The next morning, the collapsed courtyard wall and the dried bloodstains had been swiftly cleaned away. Everything was back to normal.
But the atmosphere in the Moon Shadow Courtyard had changed completely.
The concubines no longer looked at me with simple jealousy and contempt, but with a deep-seated fear and awe. They whispered amongst themselves, but no one dared to approach my room again.
Around noon, Liam arrived, accompanied by Drake.
All the girls bowed their heads in reverence.
"Miss Aila," Drake announced coldly, "the Alpha has a command."
I stepped forward.
Liam looked at me, his eyes filled with concern. He took an exquisite small porcelain bottle from his coat and handed it to me.
"This… my brother ordered me to bring this," he said softly. "It is the finest scar-removing ointment in the North. He said he does not wish for the offering from the South to have a flawed face."
I was stunned. Kaelen? He cared if I had a scar?
"Additionally," Liam continued, a trace of helplessness on his face, "regarding Clara, who attacked you last night, my brother has also made a decision on her punishment."
"What is it?" I asked, a sliver of hope rising within me.
"She… is confined for one month, and her allowance is forfeited for three months," Liam finished with difficulty, looking into my eyes and adding, "I am so sorry, Aila. Clara's Grey Wolf tribe is our most important ally in the North. My brother… this is all he could do."
I understood.
The price for attempted murder was merely a month of confinement. That was the value of an "offering" like me.
"I understand," I said calmly, accepting the ointment. "Please… thank the Alpha for me."
Liam looked at the cut on my cheek, which had stopped bleeding, his eyes full of pain. "Last night… the black wolf, it didn't hurt you again, did it?"
"No," I shook my head. "It… was very quiet."
Liam's expression grew more complicated. He seemed to want to say something more, but in the end, he just sighed. "That's good. Rest well."
Meanwhile, in Kaelen's council hall.
Kaelen stood by the window, watching Liam walk out of the Moon Shadow Courtyard.
"Did you tell her everything?" Kaelen asked without turning, his voice like ice.
"Yes, brother," Liam said, coming to his side. "The punishment and the ointment have both been delivered."
"What was her reaction?"
"She… was very calm," Liam hesitated, but continued, "Brother, a punishment like that is too unfair to her."
"Fair?" Kaelen turned to face his brother. "The Grey Wolf tribe has five thousand warriors stationed on the eastern border. Tell me, Liam, is it fair to offend our most important ally for a single offering from the South?"
"But she is also your Luna!"
"A Luna I have never acknowledged," Kaelen cut him off coldly. "My decision is not to be questioned."
Liam looked at his brother's face, as hard and cold as ice, and finally left in resignation.
When Kaelen was alone in the council hall, he slowly walked to his desk and picked up a battle report about the border conflicts.
But he couldn't focus.
The sudden, heart-ripping rage from last night had made him lose control instantly. His memory of his time as the beast was hazy, a blur of blood and…
He subconsciously licked his lips, as if he could still taste the blood from the wound on her cheek, a mix of sweet iron and moonlight.
He crumpled the report in his hand in frustration.
He hated this feeling. Hated this uncontrollable… dependence, stirred by a weak half-blood.
In late spring, to celebrate a temporary lull in the border conflicts, his uncle Barton proposed a grand spring hunt. As the "Luna," I was forced to attend.
The night before the hunt, Lisa was taken away by Morgana on the pretext of "serving the Alpha." She was only returned the next morning, her eyes empty, a new, carefully bandaged wound on her wrist, and no memory of the previous night.
I looked at the wound on Lisa's wrist and thought of the night Clara had attacked. Kaelen had also been performing his duties as Alpha. And Lisa had become another victim. It seemed the black wolf who protected me was truly not him.
The hunt began. Kaelen, Barton, and the envoy from the Grey Wolf tribe led the party, with Rosalind at Kaelen's side like a hostess. Liam and I were placed at the rear.
As the hunting party entered a dense part of the forest, Clara suddenly appeared beside me.
"Aila," she said with her head bowed, a look of remorse on her face, "I'm sorry for what happened before."
Before I could react, she took a small bundle of snow-berries from her coat and offered them to me.
"This is a custom of our Grey Wolf tribe, to ask for your forgiveness."
"That's not necessary," I refused coldly.
"Please," she practically begged, even stepping forward to give me a brief, stiff hug. "I just… don't want to be targeted by that black wolf again."
I took the berries.
She smiled in relief and quickly retreated back into the group.
As the party passed a griffin's nest below a cliff, a piercing shriek suddenly echoed from above! A disturbed, giant griffin dove from the sky! Its target was me, the one closest to its nest.
"Look out!" Liam shouted.
At that moment, Rosalind suddenly charged forward from the front of the party, stepping in front of me and raising her bow.
"Don't be afraid, Aila!" she yelled, like a fearless warrior. But the arrow she fired only served to enrage the griffin!
The griffin shrieked and dove towards us, shaking several steel-like feather-darts from its wings, which rained down upon us both!
WHOOSH—!
A black figure, as fast as lightning, instantly appeared in front of Rosalind.
It was Kaelen.
