From Exile to Rise: the Legend of the Exiled Luna

I looked up.

It was Augusta.

For the past eighteen years, he had always believed that I would be his Luna.

When I was hurt, he bandaged my wounds himself.

When I came back from my first hunt, he hung a wolf fang necklace around my neck and told me he would always stand by my side.

So here and now, I still couldn't help but feel a flicker of hope when I looked at him.

Augusta walked up to me and raised his hand, signaling the guards to let go. "Let me see for myself."

The moment the words left his mouth, I seized his hand.

The instant our hands touched, Augusta's entire body went rigid.

His eyes blew wide, veins bulging along the backs of his hands, and his aura of a high-ranking Alpha surged outward uncontrollably, crushing down on everyone around us.

The pack members below the platform stumbled backward.

"His Highness's wolf is responding!"

"How is that possible?"

"Could Serena really be his mate?"

Augusta's gaze locked onto my face. His breathing had grown much heavier than before.

I could even feel the wolf inside him trying to get close to me.

This was the bond between wolves answering.

I hurriedly said, as if I had found my last hope. "You felt that, didn't you? Your wolf recognized me. If I truly had no wolf, why would he respond to me?"

Augusta's eyes flickered. He was wavering.

Just then, Elena gave a soft cough.

"Serena is right." She straightened up in our mother's arms. "Since His Highness's wolf responded to Serena, maybe the test earlier really did go wrong."

All eyes turned to her.

Elena bit her lip slightly. "Serena doesn't have to touch the Moonlight Stone again. If she can just turn into her wolf form in front of everyone, everything will be clear."

The crowd murmured in agreement, and their murmurs came from all sides.

I had no choice but to close my eyes and desperately call out to the wolf deep within my mind.

I begged her. "Come out. Please."

If she would just appear one more time, it would prove I wasn't lying.

But my wolf felt locked away somewhere impossibly deep within my mind.

No matter how hard I called, she didn't answer.

I clenched my jaw. My nails began to grow and sharpen, but they only held for a split second before snapping back to normal.

The crowd erupted in laughter.

"I knew she couldn't do it."

"His Highness was probably just protecting her out of habit."

I opened my eyes.

Elena was watching me.

Tears still glistened on her cheeks, but there was not a shred of surprise in her gaze, as if she had known from the very start that I would never be able to turn into my wolf form.

I knew she had done something to me.

I turned to the oracle. "Please give me a little more time. Before the ceremony, Elena gave me a glass of wine that tasted strange, and my body felt off ever since. Please examine my blood. If you find nothing, I will confess."

Elena's face went pale for a heartbeat, then her eyes welled up again. "Serena, that wine was prepared by Mother. I drank some too. Are you really willing to drag Mother into this just to save yourself?"

For a brief moment, a look of hesitation flickered across my mother's face.

But Elena only tugged gently on her sleeve, and my mother immediately said to defend her, "There is no need to put your sister through another humiliation over your speculation."

I stared at her. "So even if that wine really was spiked, it doesn't matter?"

My mother avoided my gaze. "You can't turn into wolf form, so you resort to slandering Elena. Serena, how much longer are you going to keep this up?"

I clenched my fists and looked up at Augusta.

I pinned my last shred of hope on him.

But he simply withdrew his hand, slowly, and his eyes turned cold. "What I need is a Luna chosen by the Moon Goddess."

I lowered my gaze to the wolf fang necklace hanging at my chest.

It was the token he had given me.

I asked in despair, "What about our betrothal?"

Augusta did not answer. He simply reached up and tore the necklace from my neck.

A deep gash opened across my throat, but he only looked down and gently wiped the blood from the fang of the necklace. "There is no betrothal between us anymore. I cannot risk my throne on someone with no wolf."

He turned to the pack members below the altar, his voice hardened and cold. "Serena questioned the judgment of the Moon Goddess's sacred relic, falsely claimed to be the fated Luna in the prophecy, and slandered her own sister at the coming-of-age ceremony. Under the law of the pack, anyone who desecrates the coming-of-age rite or falsely claims to be the future Luna prophesied by the Moon Goddess shall be exiled. Effective immediately."

No matter how fiercely I resisted, the chain was still fastened around my wrists.

The cheers on the altar had not stopped. Elena was about to take my place and receive the pack's blessing.

And all I could do was let two guards march me down the long street that had once been lined with flowers for me.