7

Watching this scene, I couldn't help but remember how different things had been when we were together.

Damien never allowed me to reveal my identity as his fiancée publicly.

He never let me show any intimate gestures with him in front of others.

Even when entering and leaving his house, I had to pretend to be there as his private healer.

I had always thought that as the Alpha heir, he needed to be low-key and reserved.

It turned out Damien was never a reserved man.

He was only cold as ice when he was with me.

I felt nauseous.

I stood up and walked toward the exit.

As I left, Damien spotted me and quickly pushed Sera away in shock.

Only then did everyone notice I had been there.

---

Just as I stepped outside, Sera chased after me and grabbed my shoulder.

"Aria, what you just saw—it's not what you think—"

"Let go." I frowned, not wanting to hear her explanations.

But Sera kept gripping my arm tighter and tighter.

She stared at the decorative bonfire behind us, her voice turning cold and sinister:

"Tell me, if I were to fall into this fire and get hurt, would your family think you pushed me?"

The moment she finished speaking, Sera let out a piercing scream and dramatically threw herself backward into the auction house's decorative bonfire.

When the Blackwood family rushed over at the sound, they found Sera collapsed in the extinguished fire pit.

Her elegant dress was charred, her face smeared with soot and ash. She looked utterly pitiful.

"Aria, have you lost your mind? Are you trying to kill her?" Ethan screamed, rushing to cradle Sera in his arms.

Before I could say a word, Father's hand flew across my face with full werewolf strength.

"You bitch."

Since the silver poison hadn't completely cleared from my system and my wolf hadn't awakened yet, Father's slap sent me flying. I crashed to the ground, spitting up blood mixed with broken teeth fragments.

One of my teeth had been knocked out.

I wanted to explain, but looking at my family's eyes—filled with hatred, fury, and the desire to tear me apart—the words stuck in my throat.

My own blood relatives only believed Sera, this outsider.

No matter what I said, it would be considered lies. I was irredeemably evil in their eyes.

Sera sobbed in Ethan's arms:

"Damien brought me here to auction healing crystals because I'm just an injured Omega. We didn't mean anything else by it. You can't misunderstand us like this. Aria, if you hate me so much, just say the word and I'll disappear from this world forever. If you blame me for taking Damien away, I can give him back to you. I'll do anything to make you happy. But you can't push me into fire like that. We're family..."

Sera's performance brought tears to the Blackwood family's eyes.

"Aria, did you do this to her because you think Sera stole me from you?"

Damien stared at me in disbelief.

I met his gaze blankly.

Then I smiled and coughed up another mouthful of blood.

When a person reaches the ultimate depths of heartbreak, they actually laugh.

Seeing that I could still smile at a time like this, Damien's disappointment in me reached its peak.

"You know what? I don't hate you anymore."

"I hate my past blind self for ever wanting you as my mate. Thank goddess we never formed a mate bond."

"You deserve to die. I hope you die right now."

After delivering those words, he turned and left, carrying Sera away with the rest of the family to find a healer.

Watching their retreating figures, my laughter wouldn't stop.

The bystanders around me thought I'd gone completely insane.

I lay on the ground for a long time, unable to get up.

My heart had been completely shredded, riddled with holes. It could no longer feel pain.

What filled my dark eyes wasn't hatred or anger.

It was numbness taken to its absolute extreme—complete indifference.

It didn't matter anymore. In three days, they would never see this person who "deserved to die" ever again.

---

When I finally made it home, the laughter and conversation inside came to an abrupt halt.

Everyone looked at me with expressions that seemed to say: How do you have the face to come back?

It was like looking at a dog that had been beaten, had its legs broken, and thrown out—only to crawl back home on its crippled body.