The comments under the video were utterly disgusting.

Countless vulgar words and profanities were directed at me, and an Alpha from another pack even posted, "I never thought that the white wolf of Moonshadow Pack was such a slut. Why don't you come and sleep with me instead? I guarantee that you'll have a wonderful time!"

And yet, ten minutes right after the video had been posted, Carlson's beta, Neil Barker, immediately issued an official statement claiming that Alpha Carlson of Moonshadow Pack would never mark his stepsister, and had absolutely no relation to the she-wolf depicted in the video.

This statement was tantamount to a public admission that the wolf in the video was me.

My head felt like it was in a whirl. My fingers also ran absolutely icy-cold.

I forced myself to calm down as I repeatedly stared at the scene in the video, finally realizing a loophole in it.

The she-wolf in the video didn't have anything on her abdomen, but I had a butterfly-shaped birthmark on my abdomen that had been with me for years.

This video was a fake. It had to have been Selena. There wouldn't be another wolf who'd put in so much time and effort into ruining my reputation with such underhanded tactics like her.

I gripped my phone tightly in my hands and hurried toward the watchtower. I'd heard that Carlson was there right now.

I naively thought that he would still believe me if I explained myself and showed him the birthmark on my abdomen, and that he would clarify things on my behalf in public, clearing my name and proving my innocence.

The wind blew hard at the watchtower, and my hair was a mess by the time I arrived there.

Carlson turned around and caught sight of me and my windswept hair. I was panting hard, and his eyebrows immediately shot to his forehead as he looked at me impatiently.

"What the hell are you doing here now? Is the video not embarrassing enough for you?"

I couldn't be bothered explaining myself and hurriedly lifted my shirt to expose the butterfly-shaped birthmark on my abdomen.

"The wolf in the video isn't me, Alpha! See, I have a birthmark right here, but the wolf in the video didn't! Selena was the one who framed me! You need to clarify—"

Before I could finish my sentence, he interrupted me angrily.

"That's enough!"

He then abruptly shifted his gaze away from me like he'd just seen something utterly filthy and disgusting, his eyes filled with shame, anger, and disgust.

"How much longer are you going to make a fuss like this? Have you not yet completely exposed yourself in that video? Are you seriously going to expose yourself to me in my face now too?"

I froze at once, my arm stopping mid-air.

"How dare you resort to such filthy, disgusting, underhanded methods, destroying even your own reputation just so that you could ruin the marking ceremony between Selena and me? Is this how you're going to force me to get together with you?

"Do you have no shame, Ayna Radolf?"

His words cut right into my chest like a knife laced with poison, shattering the last illusion of hope in my heart.

I bit on my pale lips as all of the words I wanted to say to him died in my throat. Everything ached in pain.

I knew then that it was useless no matter what I said to him. He'd already decided that this was all a charade I had orchestrated just for the sake of forcing him into marking me instead.

When he saw that I wasn't saying anything else, the icy look in his eyes intensified.

"If you really thought that creating such a massive scandal like this would force me to mark you, then you're completely mistaken."

Every word he said was downright cruel to me.

"Listen properly. I will still find you absolutely disgusting even if you took off all your clothes and kneeled down before me right now. I will never, ever like you for the rest of my life! Not even in my next life, if there ever was one! Got that?"

The hand that I'd used to lift the hem of my shirt fell limply to my side.

I then lowered my eyes, completely losing all strength to argue with him.

"Reflect properly on your actions. If there's a next time, I won't even hesitate marrying you off to a random Alpha as a marriage alliance!"

Just then, a few warriors and healers rushed into the watchtower in a hurry before setting down the stretcher behind them.

Selena was lying on it, barely breathing.

"What happened?" Carlson demanded at once, his pupils constricting as he rushed over to her.

The healer sighed helplessly and said, "Alpha, Selena wasn't able to find you and suffered severe eye damage due to excessive grief. She can't wait any longer. She needs to undergo surgery immediately—"

Before the healer was even done speaking, I interrupted him and looked at Carlson.

"I agree to the surgery. However, don't forget the pact we agreed on beforehand. After the surgery is over, you must get Neil to post a notice on the forum announcing my departure from Moonshadow Pack.

"And from then on, we will be even and not owe each other anything anymore. What you do after that is none of my concern, and vice versa."

Carlson agreed to it immediately.

…

Selena's wails echoed incessantly as we lay on the operating table in the healing center.

The healer in charge of the surgery looked at my pure, silver eyes, and couldn't bring himself to operate on me. His voice trembled as he told Carlson, "Alpha, the white wolf is the pack's lucky symbol. I just can't do it!"

"You useless piece of trash!" Carlson roared at the healer, snatching the scalpel from his hands. "I'll do it!"

My fingers trembled violently.

As expected, even though the timeline had changed in this lifetime, I still couldn't escape the fate of having my eye gouged out by Carlson's own hands.

Just then, the healer's assistant rushed in.

"Alpha! The scheduled anesthesia won't be arriving until tomorrow, and there's only one dose left. It's not enough for both of the patients!"

Carlson looked back and glanced at Selena, who was writhing in pain, then at me, lying on the operating table.

He didn't hesitate when he gave out his orders.

"Give Selena the dose."

The assistant hesitated. "But what about Ms. Radolf—"

"She is a white wolf. She has strong regenerative abilities. She can put up with it."

Carlson coldly interrupted the assistant's words as he began walking toward me menacingly with the scalpel in his hands.

He figured that it wasn't a big deal just to dig out one of my eyeballs. After all, he had killed many wolves and witnessed countless bloody battles, so this should be a piece of cake for him.

However, when he saw my eyes looking at him, he suddenly began sweating from his palms as memories from when we were ten flashed through his mind.

