River sobbed as he explained, "We just wanted to find a necklace for Aunt Sage... Mom wouldn't let us, and she tried to grab it... I accidentally..."

Kael crouched down to help me up. "Where are you hurt? I'll take you to the hospital."

The two children also scrambled to help.

Just then—

"Ahhhh!"

A scream came from the dining room, and a maid ran over in panic. "Alpha! Miss Sage got burned by the candles!"

Kael froze mid-motion.

"How bad is it?" he asked urgently.

"A huge burn..."

Before the maid could finish, Kael was already standing up. "Aria, call an ambulance yourself. We need to get Sage to the hospital first."

The two children immediately let go of my hands too. "Mom, you go to the hospital by yourself!"

"Kael... River... Stone..."

I weakly reached out, but all three of them rushed toward the dining room without looking back, carefully helping Sage leave.

Blood blurred my vision as I tremblingly pulled out my phone and used my last bit of strength to dial 911.

"Help... me..."

The moment the call connected, I fell into complete darkness.

When I woke up again, the hospital room was still empty.

A nurse came in to change my bandages. Seeing I was awake, she sighed. "Your mate and children are in the VIP room next door taking care of Miss Sage."

She paused, her tone carrying some indignation. "Miss Sage only has a small red mark on the back of her hand, but they're making such a fuss. Alpha Kael is personally applying medicine for her, the older boy is blowing on her wound, and the younger one even went to buy ice cream to cheer her up. You're hurt so badly, but..."

I listened quietly, my heart already numb from the pain.

My phone buzzed, and the screen lit up.

It was a reminder text from the Alpha Council: 【The mate bond severance has been approved. You may receive your mate bond severance certificate in three days.】

I stared at that message for a long time, then suddenly smiled.

Finally, it would be over.

After being discharged, I began preparing to leave.

On the first day, I went to the cemetery.

Next to my parents' headstones, a small new marker had been erected—Finn's.

I knelt before the grave, gently wiping the young, smiling face in the photo.

"Mom, Dad, Finn..." My voice was soft. "I loved the wrong person."

"I shouldn't have fallen for Kael, shouldn't have had those two children..."

I smiled, tears silently falling. "I'm leaving... This time, I really don't want them anymore. I'll live well for the rest of my days. You take care down there too, don't worry about me. Years from now, we'll meet again underground."

The mountain wind lifted my long hair, and the white chrysanthemums in front of the headstone trembled slightly, as if responding to me.

On the second day, I went to Lovers' Bridge.

Years ago, Kael and I had hung a love lock there, engraved with both our names.

I found that lock and viciously cut it with pliers, throwing it into the river.

The moment the metal hit the water, I seemed to hear the laughter of my younger self.

How ridiculous—vows of "eternal love" apparently only had a five-year shelf life.

After that, I visited every place where Kael and I had shared memories—

Our usual restaurant, the park where we had our first date, the church where we got married...

Bit by bit, I erased all traces of our love.

Back home, I packed up all the gifts Kael had given me over the years and threw them in the trash.

Finally, I packed my luggage, just waiting to get the Alpha Council's approval to sever our mate bond tomorrow before leaving for good.

On the third evening, Kael came back with the two children.

As soon as he walked in, he unusually took the initiative to explain. "Sage has been sensitive to pain since she was little. That's why we took her to the hospital first."

River mumbled quietly, "Yeah, Mom, you're way tougher than Aunt Sage. You don't need us..."

Stone nodded. "Aunt Sage is an Omega. She's too fragile and needs our protection."

"Enough." I cut them off. "You don't need to explain."

I understood too well.

All their explanations boiled down to one thing—they loved Sage, not me.

Once, this realization would have destroyed me. But not anymore.

Because I... didn't love them anymore either.

Seeing how calm I was, Kael felt a strange flutter of panic. He seemed to want to make up for something and spoke again. "There's a meteor shower tonight. I'll take you to the mountaintop to watch it."

"No need."

"Don't be stubborn." Kael glanced at the two children. "Help your mom get changed."

River and Stone immediately grabbed my arms from both sides. "Come on, Mom!"

I was forcibly stuffed into the car, only to discover Sage was there too.

