I did not know what the pearl meant when I swallowed it.

It was the morning after the Moon Feast. The mist had not yet lifted from the black pine forest. Evan had prepared venison dumplings for Karen, and hidden inside the filling was a violet moon pearl. It was a token he had given her in his youth, a symbol of oath and belonging.

I was only a substitute, yet I sat in the seat of honor.

The moment I swallowed the pearl by mistake, my fate was already sealed.

Evan did not question me, nor did he rage. He only gave a calm order, and they pinned me down on the stone altar. Wolf surgery never requires anesthesia. He personally cut open my abdomen, and the blood flowed along the engraved lines of the altar, like that of a sacrificial beast.

I lost consciousness in the agony, and drifted in and out of awareness. In that haze, I heard the call he answered.

“Did you find it?”

By the bonfire, Karen had cried herself to exhaustion and was curled up asleep in the animal pelts.

The one who answered was his brother, Diana, newly returned from the northern wolf packs. His voice was low and steady, as if he were reporting on an insignificant piece of prey.

“Yes. We found it. I will bring it over shortly.”

The pearl, still warm with my blood, rested in his palm.

He stitched my wound casually. There were no herbs, no purification ritual. Then, with visible disgust, he wiped the blood from my face using the back of his knife, as if my blood offended his sight.

I lay there with my eyes open, tears streaming down my face, yet unable to make a sound.

A replacement can never take the place of the true mate. As a she wolf chosen to imitate Karen, I should have understood that long ago.

Later, I chose to disappear.

I left the wolf pack and vanished into the borderlands, into the wastelands and the snow line. But Evan lost control. He mobilized every wolf pack he could, searching through mountains, forests, and moonlit nights, like a madman.

But that was all later.

1.

At the time, I was still lying weakly on the stone altar.

Diana stood beside me, the violet moon pearl clenched in his hand as he spoke to Evan.

“Brother, I found it. I will bring him back and make him apologize to Karen.”

Firelight flickered in his eyes.

On the other end of the communication, Evan’s voice was as cold as unmelting snow.

“Good. Tend to his wounds on the way. Do not let him die.”

In that moment, the pain in my heart was far worse than the torn flesh in my abdomen.

I had always known that my mate did not love me. His heart had never truly left Karen.

What I did not expect was that for the sake of a symbol, he would treat me as nothing more than a vessel that could be cut open at will.

On the return journey, I was placed in the back of the beast cart, laid upon rough hides. Evan drove ahead, hooves striking the frozen ground. He did not turn his head when he mocked me.

“Wake up, Diana. Break the mate bond and get out of the wolf pack. Karen is back. He is the one who should stand beside me. If you are smart, you will step aside on your own.”

I forced the corners of my mouth upward into a faint, mocking smile.

He spoke so easily, yet overlooked one simple truth.

The way Diana looked at Karen was exactly the same as the way I looked at Evan.

He always stood behind his older brother, clearing the path for his brother’s love. Yet he himself was nothing more than another shadow meant to be sacrificed.

But this time, I truly intended to leave.

I would make room for Karen.

When we arrived at the Chandler family territory, the stone gates opened with a heavy rumble. Evan impatiently pulled open the carriage door and looked down at me.

“Can you still walk on your own?”

I stood up, but staggered as my feet touched the ground.

Diana reached out to steady me, his brow tightly furrowed. He then summoned the butler Alfred through the wolf clan’s communication sigil.

The wound in my abdomen tore again, and I could barely straighten my back. Cold sweat slid down from my temple.

Alfred hurried forward to support me, while Diana had already turned away and entered the main house.

With his support, I moved forward step by step. Evan was clearly losing patience.

Another communication came through.

“Alfred, hurry up. Karen needs to rest.”

When the call ended, Alfred glanced at me, hesitation written on his face.

I said nothing. I simply endured the pain and quickened my pace.

If I displeased Evan, the punishment would ultimately fall on Alfred. He had always taken care of me. I could not drag him down with me.

We were led into the stone chamber where Evan and I had once slept together.

Now, Karen lay on that bed.

He smiled as he played with the moon pearl taken from my body, violet light flowing between his fingers.

The pearl itself was not rare. It was merely a gift Evan had exchanged for his first hunt in his youth.

Before Karen went abroad, he had lost it. Evan later retrieved it and kept it ever since, waiting for the right moment.

He wanted to surprise him.

No one had expected that I would swallow it by mistake.

Evan stood by the bed, his gaze so gentle it bordered on reverence. He lightly pinched his cheek, the one that bore a seventy percent resemblance to mine.

No.

It was not that he looked like me.

It was that I had been shaped to look like him.

They were immersed in their own world, as if no one else existed in the room.

Alfred and I stood quietly in the shadows. After a moment, Alfred cleared his throat softly, reminding them of our presence.

Only then did they turn back.

