Chapter 4 Begging

“If you told the family earlier, do you think I wouldn’t give you medicine?”

At Liam’s accusation, I pulled back my hand.

“I tried to speak just now, but Prince Liam gave me no chance.”

Prince Liam.

So distant. So formal.

I saw his darkening eyes—the title enraged him.

His voice dropped into a growl:“Nina, you fought with Silver Ridge Pack. You were very powerful. What wolf in Blood Wash Grounds could hurt you like this?”

The words twisted in my chest.

Not one wolf.

Countless.

My voice came out cold: “At first I resisted, surely a single wolf couldn’t beat me. But what if all of them? They poured ice water on me in my sleep, fed me scraps, and threw the armor I’d scrubbed into the sewage pit.”

Three years of pain—each word like a nail driven into his chest.

I went on:“I begged the female guard for help. She answered with the whip, harder and harder, until I nearly died. Perhaps the fear of Silver Ridge Pack stopped her hand in the end. That day I learned: endure the freezing water. Swallow the scraps. That was my fate.”

Liam shook his head, denial in his eyes.

I laughed softly.

Didn’t they know? Didn’t they all know what the Blood Wash Grounds were—a place to break wolves, not redeem them?

“So, Prince Liam, do you think I chose to suffer to make you feel guilty? To make you regret?”

A bitter smile curled my lips.

“I’m not that silly. I know my place. None of you regret. You’re only glad it was me, not Lily, who went to the Grounds. Isn’t that right?”

His lips trembled. No words came.

A silence settled, heavy and cruel.

“Nina, stop!” Evelyn clutched at her chest, sobbing. “It’s Mama’s fault!”

But my heart had died long ago.

Her apology slid off me like water over stone.

I answered gently, softly: “Luna Evelyn owes me nothing. You raised me fifteen years. Whatever I endured... it was my obligation.”

Every word was a blade of silk, cutting deep without leaving a mark.

Liam sneered:“But you are blaming us! That’s what you do—make us drown in guilt. You pulled the same stunt with Cole, didn’t you? How else did you end up in his carriage?”

His face twisted out of fury.

“Let me tell you, Cole is Lily’s fiance. Soon they’ll swear under the Moon and become mates!”

I almost smiled.

Fifteen years of brotherhood, and every word from him still struck deep.

But three years in the Grounds… had burned the pain out of me.

I said quietly:“Perhaps Prince Liam forgets—three years ago, I was pushed from the Punishment Tower. My ankle shattered. Before it healed, I was cast into the Grounds. Even now the bone aches. Today, when you kicked me again, it gave out.”

I looked up, my eyes steady.

“As for Alpha Cole—why would he pity an omega slave? Do you think Lily hasn’t already taken his heart?”

Lily lowered her head, cheeks burning with shame.

Liam, ever her shield, turned his fire back on me.

“Don’t you dare stir trouble! I know you, Nina. Three years, and you’re still just as vindictive! As long as I live, you’ll never touch Lily.”

Lily flung herself into his arms, sobbing:“Brother…”

I had done nothing.

Only told the truth.

And already, I was branded malicious.

Their hearts ached to hear it—but what about me, who lived it?

Liam’s finger stabbed toward me, his claws half-shifting.

“This is revenge! Revenge for the three years in the Grounds! Look at what you’ve done—you’ve driven Mother to tears!”

Evelyn lifted her hand weakly, but no denial left her lips.

And silence… was her answer.

I was no longer their family.

Only their enemy.

From the corner of my eye, I caught Lily’s look—sharp, calculating, venomous as a serpent.

They clung together, facing me as if I were the threat.

I bowed, my voice formal and cold:

“Today is not suitable for visiting Elder Mya. Please, Luna Evelyn, tell her I will come tomorrow.”

Then I turned, limping away into the snow.

My lonely figure vanished into the white silence.

Just then, Cole arrived.

His brow furrowed.

His eyes flicked from Lily’s tears… to my retreating shadow.

That low, frost-edged voice rolled from his lips, dark eyes fixed on the path I had taken.

“What happened here?”