Chapter 1

After my fifth difficult labor, the pup was strangled to death by the so-called trueborn daughter again.

My parents knelt outside the hall, holding up a silver-threaded noose, threatening to die if I did not back down.

"Your sister is on a Second Chance mission. Everything she does is only to complete what the System assigns her. If the Luna insists on punishing her, then walk over our corpses first!"

Everyone thought I would cry and scream for Serena's blood, the way I always had.

Even Cain, when he rushed in, leaned red-eyed over my bed and pleaded with me.

"Lyra, Serena can only complete her mission by bearing the firstborn heir. My firstborn has to come from her. Be generous. Don't hold it against her."

"Once you've recovered, we'll have more pups."

I only nodded numbly.

"Whatever you say, my Alpha."

That night, chest after chest of gifts was carried into my wing.

Cain compensated me a hundred times more than before.

I only stared out at the snow beyond the manor, tired to the bone, and asked the System inside my head, softly.

"The mission failed, didn't it?"

Cain didn't know I was also a player.

He didn't know my mission was the same as Serena's.

......

【Safe delivery mission failed. Termination protocol activated. Twenty-four-hour countdown now running.】

The System's voice and Cain's footsteps arrived at the same time.

An arm wrapped around my waist from behind.

Cain's low murmur brushed my ear.

"Lyra, the pup is about to be buried. Do you want to see him one more time?"

Hearing the word pup.

The heart I had gone numb for years still cracked for a second.

Cain felt my body stiffen, and guilt flickered in his eyes. "This pup wasn't meant for us. Once you've recovered, we'll have more."

I curved my lips into a mocking smile.

Cain still didn't know there was no "more" left for us.

The System had given me five chances. As long as I delivered one pup safely, the mission would succeed.

But ever since Serena tearfully confessed five years ago that she had a Second Chance system, and that her mission was to bear Cain's firstborn heir.

Every pup of mine had ended up dead.

I pushed through the pain and turned my face away from Cain's burning kiss.

"No need."

"Do with him as you please, my Alpha."

The hot breath behind me paused.

Cain went still for a moment.

He tightened the arm around my waist and gave a helpless laugh.

"Lyra, I know your heart is heavy. But don't sulk over this."

"He's our pup. How can you say 'do with him as you please'?"

His voice was full of tenderness against my ear.

All I could feel was the bitter taste of it.

The first time, I had labored two days and two nights to bring my first pup into the world.

At my weakest, Serena stormed into my wing and dashed the pup against the stone floor.

When I screamed for her life.

Cain shielded her behind his body.

I rolled off the bed, wound splitting open, clutching my dead pup, and choked out the question word by word.

"My Alpha, this vicious she-wolf killed our pup. Will you not punish her at all?"

Cain only held her close and sighed.

"Lyra, Serena did it for her mission. My firstborn has to come from her."

"Don't worry. I'll give you an answer that satisfies you."

It was only the next day I learned.

His punishment was sending Serena to her wing for a few days of reflection.

After that, the other four pups were killed by Serena, one by one, under the name of "completing her mission."

Some died in the womb. Some were dashed against the floor the moment they were born.

Five pups dead.

And Cain's punishments were still nothing more than light slaps on the wrist.

He even said, with regret, "Lyra, if only the pup you carried had been a daughter."

Even now, all he said was.

"Once Serena delivers her pup, I'll make her reflect properly and atone for ours."

The irony in my chest reached its limit.

While I was staring into nothing, my parents burst through the doors, eyes wild.

"My Alpha, it's bad! Serena's night terrors are happening again!"

Cain's face changed.

He grabbed my hand to pull me along.

Ever since the Pack Healer had said that only the heart-blood of a pure moonblood female could cure the night terrors.

And the only pure moonblood female in the entire Pack was me.

Every time Serena had an attack, I was the one carved open to bleed into her potion.

But this time, I was dying myself.

I no longer cared who else lived or died.

I tore my hand out of Cain's grip.

Only wooden exhaustion was left on my face.

"My Alpha, I won't go."