Chapter 5

I stopped in my tracks and turned to the maid,

“what was wrong.”

Her eyes were red, her voice thick. “Miss, someone spread rumors in the capital. They say the woman the King has loved since youth has returned… and that he will sever the Bond to marry her.”

“Now… the whole capital is talking about you being cast aside. The words are unspeakable…”

My chest felt struck by a blunt weight, a dull, suffocating pain.

At that moment, I realized I had forgotten my provisions. I had to return to the capital.

I covered my face with a veil and re-entered the city with the maid.

While waiting at the grain shop, my gaze drifted to the other end of the street.

The Pack Hall gates stood silent, but in the luxury boutique next door, two figures moved. Too familiar.

Kael stood at the counter. Elara beside him.

He picked up a wolf-tooth pendant, paused, and paid for it, tucking it carefully into his sleeve.

Elara leaned against him, asking sweetly for a moonstone bracelet. He agreed.

They stood there like a newlywed couple.

I looked away after only a glance.

The bond was about to be severed. What was left to see?

I took my provisions and turned to leave.

But just outside the gates, I was surrounded by a group of common women from the pack.

Their faces were strangers to me.

“Well. Isn’t this the Luna Queen?”

A plump woman smiled first.

“What Luna! Haven’t you heard? The King has discarded her. The real one has returned!”

Another joined in, her voice dripping with scorn.

“She used to carry herself so high. Now she’s sneaking out of the city like a rat.”

Laughter erupted. Someone reached to tear off my veil.

“Let’s see what a cast-aside Luna Queen looks like!”

I dodged aside. My heart turned to ice.

For six years as Luna Queen, I had been kind to everyone. I had never looked down on others. I didn’t know these women at all.

But once that title was stripped away, those who once wouldn’t dare meet my eyes now spat in my face.

“I heard Miss Elara is the King’s true love. What tricks did you use to take her place?”

Another woman pushed forward, eyes darting.

“Where are you running to now? Too ashamed to show your face?”

I said nothing. Their voices rose, their questions turning venomous:

“You stole your sister’s fate. Now the rightful one is back. Time for the imposter to crawl away!”

“Did you know all along he loved another, yet clung to the position anyway?”

I brushed away the fingers in my face, my voice tight. “Please. Let me pass.”

No one moved. They closed in tighter.

The maid cried out, pushing desperately. “Insolence! How dare you disrespect the Luna Queen—”

“Luna Queen? She doesn’t deserve the title!” Someone spat.

Countless mouths opened and closed, a net tightening around me.

I gritted my teeth and pushed forward. The maid shielded me, shouting for them to make way, drawing only more mockery.

Someone shoved me hard. My ankle twisted. I stumbled and fell forward.

My elbow struck the rough stone.

Dust flew up. I landed on my knees before them.

In that instant, humiliation and pain surged through me.

A tear struck the dirt. I wiped it away fiercely and tried to rise.

The crowd roared with laughter.

Eggs and stones flew from every direction.

“A cast-off woman still putting on airs!”

“Get out of the capital!”

“The six years you stole are owed back!”

A sharp stone sliced my temple. Blood ran down immediately.

I lifted my dirt-streaked face. Through blurred vision, I saw a familiar figure behind the crowd.

Elara’s personal maid, pressing her lips together in a smile, nodding to the burly women beside her.

The woman seized my bloodied hand and pressed it to a scroll. The Mate Bond severed in a blaze of pain.

So that was it.

I swayed to my feet, filth clinging to me.

Blood and dust slid down my temple like a savage tear.

But I straightened my spine and walked toward the city gates, one step at a time.

Two thoughts remained in my mind:

Kael. From this day forward, we meet neither in life nor in death.