The Soul Vision Device projection screen lit up in the center of the square. My memories began to tear away from my mind and display for everyone to see.

The werewolves below roared with fury. They hurled burning branches and sharp stones at me.

"Traitor lone wolf! Go to hell, scum!"

Flames grazed my arm. My skin turned black and charred instantly. But I didn't move. I couldn't move.

The first memory flickered onto the massive screen. Three days after Sophia's death.

I was being dragged by Black Wolf Guards to the village bonfire platform. The pack members spat at me. They threw silver daggers. Claws raked across my face, blood streaming down my cheeks.

"Tell us the killer's name!"

"You protecting bastard!"

I broke free from their grip. I ran desperately toward my stone cave. When I looked back, everything was in ruins. Flames had devoured the moonstone altar. The wolf-skin blanket Sophia gave me was burning to ash.

With nowhere left to go, I fled into the snowy mountains with Fenrir.

But the pack followed us.

They surrounded us in the white wilderness. Right in front of me, they used silver blades to slice off pieces of Fenrir's flesh. Strip by strip.

He never cried out. Even with his last breath, he was still trying to protect me.

The snow turned crimson with his blood.

I held his broken body and cried until my throat bled. I was only sixteen years old. No parents. No family. No pack.

Damien's cold laugh echoed from the platform. "You deserved it! If you hadn't protected the bastard who defiled purebloods, would you have suffered this punishment?"

The crowd agreed loudly. "She still wants sympathy? Sophia had it much worse!" "Lone wolves are all heartless!"

Suddenly, a clear wolf howl rang out from the screen:

"Lina! Let's race and see who runs faster!"

The scene changed. Sophia was laughing as she ran toward me through the snow.

Moonlight shone on her pure white fur like flowing silver. She wagged her tail and looked back at me. "Hurry up, little sister!"

Little Aiden threw himself at the screen. His small hands pressed against his mother's image.

"Mama... Mama..."

He collapsed instantly. Wailing with heartbreak.

For five years, he had asked the village elders every single day: "Did you catch the killer?"

The answer was always silence.

Grell village was remote and isolated. We had no magical surveillance. My stone cave was far from others. No one knew who had followed Sophia that day.

Only I knew the truth of what happened.

The memory continued playing.

After our playful time in the snow, the screen flickered again.

I was standing outside my cave. In my hand was a small jar of evening primrose honey balm.

A gift from Sophia.

She had once told me: "I gathered this in the Spinal Ridge Mountains. I almost got captured by eagle-shifters."

"I made it specially for you, Lina."

The next second, I turned around and threw the jar into a mountain crevice.

The watching wolves exploded with rage.

"She actually threw away the balm Sophia risked her life to make!"

"That purebred wolf risked everything for that medicine, and she won't even look at it!"

"So fake!"

"Sophia loved her so much, but she's completely heartless!"

"Lone wolves really have no family bonds!"

Torches rose higher. The angry roars shook the earth.

Damien stood in front of me without saying a word.

Of course he knew why I had thrown away that jar.

He remembered clearly. Our foster mother had once held his hand and said: "Lina will suffocate if she touches evening primrose. You must protect her."

That time I accidentally ate the flower petals, my lips turned purple. I stopped breathing three times.

It was Damien who rushed into the blizzard in the middle of the night. He searched three entire mountains to find the antidote.

When he carried me back to the village, his knees were frozen raw. Blood seeped into the snow.

But now, he said nothing.

He let the wolves curse me.

"Alpha, continue! We want to see the killer!"

The wolves below roared like a tsunami. They waved their torches high, sparks flying onto the platform.

Damien raised his hand coldly. He nodded to the soul mage. "Increase the soul vision intensity. I want to see the memories from that night at Black Pine Forest."

The soul mage gritted his teeth and pushed the energy lever forward.

The metal needles suddenly pierced three inches deeper. They reached straight to the core of my soul.

My entire body convulsed violently. A scream tore through my throat.

The soul震动 felt like razor blades churning inside my brain. Blood-red light exploded before my eyes.

Memory fragments began to flash across the screen.

The classroom. A small hut surrounded by earth walls. A bonfire burned in the center. Sophia, Damien, and I sat in a circle.

She used her claws to tear apart the roasted deer leg. She placed the most tender piece in my hands. "Lina needs to grow. She must eat more."

I looked up at her and smiled. She smiled back.

The scene shifted.

By the stream. My foot slipped and I fell into the icy water. The cold instantly froze my breath.

