Chapter 146
Chapter 146
Valencia’s POV:
The sharp scent of iron clung to the damp air, thick and suffocating.
Caius shot me a glance, his voice carrying a rare hesitance. “Are you sure you want to stay?”
I scrunched my nose, shaking my head at his concern. “I’m not going anywhere.”
It wasn’t like dungeons were unfamiliar to me.
The stench of rot, the way the stone walls seemed to swallow the light, the sound of distant, muffled cries—I had been trapped in a place like this and had lived through worse.
I had spent years in filth, surrounded by suffering. Had stitched up wounds that reeked of decay, watched soldiers breathe their last, held broken bodies together with trembling hands.
And yet…
The scene before me was something else entirely.
Lilliana had pissed herself half an hour ago.
She was a mess of sweat and blood, her body trembling violently, her sallow skin stretched thin over sharp cheekbones.
And Dante–my Dante–stood over her, his face void of emotion, the muscles in his jaw tight with restraint.
I could feel it.
His disgust. His rage. The way it simmered beneath his skin like a slow–burning flame.
I wanted to soothe him, to press my hands against his and tell him it would be okay. But I couldn’t.
Not yet.
It had been over an hour.
Caius and Dante had taken turns every twenty minutes, their techniques different but not giving any results yet.
I sat on the worn–out sofa placed near the farthest wall, my hands cradling Castor in my lap as I watched.
Lilliana screamed, her voice raw, her body jerking with each fresh wave of pain. Snot and tears ran freely down her face, her once–pretty features now twisted in agony
Objectively speaking, she had been beautiful–dirty blonde shoulder–length hair, big upturned brown eyes, a small mole beneath her nose that made her look softer than she actually was.
But now? She looked miserable, and disgusting
She was the same age as Lethia, around forty–five, and it showed in the fine lines at the corners of her eyes, the way her skin sagged just slightly at her jawline.
Dante stood before her, his grip tight around a screwdriver. He placed the sharp edge against the soft tissue between her knee caps.
Lilliana barely had time to suck in a breath before the hammer came down.
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Chapter 146
The crack of bone splitting was drowned out by the sound of her scream.
I didn’t even flinch.
But Dante…
He was tenser than I was.
More restrained.
It was strange.
I should have been the one struggling, feeling a shred of guilt. But I didn’t.
I was more concerned about Castor, was he watching this? Could he feel what was going on?
Lilliana sobbed, her breath coming in shuddering gasps. “J–just kill me already!”
“We won’t kill you until we get our answers.” Caius’s voice was as casual as if he were discussing the weather.
“If that means keeping you alive and repeating this over and over,” Dante added, “then so be it.”
Lilliana let out a choked whimper, her head shaking violently.
Dante stepped back, motioning to Caius to take over.
But before he did, Dante raised a single hand.
A golden glow emitted from his fingertip, the light snaking toward Lilliana.
I watched with morbid fascination as the blood on her knees seeped back into her wounds. The nails that had been pulled out slowly grew again, fresh and whole, as if they had never been ripped away in the first place.
She gasped, realization dawning in her wide, terrified eyes.
Dante had healed her.
Not out of kindness.
Not out of mercy.
But to show her–no, to remind her–that he could do this for eternity.
He could bring her back to life, restore every injury, just so he could rip it all apart again.
Tears spilled down her cheeks, her head shaking frantically.
She was miserable, but all I could think was that he didn’t actually need to touch someone to heal them? So…he had always willingly touched me while….
“Okay,” she rasped. “O–okay. I w–will tell you.”
Caius lowered the pliers in his hand, stepping back slightly, though his eyes remained sharp, watching for any deception.
Dante’s voice was eerily calm as he asked, “Who was the one who killed my mother?”
Lilliana’s breath hitched. Panic flickered in her gaze. “I–It was Luna Tatiana.”
Even I knew she was lying.
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Chapter 146
Mar
Caius scoffed, lifting the pliers again.
Lilliana shricked. “No–no! It was Mistress! Mistress told me to send the Snowmist poison to your maid!”
My stomach twisted.
So it was Lethia. My suspicions were correct.
Dante’s face remained emotionless, but I could feel his rage.
I swallowed hard, forcing myself to ask the question that burned in my chest. “Why? Why did she do it?”
Lilliana’s lips trembled violently. “S–she wanted to be Luna.”
She flinched when Caius took another step forward, the pliers gleaming under the dim torchlight.
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“She wanted to marry Roman, but Tatiana stole him from her. And then… and then when she set her sights on Raiden, she fell in love, and Tatiana–Tatiana got in the way again.”
So it was jealousy?
From what I knew, Lethia and Tatiana came from the same packs, one was the Pack Alpha’s daughter.
one
was
the daughter of their second in command while
But Lethia had always held a hidden hatred towards Tatiana, which
ven
blind person could see.
And today I found out exactly why.
Tatiana hadn’t just stolen one man from Lethia.
She had taken both. Well, in a way.
Dante inhaled sharply through his nose. His voice was dangerously low when he asked, “Twenty–eight years ago. During the dinner party in the Steele pack. Who was the one who tried to drug Raiden?”
Lilliana’s face crumpled.
The weight of his words seemed to press down on her like a boulder.
At first, she hesitated. Her lips parted, her eyes darting to mine, then to Dante, and finally to Caius–who was growing impatient.
Caius lifted the pliers.
“T–Tatia-” she started, but then, at the last moment, her voice cracked. “No. No–it was Mistress.”
She changed her words mid–sentence.
Dante’s fingers curled into fists, his knuckles whitening.
I exhaled, my throat dry.
If Lethia had been the one to orchestrate the entire thing, then Tatiana…
“Why did Tatiana take the fall for her?” I asked.
Lilliana’s head dropped forward, her body wracking with silent sobs. “Mistress begged her. She–she pleaded for Tatiana to save her. Tatiana knew what she had done, knew she was responsible, and she still… she covered for her.”
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Chapter 146
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My chest tightened. Tatiana was the pack Alpha’s daughter, she wouldn’t have faced heavy punishment, unlike Lethia. And considering the type of person I remembered her to be, she probably regarded Lethia as a little sister. So she covered up her ‘mistake‘
Dante’s eyes closed for a long moment. His fingers twitched at his sides, as if itching to punch something–anything.
A deep, heavy silence settled over the room.
I reached for him, my hand closing over his.
Mistakes.
Everyone made them.
And the weight of those mistakes could destroy a person from the inside out.
I knew that better than anyone.
But how was I supposed to comfort the man who had killed an innocent?
How was I supposed to soothe the pain of a son who still hadn’t avenged his parents?
田
