I was still thinking about the coming alliance when someone suddenly stepped into my path.

The girl blocking the palace road had red eyes and a stubborn expression.

“Your Highness, Owen and I are mates by choice. Please don’t tear us apart.”

At the sound of her voice, people slowed and turned to watch.

Whispers spread quickly.

“Is that Nora from the Bloodmoon Pack?”

“Is the princess trying to claim the Alpha from another woman?”

“I told you the Crown Princess was spoiled. No one believed me before.”

Nora caught the murmurs and a flicker of satisfaction passed through her eyes before she lowered her voice and spoke again, deliberately pitiful.

“Your Highness, Owen already asked you to request that His Majesty cancel the alliance. Why did you refuse?”

“You can’t abuse the power of the royal court just because you’re a princess. You can’t destroy someone else’s bond.”

For a moment I almost laughed.

Both of them had a remarkable talent for appearing at exactly the moment needed to make my life unbearable.

In my previous life, I had never actually met Nora. I had only heard Owen mention the foster sister he protected so fiercely.

I had once wondered what kind of woman could make a Lycan Alpha remember her for years.

Now I had my answer.

Someone perfectly matched to Owen.

I took a slow breath before answering, forcing down the anger rising in my chest.

“I already told Owen the Crown is not forming an alliance with him,” I said calmly. “If you like him, feel free to keep him. No one is competing with you.”

Nora clearly did not believe me.

She let out a small laugh filled with disbelief.

“Your Highness, everyone in the court knows how attentive you’ve been to Owen these past months. The gifts from the royal treasury, the invitations to the palace hunts, the private audiences.”

“You’re only saying this now because you discovered Owen’s heart belongs to me.”

“You’re jealous.”

There was no point arguing with someone who had already written their own version of the story.

I turned and walked away.

Behind me Nora suddenly cried out.

She collapsed right at my feet.

Instinctively I stepped forward to help her up.

Before I could reach her, Owen appeared.

He moved fast and struck without hesitation.

His boot slammed into my abdomen and knocked me backward.

“You call yourself the Crown Princess and this is how you treat someone weaker than you?”

Instead he knelt and gathered Nora into his arms as if she were made of glass.

“You’re already frail,” he said softly. “Why did you run all the way to the palace? Now you’ve been bullied for nothing.”

Ivy helped me to my feet.

I brushed the dust from my skirt and looked at them coldly.

“Frail?” I said. “In centuries of royal history I’ve never seen a Lycan who collapses from a gentle push.”

“If the Bloodmoon Pack produces wolves this fragile, perhaps they should start over with a stronger bloodline.”

Owen’s expression darkened with irritation.

“Selena,” he said, “if you insist on marrying me, I can accept it.”

He paused as if granting a favor.

“But there will be conditions. Nora will live with us after the alliance. Her child will be raised as my heir, and you will treat it as your own.”

I stared at him for a moment.

Then I stepped forward and brought my heel down hard on his foot.

“You must be dreaming,” I said coldly.

Without waiting for his reaction, I turned away.

When I finally returned to my chambers in the royal palace, I curled up on the bed, but the familiar room did nothing to calm my thoughts.

The memory of my previous death would not leave me.

Tears slid down my face before I realized it.

Owen and I had met when we were ten.

I had wandered too far from the palace grounds and accidentally crossed into wolf territory. A pack of feral wolves surrounded me, dozens of yellow eyes closing in as they prepared to tear me apart.

Owen appeared at the last moment.

He drove the wolves back and escorted me safely to the royal gates.

He was the heir to the Bloodmoon Pack. Strong, confident, and already respected among the wolf clans. To a young princess, he seemed almost heroic.

I fell in love with him before I even understood what love meant.

From then on I followed him everywhere whenever he came to the capital. I told anyone who would listen that I would marry Owen when we grew up.

The court treated it as an inevitable future.

When we finally married, Owen was distant but never openly cruel. I assumed that was simply his nature.

After the alliance was sealed, I poured my entire dowry into strengthening his pack.

Royal gold equipped his warriors, palace armorers forged weapons for his soldiers, and the Crown’s influence helped him bring rival clans to heel.

Eventually Owen unified the wolves and became the Lycan King.

I had believed I was helping the man I loved build a future for us.

I never realized I had only been a tool.

I also never knew the truth about his relationship with Nora.

I forced myself to stop thinking about it.

Fate had returned me to the beginning, and I would not repeat the same mistake.

The next morning I had just finished dressing when voices drifted in from the palace garden.

I recognized them instantly.

I stepped quietly toward the window and hid behind a row of hedges.

Nora eyes red as she looked up at Owen.

“Owen, did I cause trouble for you yesterday?” she asked softly. “The princess looked furious.”

Owen immediately pulled her into his arms.

“This has nothing to do with you,” he said. “She’s the one abusing her position in the royal court.”

“Just endure it for now. Once she marries me and follows me back to the Bloodmoon Pack, I’ll bring her to you. You can deal with her however you like.”

My hands clenched instinctively, nails digging into my palms as I forced myself to remain silent.

Nora’s eyes lit with undisguised delight before she lowered her head again.

