Chapter 4

A week later, I brought a few wolf guards to the ornamental pool beneath the rockery and ordered someone to summon Cecilia.

Reclining on a chaise lounge, I pointed to the ground by my feet, gesturing for her to trim my nails.

The Omega stood with her back straight, her eyes brimming with disdain.

"Don't throw your high-and-mighty attitude at me. I'm not a contracted maid, you have no right to order me around."

She let out a cold sneer, her gaze sweeping over the guards behind me, as if drawing confidence from some hidden source.

"The Alpha has gone to patrol the borders. Without your backing this time, do you think you can still throw your weight around like before?"

I scoffed. "Have you forgotten? If it weren't for the salary the Blackwood family pays your father, you wouldn't even have the right to sleep in the stables."

Cecilia shrugged, looking every bit a petty villain drunk on borrowed power.

"That is the wages my father earned. Besides, even without the family's protection, those three warriors will still hold me in the palm of their hands."

She suddenly leaned in, lowering her voice.

"You are nothing but a useless piece of trash with an empty title! Once Damien and the others take power, this massive territory and all its wealth will sooner or later fall into my hands."

Dealing with this kind of idiot, I couldn't even be bothered to waste another breath.

I raised my leg and kicked her squarely in the chest, sending her plunging into the deep pool.

Two wolf guards stepped forward and clamped their hands over the back of her head. Water splashed violently as she thrashed frantically, letting out shrill, choking coughs.

I crouched by the edge of the pool, watching her pathetic state. "Does the taste of this water feel familiar?"

Cecilia's eyes rolled back from the torment. The second she was yanked above the surface to take a breath, she began to curse.

"You venomous bitch! If you dare treat me like this, Damien and Lucas will absolutely tear you to pieces!"

I tilted my head toward the guards. The sound of sharp slaps instantly echoed through the air, completely stopping only when her face was beaten red and swollen.

It only took a few strikes for her facade to shatter. Blood mixed with pool water trickled down the corners of her mouth, and her curses dissolved into muffled whimpers.

Right at that moment, Lucas's pheromones closed in from a distance. Before he even arrived, his furious roar smashed into the courtyard.

"Evelyn! Have you lost your damn mind?!"

He charged over like a wild beast, his eyes bloodshot.

"Let her go this instant, or I swear I won't spare you today!"

He bared his claws and lunged at me. But before he could even get close, two wolf guards dislocated his joints and slammed him heavily into the pool.

The way he had held me underwater and abused me that day, I was having my guards return to him tenfold today.

The torture lasted until sunset. By then, the two in the water had lost all strength to struggle. Huddled together and shivering violently, they were already unconscious by the time the servants dragged them ashore.

This excellent show was recorded by the shadow guards and uploaded to the Northern pack's internal network.

In less than half a day, the scandal of Lucas and Cecilia mating in the wild in the pool detonated across social circles. The rumors grew increasingly outrageous, claiming that they had gone into heat without regard for the setting and ended up catching a severe illness from soaking in the freezing water. The two of them lay in the pack clinic for half a month, their throats so infected and ulcerated that they couldn't even speak a complete sentence.

When Butler Ward learned that his daughter had hooked up with a foster son, he fainted from sheer anger on the spot. After this ordeal, Cecilia's reputation was thoroughly destroyed.

After all, Lucas was nominally a candidate to be the Blackwood heir's fiancé. For an Omega to use underhanded tactics to seduce her master's betrothed—such a scandal would break her spine with pointing fingers no matter where she went.

What brought her even more despair was that the biting cold had invaded her womb. The pack healer declared that it would be impossible for her to ever bear pups in this lifetime.

To cover up the humiliation, Butler Ward threatened Lucas with his own life, demanding he take full responsibility.

Lucas, however, proved to be deeply infatuated. He emptied all the wealth he had accumulated over the years to formally propose.

But Cecilia was greedy to her core. Her original intention was to climb the social ladder and marry a high-ranking noble. Now, with her reputation in ruins and her father pressuring her, she had no choice but to grit her teeth and accept.

The day Lucas brought a list of dowry gifts worth tens of millions to the main house, mom sat in the high seat, the air pressure around her terrifyingly low.

"Which penny of these dowry gifts didn't come from the Blackwood accounts?" Mom glared at him. "You are using my money to marry the cheap slut who betrayed my daughter?"

Lucas's face turned from green to pale. He had no way to refute it.

Mom slammed a mate contract onto the table.

"The contract you signed back then stated it clearly in black and white: As a mate candidate, you must remain loyal. If Evelyn refuses to seal the bond with you, your only path is to remain unmarried for the rest of your life."

Lucas's face instantly turned ashen.

Years of living in the lap of luxury had made him forget his place, making him truly believe he was the master of this territory. He crawled toward me, kowtowing and begging me to plead with mom on his behalf, to leave that wealth for Cecilia.

I looked down at him, feeling nothing but pure ridicule. Using my family's money to provide for a mistress?

My eyes were filled with disgust.

"Lucas, first you broke your oath of loyalty, and then you had an illicit affair with a servant, trampling the family's honor under your feet."

"And now you still have the delusion of running off with the territory's wealth? Do you think the Blackwood laws are just for show?"

"From this second on, you are stripped of all your status and resources. Get out of this territory, and leave with absolutely nothing!"

Seeing that begging was hopeless, Lucas instantly tore off his mask and bit back, roaring that he would file a complaint with the Council of Elders, claiming I had set a trap to frame them.

Mom didn't even bat an eyelid.

"Want to appeal to the Council of Elders? Fine." She picked up her teacup, gently blowing on the tea leaves. "But before you do, spit out every single penny you've squandered under the Blackwood name over these past few years."

Lucas shuddered, his arrogance extinguished in an instant.

Over the years, the amount he had squandered using the title of young master was well in the hundreds of millions. Not only did he spend lavishly on himself, but he had also secretly bought mansions, sports cars, and energy crystals for Cecilia. If a thorough investigation were launched into this mess of an account, selling him down to his very bones wouldn't be enough to pay it back.

He scrambled up dejectedly and changed his tune, saying he wouldn't press charges.

But mom had no intention of stopping there. She deployed the enforcers, seizing all the properties, bank accounts, and private stashes under Lucas and Cecilia's names.

The once arrogant Alpha was reduced to a penniless rogue dog in the blink of an eye.

Seeing him fall to such a pathetic state, Cecilia tried to call off the wedding on the spot. However, she was forcibly tied up and dragged into Lucas's rundown shack by Butler Ward.

No one knew what happened that night. All anyone knew was that by the next morning, Cecilia had gone completely insane.

When the news reached the estate, Damien kicked my bedroom door open.

"The incident at the pool, the freezing of their assets... step by step, you orchestrated all of this to ruin them, didn't you?!"

I met his gaze head-on. "So what if I did? They brought it upon themselves."

Losing his mind, Damien lunged forward and locked his hands around my throat.

"You are so vicious! Don't even dream of me ever laying a single finger on you for the rest of your life!"

Before his words could echo away, a large group of wolf guards surged in behind him, instantly pinning him to the ground.

A figure stepped out from the crowd, a cold smirk resting on his face.

"Who gave you the confidence to think my mate would even spare a second glance at trash like you?"