me help treat you," Luisa said.

Without wasting time, Luisa moved quickly. The herbal mixtures she had brought seemed as if they had been prepared for this call of nature; she immediately took them out of her bag. She was about to treat them. However, Luisa's eyes suddenly flashed with glowing silver-gold light. The villagers were startled, looking at her in fear because they thought Luisa was a witch.

But before Luisa could treat them, her body suddenly collapsed and lost consciousness for a few seconds. As soon as her eyes opened again, Luisa moved in a kind of semi-conscious state, as if her instincts had taken over her body. She touched the wounds on the villagers' bodies one by one. Miraculously, every touch of her hand on those wounds emitted a thin silver light, causing the inflamed sores to dry up and heal instantly.

All the villagers were stunned by what happened before their eyes, as if they were witnessing a goddess descending from heaven to cleanse their suffering. However, the healing demanded a heavy price. After the last person healed by Luisa recovered, Luisa's energy was completely drained. Her vision went dark, and her body collapsed to the ground again.

When Luisa slowly opened her eyes, she found herself surrounded by dozens of pairs of eyes staring at her with a glimmer of adoration. There was no fear, only immense gratitude.

"Are... are you a goddess?" one of them asked in a voice trembling with emotion.

Without waiting for an answer, the villagers simultaneously knelt down. They prostrated themselves before Luisa, giving her the highest honor she had never experienced in her entire life. In this human world, the defect that had caused her to be cast out by her pack was instead seen as a light of salvation.

"What are you doing?" Luisa asked in a hoarse voice. Her head was still throbbing and all her muscles felt as limp as jelly. She tried to sit up even though her vision was still spinning. "Stand up! Please don't do that to me!"

"Thank you for helping us, Goddess," said one of the villagers without daring to lift his head.

"I... helped you?" Luisa was stunned, looking at each of the villagers one by one, who appeared to be healed. Her memory was hazy; she only remembered taking out the herbal mixtures and intending to help them when suddenly darkness seized her. After that, she did not remember anything. However, she realized that the painful ringing that had been tormenting her ears was now completely gone.

"Yes, you healed all of us, Goddess!" replied another with a grateful tone.

"I am not a goddess!" Luisa tried to stand up with trembling legs.

"Whoever you are, we are very grateful."

Luisa was silent for a moment, staring at her own palms which felt warm. "I have to go now."

"Goddess, please stay here. Let us repay your kindness by providing shelter and food, let us all serve you," they pleaded earnestly.

"I already told you, I am not a goddess!" Luisa snapped, fear beginning to creep into her heart. Because she was truly confused by what was happening. "I cannot stay here long. My presence will only bring danger to all of you. I have to go!"

Without waiting for another response, Luisa got up. She hurriedly left the village with her body staggering. Every step felt heavy, as if her energy had been completely drained to the last drop. She, who usually walked ten times faster than humans, could now only walk half as slow as her normal speed.

"What is actually happening to me?" she murmured along the path leading to the forest. Her mind kept spinning over the series of strange events since she had saved that man named Elyndor. The wound on Elyndor's chest from the silver poison had suddenly disappeared without a trace, then the villagers' sores—which had clearly been blistering—also suddenly vanished without a trace, while she did not remember anything. Everything felt unreasonable, as if fate was toying with her life, which had been so quiet and lonely all this time.