Chapter 3

I turned around. Kaiden stood in the doorway, his coat still carrying the herbal scent of the hospital.

Soren was behind him, his gaze falling on my closed suitcase. Lia had come too, wrapped in a thick white cloak, her face pale while her eyes stayed fixed on the boxes I had packed.

She could barely hide her excitement.

I lowered my gaze and forced myself to remain calm.

“I'm clearing out the master bedroom. You want Lia to move in.”

Soren's expression eased a little, but Kaiden had already spoken coldly.

“She's in poor health. She'll only stay for a few days. You don't need to act like you're running away from home.”

I put the last old photo album into the suitcase.

“I'll move to the old cabin.”

Kaiden frowned. “That place has been abandoned for years. It's cold at night.”

There was finally real concern in his voice. I looked up and met his eyes, almost wanting to ask him why, if he knew it was cold, he had still agreed to make me give up the master bedroom.

But Lia coughed softly.

Kaiden immediately looked away, and Soren went over to support her.

Lia said in a small voice, “Freya, this is your room. I really can't stay here. I don't want you to fight with them because of me.”

I grabbed the handle of my suitcase.

“Don't worry. Once I move out, I won't come back to fight you for it.”

The corner of Lia's mouth lifted slightly, but she quickly lowered her head and clutched Soren's sleeve.

Soren looked down at her, his brow faintly furrowing.

Kaiden's face darkened at once.

“Freya, who are you threatening?”

Soren asked quietly, “What's been going on with you lately?”

I wanted to say that in three days, they would know.

But once the words reached my mouth, they felt pointless.

I had argued with them for years, and the result had always been the same.

If Lia cried, Kaiden protected her. If Lia so much as frowned, Soren took Kaiden’s side.

Now, I was too tired to fight anymore.

I dragged my suitcase toward the door. Behind me, Kaiden's voice rang out, thick with anger.

“I really have spoiled you, Freya.”

“I've already promised that you'll be the only Luna by my side. Isn't that enough?”

“If you walk out that door, don't come back.”

I had meant to take an umbrella, but his words lodged in my throat, and in the end, I walked straight into the rain.

The rain was bitterly cold, seeping through my clothes and into my bones. In no time, my skirt was soaked through. Rainwater reopened the wound in my palm, and blood ran down my fingers before quickly washing away.

From the villa entrance came Lia's tearful voice.

“Freya, I'm sorry. Please don't go. If you don't like me, I can move out.”

Soren urged anxiously, “Lia, you're still unwell. You can't stand in the rain.”

Kaiden chased after me, his voice still hard. “Freya, come back.”

I kept dragging my suitcase forward.

The old cabin stood behind the northern slope. It was the place Soren, Kaiden, and I had built together as children. It held our old photos, our wooden practice swords, and the first Moon Goddess pendant Kaiden had ever carved for me.

I had planned to spend my last three days there.

But the rain grew heavier, and my vision blurred more and more. Just as my body was about to give out, a steady hand caught my shoulder.

Nolan, the envoy from the Silver Coast Temple, stood beside me with an umbrella. His face darkened when he saw the state I was in.

“Miss Nightingale, you're hurt.”

He took my suitcase, anger restrained in his voice. “You're leaving this place in three days. Why come back and suffer this kind of humiliation?”

My chest tightened, and I cut him off at once.

“Nolan.”

He fell silent.

Behind me came Kaiden's startled voice. “Freya, where exactly are you going?”

With my back to them, rain slid from my hair into my collar, chilling even my voice.

“You heard wrong, Kaiden.”

Kaiden's footsteps came up fast. His gaze moved from Nolan back to my face.

“Freya, who is this man?”

Soren had always been gentle, but this time anger roughened his voice. He stepped past Kaiden and caught my wrist.

“Your hand is still bleeding. Why are you running out of the house like this? Come home with me. I'll have a Healer look at it.”

I pulled my hand free and said softly, “No need.”

Kaiden drew a deep breath and stepped between Nolan and me, his possessiveness plain.

“I don't care who you are. Stay away from Freya. She's my mate.”

Nolan looked as if he wanted to say something, but I tugged lightly at his sleeve, warning him to stay quiet.

Soren frowned, unable to hold back any longer.

“Freya, are you truly going this far just because Lia is staying in the master bedroom for a few days?”

It felt as if something heavy had been pressed against my chest, making it hard to breathe.

Even now, they still thought I was making a scene.

Nolan's face went cold. He opened the car door for me.

“Miss Nightingale needs her wound treated.”

I did not explain again. Nolan helped me into the car.

As the door shut, I saw Soren standing on the villa steps through the rain, confusion on his face for the first time. Kaiden stood beside him, his eyes cold and dark.

After the car drove away from the villa, Nolan said through restrained anger, “After the way they treat you, you still want to go back to the old cabin?”

I looked out at the shadows stretched long by the rain.

After a long while, I said quietly, “They used to be good to me.”

Nolan did not answer.

I repeated it softly.

“Really. They used to be very good to me.”