THEIR REJECTED DAUGHTER WAS THE LOST HEIRESS のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 21 - チャプター 30

POV: KAELEN The lower vaults of the Frostwood estate carried the stale, oppressive chill of underground stone and forgotten decades. I stood before a long, narrow worktable, my dark velvet traveling coat unbuttoned, my sleeves rolled back to the forearms as I dragged a heavy iron-bound ledger out from the deepest recess of the pack archives. The heavy leather binding cracked under my fingers, releasing a faint cloud of dry dust into the dim light of the single brass oil lamp sitting beside me. My presence in these vaults was an unusual courtesy granted only because of my title. As the Lycan Heir, Lord Kaelen of the High Royal Sovereign House, the Frostwood elders had no legal grounds to refuse my request to view their historical trial logs, no matter how uncomfortable my interest made them. Gavin had offered to send an archivist to assist me, but I had flatly declined. I had no intention of letting a local clerk curate what I was allowed to see. My primary focus had not changed: I

POV: ARIAThe morning sun broke over the northern mountains in a harsh, glaring shade of pale gold, illuminating the frost clinging to the high glass windows of the grand council chamber.I stood in the center of the vast stone room, surrounded by the heavy oak tables where the senior pack elders sat in stern, silent judgment. The air was suffocatingly heavy, thick with the scent of pine incense, polished leather, and the oppressive, aggressive Alpha auric pressure radiating from Gavin, who stood at the head of the table.To my right sat Lord Rowan, his tall frame relaxed in a high-backed chair, his grey-green eyes tracking every person in the room with an unreadable, lethal quiet. Beside Gavin stood Lyra, her eyes downcast, a lace handkerchief pressed against her lips as if she were fighting back tears."Lady Aria," Vance’s sharp, grating voice cut through the silence of the hall. He stood beside Gavin, holding a thick ledger of household schedules. "We have spent the morning reviewi

POV: ARIAThe frost on the iron lattice of the grand study window had begun to melt under the harsh morning sun, sending slow, tear-like droplets crawling down the glass. Outside, the courtyard was silent, save for the distant, hollow echo of a guard’s boots against the cobblestone. Inside, the quiet was far worse. It was the suffocating, heavy silence of a room where a long-held belief was beginning to rot from within.Gavin sat behind his father’s mahogany desk, his large hands flat against the polished wood. The royal report from the capital lay unrolled between us, its red wax seal broken, its black ink glaring up at him like an accusation. He looked older than his twenty-eight years, the sharp, dominant posture of a high Alpha bowed under the crushing weight of a truth he had spent two years ignoring.I stood near the edge of the hearth, keeping my distance. The warmth of the fire did not reach me; it never seemed to anymore. I adjusted the plain cuffs of my dark woolen dress, wa

POV: ROWANThe torchlight in the vaulted passageway cast long, restless shadows against the ancient stone walls, turning the damp chill of the night into a tangible, suffocating weight.Aria stood frozen at the threshold of the study, her hand hovering inches above the heavy iron door handle. She didn't look like a disgraced convict or a desperate beggar clinging to the coat-tails of a powerful outsider. Her chin was lifted, her shoulders squared beneath the simple, worn fabric of her dark woolen dress, and her dark eyes burned with a fierce, quiet defiance that refused to break, no matter how much weight this house piled onto her back.Her question still hung between us in the cold air, sharp and unyielding: “Then why are you helping me?”I didn't offer her a polished noble platitude, nor did I lower my voice into the soft, patronizing tones she had likely heard from the council elders before they threw her into the cold dark of Coldspire. I stepped closer, stopping just outside her

POV: ARIAI sat on the edge of the small iron bed, watching the soft gray light of dawn creep across the stone floor.For two long years, I had spent every single day waiting.In the dark, freezing cell at Coldspire, I had waited for the heavy iron door to open. I had waited for Gavin to walk through with an order of release, rushing to tell me that it was all a terrible mistake. I had waited for Luna Elena to wake up, remember the truth, and ask her guards where her adoptive daughter had gone. I had waited for just one elder from the Frostwood council to look closely at the trial notes and see that the evidence made no sense at all.Even after I came back to this estate, I was still waiting. I was waiting for my family to look me in the eye and say they were sorry.Sitting in that cold room with my small bag packed beside me, I finally admitted the hard truth to myself: nobody was coming to save me. Gavin was trapped in his own guilt. The elders were only interested in protecting the