(Rosienne’s POV)

So my blood was filthy in his eyes.

The pain in my hand spread upward until my head began to ache. The entire world felt unsteady around me. I stared at Darius silently for a long time before a trace of guilt finally crossed his face.

He lowered his eyes.

"I'll ignore it this once. I'll help you hide it from her. But don't touch her belongings again."

Then he pulled out a cleansing cloth infused with moon herb water and carefully wiped the earring clean.

My palm was still bleeding. I could feel the warm blood running down onto my thigh, but I sat there numbly. My lips would not move. My hands would not respond.

I simply sat frozen in place.

After cleaning the earring, he wrapped it gently in fresh cloth and placed it inside the storage compartment beside him. Only then did he finally look back at me.

"Why are you still sitting there? I told you to move to the back seat. Didn't you hear me?"

Something inside my mind finally snapped awake.

"Forget it. I'll call for a carriage wolf."

"Fine," Darius replied calmly. "The Crimson Moon banquet is tonight. I still need to accompany her to choose a ceremonial gown. Go back to your dormitory yourself."

He pushed open the carriage door for me before speeding away through the storm without looking back once.

Rain poured heavily from the dark sky. Yet he did not even leave me an umbrella.

By the time I reached the public carriage station, I was completely soaked. Every werewolf standing there stared at me like I had lost my mind.

Maybe I had.

Because even after everything, my foolish heart still remembered every gentle thing Darius Redclaw had once done for me.

The truth about my mother was exposed when I turned eighteen.

She had been another Alpha's hidden lover.

She drove the Luna into despair until the woman took her own life beneath the cliffside river. The unborn pup in her womb died as well.

My mother believed the Luna's death would clear her path to becoming the new mate. But after losing his family, the Alpha finally came to his senses.

He abandoned my mother completely.

My mother tried using me to force him to acknowledge us, but his heart never softened. In the end, my mother raised me alone.

Eighteen years later, the Alpha publicly confessed his sins before the entire werewolf kingdom.

The kingdom condemned him. But at the same time, they uncovered my mother's identity.

Once they exposed her name, it did not take long for everyone to find me too.

Even after the endless hatred drove my mother to jump from the Moon Bridge tower, the she wolves who suffered because of broken mating bonds still refused to leave me alone.

They followed me everywhere, both inside and outside academy.

The students there were less cruel. They whispered behind my back and pointed at me whenever I passed.

"A woman like her mother deserved death!"

"Look at her face. She's even more shameless than the one who gave birth to her."

I knew my mother was guilty. And because of her, I believed part of that guilt belonged to me too.

So I never fought back. I allowed them to throw their anger at me.

That nightmare lasted nearly a year. Then Darius Redclaw appeared and protected me.

"Who says the daughter of a hidden lover will become one herself?!" He grabbed one angry she wolf by the wrist and spoke coldly. "What does your daughter do in this territory?"

The woman immediately lifted her chin proudly. "My daughter works as a record keeper for the Silverfang Pack."

Darius looked at her calmly. "And what work do you do?"

The woman froze awkwardly before another person answered for her.

"She cooks meals for construction workers near the eastern border."

Darius smiled faintly. "See? Your daughter didn’t become the same as you."

After that day, fewer people came to trouble me. Then slowly, my life became peaceful again.

Darius began openly courting me. Whenever it rained, he held an umbrella over my head. When the summer sun burned strongly, he shielded me with his body. Every night after moon studies ended, he walked me back to my dormitory without fail.

Inside the dining hall, whenever students deliberately poured leftover soup and scraps onto my seat out of hatred, Darius would immediately step forward.

"Tell me something," he said coldly. "Which one of you had the right to choose your parents before birth?"

(Rosienne’s POV)

The entire classroom became silent.

Darius looked around coldly before speaking again.

"Then answer me this. Can any of you swear beneath the Moon Goddess that every one of your parents and blood ancestors lived without sin?"

One by one, the students lowered their heads in shame.

