Finally making it through dinner, Grandfather said.

"Kieran and Aria should stay here tonight. The rooms are all ready."

Staying here meant I'd have to watch them inseparable all night, loving and sweet.

I shot up from my chair, the legs scraping against the floor with a harsh screech.

"Grandfather, I just remembered there's some urgent business at the pack I need to handle. I have to go back."

Without waiting for their response, I practically fled.

Not until the night wind hit my face did I realize it was raining outside.

Heavy rain was pouring down.

Just as I gripped the car door handle, Kieran's voice caught up with me.

Through the sound of rushing rain, his voice carried a few notes of urgency.

"Aria!"

My heart jumped violently, and I turned around almost in panic.

I despised myself even as my heart pounded uncontrollably.

Through the rain mist, he stood on the estate steps holding a black umbrella.

But his gaze didn't land on me at all.

He looked at Scarlett beside him with concern and worry, his tone carrying indescribable anxiety.

"Scarlett isn't feeling well. I need to take her to the healing center first."

So it wasn't to keep me here.

He came for the car.

Scarlett let out a perfectly timed weak moan.

"Kieran, I'm so dizzy."

But her eyes glanced at me over his shoulder, her mouth curving in a triumphant smile.

Kieran was already walking over.

He reached out and pulled open the car door, rainwater streaming down the watch on his wrist.

It was the one I'd given him for his twentieth birthday.

Even though the face was cracked, he'd never thrown it away.

He used to be so careful with that watch, let alone getting it rained on - he wouldn't even let it get wet washing his hands.

Now he could let rainwater seep through the crack.

My nose stung, and I turned away awkwardly.

Before leaving, he pulled out his phone and tapped it a few times.

"I transferred fifty thousand to you. Take a taxi yourself."

But he'd forgotten - the estate was in the mountains. No taxis came here.

Even if he remembered, he probably wouldn't care. He'd just tell me to shift into wolf form and run back myself.

I watched the red taillights blur into a smudge in the rain curtain and smiled bitterly.

Aria, you really are pathetically cheap.

I turned and plunged into the overwhelming curtain of rain, the icy water instantly soaking me through.

The fabric clung to my skin, cold enough to pierce my bones.

The car I'd arrived in was still broken down three kilometers away on the mountain road. My phone screen flickered in my palm before dying completely.

I could have gone back to borrow an umbrella, or even swallowed my pride and asked the butler for a car.

But I didn't want to. I didn't even want to shift - I just wanted to walk the mountain road in human form.

The rainwater hit my face, stinging.

I suddenly remembered that summer when I was fifteen.

The same stormy night, the same broken-down car.

I'd just gotten my acceptance letter to the Royal Healer Academy, and I insisted Kieran take me to the mountaintop to watch the meteor shower.

Halfway there, the car died.

I was only fifteen then, wearing new canvas shoes, stomping my feet and refusing to step in the mud.

He'd stopped and looked at me thoughtfully.

Kieran was twenty-five then, had already established his own pack and was a powerful Alpha, yet he was still willing to play such childish games with me.

"Let Uncle take you to see it."

Then right there in the rain, he shifted.

His clothes tore away as his body expanded and changed, dark fur sprouting as he transformed into a massive black wolf.

The mountain path was dark, cicada songs scattered by the rain.

I climbed onto his broad back, my fingers tangling in his thick fur.

He moved steadily through the darkness, his powerful muscles rippling beneath me with each step.

Even with me on his back, he had energy to spare, occasionally shaking slightly when I started to slide.

You're heavier, his voice came through our mental link, warm with amusement. No more stealing my chocolate.

I deliberately let rainwater drip from my hair onto his ears. Are you going to throw me off then?

He suddenly crouched down as if to shake me off.

In panic, I grabbed fistfuls of his fur, and I heard his rumbling laugh in my mind.

Who would dare drop our Aria? Besides, if a certain little crybaby really started crying, I'd be the one hurting.

My heart raced like a startled deer.

I secretly leaned forward to press my face against his neck.

It felt like all the stars in the sky had fallen into his dark eyes when he turned to look at me.

Later I fell asleep on his back.

When I woke up, I was in my own bed.

Dawn light leaked through the curtain gaps, and he sat on the carpet beside my bed, arms folded as a pillow, sleeping deeply in his human form again.

I reached out, my fingertips tracing the pale shape of his lips.

The rain suddenly grew fiercer.

I stumbled and caught myself against a roadside tree.

The rough bark scraped across the wounds on my palm, making me gasp from the pain.

Looking up through blurred, teary eyes, I realized this road wasn't even the way home.

Unconsciously, I'd walked toward the apartment where the man who once carried me through endless nights used to live.

After my confession, Kieran never set foot in this cabin again.

Afraid of triggering painful memories, I didn't dare stay here either.

Three years later, I stepped inside once more.

Just as I entered the foyer, I locked eyes with two figures in the living room.

I was soaked through, water dripping from my hem and spreading dark stains across the carpet. My hair stuck messily to both sides of my face, looking as messy as a wet dog.

In the center of the living room, Kieran's hand froze mid-air, gripping a glass of moonshine wine.

He shot to his feet, knocking over the bottle of elderberry wine on the table.

His Adam's apple bobbed once, his gaze falling on my soaked clothes.

"How did you... end up like this?"

Scarlett cried out, grabbing tissues to wipe the wine stains from her dress.

When she looked up again, she wore an expression of helpless tolerance.

"How did you get so drenched? Don't tell me you actually walked all the way back from the estate? Didn't we give you money for a taxi? Even if you wanted to make your uncle worry, you can't deliberately walk through the rain like this. What if you get sick?"

"I know you're hurting inside, but how can you not take care of yourself? I remember you weren't like this before."