With the longsword at his waist, he expertly deflected most of the darts aimed at Rosalind, though one still managed to graze her arm.
But I was left completely exposed to the griffin's attack!
Just as the deadly darts were about to pierce my heart, a massive black shadow lunged from the side! A giant black wolf threw itself in front of me, taking the brunt of the griffin's claws and darts with its own body!
It's him! My heart jolted. The black wolf who has saved me time and time again!
Despite its intervention, one dart glanced off its body and pierced my calf.
"The Alpha commands, drive the griffin away!" Drake roared, leading the guards to engage the furious beast.
"Quick! Escort Lady Rosalind back to the castle!" Kaelen didn't spare us a single glance. He swept the injured Rosalind into his arms and left without looking back.
As he turned, his uncle Barton gave me a long, deep look.
A crowd of people, surrounding their Alpha and their "future Luna," quickly disappeared into the forest.
Finally, after several guards were injured, the griffin was subdued.
The battle over, the black wolf walked towards me, its form shifting until it became Liam again. He clutched a bleeding wound and quickly dressed.
"Drake, take the men and report back," he said to his approaching second-in-command. "I'll handle… things here."
Drake looked at me, then at him, and finally nodded, leading the men away.
In an instant, only the two of us, both injured, remained.
"So… it really was you," I said, looking at him, my voice trembling with emotion. "The black wolf. Thank you, for saving me again and again."
"It's nothing," Liam said, scratching his head. "If it were my brother, he would have done the same."
"Why… why does he humiliate me like this?" I asked, my voice hoarse as I looked at the now-empty forest path. "I'm just a useless Luna, aren't I?"
"No, you're not," Liam's actions were gentle, but his eyes were firm. "My brother… he has his reasons."
"If he hates me so much," I choked out, "he could have just sent me back to the South."
"He doesn't hate you. Aila, listen to me," Liam said, lifting his head to look directly into my eyes. "There will always be people who care for you and protect you."
He paused, not saying more.
Night fell, and the cool moonlight filtered through the leaves, falling on my bleeding wound.
"Your blood…" Liam suddenly gasped.
I looked down and saw a sight that shocked even me.
Under the moonlight, the blood from my wound carried a faint, silver sheen. And the wound in my calf, which had been deep enough to see bone, was slowly healing at a visible rate!
"Aila…" Liam stared at me, his eyes filled with awe. "The legends… they're true. Your bloodline… it possesses the healing power of the Moon Goddess."
Night fell.
Kaelen stood alone in the cold council hall, staring out at the dark forest that had swallowed the figures of Aila and Liam.
The blood pact was a red-hot brand, constantly transmitting her pain and despair to him. Each sensation seared his nerves.
He remembered the moment he turned to save Rosalind, the light that instantly died in Aila's eyes.
But he had no choice.
His uncle Barton was right there. The envoy from the Grey Wolf tribe was there. The southern wolves had refused his request for military aid; the Grey Wolf tribe was now his only leverage against the eastern threat. He could not afford to offend them.
He saved Rosalind to secure his allies, to let them believe the possibility of replacing the Luna still existed.
He acted cruelly to lower the guard of his ambitious uncle, to make Barton believe he was still a puppet who could be swayed by political interests.
He hurt her to protect her. He knew that if Barton ever discovered Aila was his true weakness, his uncle would not hesitate to eliminate her.
He had anticipated all of it.
Before the hunt, his spies had informed him of Clara's strange behavior. When he smelled the foul stench of "Corpse Soul Konjac Juice" on the berries Aila had been given in the griffin's territory, he had already arranged for Liam and Drake to be ready.
The one thing he hadn't anticipated was the jealousy that nearly incinerated his reason when he saw Liam rush to Aila's side, and felt the "sense of security" she felt because of Liam transmit through the blood pact.
Perhaps she would be better off with Liam. The thought filled him with a self-destructive frustration.
Drake entered, breaking the silence.
"Alpha," his voice was as steady as ever, "Lord Liam and Miss Aila are both safe. As you predicted, Lord Liam discovered the secret of her bloodline."
"Good," Kaelen nodded. "Continue to monitor Clara and whoever is behind her. I need to know who gave her that vial of konjac juice."
"Yes, Alpha."
After Drake left, Barton's figure appeared in the doorway.
"Kaelen, you did well today," he said, a smirk playing on his lips. "That is the decisiveness an Alpha should have."
"What was the situation with the griffin?" Kaelen asked without turning, his voice cold. "You were in charge of security for the hunt."
"An oversight on my part," Barton sighed. "However… that girl from the South does seem rather 'unlucky.' Trouble seems to follow her."
Kaelen remained silent.
After Barton left, he was alone again. From the other end of the blood pact came the feeling of Aila's pain subsiding, replaced by gratitude and reliance on Liam.
That emotion was the final straw. The black of his eyes began to bleed into an uncontrollable crimson.
He walked to the secret door leading to the hidden chamber deep within his study and slammed his fist against it with a dull thud.
Soon… very soon.
He told himself.
Barton, when I take back what is mine, I will personally… repay the pain you have inflicted upon her, a hundred times over!