(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.