Damon stood in the doorway.

His gaze flickered to the red handprint on Vera's face, and his expression darkened instantly.

"Who hit you?"

Vera trembled, looking even more wronged, as if his question had hit her where it hurt.

"It was me." Yuna leaned against the headboard, her voice calm and flat. "She deserved it."

Damon whipped his head toward her, rage flaring in his eyes, barely contained.

"Yuna, are you insane?"

She looked at him and felt the absurdity of it all.

In the past, he could always sense the slightest hurt she felt. Now, he didn't even ask and assumed she was the perpetrator.

Vera kept her head down, sobbing quietly.

"It's not Ms. Yuna's fault. I shouldn't have come. I knew she had lost her pup and was weak, so I wanted to bring her some soup to help her recover. Maybe I said the wrong thing and upset her..."

Damon immediately stepped forward, shielding her with a smooth, practiced motion that was almost painful to watch.

"Vera came in good faith, and you humiliate her like this?"

Yuna pursed her lips.

"Good faith?" Her gaze dropped to the talisman hanging around Vera's neck. "She's wearing something you gave her and comes here to show me how much you love her. That's your idea of good faith?"

Damon froze, instinctively glancing at Vera.

Vera shook her head, eyes red-rimmed. "No, I didn't. I just wanted to tell her not to be sad anymore."

Yuna had no interest in watching this charade.

She leaned back against the bed, closing her eyes.

"Both of you, leave."

But Damon felt a tight knot form in his chest at the sight of her cold, indifferent expression.

She wasn't crying, she wasn't yelling, she wasn't arguing, and she didn't grab him like before to demand answers.

That was exactly what made him so inexplicably frustrated.

He forced his anger down into a low growl, "Yuna, who do you think you're scaring with that face? I hurt over the pups too. But when Vera lost hers, she didn't lash out like this."

Yuna opened her eyes at last, looking straight at him. "So in your eyes, my loss isn't worth feeling pain?"

Damon's breath caught.

Before he could answer, Vera tugged lightly on his sleeve, like she feared they would fight.

"Damon, forget it." Her voice trembled with emotion. "Ms. Yuna isn't in a good place right now. I don't blame her. Don't fight with her on my account."

The more Vera retreated, the sharper Yuna seemed. Damon's expression darkened further.

"Have I spoiled you too much?" he asked, his voice low, heavy. "So much so that you don't even care about keeping your own dignity anymore."

Yuna stared at him, silent for a long moment.

Her mind drifted back to years ago, the first time he had brought her to a full moon raid with the pack. That night, some of the wolves whispered behind her back, calling her nothing more than an orphan living under Fendon Pack's protection. Damon slammed his glass down in front of them, his face cold as ice, forcing every one of them to kneel and apologize to her.

He had said then that anyone who dared let her suffer would pay the price.

Now, the one making her suffer was him.

She said softly, "Damon, do you remember what you said all those years ago, at the Frostveil Pack cemetery?"

Damon froze.

She didn't give him a chance to avoid her question.

"You said you would always stand by me. You said I had nothing to fear, that as long as you were there, I wouldn't suffer a single wrong."

Her voice was quiet, calm, almost like she was telling someone else's story. "Have you forgotten those words?"

Damon's jaw tightened, and something flickered in his eyes. But in the end, he still avoided her gaze.

"I haven't forgotten." His voice dropped, colder than before. "But Yuna, I also said I don't love you anymore."

The room became so quiet that even their breaths seemed loud.

"Now, Vera is the one I want to protect."

The words had barely left his lips before his hand shot out, slapping Yuna across the face with brutal force.

The sound of the slap echoed sharply, sharper than the one before.

Her head snapped to the side. Blood welled at the corner of her lips, the metallic scent spreading in the air instantly.

The room went completely silent for a moment.

Vera flinched as if scared. She covered her mouth with trembling hands, but the flicker of triumph in her eyes was impossible to hide.

Damon's hand froze in midair, as if even he hadn't expected to hit so hard.

But the next second, his voice stayed cold as he added, "That slap is for Vera."

Yuna slowly turned her face back, her cheek burning with sharp pain. But when she looked at Damon, there were no tears or hatred. There was only a hollow emptiness where everything had finally burned out.

"I see," she said quietly.

The words landed with a weight that made Damon's chest tighten for reasons he couldn't name.

Yuna didn't argue or fight. She simply stayed silent, as if not a single extra word was worth speaking anymore.

Damon felt a tightness in his chest, the first time he'd been hit with this strange mix of irritation and helplessness. But with Vera leaning against him with red-rimmed eyes, he forced the feeling down and wrapped her in his arms, turning to leave.

The moment the door clicked shut, the last glimmer of light in Yuna's eyes finally went out.

It didn't matter. In three days, she would be gone from here and leaving Damon.

For the next two days, Yuna was quiet.

She took her medicine on schedule, followed the healer's instructions, and didn't ask Damon a single question.

When Damon came, he didn't bring up Vera like he used to. He simply stood at the edge of the bed, watching her in silence for a long time.

"I heard you've been very well-behaved these past couple of days," he finally said.

Yuna didn't respond.

Damon stared at her, trying to read something in her face. But she was so calm that not a flicker of emotion crossed her features. It made him restless in a way he couldn't explain.

He frowned and said, "Yuna, how long are you going to keep this up?"

She slowly lifted her gaze to meet his eyes. "I'm not keeping anything up."

