Chapter 3

Monday morning.

Five days remained until the temple's Full-Moon Awakening Ceremony.

The air inside the Moon Temple was already thick with the suppressed pheromones of young werewolves whose bloodlines were beginning to stir.

By tradition, every apprentice had to gather in the Advanced Rune Chamber before awakening to complete a spiritual-force evaluation.

The moment I stepped through the stone doors, the whispers inside abruptly stopped.

Delphine had claimed the central seat in the hall.

She wore a snow-fox cloak, and the blood-red gemstone necklace around her neck gleamed ostentatiously in the dim light.

Several nobles from affiliated clans crowded around her, eagerly currying favor.

"Delphine, your mother truly is the Golden Moon Luna. The blood essence in that necklace is incredibly pure."

"Of course. She's the future ruler of the North. Nothing like certain lowborn trash who were cast out."

Delphine lifted her chin proudly, her gaze locking onto me.

"Some people are simply born to be lowly. They have a magnificent Moon Palace to live in, yet choose to sleep on rotten hay in a wanderer's camp."

She deliberately fanned the air beneath her nose.

"Smell her. That dead-mud stench on her is making the whole hall reek."

Laughter erupted around us.

Delphine rose and leisurely walked to my desk.

Suddenly, she flicked her wrist and poured half a bottle of Corrosive Acid, used for breaking down waste materials, over my parchment.

A pungent cloud of smoke rose.

The rune core I had spent all night calculating instantly dissolved into a pool of black sludge.

Delphine gave me a malicious smile and arched a brow without the slightest remorse.

"My hand slipped. Sorry."

"But I'm not used to this cheap acid. Consider it a gift. You can use it to wash wastepaper."

"After all, a stray dog wouldn't understand advanced runes anyway."

The entire hall fell silent.

Every pureblood noble stared at me, waiting to see me cry and make a fool of myself.

I lifted my head and calmly looked at Delphine's arrogant face.

Without saying a word, I grabbed the basin of ice water and charcoal used to cool heated iron and hurled it straight into her face.

"Splash!"

The freezing water, mixed with black charcoal, drenched Delphine from head to toe.

Her carefully styled hair plastered itself to her face.

Her magnificent snow-fox cloak soaked up the filthy black water, becoming heavy and disgusting.

The untouchable future Luna instantly looked like a stray dog dragged from a gutter.

"Thessaly! I'll tear you apart!"

Delphine let out a furious howl.

Her hands instantly sprouted half-shifted claws as she lunged for my throat, the wind ripping around them.

My gaze hardened.

I sidestepped her attack, caught her wrist with my other hand, and used the momentum of her charge to wrench it downward.

Crack!

The sharp sound of breaking bone echoed through the hall.

Delphine screamed and collapsed to her knees.

I grabbed her soaked hair and slammed her face against the table, which was still steaming with corrosive fumes.

Her face stopped barely an inch from the black sludge.

"Drop the future Luna act."

I spoke beside her ear, my voice as sharp as a blade.

"Think that necklace around your neck makes you impressive?"

"Go ask your precious mother how many days remain on the territory contract she mortgaged to Shadow Valley."

"Every copper you're wasting right now is another nail in your coffin."

Delphine suddenly froze.

Her cheek pressed against the foul-smelling table, her rage instantly swallowed by terror.

She had no idea how I knew.

But in that moment, an icy chill crawled up her spine—

The throne Morgana had promised her was nothing more than a coffin custom-built for her.

And I hadn't lied.

The lid of that coffin slammed shut that very night.

In the frozen wasteland deep into the night, Halvard stood before the dark-red forge, tirelessly hammering mithril.

Several miles away, inside the magnificent main hall of the Moon Palace, Delphine was not waiting for a future throne.

She was waiting for a merciless reckoning.

"Smack!"

A heavy slap sent Delphine flying.

She crashed onto the cold marble floor, blood seeping from the corner of her mouth.

"Who gave you permission to cause a scene in the temple?"

Morgana looked down at her daughter, her gaze like a blade.

"I spent a fortune getting you into the advanced class so you could attract powerful Alphas—not so you could make a spectacle of yourself like a rabid animal!"

Delphine clutched her swollen face, tears pouring down.

"Mother, Thessaly started—"

"Shut up!"

Morgana cut her off sharply.

She pointed to a bowl of thick black liquid emitting a nauseating, metallic stench.

It was a highly concentrated blood-cleansing potion.

"Look at how impure your aura is. Drink every drop."

Morgana grabbed Delphine by the hair and forced her head back, her nails digging into her flesh.

"Bastian, the lord, will be attending the Blood Moon Banquet next week."

"You will wear your most revealing dress and sleep with him."

Delphine shuddered violently.

The grievance in her eyes instantly turned into sheer terror.

"Bastian… that old vampire?"

Her teeth chattered.

"Not a single girl chosen by him has ever walked out of his blood vault alive…"

"So what?!"

Morgana's face twisted viciously, madness burning in her voice.

"He holds more than a third of the Golden Moon territory's blood debt!"

"It comes due this month!"

"As long as we keep him satisfied, the Golden Moon Pack can continue to survive!"

She slammed Delphine's head against the floor.

"I fed you, clothed you, and let you flaunt the Moon Palace's rubies in the streets."

"Now it's time for you to repay the debt with your body and your blood!"

"If you make even one mistake this weekend, I'll personally strip you of your wolf mark, strip you naked, and throw you back into the frozen wasteland to serve those two cripples as a dog!"

Delphine collapsed onto the floor.

Seeing her usually dignified mother looking like a man-eating demon, cold sweat drenched her back.

Only then did her arrogance from earlier that day completely shatter.

She finally understood my warning.

She finally understood how I had truly lived in the so-called "height of power" in our previous life.

And now, the dead end where she would be sacrificed as a blood bag and a whore belonged to her.