Back then, I had just gotten a minor scrape on my palm and immediately began wailing in pain, and he had to bribe me with ten lollipops to make me feel better.

Nobody knew how much I was afraid of pain more than he did.

He suddenly began to panic.

However, Selena's painful whines and whimpers still continued floating into his ears.

He forcefully suppressed the panic in his heart and spoke in a low voice that he probably didn't even realize was trembling a little.

"Don't be afraid, Ayna. I'll be gentle. It'll stop hurting very soon."

However, I just stared up at the ceiling blankly with my lifeless eyes like I never heard a word he said.

Excruciating pain instantly swept through my entire body the moment the sharp scalpel pierced into my eye socket.

It hurt so much that my veins immediately bulged with pain, and my body convulsed violently. However, I bit down on my lips and refused to let out a single peep.

Ultimately, I still passed out from the pain.

The surgery was over an hour later.

When I woke up again, I felt a horrible hollowness in my left eye that was also throbbing with pain.

I was now a disabled wolf.

I looked around the ward and realized that it was completely empty. Not a single soul was there with me.

I numbly forced a bitter smile on my lips, struggled to get to my feet, and stumbled out of the ward, relying on my only remaining right eye for sight.

Carlson was in the next-door ward, holding Selena's hand in his as he gently comforted her, "Alright, it shouldn't hurt anymore. You've only just received the eyeball. It's normal for you not to get used to it just yet."

When he saw me coming over, he averted his gaze for a split moment before frowning and saying, "Why aren't you resting in your bed?"

I didn't answer his question and instead said dryly, "Kindly keep your promise to me, Alpha Carlson, and make the announcement to the whole pack."

Carlson's expression fell as soon as he heard me say that. He thought that I was there to seek comfort from him, but I had only gone over to sever all ties with him.

"You're really—fine! Go ahead!"

He felt a surge of inexplicable anger welling up inside him. He raised his voice at me and said, "Since you're being such an ungrateful brat, then I'll just grant you exactly what you asked for! Neil!"

Carlson beckoned to Neil with a frustrated wave of his hand and told him to do just that.

A few minutes later, Neil published an official announcement on the top of the pack's online forum.

"Official Announcement: White Wolf Ayna Radolf will be leaving Moonshadow Pack at her own discretion. From this day onward, her fate is no longer in the hands of Alpha Carlson Moonclaw."

A relieved smile finally appeared on my pale face when I saw the announcement pinned to the top.

I didn't linger after that. I just dragged my wounded self and walked out of the healing center.

This was goodbye.

I never wanted to see Carlson ever again.

After I left, Carlson stayed by Selena's side for more than 24 hours.

When Selena finally opened her eyes and exclaimed excitedly that she could see again, he looked at the silvery eye on her face that once belonged to me and somehow wasn't able to feel any joy. Instead, he felt an indescribable irritation that only seemed to get increasingly worse inside of him.

The scene from the operating table earlier flashed repeatedly in his mind.

I hadn't been administered a single dose of anesthesia during the surgery, and yet, when the scalpel sliced through my flesh, I had simply bit down on my lip and passed out just like that without even making a sound. I never even whined or begged him for mercy to go easy on me.

It was getting dark out, and Selena still hadn't stopped yapping. Carlson found her too noisy and hurriedly made up an excuse before strolling out of the healing center.

The cold night wind managed to clear his mind a little, somewhat.

He was sure that I was just being stubborn and prideful with him.

Following my old habits, he thought that I would most definitely be hiding in our secret hideaway cave on the back of the mountain, feeling absolutely aggrieved and crying my heart out after suffering so much.

All he had to do was just soften his tone a little with me the same way he'd always done in the past, say a few comforting words to me, and I would obediently give in, lower my head, and follow him home, just like I always did.

With such thoughts occupying his head, he suddenly realized that he'd unintentionally made his way to the cave at the back of the mountain.

"Stop making a fuss, Ayna," he said, calling out into the cave. However, the moonlight shone into the cave through the entrance, and he saw that the cave was empty. There wasn't anyone hiding inside at all.

Carlson's heart suddenly dropped into his stomach.

He still stubbornly went inside the cave. It still had the same layout as before, with a small bed, a worn-out tire seat, a weather doll with a funny face drawn on it, and a superhero figurine that we had found somewhere in the woods.

He couldn't help smiling as he looked at the things inside the cave. However, when his gaze landed on the cave's stone wall, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

There had originally been two little figures holding hands etched into the rocky wall there, which I'd carved stroke by stroke about ten years ago. One of the figures was me, and the other was him.

But now, the figure representing him in the wall had been angrily scratched out by a rock, and the deep, glaring cut marks had completely disfigured the carving's face and hands beyond recognition.

The only figure left was the one that represented me, and she looked very lonely by herself.

An immense sense of unease immediately threatened to drown Carlson. He rushed out of the cave and began searching for me high and low everywhere in the pack, trying to pick up my scent.

Finally, he noticed a tiny figure in a fox fur coat at the watchtower in the far distance. The coat had been a birthday gift from him last year.

His tense body relaxed at once, and his fear was then replaced with anger and annoyance at being fooled.

He thought that he should have expected that I would pull this hard-to-get trick on him after all. Who was I trying to fool with my pitiful act, still climbing up the watchtower in the chilly, biting cold despite being newly blind in one eye?

Carlson immediately strode up the steps and spoke in his usual condescending manner.

"Are you done throwing your tantrum? Hurry up and go home to rest. As for the announcement, I can always explain to the pack—"

The figure suddenly turned around to look at him in confusion.

"Alpha? Were you… Were you talking to me?"

Carlson finally got a good look at the face under the moonlight.