"Don't mind me, Aria," Sage said softly. "I've been afraid of the dark since I was little. Kael didn't want to leave me alone at home..."

Kael immediately chimed in. "Sage has night blindness. She gets scared being alone at night."

The two children also chattered supportively. "Poor Aunt Sage!"

I closed my eyes wearily, not wanting to hear another word.

Throughout the drive, Kael and the two children fussed over Sage.

Adjusting her seat, handing her blankets, feeding her fruit—terrified she might be even slightly uncomfortable.

Sage kept glancing at me, trying to catch jealousy or anger on my face, but found me just quietly looking out the window as if none of this concerned me.

Halfway up the mountain, everyone got out to walk.

Suddenly, Sage slipped and cried out, grabbing my wrist—

We both tumbled down the slope together!

"Aria! Sage!"

Kael and the two children rushed down frantically, only to see that Sage had just scraped her palm and was pitifully holding back tears.

Meanwhile, I had hit a rock. My calf was sliced open by a sharp stone, blood instantly soaking through my pants, and my face was ghostly pale.

"I'll take Sage back first." Kael made a quick decision. "Aria, hang in there a bit longer. I'll call the pack warriors to rescue you."

After saying this, he scooped up Sage and left without looking back.

River and Stone hesitated, looking at my bleeding leg, then at Sage in their father's arms, before ultimately following them.

I lay on the cold mountainside, watching their figures disappear into the night.

I waited all night.

No one came back.

At dawn, I gritted my teeth and dragged my injured leg, crawling bit by bit up to the road.

I flagged down a car, went to the hospital to bandage my wound myself, then headed straight to the Alpha Council.

When the mate bond severance certificate was handed to me, I looked at the gold lettering and actually felt relieved.

When I returned to the mansion, it was empty. Kael and the others were still at the hospital with Sage for her "comprehensive examination."

I placed Kael's copy of the severance certificate on the coffee table, next to a note:

【I'm gone. Don't bother looking for me. I don't want any of you anymore.】

Then I picked up my pre-packed suitcase and left without looking back—escaping the cage that had trapped me for five years.

Behind me, the morning sun was rising, and ahead of me—

Was a brand new life without Kael, River, or Stone.

Three days later, Kael finally came back with Sage and the children.

"Mom! I'm starving! Hurry up and cook something!"

"Yeah, and Aunt Sage needs to get her nutrition back too."

River and Stone burst through the door, shouting up at the bedroom. Their voices carried that particular whining tone children used when they were tired and hungry.

They dropped their backpacks carelessly by the entrance, already expecting me to appear and take care of everything.

Kael chuckled helplessly, following behind them with his arm supporting Sage. She was moving slowly, still weak from her hospital stay.

"Let Sage sit down first. She must be uncomfortable after lying in the hospital for so long."

His voice was gentle as he guided her toward the living room. Every movement was careful, protective. He treated her like she might break if he wasn't careful enough.

Sage nodded shyly, her arm wrapped tightly around Kael's shoulder. "I feel bad troubling Aria as soon as we get back."

"What's the big deal? She's got nothing else to do at home anyway. If something had happened to you, I'd never forgive myself."

Kael's words cut through the air without him realizing how dismissive they sounded. To him, I was just part of the household, someone whose job it was to take care of everyone else's needs.

He carefully set her down on the sofa, making sure she was comfortable before stepping back.

When he looked up to call for me again, he spotted something unexpected on the coffee table.

Official documents. An envelope. My handwriting on a note beside them.

The smile slowly froze on his face. His eyes narrowed as he tried to process what he was seeing. His strange expression caught everyone else's attention.

River muttered, "A severance certificate? That's gotta be fake."

Stone nodded vigorously, but his voice sounded less certain than his words. "Definitely fake. Why would Mom break the mate bond with Dad?"

Both children kept nodding, but their eyes kept darting to the coffee table. They were trying to convince themselves as much as anyone else.

Kael had lost all his earlier composure. His hands shook slightly as he reached for the certificate. The paper felt real enough. Heavy. Official.

He frowned in disbelief at the contents. Legal language filled the page. My signature at the bottom, clear and unmistakable.

