Third Person's POV When Celestine's venom finally tore through the fragile illusion that had lasted more than a decade, Lykos felt as though his entire world collapsed in on itself. And she was not yet satisfied. "What-are you about to say you were fooled by me?" she sneered coldly. "That I misled you? Those knives you threw at Aysel-did I ever hold a blade to your throat and force your hand? Lykos, you've always been better than anyone at shirking responsibility." Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she laughed softly. "Do you know who really dragged you out of the sea when you were fourteen?" Lykos's pupils shrank violently. His fists clenched until his knuckles cracked. "Wasn't it you?" That summer, the Moonvale Pack had traveled to the coast. Six of them in total. But Alpha Remus, Fenrir, and Luna Evelyn had been called away briefly. Only Celestine, Aysel, and Lykos remained scattered along the shore. He had plunged into the water recklessly, chasing the salt-thick wind-until his leg seized. By the time his consciousness dimmed beneath the waves, slender arms had caught him and dragged him back toward land with desperate, shaking force. When he woke, both Celestine and Aysel were soaked through. Years of prejudice made him decide in a single glance that Celestine was his savior. And Celestine accepted the credit without correcting him. Aysel tried to explain. He refused to listen. Under Celestine's subtle guidance, he convinced himself that Aysel had watched him drown-and then stolen the glory. In front of their parents and elder brother, he accused Aysel violently. He demanded they send her away and never allow her near him again. No pack surveillance existed on that stretch of coast. And the drowning victim himself swore by his version. The Moonvale elders believed him without hesitation. For "lying," Alpha Remus scolded Aysel publicly. And because she refused to apologize-still insisting on finding "proof"-they sent her alone back across the sea. Lykos remembered it all too well: Aysel standing alone against five aligned figures. Her back still straight. Her eyes blazing with furious, wet light as they condemned her without allowing her to prove anything. Sometimes, that gaze surfaced in his dreams. But the lifelong brand of "guilty" attached to Aysel smothered the doubt every time. And now- Had that, too, been Celestine's lie? His heart tore open in agony. "Hahaha-of course I didn't save you," Celestine laughed wildly. The movement pulled at her wound, warping her face for a moment-but her voice rang with pleasure. "Why would you be worth my life?" Now that the Moonvale Pack had fully broken with her, she had no interest in sparing them truth. "In fact," she continued lightly, "I was there before Aysel noticed you. I heard every cry. Watched you sink little by little. I even thought-if you never surfaced again, that would be perfect. Your death would benefit everyone." She ignored the deathly pallor draining from Lykos's face. "It's a pity," she sighed, "that stupid Aysel jumped straight into that huge current to save you." Celestine let out a short laugh. "And what she dragged back was a wolf with a traitor's heart.""All I did was drench myself once in seawater and mess up my hair. I didn't even have to speak-you rushed in on your own. I wonder if she ever regretted saving you... hahaha~" Lykos staggered backward, shaking violently. "No... that's impossible... impossible..." "Is it impossible?" Celestine tilted her head, eyes glinting with malice. "Or are you simply too afraid to believe it?" She smiled mockingly. "As expected of Luna Evelyn's son-just as skilled at deceiving yourself as she is." The fruit basket she had smashed during her earlier fight with Fenrir lay overturned on the floor. As Lykos retreated blindly, he tripped over it. With a deafening crash, he fell hard onto the ground, his whole body trembling uncontrollably. Celestine watched his suffering with satisfaction. "Regret this late?" she murmured amusedly. "You think apologizing to Aysel now-confessing, begging forgiveness-will change anything?" "No. It won't." "She has already abandoned you completely." "I don't get along with Aysel. She has every reason to hate me. But you, Lykos-what you lost is the only sibling who ever loved you sincerely." The words struck like a poisoned curse, numbing his soul. In only a few minutes, everything he believed about the world was overturned. With empty eyes, staggering steps, Lykos fled the ward. Celestine stared after his retreating figure, darkness flooding every corner of her gaze. Her mother's chessboard had collapsed. But Luna Evelyn and Alpha Remus would gain nothing from it either. Pack blood would answer pack blood. That was what they deserved.She sat in silence for a long time, emotions surging violently through her chest. At last, she lifted her communicator and opened the message thread that had never once replied. "Damon, I'm badly injured. Can you come see me?" "Damon, my family wants to sever ties with me. I'm so scared. I miss you." "Mom committed a sin for my sake, and I can't condemn her. Maybe the one who truly deserves to die... is me." "Damon, if Dariusz had never died... if I had married him and escaped Moonvale back then... would none of this have happened?" "..." Message after message-no response. Celestine bit hard into her lower lip. She sent another photo, showing mostly the ward-but just enough of her wound to bleed through the frame. Still silence. Her chest rose sharply. Suddenly, she hurled the device across the room. It shattered against the wall in a burst of sparks. Her stare locked on the ruins, blackness spreading in her pupils like ink. Trying to abandon her? Dream on.