I fell silent.

Only tears continued to slide from the corners of my eyes.

After they left,I wrapped my clothes tightly around myself and thought about dying more times than I could count.

From that day on,I never called Damien my brother again,and I never spoke his name.

Now,hearing it again felt strangely unfamiliar.

Rowan was passing by with a piece of dried meat in his hand when he noticed I had stopped working,and he immediately raised his whip to strike me again.

But the moment his eyes landed on the Pack attendants from Blackwood Citadel,he froze.

After learning why they had come,Rowan hurried forward and bowed respectfully.

"My lords,Selene is filthy from camp labor.Allow us to clean her up properly before sending her back with you."

Rowan dragged me back to the camp and ordered hot water to be prepared for a bath.

His gaze slowly traveled down from my face.

Desire filled his eyes as he stepped closer and reached for my clothes.

I instinctively tried to back away.

But the cold look in his eyes frightened me so badly that my body stiffened at once.

I let him strip me without resistance.

"Hmph.You're nothing but a Branded Omega everyone has used.What are you pretending to be so pure for?"

"Since you're leaving,you can serve me one last time."

I sat there like a lifeless doll and let him do whatever he wanted.

By the time the Pack attendants from Blackwood Citadel escorted me into the carriage,I had already been dressed in clean and proper clothing that barely concealed the scars covering my body.

Before I left,Rowan grabbed my arm tightly and growled,

"You know exactly what should and shouldn't be said.If the Alpha Commander finds out anything,you'll regret it."

I shrank back and nodded.

When we arrived at Blackwood Citadel,I remained seated inside the carriage for a long time.

Without someone reminding me to get down,I simply did not dare move.

My maid Lily came to receive me.

When she saw me bowing respectfully to the Citadel Pack attendants,tears instantly filled her eyes.

She handed me a mirror.

"My Lady...what have you suffered these past three years?How did you become like this?"

Slowly,I looked at my reflection.

My eyes were dull.

My skin was pale and unhealthy.

My cheeks had become so thin that there was barely any flesh left.

I tried to force a smile.

But no matter how hard I tried,all I saw was misery.

"Alpha General Damien has arrived!"

As the announcement echoed through the hall,the sound of approaching footsteps grew closer and closer.

I immediately began to tremble.

Three years had passed.

Yet every time I woke from a nightmare in the middle of the night,I still saw Damien's face.

Back then,the sketches I had hidden were exposed before the entire pack.

Someone had bribed one of my attendants and carefully staged the whole thing.

The feelings I had secretly harbored for Damien became known to everyone.

Damien's face instantly turned cold.

He frowned as he looked at me,his eyes filled with nothing but distance and disgust.

As though loving him was something filthy.

As though I was filthy too.

After that,he would not even spare me a glance.

He said,

"Selene Blackwood,as a daughter of the Blackwood Pack,how could you be so shameless?Trying to tempt the future Alpha is disgusting."

Even after three years,those words remained like a sentence carved into my soul.

Every time I remembered them,shame threatened to suffocate me.

Now.

Damien was walking toward me step by step.

My face grew paler and paler.

Three years ago,when I was still clean,he already thought I was disgusting.

Now my body and soul were stained beyond repair.

The marks winding across my chest had become a humiliation I could never wash away.

If Damien saw me again now,would he be so disgusted that he wished I were dead?

The thought alone made me drop heavily to my knees.

The impact echoed loudly across the floor.

"Alpha Commander,I know my mistakes now.I spent three years reflecting in the Border War Pack and three years learning obedience.I know my place.I will never dare harbor improper thoughts again.Please spare my life."

A chorus of shocked gasps sounded around us.

"My Lady!"

Lily cried out in disbelief.

She tried to help me up.

"My Lady,why are you calling yourself that?He's your family.You're still a daughter of the Blackwood Pack..."

Her voice broke as she began crying again.

I kept my head lowered and did not dare rise.

Damien remained silent for a long time.

Then a quiet laugh came from above me.

"It seems Beta Rowan taught you obedience quite well."

"You are certainly much better behaved now."

As he spoke,Damien bent slightly and lifted my chin with his fingers.

But the moment his eyes landed on my face,he froze.

"Selene...why have you become so thin?"

There was shock in Damien's voice,mixed with a trace of concern and pity.

I slowly closed my eyes,not knowing what new way he intended to torment me this time.

So I simply allowed him to look at me and did not dare say a word.

As expected,Damien was not truly asking me.

After a long silence,he chuckled softly to himself and withdrew the hand holding my chin.

"Life in the Border War Pack is harsh,and you have always been picky about food,refusing this and refusing that,so it is only natural that you lost weight."

I swallowed the bitterness rising in my throat.

Only after Damien gave permission did Lily help me back to my feet.

This time Damien had brought me back to Blackwood Citadel partly because Luna Helena had pleaded for me,and partly because tomorrow was the Moon Blessing Banquet.

But according to the Pack attendants of Blackwood Citadel,there was a third reason as well—Damien was about to take a mate.

As for who his future mate would be...

Damien had grown up alongside Vivian Frost,the daughter of the Frost Pack.

Even though Damien never knew it,the incident three years ago when I was publicly humiliated during the Moon Festival gathering had been carefully orchestrated by Vivian and Lyra together.

During the three years I spent in the Border War Pack,Damien and Vivian had grown very close,and the Blackwood Pack and Frost Pack were already discussing their mating alliance.

"Miss Selene,once Alpha Damien completes his mating ceremony,he surely won't send you away again."

