Chapter 1
I was the personal gardener of Alpha Evric Noctharrow of the Ebonhart Pack.
And I was also his bird in a gilded cage, surrounded by luxury but lonely.
For four years, Evric and I had had sex endlessly among the flowers. His tenderness once gave me hope that I might
become his Luna.
But now, he had returned with a new Luna called Celeste Ravenshire.
Celeste struck my face with rose thorns, and Evric let it happen.
She set the garden on fire and injured her finger in the process. Yet it was I who, with burns covering my arms, was made
to kneel for three days in penance.
Only then, staring at Luna Celeste’s face, so strikingly similar to mine, and watching the way Evric looked at her did I
realize the truth.
I wasn’t his bird in a gilded cage.
I was just a stand-in who was never meant to rise.
“Mr. Alden, there are three days left on my contract. I won’t be renewing it,” I shared my plan calmly, looking at Alden.
“You’ve lived in the pack house for so many years. Are you sure you want to leave?” he asked, unable to hide his
reluctance.
I lifted my arm, revealing the grotesque scars. “The Ebonhart Pack has no place for me anymore,” I replied with a bitter
smile.
Evric had already formed a mate bond with Celeste. Celeste, as his mate, tortured me in every way she could, and he never
lifted a finger to stop her. So why should I stay?
Alden finally sighed and agreed to keep my departure a secret.
Back in the kitchen, I still had to prepare breakfast for Celeste.
She had demanded that I serve as her personal maid, and Evric, without a second thought had ordered me, the gardener
to serve her.
Once, he had adored me. When I wasn’t tending the garden, I dined and lived alongside him.
Now, I was given to Celeste to do the hardest, most thankless tasks.
When I brought her twenty different types of breakfast dishes as she requested, Celeste smiled smugly.
She took a pretend sip of the soup, then frowned. “Why does this soup taste foul? Nerina, are you deliberately trying to get
back at me?”
Before I could even respond, she flung the scalding soup at me.
Chapter 1
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The boiling liquid hit my chest, I cried out in pain, a cold sweat breaking out across my back.
But before I could tend to the burn, the rest of the dishes on the table came flying at me.
Plates shattered against my body. Sharp fragments tore into my exposed skin. Blood trickled from my temple, and the burn on my arm, still not fully healed, was ripped open again.
I crouched helplessly on the ground, enduring Celeste’s assault.
The commotion finally reached Evric, who had been working in his study.
He emerged with a frown and asked softly, “Celeste, what’s going on?”
Of course. Even when I was in such a wretched state, the first thing he cared about was Celeste.
“Evric! Nerina tried to feed me spoiled soup! Is she trying to kill me?” Celeste wailed, running into his arms and
complaining.
Blood blurred my vision as I looked up at his silhouette. I choked back tears and said, “Evric, I didn’t.”
But he didn’t believe a word of it. He pulled Celeste into his arms and shouted at me, “You’re nothing but a servant. Stop
harboring scheming ambitions and don’t even dream of replacing Celeste as Luna.”
“I remember you can’t handle raw food. Our business partner just sent over some fresh octopus. Eat all of it, think of it as your punishment for playing tricks.”
His words drained the color from my face.
I was just a gardener. I once had saved a wounded Evric in a wildflower field deep in the forest, and he’d hired me at a high
price to work in the pack house.
I had never asked for anything more. I only wanted to quietly tend to my flowers.
It was he who crossed the line, who took my over, stole my heart, and now called me a lowly servant.
And he knew full well that raw food gave me unbearable stomach pain. Yet for one word of slander from Celeste, this was
his chosen punishment.
His Beta acted swiftly. He grabbed me, forced my jaw open, and shoved the cold, slimy octopus into my mouth.
I gagged, but every attempt to resist was met with another prevention.
And Evric, watching me in my humiliation, only turned to Celeste and asked gently,
“Do you feel better now?”
