Chapter 4

Amy developed a fever in the middle of the night.

I took her to the hospital. The viral infection was quite severe and required hospitalization for IV treatment. I didn't sleep all night.

The next morning, her fever finally broke, but she was listless. I carried her on my back to go home and stopped by a store to buy some food.

After paying, the groceries were taken by a hand with distinct knuckles.

I froze, looked up, and saw Slater's face.

Lack of sleep left my brain blank. After blankly calling out "Slater," I realized he had long since forbidden me from calling him that.

He had said he was the noble Alpha heir. How could a thief like me address him by name?

Windrune Pack was not someone I could afford to offend.

After all, back then, to punish me for "bullying" Fiona, Slater needed only one sentence to get many wolves to bully me.

"Mr. Slater." I quickly corrected myself.

I was thinking about why he suddenly appeared in Stonehowl Pack, naturally not noticing his face darken in an instant.

"Let me carry it for you," he said softly.

"No need." I hastily reached for the bag in his hands. My posture was unstable, and Amy on my back whimpered.

"Don't push yourself, Una." He grabbed my arm, stopping me from taking back the bag.

"I'll take you and the child home."

Slater hadn't spoken to me in such a gentle tone in a long time.

My adoptive parents were too busy with work. The old me was practically raised single-handedly by Slater.

When he treated me like a real sister, Slater truly spoiled me.

Someone once asked him if indulging me like that meant he wasn't afraid I'd cause trouble.

He just half-closed his eyes. "What if she causes trouble? If she wants to cause trouble, let her. No matter how big, I'll cover for her."

But then Fiona appeared.

At first, he still told me I would always be his sister.

But facing Fiona's provocations again and again, he always asked me to be patient.

"She's suffered a lot, Una. Give in to her."

He said we had to compensate her.

I didn't want to make things difficult for him. He had been my brother for over twenty years. I wanted him to be happy.

So I gave in, endured it, again and again.

Until he unconditionally believed Fiona's frame-up of me, I finally understood that while I saw him as my brother, he had long stopped seeing me as his sister.

And when he withdrew all his kindness toward me, when I fell into the mud and became the target of everyone's scorn, I realized how foolish I had been to depend on him.

The ride was silent.

I hadn't been in a luxury car like a Maybach in so long that I felt a bit uncomfortable. I just hugged Amy and shrank to one side, thinking about why Slater appeared here.

Did Airs tell him? Was he afraid I would hurt Fiona, so he rushed over overnight to confirm?

What would he do to me? Would he punish me for secretly giving birth to Gareth's child?

I didn't know, couldn't figure it out. I just felt my head hurt. I held Amy tighter, not noticing at all the deep longing in his eyes as he looked at me.

"Una..."

I looked up.

There were many more wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.

"Four years ago, we all thought you were..."

"Thought I was dead, I know." I continued. "Actually, you can just pretend I'm dead. I gave up the idea of competing with Fiona long ago. Everything belonged to her anyway. Returning things to their rightful owner isn't bad. You don't need to be nervous or defensive, and you don't need to come confirm. I just want to live peacefully with my daughter now."

"Oh, my daughter will only stay with me. She'll never look for Gareth. I can swear on my life that I will never use my daughter to sabotage Fiona and Gareth's relationship. Don't worry."

I looked at him and repeated.

"You really can rest assured."

He froze.

"I didn't..."

"Then are you afraid I'll use my identity as the Windrune Pack Alpha's adoptive daughter to do something bad? Don't worry, I absolutely won't. I changed my name long ago..."

"Una!" He suddenly interrupted me.

His eyes reddened.

"I... I want to take you back home..."