Chapter 003

Nia POV :

I was in a lot of pain from Lyord's grip. In the corner of my eye, I caught a few servants peeking in from another room, their faces full of sly smiles. Clearly, I knew who was whispering these lies to Lyord. They must be the ones who slandered me for poisoning Rachel. I never asked them to send milk for her! What hurt me even more was that Lyord, the one who was supposed to support me, believed them and accused me without hesitation.

"I never hurt Rachel! I always gave in to her and left Luna's duties to her, and tolerated your affair. What else is missing? You're accusing me based on a servant's word!"

Lyord looked at me coldly. "That's precisely why you have the intention of hurting Rachel. You're jealous because she's my true mate and carrying my child."

"Lyord, why are you hurting me like this?" My heart ached deeply at his words, more painful than his slap on my face.

"Because you hurt Rachel and my child. You were the one who forced your father to arrange a marriage with me and kept me from marrying Rachel. You destroyed what Rachel and I dreamed of!" Lyord hissed, releasing his grip from me.

"If you once again harm Rachel and my unborn child, I will not only destroy the alliance of Eastwood and Northwind pack, but also kill you! You're lucky that you're the Lycan King's daughter which keeps me from killing you today."

I grabbed Lyord's leg desperately before he left. "Lyord, what if I get pregnant? Will you give me your care and love like you gave Rachel?" I looked at him pleadingly and hopefully. No matter how he hurt me and cheated on me with Rachel, I still loved him, loved him so much, and begged for his attention until my heart was broken many times.

"You're pregnant?" Lyord raised one eyebrow before looking at me with a condescending gaze. "That's impossible. I never marked you let alone slept with you. Even if you are pregnant, it is not my child. I will never acknowledge a child born to you," he hissed in a low voice so as not to be overheard by the servants who were stealthily overhearing our conversation.

He brushed off my hand and walked away from me. He gave orders to the servant, "Lock Luna in her room. Don't give her anything to eat or drink for two days!"

"Yes, Alpha," the servants replied and looked at me with a satisfied grin.

I stared blankly at Lyord's retreating back. His words rang in my mind.

'That's impossible. I never marked you let alone slept with you. Even if you're pregnant, it's not my child. I will never acknowledge a child born from you.'

From the start of our marriage, he never marked me. On our first night of marriage, he left me alone and slept with Rachel in the room next to my bridal suite. It was the worst and most painful night, first getting married at eighteen and hearing the man I loved fucking another woman next to my room.

He never touched me and made the herd think I was sterile. He made me desperate, and always missed him for three years. 

The first time he touched me was a month ago after Alpha Lucas' funeral when he was drunk. He even called me Rachel when we slept together. Lyord didn't even remember anything about us sleeping together and ignored me even more. He openly showed his relationship with Rachel to the pack after becoming Alpha and made the packhouse's treatment of me even worse.

"Luna, you should go back to your room." The servants looked at me with the most condescending gaze.

I wiped away my tears and gave them a cold stare. They must have teamed up with Rachel to frame me.

"This must be your doing, right? You poisoned Rachel!"

"Luna, you must have proof if you want to accuse us. After all, Alpha never trusted you. You're still a stranger in the pack and...." The smile of one of the servants grew wider.

"Alpha will definitely divorce you now that Rachel is pregnant. She will be a true Luna for our pack."

I was speechless, and my face paled with anger. The servants caught my hands and dragged me away.

"What are you doing, let me go!" I struggled angrily. 

Unfortunately, I didn't have the strength to fight against those who were born with wolf abilities.

They indifferently dragged me to my room and threw my body roughly.

"Alpha has ordered us to lock you up and not feed you. May you quickly die and rot, infertile Luna..." They said cruelly and locked the door to my room.

I held my stomach, feeling the deep pain of the soul-shaking emotional turmoil caused by their treatment. I took a deep, calming breath and whispered to my baby.

"Baby, don't worry, your father wouldn't be so cruel to us. If your father knew about you, he would definitely love us." 

I stroked my stomach, feeling so pathetic talking like that. I really was so stupid to beg for the love of Lyord, who never even glanced at me.

The next day, I was still locked in my room and given no food. 

Servants passed by outside the room, hurling wicked taunts that pierced the heart.

"Alpha will be holding a party in three days to welcome the Alpha heir. Miss Rachel is very lucky to have the attention and love of our Alpha. They were a true mate before a lowly hybrid ruined their relationship."

"Finally the packhouse has happiness to celebrate after three years of a very gloomy packhouse due to a lowly hybrid with no wolves from the enemy pack and barren."

"I see a large diamond ring on Miss Rachel's hand. Perhaps Alpha has already proposed to her, Miss Rachel? Will that barren Luna finally be banished from our pack?"

"I hope Alpha gets rid of the barren Luna and that useless hybrid soon."

"Last night Alpha stayed in Miss Rachel's room. They didn't come out until this afternoon. What do you think Alpha and our future Luna are up to?"

"What do you think they could be doing? Don't be nosy, Miss Rachel is pregnant."

"I've never seen Alpha living in our barren Luna's room. No wonder she's not getting pregnant. Has the Alpha marked her yet?"

The sound of their giggling reached my room. I smiled bitterly. The Northwind pack members' hatred of the Eastwood kingdom was so ingrained that they dared to demean me.

I curled up, leaning against the door of my room to stifle my hunger. I couldn't survive without food, not to mention I was pregnant.

 I stood up and banged on the door. "Open the door now!"

A servant outside said, "Luna, you're being punished by Alpha. We can't let you out now."

"Get Lyord for me! There's something I want to tell him!"

"Sorry, Luna, we can't obey you because Alpha is taking Miss Rachel for a gynecological checkup at the pack hospital," the servant replied mockingly and ordered the others to leave the place, not caring about me screaming and crying pitifully.

I cowered again. Every rejection and ridicule felt like thorns piercing my soul, making my feelings shatter. "Is Lyord really going to divorce me now?" I thought, and my heart trembled in deep sorrow. Not wanting to part from Lyord, the pain tore my heart apart,

Then, no more servants came to make fun of me. It was very quiet, and I felt lonely. 

Suddenly, the door opened, and two tall, large men appeared in the doorway. They were Beta Yasen and Gamma Seth.

At the sight of them, my hope sparkled again for a moment. "Did Lyord finally let me go?" However, their serious and expressionless faces soon dashed that hope.

"Luna, we will take you to the pack's Council of Elders."

Seth Calvert, Rachel's older brother, grinned cruelly and slyly at me. A bad feeling ran through my body, and anxiety gripped my heart as if something was wrong.

In the three years of my marriage, I had never been allowed to interfere in the affairs of the Northwind pack and had never been summoned to confront the pack elders, as if my presence was just another shadow in the pack. What was the reason they had summoned me?

"Why did the pack elders summon me? Is Lyord also on the Council of Elders?" I tried to mask my anxiety.

"Don't worry, Luna. Alpha is also waiting for you at the council meeting and ordered us to arrest you," Seth's voice was heavy and cold, without a hint of friendliness.

I was stunned. "Arrest me?"