The moment his gaze fell upon the validated stamp at the bottom, something inside him snapped like a severed chain.

A howl of agony erupted from deep within his chest—not from his human throat, but from his wolf. The sound was raw, animalistic, filled with a pain he'd never experienced before.

The mate bond, that sacred tether that had connected us for years, shattered like glass.

The pain was instantaneous and overwhelming. It felt like someone had reached into his chest and ripped out a vital organ. His knees buckled and he grabbed the edge of the coffee table to keep from falling.

"Kael!" Sage was beside him in an instant, her hands on his shoulders as he gasped for breath. "What's wrong? What's happening?"

The children rushed over, their earlier bravado forgotten. "Dad? Dad, are you okay?"

River's voice cracked with fear. Stone grabbed onto Kael's arm, his small hands shaking.

After several long minutes, Kael slowly straightened. His breathing was still ragged but more controlled. The worst of the pain had passed, leaving behind a hollow emptiness where the bond used to be.

He wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. His shirt was damp, clinging to his skin.

He frowned in disbelief as fragments of memory began to surface. When had this certificate even been issued? The date on the document was from a week ago.

He couldn't remember ever signing any severance agreement.

He gripped the thin document tightly, and suddenly a memory flashed through his mind. After forcing me to give up reporting to the pack authorities, I had handed him a piece of paper.

He'd been angry, distracted by everything happening with Sage. He'd thought it was some other transfer agreement and hadn't looked closely. He'd just signed where I pointed, eager to end the conversation and get back to more important matters.

Could it have been the severance papers? Was this all because he hadn't let me report the incident?

The realization hit him like a physical blow. I had tricked him into signing his own mate bond severance.

Kael angrily slammed the coffee table with his fist. The sound made everyone jump. "This is ridiculous! You don't joke about stuff like this! Where's Aria? Go find her and bring her back!"

Just as he was about to tell the butler to search every room, Sage stopped him.

"Forget it, Kael." Her voice was calm, soothing. "She's probably doing this because she expects you to come after her. If we just ignore her, she'll definitely come back on her own in a few days."

She moved closer to him, her hand gentle on his arm.

She soothed his anger while pulling the two children close to her sides. "Besides, you still have me. If Aria's gone, then she's gone. I can take care of you all during this time—be your temporary mom, okay?"

She looked down at the boys with a gentle smile. Her voice was sweet, maternal in a way that made the children light up.

River and Stone immediately cheered, their earlier worry forgotten.

"Yes! Aunt Sage can be our mom!"

"Yeah! We don't want that mean mom anymore. She doesn't want us, so we don't want her either. Aunt Sage is all we need!"

Their words stung, but Kael barely registered them. He was still processing the reality of what had happened.

Faced with his sons' expectant eyes, Kael had to suppress his unease. Something felt wrong about this whole situation, but he couldn't put his finger on what.

"That's a lot of work for you, Sage. Just bear with it for a while. When Aria comes back, I'll definitely have a serious talk with her."

He forced a smile and leaned over to kiss Sage's forehead.

Sage blushed prettily and headed to the kitchen to cook for them. "I'll make something simple for now. I'm still not at full strength."

River and Stone followed behind her eagerly, chattering about what they wanted to eat.

When only Kael remained in the living room, he picked up the note I had left.

【I'm gone. Don't bother looking for me. I don't want any of you anymore.】

His grip tightened involuntarily. The paper crumpled slightly under his fingers.

This was just another one of my attention-seeking stunts. I'd done plenty of similar things before to make him notice me.

Threatening to leave, making dramatic gestures, creating scenes. This time had to be the same.

Finally he threw both the certificate and note into the trash without another glance. If I wanted to play games, he wouldn't give me the satisfaction of reacting.

Kael got up and walked toward the kitchen. The sound of cooking and conversation drifted toward him. He could hear his sons' delighted voices.

"Sage-mom is amazing!"

"Yeah! We're so lucky to eat food made by Sage-mom!"

River and Stone were already helping carry plates to the table. They moved around Sage like she had always been their mother, eager to please and be useful.

"Thanks for all this, Sage." He went to help serve the food.

The three of them sat around the dining table like a real family. Happy and harmonious.