I was moved too. I fell for the sharp justice in his words and the calm confidence in his voice.

So when Darius asked me to become his mate, I agreed.

Truthfully, before meeting him, I had never once thought about love. My mother's scandal left deep wounds inside me, and I carried those shadows everywhere.

Then Darius appeared like moonlight breaking through darkness. Slowly, he warmed every cold corner of my heart.

And now I stood beneath the heavy rain, unable to understand anything anymore.

How did the man who once saved me become this stranger?

Darkness suddenly swallowed my vision. I collapsed onto the ground.

When I woke again, night had already fallen across the territory.

I was lying inside the healer's chamber with a spirit drip connected to the back of my hand. Moon infused medicine flowed slowly into my veins.

The healer spoke softly, "Your emotions have been unstable for too long. You need proper rest and peace."

"Okay."

The word had barely left my mouth when my crystal communicator rang.

It was Darius.

I hesitated several times before finally answering.

"Greyla's gown got stained," he said immediately. "Go bring over the Selene Vaultere dress I prepared for you. She needs another one for tonight."

So her name was Greyla…

I repeated it silently in my heart.

The Selene Vaultere gown...

Darius once hired royal designers from the western Alpha Kingdom to create it according to my exact measurements.

It was meant to be worn during our future mating ceremony.

Back then, he would not even allow others to touch it. He said even fingerprints would ruin its meaning.

Now he casually handed it to another woman.

Perhaps it truly meant nothing anymore.

Still...

"Darius, I'm still receiving treatment right now."

"You're not dying, are you? Why do you even need treatment?" His voice turned cold. "Do not test my patience tonight, or you will regret it."

Fine…

I would do this one final thing for him. A repayment for the kindness he once gave me.

I asked the healer to remove the needle before the medicine finished. Then I left the clinic, stepped back into the storm, returned home by carriage wolf, took the gown, and rushed toward the grand hotel without stopping once.

Darius spoke again over the crystal communicator, "Greyla is waiting at the entrance. She wants to thank you personally. Behave properly when you meet her."

I quietly hummed in response before ending the call. But the thing Greyla gave me was not gratitude.

It was a slap across my face.

I never saw it coming.

My head snapped to the side as my body stumbled backward. The gown slipped from my hands and fell onto the wet ground.

Greyla instantly burst into tears. Her voice trembled pitifully.

"If you didn't want to bring the gown, you could've simply refused. Why throw it onto the ground like that?"

I had never been skilled at understanding hidden meanings.

I couldn’t understand what game she was playing.

But Darius understood immediately. He rushed out of the hotel within seconds.

Greyla quickly clung to him.

"Darius, is this what you meant when you promised she would behave? That she would not cause trouble for me?"

Darius lowered his eyes toward the gown lying on the ground. And just like that, he made his decision.

Another slap struck my face hard.

"I've spoiled you too much," he said coldly. "Apologize to Greyla. Right now."

I laughed softly. The kind of laugh born from anger that had already broken past its limit.

"Darius, can you even hear yourself?" I asked bitterly. "Did you once ask where the handprint on my cheek came from?"

Greyla did not even try hiding the truth. She held onto Darius's sleeve and looked up innocently.

"I slapped her. Will you blame me for it, Darius? I only got angry because she threw the dress onto the ground. I couldn't control my temper."

"You know my personality," she continued softly. "I've always been sensitive."

Darius wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close.

"I'm not angry," he said gently. "She deserved it."

Greyla looked at me with a victorious smile. I smiled back. Tears rolled down my face, yet I still smiled.

The true fool here was me. But even a fool only needed to endure three more days.

Three days later, I would disappear completely from their world.

Darius, I truly hope you do not become the same kind of man who destroyed my mother.

(Rosienne’s POV)

Even after eighteen years, my mother was still being cursed across the werewolf kingdoms for the sins of that night.

"I'm sorry, Greyla. I shouldn't have dropped your gown onto the floor."