She didn't even have time to shift into wolf form. She jumped into the water and grabbed my collar with her teeth. She dragged me to shore with pure strength.

After we reached the bank, she was soaked through. Her wolf fur was frozen with ice. She shook so hard she could barely stand.

I held her and cried. But she laughed and said, "Silly little sister, watch where you step next time."

Another shift.

In the mountains. Three young wolves stood before the mountain god statue. We howled our wishes together.

My voice still carried childish innocence: "Please, mountain god, let me stay with Sophia and Damien forever."

They echoed back: "Live and die together. Never betray each other."

Our laughter echoed between the mountain walls.

The image suddenly shattered.

The next instant—Black Pine Forest ice lake.

Sophia's body was being pulled from the water.

Swollen and blue. Her pure white fur was matted with ice shards. Deep bite marks showed bone at her neck.

Every werewolf fell silent. The air felt suffocating.

That day, Damien and I knelt by the lake. We howled until our vocal cords tore. Tears mixed with mud flowed into our mouths.

Our white fur was stained with blood and dirt. We lay beside her body like sacrificial offerings.

In the memory, I returned to my stone cave. I curled up in the corner.

My claws dug desperately into the ground. My nails cracked and split one by one.

I bit and tore at my own hands. I howled and repeatedly crashed into the stone walls. "Sophia! Why did you kill yourself! Why!"

Here on the judgment platform, tears wouldn't stop flowing down my face.

Blood dripped from my torn claws. It pooled on the stone beneath me.

The entire square fell silent.

One wolf whispered quietly: "She looks... really suffering?"

Another replied: "But she still won't speak. Five years now. She'd rather let herself rot than tell us."

"Crocodile tears!" A wolf clan elder suddenly leaped onto the platform. His claws slammed hard against the Soul Vision Device.

The screen flickered. It went black for a moment. Then it jumped back to life.

He pointed at me, his knuckles white with rage. "Years ago, little Aiden knelt at your cave door! His head was bloody from banging against the stone! Why didn't you open the door?! Speak up! Why are you playing dumb now?!"

No one answered.

All eyes in the square turned toward me.

From the entrance, came the sound of small footsteps.

Little Aiden stood there. Barefoot. His eye sockets were sunken deep. His pupils looked empty and hollow.

He murmured as if talking to ghosts. "Mama... don't be afraid... Aiden will stay with you..."

His voice carried a sob. His small body trembled constantly.

Suddenly he lunged at the Soul Vision Device. His tiny claws pressed against the screen. He screamed, "Come out! Mama, please come out!"

The wolves' eyes turned vicious. Their fury reignited like wildfire.

"She won't even save a child!"

"This kind of lone wolf doesn't deserve to live!"

Damien rushed to me in one stride. He grabbed my shoulders and shook me violently.

His wolf eyes were blood red. His teeth were clenched tight. "Look! This is the price of protecting that bastard!"

"When we found you, you were a wild dog about to freeze to death! It was you, Lina! You killed Sophia!"

He raised his hand. He slapped me hard across the face.

The Alpha's strength made my head snap to the side. My lip split open immediately. Blood poured out.

But I did nothing. I just kept my eyes open. Tears mixed with blood flowed down my face.

"Sophia... I'm sorry..."

"What good is sorry?!" He suddenly roared. But his voice cracked. Like something had torn it apart.

He froze.

Memory flashed back. Ten years ago in the cave.

I was curled in the corner, holding Fenrir in my arms. My head was bleeding.

Damien burst in, carrying a wooden club. His eyes were red with rage.

I looked up at him. My lips trembled. "Damien, please trust me... I can't tell you..."

"Can't tell?!" He roared, "Sophia is dead! And you're still protecting that bastard who defiled purebloods?!"

The club came down. Bones made a dull sound.

Blood flowed from my forehead into my eyes. Everything turned red.

Before I fell unconscious, I still held Fenrir tightly.

But back then he couldn't see. He refused to see.

My sleeve was torn, revealing a deep purple mark. It was the brand of "Betrayal Blood Contract." Only those who had truly sworn a blood oath would be marked with this soul-searing curse.

And the content of blood oaths could never be spoken aloud.

Damien's hand was still shaking. That slap seemed to have shattered something inside him too.

Looking at me barely alive, a single tear suddenly slipped from his eye.

But he immediately wiped it away.

His wolf eyes froze again. Like black iron.

He stared at me, word by word: "Until I find that bastard who defiled purebloods, I will never stop."

"When I find him, you and him will go to hell together."