第3章

My custom-made pair of furry claws protection at the entrance was gone.

In their place stood a pair of delicate soft-leather claws protection alongside Andy’s favorite combat claws protection—a birthday gift from Scarlett.

I realized Andy and Scarlett were inside.

Weren’t they supposed to return from their patrol in two days?

Just then, Scarlett walked out upon hearing my footsteps. She wore my Moonstone and Andy’s Alpha Signet. She carried herself with the casual air of the castle’s mistress.

“Lynda, why are you back at this hour? I thought patrol duty hadn’t ended yet.”

She glanced at me and seemed casually touched a carved crystal glass nearby. It fell down and broken.

“Oops, sorry.” She drew back her hands and looked at me defiantly.

I recognized it instantly—it was the sacred water glass Andy had given me for our future bonding ceremony.

I used to treasure it, polishing it carefully every day.

Andy walked out from the living hall. Seeing Scarlett broke my cherished glass on purpose, he turned a blind eye.

Catching sight of me, his expression flickered with brief joy before darkening completely.

“You skipped patrol duty again?”

“Lynda, even if you are my fiancé, you can’t keep disregarding pack discipline!”

“That’s the pack’s war division, not our house! If you don’t follow rules, how am I supposed to command the rest of the warriors?”

Rules?

I almost laughed out loud.

When it came to breaking rules, who in this realm could compete with Andy?

A year ago, right after our pack stabilized, Andy broke protocol to drop Scarlett—a junior assistant with zero combat or management experience—into a high-ranking administrative role.

Despite my doubts, I yielded when Andy claimed she possessed a special “soothing power” and I painstakingly taught her how to handle affairs.

Yet Scarlett spent her days grooming herself and sleeping. After slacking off during regular hours, she would deliberately stay until midnight just to post a photo of the empty council hall to the pack’s main network.

When I reported this to Andy, he dismissed it, saying Scarlett was a delicate female wolf and just needed more rest.

When I asked him to monitor her actual output, he claimed he lacked time. When I suggested installing tools for oversight, he claimed it violated pack privacy.

Later, major mistakes occurred in hunting ground management, costing the pack tens of millions of gold. Scarlett remained completely unrepentant. When I finally lost my patience and tried to remove her from the council, Andy used his Alpha pressure to stop me.

He had locked eyes with me and demanded, “Are you jealous? Are you afraid that a weak junior assistant will prove to be more capable than you?”

Scarlett stayed, proceeding to poach my allied packs and territories. Andy saw it all, turned a deaf ear, and publicly praised Scarlett as “the most promising female wolf in the pack”, while branding me as a bitter, petty villain in private.

I used to feel wronged.

Now, I was wide awake.

Now, I knew that he didn’t belittle me in public because he didn’t want his pack members to consider him to be a disloyal leader.

Now, I realized that with my skills as an administrator, any elite pack would have welcomed me with open arms instead of letting me be sidelined and disrespected here. Let alone my secret status as a top bounty hunter.

I remained silent. Scarlett gently patted Andy’s back, coaxing him softly, “Maybe Lynda knew you were coming back today and came to welcome you.”

Andy visibly bought her flattery, his posture relaxing with smug satisfaction.

“Fine, let it be this once. But how did you know I was returning today?”

Scarlett smiled. “Andy, did you forget? Lynda loves you and she knows everything that you do and everything you say. Right, Lynda?” She gave me that provocative look again.

Andy huffed. “Lynda, you never put this much thought into patrolling, but you sure are quick to dig into gossip.”

“Don’t think this excuses you, though.”

“Your petty stunt of freezing the vault threw my reputation out the window in front of the Silvermoon Pack. In the end, Scarlett had to borrow gold from her friends just to settle the mana core payment.”

“If you want my forgiveness, it’s not impossible.”

“But before that, we need to compensate Scarlett properly.”

“Her current hut is broken, making it unlivable. Clear out the master bedroom in this castle and let her stay here for a while, and I’ll call things even.”

I shook my head. “I’m afraid not. I’ve already sold this castle.”

“Sold it?!” Andy’s eyes widened.

Before he could press further, Scarlett gasped, covering her mouth. “Did you sell this place to buy an even larger castle on the Sacred Mountain to apologize to Andy?”

Andy found the idea entirely logical, his brow smoothing out as he raised his head proudly.

“Indeed, we’ve lived in this castle long enough. It’s time for an upgrade. I’ll throw in some funds from the pack treasury, but don’t sell this place just yet—it’ll serve nicely as Scarlett’s new outpost.”

Scarlett feigned shyness. “That wouldn’t be right... I should pay market rent for an outpost.”

“Rent?” Andy’s face darkened. “I’m your Pack Leader. How could I charge my assistant rent?”

“No, I insists on paying something.”

“Fine, two hundred silver coins for a year.”

The two played their parts smoothly. Andy acted generously, waving off rent that easily was worth tens of thousands of gold annually in this prime valley location.

Yet back when we were seeing each other, he used to split the bill down to the copper for a piece of roasted venison.

The contrast between love and indifference could not have been obvious

“Well? If you agree, I might reconsider our relationship,” Andy offered conditionally.

“There’s no need to reconsider...”

“How could there not be? If I forgive you too easily without teaching you a lesson, what if you relapse into your bad habits?”

Andy cut me off, convinced I was searching for an out to improve our relationship closer.

Scarlett giggled beside him. “Andy makes a good point, but please forgive Lynda for my sake. After all, you two have been together for five years—it would be such a waste to throw it away now.”

Andy pretended that he was in deep thought.

Scarlett took the initiative, wrapping her arm lightly around his arm and swaying playfully to persuade him.

Andy told her to stop fooling around, though his face beamed with satisfaction.

“Fine.”

He turned back to me, adopting a kind tone. “Since Scarlett is speaking up for you, I’ll pardon you this time. You’d better thank her properly—after how you treated her, she’s still defending you.”

“Alright then, regarding our relationship...”

“You misunderstand me.”

Before he could finish, I cut him off coldly and handed him a duplicate of the Pack Withdrawal.

“What I meant was...” I paused for a few seconds before I finished my sentence.

“The Council has granted my leaving. Of course, thanks to your message to approve that.”