Chapter 7

Still, I bit my lip, forcing my heavy, leaden feet to keep moving forward step by step.

It wasn't until the brightly lit mansion had completely vanished behind me that I finally stopped. I used the tiny bit of money I had left to rent a room in the cheapest, most run-down inn I could find.

That night, lying on the narrow bed, I curled myself into a tight ball.

In the endless stretch of darkness, my mind drifted back to my puphood.

Before Clover ever came to the family, I had been my parents' most cherished daughter.

Back then, Father was still just a young Gamma warrior in the pack, and Mother had only recently become a junior healer.

They often had to march out with the pack's war parties, gone for weeks or months at a time, leaving them with no energy or time to care for me as a tiny pup.

After wrestling with the decision for a long time, crying over me for a whole day, they finally delivered me to my grandmother's cabin in the valley.

They swore to me that they would come back for me as soon as they could.

For six whole years, I sat on the wooden doorstep every single day, staring down the little trail leading out of the valley, waiting obediently.

Then came the day my parents finally returned, holding another pup.

She was the daughter of Father's late comrade, who had fallen during a pack migration guard detail, leaving her an orphan.

During those years away, it was Clover who had been by their side.

I was overjoyed. Not only had I been reunited with my parents, but I had also gained a little sister.

So, I shared half my toys with her, gave her the new dresses Mother bought me, and secretly saved the sweets Father brought home just for her.

I never noticed the hatred brewing in her eyes, as if I were a thief who had stolen what was hers.

That winter, Clover ran off to play on the back mountain.

When I found her, she was standing right at the edge of a steep drop-off. I ran forward to pull her back.

Just as I got close to her, she suddenly turned around and grabbed my wrists, trying to swap positions and hurl me off the edge.

Luckily, she wasn't as strong as I was. I instinctively shook off her grip and, losing her balance, she fell over the side herself.

Fortunately, the trees below caught her, leaving her with only minor scrapes.

Yet because of that, I became the monster who tried to push her adopted sister off a cliff, punished with solitary confinement.

Clover tasted victory, and from then on, her sabotage escalated.

She once dumped all her belongings out and asked me to help organize her room, only to bring Mom and Dad in while I was cleaning, sobbing that I had deliberately trashed her space.

My parents renovated my bedroom and gave it to her, tossing all my things into the storage room.

She secretly used my name to buy a fortune in luxury goods on credit. When the shop owner came knocking on our door, my parents never bothered to investigate. They confiscated my allowance forever, leaving me to work day and night to pay off the debt, while all those luxuries ended up in Clover's jewelry box.

I explained myself so many times. But no one ever believed me. Instead, Clover twisted my words, claiming I was starved of affection as a pup and thus craved attention and threw tantrums out of jealousy.

Gradually, I stopped explaining. Explanation had long since lost all meaning.

At this moment, just as in every lonely second of my past, I missed the days I spent with my grandmother as a pup.

Every winter, Grandmother would sit by the hearth, brew me a bowl of hot meat soup, and stroke my head, saying, "Eat up, little one. Only when you grow big and strong can you see your mom and dad again."

Grandmother had passed away many years ago, resting beside her little wooden cabin.

I used to think that when I had the time, I would surely go back to visit her.

Now, I no longer had the strength to walk that far into the valley to pay my respects.

The following evening, I sat by the fireplace, slowly chewing on a piece of rough, stale black bread provided by the inn.

I had taken only a few bites when a message arrived from Dylan.

[Now that we've tracked down your location, Clover went out of her way to bring you food, drinks, and money. She's been trying so hard to get close to you. Don't break her heart this time.]

The next second, Clover strutted into the room, flanked by two attendants while the innkeeper bowed and scraped beside her. She wore an exquisite, silver-white gown.

She tilted her head up arrogantly. "All of you, out. I want to catch up with Amelia."