(Rosienne’s POV)
So my blood was filthy in his eyes.
The pain in my hand spread upward until my head began to ache. The entire world felt unsteady around me. I stared at Darius silently for a long time before a trace of guilt finally crossed his face.
He lowered his eyes.
"I'll ignore it this once. I'll help you hide it from her. But don't touch her belongings again."
Then he pulled out a cleansing cloth infused with moon herb water and carefully wiped the earring clean.
My palm was still bleeding. I could feel the warm blood running down onto my thigh, but I sat there numbly. My lips would not move. My hands would not respond.
I simply sat frozen in place.
After cleaning the earring, he wrapped it gently in fresh cloth and placed it inside the storage compartment beside him. Only then did he finally look back at me.
"Why are you still sitting there? I told you to move to the back seat. Didn't you hear me?"
Something inside my mind finally snapped awake.
"Forget it. I'll call for a carriage wolf."
"Fine," Darius replied calmly. "The Crimson Moon banquet is tonight. I still need to accompany her to choose a ceremonial gown. Go back to your dormitory yourself."
He pushed open the carriage door for me before speeding away through the storm without looking back once.
Rain poured heavily from the dark sky. Yet he did not even leave me an umbrella.
By the time I reached the public carriage station, I was completely soaked. Every werewolf standing there stared at me like I had lost my mind.
Maybe I had.
Because even after everything, my foolish heart still remembered every gentle thing Darius Redclaw had once done for me.
The truth about my mother was exposed when I turned eighteen.
She had been another Alpha's hidden lover.
She drove the Luna into despair until the woman took her own life beneath the cliffside river. The unborn pup in her womb died as well.
My mother believed the Luna's death would clear her path to becoming the new mate. But after losing his family, the Alpha finally came to his senses.
He abandoned my mother completely.
My mother tried using me to force him to acknowledge us, but his heart never softened. In the end, my mother raised me alone.
Eighteen years later, the Alpha publicly confessed his sins before the entire werewolf kingdom.
The kingdom condemned him. But at the same time, they uncovered my mother's identity.
Once they exposed her name, it did not take long for everyone to find me too.
Even after the endless hatred drove my mother to jump from the Moon Bridge tower, the she wolves who suffered because of broken mating bonds still refused to leave me alone.
They followed me everywhere, both inside and outside academy.
The students there were less cruel. They whispered behind my back and pointed at me whenever I passed.
"A woman like her mother deserved death!"
"Look at her face. She's even more shameless than the one who gave birth to her."
I knew my mother was guilty. And because of her, I believed part of that guilt belonged to me too.
So I never fought back. I allowed them to throw their anger at me.
That nightmare lasted nearly a year. Then Darius Redclaw appeared and protected me.
"Who says the daughter of a hidden lover will become one herself?!" He grabbed one angry she wolf by the wrist and spoke coldly. "What does your daughter do in this territory?"
The woman immediately lifted her chin proudly. "My daughter works as a record keeper for the Silverfang Pack."
Darius looked at her calmly. "And what work do you do?"
The woman froze awkwardly before another person answered for her.
"She cooks meals for construction workers near the eastern border."
Darius smiled faintly. "See? Your daughter didn’t become the same as you."
After that day, fewer people came to trouble me. Then slowly, my life became peaceful again.
Darius began openly courting me. Whenever it rained, he held an umbrella over my head. When the summer sun burned strongly, he shielded me with his body. Every night after moon studies ended, he walked me back to my dormitory without fail.
Inside the dining hall, whenever students deliberately poured leftover soup and scraps onto my seat out of hatred, Darius would immediately step forward.
"Tell me something," he said coldly. "Which one of you had the right to choose your parents before birth?"