Listening to Lily's attempt to comfort me,I could only laugh bitterly in my heart.

Did Damien truly think that after forcing me to watch him take another woman as his mate,I would still harbor feelings for him?

For three years I had lived a life worse than death.

I no longer dared.

Damien assigned two female attendants to serve me and ordered them to take good care of me.

When they helped prepare my bath and reached out to remove my clothes,I immediately recoiled as though I had been pricked by countless needles.

During those three years in the Border War Pack,I often dreamed that someone was forcibly tearing away my clothes.

What was even more terrifying was waking up and realizing it had never been a dream.

I dismissed them all.

"I-I can do it myself."

Even Lily was sent away because I was afraid she would see the ugly scars winding across my body.

The day of Luna Helena's Moon Blessing Banquet soon arrived.

Damien was already waiting outside my quarters early that morning.

After I finished getting ready and stepped through the doorway,panic immediately flashed across my face the moment I saw him,and I quickly lowered my head in greeting.

"Alpha Commander,why have you come personally?I..."

"Selene."

Damien interrupted me,his gaze remaining fixed on the top of my head.

"Now that you have returned to Blackwood Citadel,you have regained your place within the Pack,so there is no need to speak of yourself that way anymore."

I shook my head.

"I wouldn't dare."

Damien seemed to frown slightly.

"Obedience is a good thing,but when it becomes too deliberate,it starts to feel unnatural."

I froze for a moment.

He thought I was pretending.

Suddenly,Damien reached out and took hold of my hand.

"Come.We haven't seen each other in three years,so let me take you to see Alpha Magnus and Luna Helena."

The instant his hand touched mine,my reaction was so extreme that I immediately pulled away and stumbled backward several steps.

Damien stared at me with a deep frown.

I dropped to my knees at once,struggling desperately to hold back the tears gathering in my eyes.

"Please forgive me,Alpha Commander.I...I..."

Everything that had happened during those three years had left me terrified of a male wolf's touch.

Damien's gaze lingered on my face for a long time,yet he said nothing before eventually turning away and walking ahead.

I followed behind him.

Many guests had already gathered for the banquet.

The moment I appeared,both familiar and unfamiliar faces immediately began whispering among themselves.

"So that's Selene Blackwood?The adopted daughter who was brought back from the Border War Pack?"

"Why does she look so thin and sickly?She doesn't even look as healthy as Lyra."

"Hmph!After the disgraceful thing she did three years ago,she should be grateful she was allowed back at all.An Omega willing to covet her own future Alpha can never change her nature no matter how much obedience training she receives."

The woman suddenly stopped speaking.

Fear appeared in her eyes as she looked toward Damien.

Only then did I realize Damien had turned a cold stare on her.

I understood.

Damien simply did not want idle gossip ruining Luna Helena's banquet.

Alpha Magnus and Luna Helena arrived together,and I immediately knelt before them in a formal greeting.

"It seems Damien was right.A few years of discipline in the Border War Pack have made Selene much more obedient."

Alpha Magnus nodded in approval.

I lowered my head and quietly stepped aside.

Luna Helena looked at me with sympathy.

"Perhaps a little too obedient.She hardly seems like Selene anymore."

After speaking with me for a short while,they turned their attention to greeting the guests.

I had no place among them,so I silently remained standing off to the side.

Suddenly,a cup of chilled moonwine was poured directly over my head,and the freezing liquid made my body tremble violently.

Standing opposite me was Lyra,whose face was filled with malicious satisfaction.

"Selene,Vivian and I made a wager earlier about how much obedience you've learned.We were wondering whether you would still get angry after being humiliated like this."

Beside her stood Vivian Frost,wearing her usual gentle smile.

The two of them had deliberately chosen Luna Helena's banquet to make a spectacle of me,leaving my clothes completely soaked.

I simply lowered my head and stood quietly in place while more and more spectators gathered around to watch.

The cold seeped deep into my bones,my body swayed uncontrollably,and although I tried desperately to stay conscious,darkness eventually swallowed my vision.

"Selene!"

I heard Lily's horrified cry.

Then my body collapsed forward and fell into the arms of someone who rushed forward to catch me.

When I was unconscious,I didn't know who had carried me back to my room.

His breathing was slightly uneven,as though he sounded a little nervous.

"Selene,you're going to be alright.Don't be afraid..."

And why did that voice sound a little like Damien's?

No.

He would never be so gentle with me.

If anything,he probably wished I were dead.

I drifted in and out of sleep,and after an unknown amount of time,I heard Damien speaking with the Moon Healer.

"Alpha Commander,Miss Selene's body is far too weak.She is most likely suffering from malnutrition,years of exposure to freezing conditions,and excessive use of Moon Suppressant Potions.I'm afraid...she will need a long time to recover."

"Weak?"

Damien repeated quietly.

"How could that be?Malnutrition is probably because she was always picky with food in the Border War Pack.But where did this cold damage come from?"

Damien's expression darkened as he grabbed hold of the Moon Healer.

"And what do you mean by excessive Moon Suppressant Potions?"

The Moon Healer looked somewhat surprised.

"Alpha Commander...you didn't know?"

"Miss Selene's body is extremely weak.She appears to have spent years working in freezing conditions,and as for those Moon Suppressant Potions...sigh."

The Moon Healer hesitated.

"I shouldn't speak out of turn,but considering Miss Selene spent the last three years in the Border War Pack,I'm afraid..."