“But the Frostfang wolves are preparing for war,” she said hesitantly. “If we offend the Crown Princess, what if she sends the royal army against us?”

Her voice trembled as if she were about to cry.

“This is my fault. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have angered the princess.”

She wiped at her eyes.

“Maybe you should tell her you don’t love me. Say everything yesterday was a misunderstanding. Unifying the wolf clans matters more than my feelings.”

Owen hurried to brush away her tears.

“Nora, stop talking like that.”

“I came back this time so I could keep you by my side. Nothing matters more than you.”

Nora blinked in confusion.

Owen smiled and began explaining.

“Don’t worry about Selena. She loves me more than anything. In my previous life she gave me her entire dowry and even used the royal army to help me crush the other packs.”

His expression was filled with pride.

“That’s how I became the Lycan King.”

He paused briefly.

“The only problem was that you were already dead by then.”

His voice remained calm.

“So I killed her afterward. It was my way of avenging you.”

Nora burst out laughing.

“She must have looked ridiculous when she died,” she said. “It’s a shame I didn’t get to see it.”

My teeth sank into my lower lip as my eyes burned.

All the sacrifices I had made were nothing but stupidity in his eyes.

The day I had waited for with such hope, the birth of my child, had been the moment he chose to murder me.

“So when Selena claims she won’t marry me, don’t believe it.”

“Yesterday she only acted that way because she was jealous. She probably spent the whole night regretting it.”

He gave a dismissive laugh.

“When I actually need her, all I have to do is crook a finger. She’ll come running back like a loyal dog.”

His voice turned colder.

“Once I unite the wolf clans and our child becomes the heir to the royal throne, she won’t have any use left.”

“Then I’ll kill her.”

Rage surged through me so suddenly that my vision blurred.

The first person I had ever trusted without holding anything back.

To him, I had been nothing more than a convenient fool.

Lost in that realization, I stepped backward without noticing the dry branch beneath my foot. It snapped loudly.

Nora turned at the sound.

Her eyes met mine through the hedge, and a slow smile curved her lips.

A cold sense of danger ran through me.

She screamed.

“Owen! There’s an intruder!”

Owen reacted instantly.

Steel flashed as he drew his blade and lunged toward the hedge where I stood.

I froze.

Wolf were bred for battle. Their speed was so far.

There was no chance to dodge.

The blade came straight for my chest.

I shut my eyes as fear seized my body.

Then metal struck metal.

The sharp clash rang through the garden.

My eyes flew open.

Someone stood in front of me.

Sebastian.

The vampire lord held his sword firmly against Owen’s blade, shielding me with his body. Half the hedge had been cut away in the strike, finally revealing me.

Owen stared at me in surprise.

Nora feigning alarm.

“Your Highness, I didn’t realize it was you,I saw someone hiding in the bushes and thought it was an intruder.”

Sebastian turned immediately.

“Princess, are you hurt?”

I shook my head.

His expression hardened as he looked back at Owen.

“Have you lost your mind? You nearly injured the Crown Princess.”

“She was the one hiding in the garden like a thief. If she got hurt it would have been a lesson.”

He glanced at Sebastian with open mockery.

“Don’t think that flattering the princess will make her choose you.”

“Don’t get your hopes up. I may not want Selena, but the Crown will still bind her to me. The High Cleric will announce the covenant soon.”

He pulled Nora close and walked away toward the ceremony hall.

Sebastian watched them go, the light in his eyes dimming slightly before he forced a polite smile.

He said quietly, “we should go as well.”

We entered the great hall where the alliance ceremony was already underway.

At the center of the chamber stood the High Cleric.

He raised his staff and began chanting ancient prayers in a language few living beings understood.

The gathered nobles murmured among themselves.

“Who do you think the princess will choose?”

“Is that even a question? She’s been showering the Bloodmoon Pack with gifts for months.”

“Exactly. Everyone knows she favors Owen.”

Another voice joined in.

“I served in the princess’s household once. She’s terrified of the dark. There’s no way she would marry into the vampire courts and spend eternity in shadow.”

Beside me, Sebastian looked deeply disappointed.

Across the hall, Owen stood with absolute confidence.

“I know the princess favors me,” he said with a theatrical sigh. “But my heart already belongs to another.”

He looked toward me with feigned regret.

“Selena, I asked you yesterday to request that the king cancel this alliance. Since you refused, I have no choice but to reject you publicly today.”

The hall fell silent.

All eyes shifted between us.

Sebastian’s patience finally snapped.

In one swift motion he drew his sword and pressed the blade against Owen’s throat.

“Enough,” he said coldly. “You will not speak to the Crown Princess that way.”

Owen didn’t even flinch.

He pushed the sword aside with careless ease.

“You should be careful,” he said lightly. “If you hurt me, the princess might be heartbroken.”

Sebastian’s eyes burned with anger.

When he saw that I remained silent, he slowly lowered his sword and returned it to its sheath.

He stood beside me quietly, looking like a man preparing himself for disappointment.

At that moment the High Cleric finished his prayer.

“From this day forward, the Princess shall be bound in alliance with the Vampire ……”