Chapter 5

Lirael POV

The guard immediately stepped forward, picked Aurora up from the ground, and turned toward Sera.

“What are you doing? Let her go!” Silo stood up and moved forward to stop him, but several other guards blocked him and pressed him hard back into the snow. The sound of metal armor scraping against the ground hurt my eardrums.

In the chaos, perhaps it was a mother’s instinct that dragged me forcefully back from the haze. I struggled to open my eyes a crack. All I could see was blood and flying snow.

I saw the guard hand Aurora to Sera.

Sera lowered her head and looked at me, the corners of her lips slowly lifting in a victorious smile.

Kael’s cold voice fell immediately after. “From today on, this child will be raised by Sera.”

My mind buzzed, as if it had been smashed empty.

Raised by Sera.

That demon who had personally pushed Aurora off the terrace, that poisonous woman who had tampered with the paternity test and destroyed everything I had, was now going to become my daughter’s guardian?

“No…”

I did not know where I found the strength. My fingertips dug into the frozen ground as I crawled forward little by little. Shards of ice cut my fingertips, and blood dragged thin red marks across the snow.

“Aurora… give Aurora back to me…”

Sera lowered her eyes. Her face still wore that gentle, innocent expression, but her sharp nails silently dug into the tender flesh under Aurora’s arm and twisted hard.

Aurora’s small body jerked violently, waking from unconsciousness in pain.

“Wah—”

Her crying tore through the wind and snow. She opened her eyes wide and used all her strength to push Sera away. Blood seeped again from the edge of the hemostatic cotton in her nose, smearing half of her pale little face.

A vicious gleam flashed in Sera’s eyes, but she immediately changed into a hurt and wronged expression. “Aurora, be good. Mommy is holding you. Don’t be afraid.”

Her nails dug into the child’s arm again.

Aurora’s cries trembled with pain.

Kael’s brows furrowed hard, as if the crying annoyed him. He roughly took Aurora from Sera’s arms and lifted her into the air with one hand.

All the blood in my body turned cold.

Aurora’s thin body hung in the wind, her hospital gown flapping loudly. She opened her tear-filled amber eyes and met Kael’s disgusted icy blue gaze. She was so frightened that even her shoulders trembled.

“Cry again, and I’ll kill you.”

Aurora’s cries were forcibly blocked in her throat.

At that moment, I saw the confusion and grievance in her eyes. She recognized that face—I had secretly shown her images of Kael before and told her that he was Daddy.

But now, her Daddy was looking at her with murderous intent.

The tip of her nose reddened. Large tears rolled down silently, as if she were asking: Was Aurora not good? Was it because Aurora was sick that Daddy hated her?

She looked toward me and called weakly, “Mommy…”

That one word stabbed into my chest like a knife. My whole body trembled violently. My throat was full of blood foam, but I did not even have the strength to rush over and hold her.

“Kael, let’s go home…” Sera reached out and gently placed her hand on Kael’s forearm. Her voice was so soft it seemed it would shatter in the wind. “The wind is too strong. I’m so cold.”

Hearing her voice, the violent aura around Kael eased slightly.

The next second, he casually flung Aurora back onto the ground.

Bang—

The dull impact made my heart stop.

Aurora’s small body crashed onto the cold floor. The violent impact made her curl up, coughing up mouthful after mouthful of bloody foam.

But Kael had already turned around. He took off his black coat and carefully draped it over Sera’s shoulders, blocking the wind and snow completely.

“Okay. Let’s go home.”

He wrapped his arm around Sera and ordered the guards beside him coldly, “Take that thing on the ground away. From today on, she is Sera’s plaything. Whether she lives or dies, whether she is beaten, scolded, or punished, will all be decided by Sera.”

“No—!”

I finally crawled to Kael’s feet and desperately lifted my head to look at him.

“You can’t take her away… she’s sick. She has Lycanthropic Decay…”

I grabbed his pant leg, my knuckles turning white from the force.

“Kael, I’m begging you. You can take my life. You can give everything I have to Sera. Just leave Aurora here… If she leaves the hospital, she’ll die!”

Kael looked down at me from above, his eyes filled only with bone-chilling mockery.

Lirael, who had once been too proud to lower her head in front of him, was now like a dying dog, lying at his feet, begging bitterly for a “bastard” he had already decided was not his.

“Lycanthropic Decay?” He sneered. “A bastard who hasn’t even awakened her wolf form thinks she’s worthy of a hereditary disease that only high-ranking pureblood werewolves can have? Lirael, can you use your brain before you lie?”

Pain made my whole body spasm.

I suddenly laughed, laughing until my mouth was full of the taste of blood.

Aurora had this terminal illness precisely because she had inherited the dominant genes of Kael, the black-flame war wolf, yet had not received enough power and nourishment during my pregnancy.

This was the ironclad proof of her blood connection to Kael.

And now, it had become his reason to humiliate her.

“It’s not a lie…” I used all my strength to raise my head. “She really is your biological daughter!”

“You still dare mention that!”

The fury in Kael’s eyes exploded instantly. He suddenly lifted his leg and kicked me hard.

The tremendous force sent my entire body flying.

Before I hit the ground, Silo had already broken free of the guards. The pressure belonging to his bloodline suddenly burst open, knocking down the two guards who were holding him. He rushed over and caught me in midair.

“Silo…” I wanted him to save Aurora, but the moment I opened my mouth, blood surged out.

Silo held me tightly, his eyes frighteningly red. “Kael, you lunatic! If you keep clinging to this madness, one day you’ll regret it until living is worse than death!”

Kael looked at us coldly. Something seemed to stab into his chest, but his face only darkened further.

“Lirael, listen carefully. The fact that I didn’t throw this bastard girl into the back mountain to feed the beasts is already my greatest mercy.”

He tightened his arm around Sera and turned toward the stairway.

“Since Sera is willing to raise her, you should be grateful.”

The guard picked up Aurora and followed closely behind them.

Aurora’s little head hung weakly, and she looked as if she had already lost consciousness.

The cold wind swept up large snowflakes and slammed them hard against my bloodstained face.

My daughter was taken away just like that.

“Aurora…”

I parted my cracked lips, but no sound came out.

My gaze remained fixed on the direction they had left. The light in my eyes went out little by little, until only emptiness remained.

“Lirael! Look at me! Don’t sleep. Please don’t sleep!” Silo frantically pressed his hand against the blood continuously gushing from my chest and searched inside his coat for the emergency medicine he carried with him.

The scent of the medicine spread beneath my nose, but my body was already riddled with wounds. That bit of healing power was like a drop of water falling into a wasteland, unable to leave anything behind.

My right hand was shattered. Both hands were covered in burns and cuts. Countless ribs were broken.

But none of this hurt as much as the pain in my chest.

The shouts beside my ears gradually faded.

In a daze, I smelled the scent of Darkwood Forest.

That was the clan’s forbidden land, and also the land of death.

When I had just been born, someone wrapped me in a torn cloth and threw me into that dense forest where sunlight never reached all year round.

All around me were vicious beasts powerful enough to tear adult werewolves apart.