The concern in Kieran's eyes instantly turned cold.

"Aria, I thought you had at least some self-respect."

The chandelier's glow cast soft edges around his silhouette.

I looked at this man who once carried me on his shoulders to see the stars, my vision beginning to blur.

"Sorry, I'll leave right now. But could I just..."

My body temperature was burning through my clear thinking. I could barely whisper my request.

"Borrow the bathroom for a quick hot shower? It'll be fast."

He stared at me silently.

Scarlett tugged on his arm with a drawn-out whine.

"Come on, Kieran, don't be mad at a kid. Aria's still young."

"She's a month older than you. You call that a kid?"

The wine glass was set down hard on the table.

Kieran grabbed his jacket from the sofa, and as he passed me, he brought a gust of cold air.

"Lock the door when you leave."

His voice brushed past my ear.

"And clean up the floor."

Outside, car headlights swept across the ceiling, bright as daylight for an instant before quickly returning to darkness.

The moment hot water hit my body, I slid down to sit on the shower floor.

How I stumbled and fell into the master bedroom bed afterward, I can't remember clearly.

I only remember the instant I sank into the soft blanket, my nostrils filled with his scent.

The high fever made time and space feel chaotic.

In a daze, someone pried open my clenched palm and fed me a round herbal tablet.

The moment the bitter moonshine herbs dissolved, I whimpered and bit down on that hand.

A suppressed sigh brushed past my ear.

"Little crybaby."

That nickname made me break down in tears.

How many years had it been since I heard it? So long it felt like a lifetime ago.

I sobbed incoherently, chasing after the cup's edge.

"Uncle, don't abandon me... I'll be good and listen..."

The glass cup fell to the floor with a muffled thud.

I sensed something.

Opening my eyes, I saw nothing.

Only half a glass of warm water sat quietly on the nightstand.

I hadn't expected him to avoid me like I was venomous.

I couldn't tell if my head hurt more or my heart.

I just pulled the blanket over my head and let the tears fall.

When I woke up again, it was the next day.

Looking at the familiar layout above my head, I felt dazed.

After one last look around, I started calculating how much money he'd spent on me over the years.

I had to admit, he'd truly done what an uncle should do, and even more.

Every year on my birthday, there were expensive gifts and a substantial sum of money. Every month without fail, he transferred me two hundred thousand for spending money.

All these bits and pieces added up to about eighty million.

I quietly listed all the bags and jewelry Kieran had given me on secondhand markets.

Selling those would take time, so I had to accept rock-bottom prices.

These quickly brought in several hundred thousand.

But I was still over ten million short of eighty million.

After thinking it over, I contacted an old classmate to get an invitation to a maritime auction house.

My mother had specialized in oil painting before her death, and one of her works had once sold for ten million.

Perhaps I'd inherited her artistic talent - I'd been gifted since childhood.

If I could sell a few pieces on the ship, I'd have enough money.

The auction house readily agreed once they understood my intentions.

I was looking down, checking the list of items I'd be auctioning, when a sweet voice suddenly rang out beside me.

"Aria? It really is you. I thought it was just someone with the same name on the guest list."

I looked up to see Scarlett walking over with her arm linked through Kieran's.

Seeing me, she smiled helplessly.

"Your uncle specifically chose a honeymoon route to avoid you. How did you still manage to track us down to international waters?"

"I..."

My throat tightened, forcing me to clear it.

"I'm here to deliver auction items."

Scarlett burst into laughter, her copper-painted nails tapping the auction catalog.

"Oh come on, why be embarrassed with us? You've been following Kieran around like a little tail since childhood. Even if you really did follow us here, I'd understand."

"Scarlett."

Kieran suddenly interrupted her, but his gaze remained fixed on my face.

"What auction items?"

Before I could answer, Scarlett suddenly gasped and pulled out the last page of the catalog.

"My God, you're selling 'Embers'? Isn't that the painting you worked on for three years?"

She suddenly covered her mouth, glancing sideways at Kieran.

This was the centerpiece of my flame series, created with his quitting smoking as inspiration.

Every scorch mark on the canvas was secretly burned in while I watched him extinguish cigarettes in his study.

"So desperate for money you're selling your life's work?"

Kieran's voice betrayed no emotion, but his knuckles pressed white creases into the auction catalog.

"Or has the pack not provided well enough for you?"

The sound of ocean waves came muffled through the porthole.

I lowered my eyelids.

"I'm just clearing out some inappropriate old things."

Scarlett glanced at me and laughed lightly.

"You silly girl, how can you just throw everything into auction houses? In the end, won't Kieran still have to help you..."

"Miss Scarlett,"

My voice turned cold.

"I am talking with my uncle. Who are you to have the right to butt in?"

The air suddenly froze.

Kieran's eyes darkened, and he suddenly released Scarlett's hand.

Before I could react, he actually dropped to one knee.

A velvet ring box opened in his palm, a ten-carat blue diamond burning with fierce fire under the lights.

"I was planning to wait until the evening banquet."

His voice carried through the microphone across the entire venue.

"But I suddenly think it would be better to have everyone here witness this."

I watched helplessly as that diamond slipped onto Scarlett's ring finger, hearing Kieran ask in the gentlest tone I'd never heard him use.

"Scarlett, will you marry me?"

Amid the tsunami of cheers, I stepped back and caught my heel on my dress hem.

Indescribable suffocation overwhelmed me.

I barely managed to squeeze out a few syllables.

"Congratulations, Uncle... Aunt."

I fled to the corridor.

The starry sky outside the porthole was beautiful, exactly like that night many years ago when he took me to see the meteor shower.

Only now, the person who used to be beside me was beside another she-wolf.