The contents of the mysterious letter kept spinning in Aria’s head, tearing apart the fragments of peace she had just managed to build. Xavier engineered all of this? Xavier made her mother terminally ill? The thought made Aria’s stomach churn with nausea. If that man could chain himself to protect others, was he also cruel enough to sacrifice an old woman in a remote village for the sake of his own survival?
Aria could not just sit still and guess. She had to find proof. When the wall clock showed two in the morning, Aria approached her bedroom door. Through a small crack, she saw the two wolf guards still standing rigidly. However, Aria knew the layout of the Amethyst Pavilion had a utility window at the back of the kitchen that led directly to the inner garden. With light movements, Aria slipped out through it, ignoring the stinging pain in her right arm which had begun to dry.
The night atmosphere in the Bloodmoon palace garden was ominous. The night wind blew, carrying the scent of damp earth and pine. Aria crept along the stone path, hiding behind large trees every time she heard the heavy footsteps of patrolling guards. Aria had only one destination: Alpha Xavier’s Private Greenhouse, a place where palace rumors claimed he kept a collection of rare and deadly plants from across the entire continent.
Fortune seemed to be on Aria's side. The side door of the stained-glass greenhouse was not fully locked. She slipped inside, greeted by warm, humid air and the heavy aroma of hundreds of exotic plants. The greenhouse was vast, illuminated by the glow of light-emitting crystals mounted on the ceiling. Aria walked carefully, her eyes scanning the rows of plant labels. As the daughter of a traditional herbalist in her village, Aria had a sharp eye for botany.
She kept walking until she reached the innermost zone, which was cordoned off by a chest-high iron fence. In the center of this forbidden zone grew a small tree with a jet-black trunk and reddish-purple petals. Black Rosewood.
Aria’s heart pounded. She gripped the iron fence so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Next to the large pot sat a leather-bound journal and a silver bowl containing a thick, purplish fluid extract. Aria knew the exact symptoms of the black lung disease her mother suffered from: coughing up clotted blood with a faint sweet aroma, followed by acute shortness of breath that slowly turned the tips of the fingernails black. It was not a naturally contagious disease. It was the side effect of inhaling the burnt pollen of Black Rosewood.
"So... the letter was true," Aria whispered in a trembling voice, tears of anger and betrayal beginning to well up in her eyes. "You poisoned my mother, Xavier..."
Aria turned in a hurry, intending to grab the journal as evidence and flee this accursed place immediately. However, the moment she spun around, her steps instantly froze. Her blood felt as though it had turned to ice.
Framed in the dim exit of the greenhouse, a well-built figure stood with his arms crossed. Xavier. The Alpha's face looked incredibly dark, half-hidden by the shadows of giant palm leaves. His honey-gold eyes had dimmed, projecting a cold, threatening aura.
In his muscular right hand, Xavier was holding a small glass vial filled with the exact same thick, purplish liquid found in the silver bowl of the Black Rosewood.