But Greyla clearly had no plans to forgive me so easily.

"An apology should sound sincere," she said coldly. "Otherwise, I'll believe you're lying."

"What do you want me to do then?"

Greyla smiled cruelly.

"Tell everyone here that you wanted to become Darius Redclaw's hidden mate. Admit that you're just as shameless as your mother." She paused before laughing softly. "No. You're even worse than she was."

"I don't want to become anyone's hidden mate anymore. Darius and I are over."

Right in front of her, I removed the moonstone ring from my finger. The ring I once planned to wear during our mating ceremony.

"Take it back," I said quietly. "We're finished."

Darius stopped moving for a moment. But he never reached for the ring. It fell onto the marble floor with a cold sound.

"If I say you wanted it, then you wanted it."

Greyla suddenly grabbed my hair and dragged me into the grand banquet hall.

"Everyone, look over here!" she shouted loudly. "This woman begged to become another she wolf's replacement!"

A nearby guest frowned.

"Isn't she Darius Redclaw's mate?"

"Not anymore," Darius answered flatly. "My chosen mate is Greyla Darkmere, she’s the new secretary of my territory."

The crowd immediately understood. Soft mocking laughter spread throughout the hall.

One older she wolf stepped forward with disgust in her eyes.

"I said long ago that the daughter of a hidden lover would grow into the same kind of woman. Yet you used to defend her, Alpha Darius."

Greyla smiled sweetly. "She even slapped herself earlier to gain Darius's sympathy. But our Darius is a noble Alpha. He would never fall for such pathetic tricks."

As she spoke, Greyla leaned affectionately against Darius's chest.

I noticed the strange expression crossing his face. For a moment, he looked uncomfortable. Yet he still answered softly, "Whatever you say, sweetheart."

Those words stabbed deeply into me again.

I opened my mouth to explain, but before I could speak, someone suddenly threw a glass of moon wine into my face.

"You're a disgrace to every she wolf alive!" a woman shouted angrily. "Were there no unmated men left in the kingdoms? You had to chase after another woman's mate?"

The wine poured into my mouth. I choked violently and coughed so hard my chest burned painfully.

Before I could recover, another glass splashed across my face.

"Women who destroy mating bonds deserve death!"

Then more drinks followed. One after another. Some soaked my dress. Some drenched my hair….

Someone grabbed my jaw and forced more alcohol down my throat.

I was the one being humiliated, the one branded as a hidden mate. I was the one suffering beneath everyone's hatred.

Meanwhile, the true intruder stood safely inside Darius's arms, smiling brighter than ever.

I couldn’t even cry out my innocence before they shoved me onto the ground.

When the drinks were gone, they used their fists. Then their shoes.

At that moment, the nightmare I feared most finally arrived.

My mother suffered through this same horror before her death. The crowd, the shame, and the hotel incident.

In the end, she could no longer endure it and jumped from the rooftop beneath the moonlight.

That was why I ended things with Darius so quickly. Because I was terrified history would repeat itself.

And yet it still happened. Only this time, it came disguised as justice built upon lies.

The darkness Darius once protected me from returned again, heavier and colder than before, swallowing me whole. There was no more light left in my world.

The man who once shined upon me was now shining on someone else.

I saw Darius smiling at Greyla. His smile was so full of happiness that tears even glimmered in his eyes. He truly looked happy.

Darius Redclaw...

Why was the man who once rescued me from hell now the same man throwing me back into it?

Something inside me finally broke.

Like a madwoman, I pushed through the crowd and stumbled toward the elevator, just like my mother once did before her death.

The elevator carried me all the way to the rooftop.

Perhaps because he remembered my mother's fate, Darius suddenly chased after me in panic. His face had turned completely pale.

"Rosie, stop!" he shouted desperately.

But unlike my mother, I didn’t jump from the rooftop.

Instead, I climbed upward.

Step by step, I grabbed the hanging ladder beneath the helicopter waiting above the hotel and pulled myself higher into the stormy sky.