Liliana looked at Valerie in despair. "Valerie! You can’t do this!"
Valerie turned her head, then shifted her gaze toward Adrian and Alaric. A faint smile played on her lips as she said,
"Well then... prove it."
Adrian looked at Alaric for a moment, then lowered his gaze to Valerie. "All right, we’ll prove it right now, so our little sister will believe that we’ve chosen you as our Luna."
Without waiting for Valerie’s response, Adrian immediately picked the girl up and carried her away from the crowd to a quieter spot.
Alaric caught his racing breath, then walked over to Liliana.
"Liliana, you don’t believe us, do you? Well then, we’ll prove it right before your very eyes that the Luna we’ve chosen is Valerie, not you."
Liliana’s eyes widened as she stared at Alaric.
Without waiting for a response, Alaric immediately grabbed Liliana by the collar and dragged her swiftly in the direction Adrian had gone.
They arrived at Valerie’s private garden—a place that, every day, including today, Liliana was tasked with cleaning.
"You still don’t believe me? Then see for yourself."
Alaric grabbed a piece of rope and tied Liliana’s body tightly to a tree in the garden. The tree faced directly toward Valerie’s nap room—a room separated only by a clear glass wall, so Liliana could clearly see what was happening inside.
"Alaric!!! Let me go! Have you gone crazy?"
"Crazy? A lowly servant like you dares to call me crazy?" Alaric asked, tightening the rope around the girl’s body even further. The rough rope pressed into Liliana’s pale skin until fresh blood began to ooze out.
Liliana winced in pain, but Alaric didn’t care at all.
"Liliana, watch how we mark Valerie as our Luna. See if we’re just lying or not."
After making sure the ropes couldn’t be untied, Alaric took a handkerchief from his shirt pocket and wiped the palm of his hand—the one that had just touched Liliana’s body—as if she were a filthy object unworthy of his touch.
"Alaric, please let me go... my body hurts."
Alaric smiled cynically. "Weren’t you the one who doubted us? This is my way of making you realize just how unwilling we are to choose you as our companion."
He took a step closer to Liliana.
"Liliana... only Valerie is worthy of being our Luna. This is the moment we’ve long awaited to mark her as our partner. So don’t ever dream that you’re worthy of standing by our side."
Alaric turned and walked toward Valerie’s resting room.
Liliana fell silent. The pain in her chest grew more intense as she heard Alaric’s declaration. She smiled bitterly as she watched the back of her partner, who was now about to mark his own sister as his Luna.
Through the clear glass in front of her, Liliana could clearly see Valerie in a tender embrace with Adrian and Alaric. Adrian pushed Valerie’s body onto the bed, and the two of them left her no room to think of anything other than their presence. Piece by piece, their clothes fell away until nothing remained on their bodies. Only the sound of moans was now clearly audible to Liliana’s ears.
Tears continued to stream down her face. "Why? Why does it have to be like this?" She looked up at the full moon in the sky. "Moon Goddess... is this the gift You’ve given me for my coming-of-age day?"
Liliana turned her face away, trying to shift her focus so she would no longer hear those voices. Every time she heard them, her heart felt as if it were being pierced by thousands of needles. It was as if the Moon Goddess were punishing her over and over again for rejecting her alpha mates.
Slowly, the bitter smile on her lips turned into a cynical one. Her once-dull gaze now sharpened.
"Valerie... so this is how you repay me for everything I’ve done for you? You’ve not only destroyed my body, but also taken my soulmates?"
Liliana closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again. Her gaze fell upon the three bodies entwined on the bed.
"Valerie... enough," she whispered softly.
"I, Liliana Forst, renounce the blood bond between me and Valerie Beaumont. From this moment on, I no longer have anyone I need to protect."
She swallowed hard, the pain in her chest growing more excruciating. Once again, she looked up at the sky. "I will no longer give my heart to anyone. I, Liliana Forst, accept the rejection from both of my Alpha partners. I am no longer their partner."
As soon as the oath was spoken, another gush of fresh blood flowed from her mouth. Her face was now as pale as a corpse’s, yet her eyes grew even sharper and colder.
The faint white light that had long served as the spiritual bond between her and the other three vanished instantly.
Inside the room, Adrian, Alaric, and Valerie briefly felt a sharp pain and an overwhelming sense of unease in their chests, but the sensation vanished in an instant, and they resumed their activities as if nothing had happened.
Liliana bowed her head, her hand moving slowly to reach for a dagger tucked into the pocket of her worn skirt. She had specially prepared this dagger as a coming-of-age gift for Valerie. She had even spent her entire savings just to have the dagger made—one Valerie had always longed for ever since they lived in their home tribe.
With her remaining strength, Liliana tried to cut through the rope binding her body. But because her hands were tied, the dagger kept cutting into her own arm. Fresh blood flowed, soaking her clothes.
After struggling for quite some time, the rope snapped. Liliana fell to the ground, her body limp.
She blinked a few times, gazed at the room through the glass, and then a faint smile played on her lips.
"Valerie, you’re no longer my sister. From now on, I’m living for myself. Goodbye."
Liliana walked away from the garden, heading toward the servants’ quarters where she had been living at the Beaumont estate. Upon arriving, she took off the necklace with a pendant containing a photo of herself and Valerie when they were seven years old, then placed it in a drawer. She no longer wanted to carry anything related to Valerie.
Liliana looked around the shabby room. There were no valuables there, aside from the school uniform and old shoes she’d worn at the same academy as Valerie.
She took a deep breath, then stepped outside without taking a single personal item with her. Her blood ties to Valerie, as well as her soul bond with the two Alphas who’d rejected her, had ended completely.
Liliana walked toward the narrow alley beside the dumpster—a secret path she had deliberately created to find food, since her salary was barely enough to cover her tuition at the academy.
She didn’t look back even once. Her eyes stared straight ahead, piercing the darkness of the alley, leaving behind forever the home that had never truly acknowledged her existence.