Moon Judgement Forever Loyalty novel Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

I found myself sprawled in the cold embrace of the snow, a strange smile creeping across my lips as I lay there. A crimson tear escaped from the corner of my eye, falling silently onto the icy surface beneath me, as if the world had decided to mourn in quietude.

“Lina!” Damien’s voice pierced through the silence, raw and fragmented like a blade caught in a tempest. Yet, it barely reached me. My ears were filled with the deafening rush of blood, drowning out everything else. The world around me began to fade, slipping away like grains of sand through fingers.

My consciousness drifted back—back to a hauntingly still afternoon a decade ago.

In the heart of Black Pine Forest, delicate snowflakes danced down from the sky, settling softly on the ground.

There, our foster father knelt before Sophia, his claws digging into the frozen earth with a desperate urgency. In his trembling hands, he clutched several crushed moonlight grasses, their once vibrant colors now dulled. “Sophia, Papa didn’t mean to… Please… don’t tell Damien… Please…” His voice quivered, laden with fear and regret.

Sophia’s body trembled violently, her pristine white fur standing on end, a reflection of her terror. She pressed her hands to her ears, as if trying to block out the world, and blood mixed with tears streamed from the corners of her mouth. Her screams were raw, tearing through the air like a wounded animal. “Don’t come near me! Don’t come near me!” And just like that, she turned and fled, her movements wild and frantic, reminiscent of a young deer fleeing from flames.

And I…

I crouched behind a gnarled pine tree, my nails digging into my palms until they broke the skin, yet I felt no pain.

I witnessed everything unfold before me.

My mind became a blank slate, devoid of thoughts. I longed to run after her, to comfort her, but my legs felt heavy, as if shackled to the ground. A fear gripped my heart; if I spoke, I might shatter her fragile resolve even further.

“Sophia! Wait!” I called out, my voice lost in the echoes of the past.

But she couldn’t hear me.

How desperately I wished I could tell her: Don’t lose hope. We are all here for you! You’re not alone! If you knew I stood by you always, would you… still want to leave this world?

But my words fell silent, unheard and unspoken.

I couldn’t save her.

That fateful evening, Damien came bounding toward me, his face still alight with joy, his wolf tail wagging with innocent enthusiasm. “Lina, where did sister go? Why hasn’t she come back for dinner?”

I gazed into his clear, untainted wolf eyes, devoid of any shadows or fears. My throat tightened, as if gripped by iron tongs, rendering me speechless.

I didn’t want to hurt him.

Yet, before I could find the words to explain—

The news of Sophia’s death struck like a thunderclap.

Damien collapsed into my arms, his cries echoing through the night. “Why did she have to die? Why did she leave us behind?”

I clutched him tightly, tears streaming down my face, but I dared not utter a word.

I couldn’t bring myself to say it was because of your father.

I couldn’t admit that the hero he had idolized his entire life was the very one who had shattered the sister he loved most.

Later, I found Ella, trembling as I knelt before her. “What should we do? They all want to investigate the truth…” My voice quivered with the weight of our shared burden.

She knelt down, pulling me into a fierce embrace. Her nails dug into my shoulders as she spoke, her voice barely recognizable through her anguish. “Lina, please… don’t say it… If Damien learns it was his father… he’ll go mad… The whole of Grell will crumble… Blood defilement… no one can bear it… Please… please…”

I looked into her tear-streaked face, my heart feeling as if it were being torn apart by the sharpest of wolf fangs, piece by piece.

In the end, I could only tremble and nod.

I promised her.

To carry this burden for her, for Damien.

But Sophia left behind a suicide note before she departed, with my name inscribed upon it. “Lina saw his face.”

The werewolves branded me as an accomplice, a traitor, a conspirator in the defilement of purebloods.

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