The first time Karen saw me, a flicker of disgust crossed his eyes. It vanished almost instantly, replaced by a smile whose meaning was difficult to discern.

Evan’s expression returned to the impatience I knew so well.

He frowned, his tone leaving no room for refusal.

“Apologize to Karen immediately.”

I bit my lip, endured the tearing pain in my abdomen, and spoke in a low voice.

“I am sorry.”

I knew very well that if I did not apologize, he would not let me go.

A werewolf who could cut open his mate for the sake of a moon pearl was no longer someone familiar to me.

Karen forced a polite smile in response, his lips gentle and proper.

But his eyes did not smile.

That was the gaze of a victor, calm, confident, and carrying a trace of pity. He had nothing to prove. He was already standing at the end point.

Seeing me lower my head and submit, Evan no longer paid me any attention. His focus returned to Karen, as if I had merely completed a required procedure.

Alfred led me out of the stone chamber and settled me in a guest room in the side courtyard. It was far from the main house and the ritual fires, filled only with the scent of herbs and cold stone.

He laid out the animal hides for me, then spoke softly, saying he would fetch a clan physician skilled in healing to tend to my wounds.

Before leaving, he seemed to recall something and stopped, his voice hesitant.

Tomorrow is your birthday.

Then he added another sentence, his tone turning cautious and serious.

From now on, anything Evan prepares with his own hands, you must not touch. Remember that.

I nodded.

At that moment, there was no anger in my heart. Only a belated, bitter clarity.

If Evan had not once cared for me with such attentiveness before Karen reappeared, how could I have believed that his devotion was meant for me.

I had always been a substitute, chosen from the start.

The first time we met was at a healing camp on the tribal border.

I had been standing by a sickbed, changing herbs for my dying grandmother, feeding her water, praying to the Moon God. Evan passed by that place, and the moment he saw me, he stopped.

He froze, then softly called out a name.

Karen.

Only later did I learn that it was the name of his long lost betrothed.

At that time, my grandmother was gravely ill. He had raised me through scavenging and trading for scraps of food, just enough to keep us alive until I completed my coming of age trial. Fate never granted him the chance to enjoy his later years.

His life was like a lamp about to go out. Only by constantly consuming precious medicine and rituals could its faint flame be prolonged.

I could not afford such a cost.

I lay awake night after night, keeping watch over him, listening as his breathing grew shallower.

The turning point came on the second day after I met Evan.

He proposed a mate bond to me, his tone calm and straightforward, as if negotiating a transaction.

He would provide everything my grandmother needed, medicine, priests, and protection.

In exchange, I would become his mate, stand by his side, and take Karen’s place.

I understood exactly what that meant.

But I did not want my grandmother to die in pain.

So I agreed.

After the bond was formed, he did treat me well.

Because of my lowly origins, his parents did not approve of me. He simply excluded them from the ceremony.

When people within the tribe whispered, he made his stance public and suppressed all disrespect.

He never deprived me of material things or resources. Furs, ornaments, moonstones, as long as I asked, he would give.

Through these things, he compensated for my barren childhood.

If even the smallest mark appeared on my face, he would become unusually tense, as if that face itself mattered more than I did.

Those details once made me believe that he loved me.

That illusion shattered the day I discovered the room he never allowed me to enter.

That time, a small beast I had raised was kicked to death by Diana. I confronted him in fury, even threatening to tell Evan.

Diana only smiled.

The smile was cold and cruel.

You think he truly loves you.

Before I could react, he seized my collar and dragged me into the forbidden room.

It was a carefully arranged chamber, bright as a dream.

The most blinding sight was an entire stone wall covered densely with portraits.

The girl in the paintings, from childhood to adulthood, from innocent smiles to gentle eyes.

She looked almost exactly like me.

I stood there, barely able to breathe.

Behind me, Diana spoke coldly.

Do you see clearly now. This is the woman my brother loves. You stand beside him only because you look like her. And you still dare to dream of becoming his true mate. I am telling you, you are not worthy.

From that day on, I began to distance myself from Evan.

He noticed, but did not ask.

In his eyes, there was no need to explain anything to someone who was not loved.

A year ago, the clan physician said my grandmother could live for another three years.

But he left quietly one night.

There was no pain, no struggle.

As I watched over his body, I realized for the first time that I no longer had a reason to stay.

I asked Evan to let me leave.

He refused.

He said to wait until Karen returned.

He said that before I left, I had to give the position back to him.

I knew I owed him my life, and far too much in resources and protection.

So I stayed.

Now, Karen had returned.

And I had finally repaid everything that needed to be repaid.

That night, I began to run a fever.

At first, it was only heat beneath my skin. Soon after, chills and burning alternated, trapping me between fire and ice. A dull ache rose from deep within the wound, as if something were corroding my flesh and blood from the inside.