
Chapter 1 of Once Despised, Now Begged
Seraphine's POV
The cold wind bit at my skin as I stepped outside, but it was nothing compared to the frost settling in my heart. This was it. Years of humiliation, betrayal, and heartbreak ended here. No more.
It had been weeks since I lost my child. Weeks since I lay curled on the cold floor, drenched in pain and desperation, calling out for a mate who never came.
"Leonel, please… save our baby."
The mind-link had remained silent. I had waited—pleaded—for him to answer, to show me that I still mattered. But he never responded. Not then. Not when the searing pain took over my body, twisting through me like fire. Not when I collapsed onto the floor, tears streaming down my face as I begged the Moon Goddess to spare my child.
No one came. Not Leonel. Not the Goddess. No one.
By the time I woke up in the hospital, the truth had already settled in. I had lost my baby. And I had lost Leonel long before that. But I had been too blind, too foolish, to see it.
I had spent those days in a sterile hospital room, waiting. Leonel would come, I told myself. He had to. But three days passed, and he never appeared.
And now, as I sat across from him at the dining table, watching him smirk at another, the betrayal I had buried deep inside came clawing back.
A soft knock at the door broke the tense silence. An Omega entered, bowing respectfully. “Alpha, you have a visitor.”
Leonel set his fork down, his expression unreadable. “Let him in.”
One of his closest friends stepped inside, greeted him warmly, and took the seat beside him—barely acknowledging my presence. Their conversation quickly shifted to the ancient tongue of the kingdom, a language they assumed I couldn’t understand.
“So, Aurora is really going to be your Luna, huh?” his friend teased.
Leonel smirked, the same arrogant curve of his lips that once made my heart race. “Yes. It’s for the future of the Steelfang Pack. Her connections will strengthen us.”
His friend chuckled knowingly. “Don’t lie to yourself. You care about her, don’t you? That’s why you’re choosing her instead.”
Leonel let out a low laugh, the sound like a dagger to my chest. “Of course. Aurora means a lot to me.”
I gripped my fork tightly, my nails digging into my palm. They didn’t know. They didn’t know that the woman they dismissed as a mere Omega could understand every word. They didn’t know I was no ordinary woman.
I am a princess. A hidden heir to a royal bloodline that traces back to the Moon Goddess herself. The ice bloodline—my bloodline—bestows powers few can comprehend. The mark of that power, a glowing white vein etched along my wrist, is invisible to those ignorant of its significance. My family had kept my identity secret for years, guarding it fiercely from those who sought to exploit it.
Yet even within the kingdom’s highest circles, few nobles knew who the princess truly was—me.
I had once been filled with hope. I had discovered I was pregnant, and my heart swelled at the thought of our child. I had planned to propose to Leonel, believing that our love would overcome any obstacle. But fate had other plans.
Elin, my closest friend, had been the one to shatter my illusions. She had handed me her phone with trembling hands, her face pale.
“You need to see this,” she whispered.
Confused, I took the phone and felt the world tilt beneath me.
Aurora’s post. The woman who had always lingered near Leonel.
[Finally, he proposed to me! I knew this day would come. I can’t believe it happened now.]
My breath caught. My hands trembled. “I… I didn’t see this before.”
“That’s because she blocked you,” Elin murmured. “Not just her—Leonel’s mother and some of the pack members did too. They didn’t want you to find out.”
I scrolled through the comments, bile rising in my throat.
[You’re a perfect match!]
[So glad that Omega isn’t going to be our Luna.]
[Aurora is so much better. Thank the Moon Goddess!]
And then, the final blow. Leonel’s mother had commented herself.
[I always knew Aurora was the right choice. That Omega was never good enough for my son.]
I had sacrificed everything for this man. Left my legacy, abandoned my title, and given up my future as the rightful heir to my bloodline—all for him.
And in return, he had chosen someone else.
As if the Moon Goddess herself wished to remind me of my suffering, the eclipse arrived the same week. Darkness covered the sky—just as it had covered my life.
That was the week I lost my child. The week I reached out to Leonel in my most vulnerable moment and was met with silence.
Now, here I was, listening to him laugh, planning a grand ceremony with another woman.
“Are you sure she doesn’t understand us?” his friend asked, casting a glance at my way.
Leonel barely looked at me. “She can’t. She’s just a lowly Omega.”
A lowly Omega.
I pushed back my chair abruptly, the screech of wood against tile slicing through the room. Leonel didn’t even look up as I turned and walked away.
Outside, the cold wind howled, whispering promises of change.
I had already lost everything.
But I would not lose myself.
It was time to go home.

