Even arguing with him felt like a waste of energy now.

Damon felt the tight pressure of frustration in his chest. After a few moments, he finally said, "Tonight's Vera's birthday. She wants to have dinner with you to clear the air. I already agreed."

Yuna's chest tightened at the irony. She was still lying in the healing room, raw from losing her child, and he came to tell her to go celebrate Vera's birthday.

"I'm not going."

Damon's expression darkened. "This isn't a request. It's an order."

Yuna looked at him and let out a small, quiet laugh.

Damon's chest tightened at the sound, and he opened his mouth to speak, but a gentle voice came from outside the door.

"Damon, don't push her like that."

Vera leaned against the doorframe, her face pale and looking fragile.

"Ms. Yuna, please don't misunderstand me. I'm not trying to take anything from you. I just can't see us going on like this forever. If you're willing to come, I'd be grateful. If not, I won't blame you."

Damon immediately reached out and steadied her, his voice softening. "You're supposed to be resting. Why are you here?"

Vera leaned against his side, tilting her head up with a small smile. "I was afraid you two would start arguing again."

That familiar, dependent posture made Yuna's chest ache and her eyes burn.

But this time, she didn't react.

She simply looked down and flatly said, "Are you done? If so, go. I want to rest."

She probably expected Yuna to lash out, to lose control, to spiral into a jealous rage over Damon's attention. But Yuna was terrifyingly calm, which threw her completely off.

Damon's chest tightened with irritation at Yuna's coldness.

"Yuna, don't be ungrateful," he said, his voice sharp and icy. "Vera has already backed down this far."

Yuna finally lifted her gaze to meet his, her voice barely more than a sigh.

"Damon, does it even matter to you whether I'm grateful or not?"

That single sentence froze Damon on the spot.

The room fell silent. Vera was the first to give in, her voice soft. "Enough. Ms. Yuna isn't feeling well. We shouldn't disturb her rest."

After she spoke, she gently took Damon's hand like a silent reassurance.

He said nothing, just cast Yuna one last glance before leaving with Vera.

Once the door closed, Yuna slowly let her eyes drift shut.

She knew that after tomorrow night, it would all be over.

However, she didn't expect a new torment to arrive before the potion even got there.

Yuna didn't sleep well that night.

After losing her pup, sleep never came easily anymore. She drifted in that hazy space between dreaming and waking when a sudden, bone-deep chill wrapped around her wrist.

Her eyes snapped open. Amy stood by the bed, red-rimmed eyes glistening, fastening a cold iron cuff around her wrist.

Yuna froze for a moment, then took in Amy's trembling hands.

"Amy?"

At the sound of her name, Amy seemed to break completely. Tears spilled down her face all at once.

"Luna, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She dropped to her knees beside the bed, her voice shaking so badly the words nearly fell apart. "Alpha has my little brother. If I don't cuff you tonight and take you to the basement, he'll send my brother to the border camp."

Yuna lowered her gaze to the iron cuff locked around her wrist. A heavy weight pressed down on her chest.

The first thing she felt was not anger, but a numb, almost absurd disbelief.

Just to vent Vera's anger, Damon had pushed things so far that even Amy had been driven to this.

Amy's face was soaked with tears, and she barely dared meet Yuna's eyes. "I don't want to do this. I really don't. Luna, please hate me if you must, but I can't abandon my brother..."

Yuna was quiet for a moment before she spoke softly.

"I don't blame you."

Amy froze, then the tears fell even harder.

Just then, the door opened.

Damon walked in, his black boots striking the floor with slow, heavy steps. His presence carried a cold weight with it.

He had clearly already heard that Amy succeeded. His gaze went first to the iron cuff around Yuna's wrist before finally lifting to her face.

"Since you're awake, stop playing the victim," he said flatly. "Vera waited for you all night. She's been crying this whole time. It's time you were punished for your absence."

Yuna looked up at him. The last trace of emotion in her eyes was gone.

Amy was still kneeling beside the bed, trembling. Yuna didn't want her caught in the middle any longer, so she slowly sat up and climbed out of bed, the cuffs still locked around her wrists.

"There's no need for anyone to drag me there," she said softly, her voice eerily calm. "It's just the basement. I can walk there myself."

She lifted her cuffed wrists and walked straight for the door.

Damon stood by the doorway. He didn't reach out to steady her, and he didn't stop her. He only watched with cold eyes as she walked toward the end of the corridor.

The heavy iron door slowly shut behind her, and a wave of cold, damp air rushed up to meet her.

The basement had no windows. High up on one wall, a narrow vent was the only opening. Even the moonlight couldn't reach inside. The darkness pressed in from every side, like the inside of a coffin.

Yuna was locked in there for the entire night.

Her body was still weak, and old pains in her back and abdomen flared. However, the physical pain was nothing compared to the unbearable quiet.

Wolves had sharp hearing. Even through thick walls and floors, she could hear every sound above her.

She heard footsteps passing back and forth above her. Servants moving through the halls, preparing the guest rooms. Then Damon's voice came clearly through the floor as he gave the orders himself.

"Get the room on the east side ready. It's closer to mine. It'll be more convenient for Vera to stay there."

Yuna leaned back against the cold wall and slowly closed her eyes.

She knew exactly what that meant.

Damon had brought Vera into the main house.

The home that had once belonged to just the two of them had finally welcomed its new mistress.