He Rejected Marking Ceremony, I Upgraded Mate

In the fireplace of the safe house, flames greedily devoured a pile of old memories.

There was the amulet I had spent three years carving from the fang of a Dire Wolf to protect Ethan.

There was the dried Moonflower he had plucked for me the first time he took me hunting in the forest.

And there was the battle journal where I had meticulously recorded every one of his dietary preferences and combat habits.

I watched them turn to ash, and my heart remained perfectly still.

The phone on the table buzzed. It was an encrypted email.

It was from the Alpha of the Winterborn Pack himself: "Welcome to the pack, Commander Selena. The extraction team will arrive at the border at midnight."

A new home. Since my rebirth, this was the only thing I had looked forward to.

I stared at the firelight, checking my gear one last time, ready to embrace my new life.

But my peace was once again interrupted.

I suddenly received a message from Ethan’s parents. Alright, they were back from their diplomatic patrol, and that so-called family dinner required my attendance.

Fine—let it be my farewell to everyone.

It was evening when I arrived at the Pack House.

Ethan’s parents—Elders I had grown up respecting—sat at the head of the long table.

Ethan sat on the left. But right next to him, in a chair that shouldn't have been there, sat a trembling Ivy.

The expression on everyone's face was grim.

I could only imagine the pillow talk Ivy had been whispering while I was away.

I walked in without changing my expression.

Ethan’s gaze swept over me coldly. He seemed annoyed by my indifference. Suddenly, he threw his dining knife onto the table with a loud clatter.

"Looking at that funeral face... I’ve lost my appetite."

He stood up and headed for the study upstairs.

Ivy, acting like a frightened little rabbit, immediately scrambled up to chase after him. "Ethan, please don't be angry... "

I ignored them and sat down .

The old couple awkwardly tried to make excuses for their son, even putting food on my plate.

I looked earnestly at these two elders who had once treated me like their own daughter.

In my past life, they had tried to stop Ethan’s tyranny. In return, he had locked them away in the back mountains claiming they were "senile," and they eventually died of grief.

In this life, I didn't blame them. I only blamed myself for being blind enough to mistake a rock for a diamond.

I set down my wine glass and spoke softly, but my voice was made of steel.

"I have been thinking for a long time."

"Perhaps the Moon Goddess did not bless Ethan and me. Our bond is incomplete; our wolves do not resonate."

"For the future of the Silver Moon Pack, and to end this mutual suffering..."

"I, Selena, reject Ethan as my mate. I also resign from my position as Lead Enforcer."

The fork dropped from the former Luna’s hand. Her face went pale, and tears welled in her eyes.

"Selena, child... has it really come to this? Is that boy bullying you?"

I nodded firmly.

Addressing the one thing that had weighed on my heart since my rebirth, I felt incredibly light, even as the tension in the room thickened.

Before leaving, I didn't go back to the bedroom filled with memories.

Instead, I went to the storage room on the third floor. I needed to retrieve my parents' relics—two white jade urns containing their ashes.

My parents had died protecting the Silver Moon Pack. These urns were the only connection I had left to them, the only things I couldn't leave behind.

But when I pushed open the door to the storage room, I froze.

Ivy was standing by the shelf, idly playing with the two urns in her hands.

Seeing me enter, her lips curled into a grotesque smile. She lowered her voice to a whisper.

"Selena, you're leaving? You want to take these dead people with you?"

"Tell me... if these jars shattered, would you die of a broken heart, too?"

My pupils constricted violently. "Ivy! Put them down!"

Ivy’s smile widened. A flash of pure malice crossed her eyes, and suddenly, she opened her hands.

"Oops. Slipped."

CRASH!

Two crisp, shattering sounds echoed through the silent hallway.

The white jade urns smashed into pieces. The gray-white ashes exploded outward, filling the air with a mournful dust before settling into a chaotic mess on the floor.

In that instant, my blood froze. My vision turned red.

A terrifying wave of S-Rank energy, fueled by pure grief and rage, exploded from my body. "IVY! YOU DESERVE TO DIE!"

BOOM!

The shockwave hit Ivy squarely in the chest.

She shrieked, her frail body thrown backward like a rag doll.

"Ahh! Selena, don't! Don't hit me!"

"My stomach... it hurts..."

Hearing the commotion, Ethan charged in.

The first thing he saw was the floor covered in jagged jade shards and gray powder.

He recognized whose ashes those were.

For a split second, the rage in his eyes stalled, replaced by a look of disbelief and genuine shock.

He looked at me, his voice trembling slightly. "Selena... are those... your parents..."

He knew how much they meant to me. Instinctively, he took a step toward me to comfort me.

"Ethan! Help me..." Ivy’s sobbing voice cut him off. She curled up on the floor, her hands protecting her lower belly.

"Selena went crazy... I was just trying to help dust the jars, and she attacked me... my stomach hurts so much..."

"Our baby... it's our baby..."

Ethan froze.

"Baby?" He frowned, a flicker of confusion crossing his panic. "What baby? As an Alpha, I would have sensed his heartbeat the moment he existed. I felt nothing from you."

Ivy trembled, clutching his hem, tears streaming down. "Because I'm too weak, Ethan... The doctor said my body is so frail that it masks the pup's aura... I wanted to surprise you once he was stable...

But now... I can't feel him anymore... Selena's power... she crushed him..."

The flicker of guilt on Ethan's face vanished instantly.

It was replaced by a rage and panic ten times stronger than before.

He didn't spare another glance at the ashes on the floor. He rushed over, shoved me hard against the wall, and then gingerly scooped Ivy into his arms.

"Selena! Are you insane?!"

He roared at me over his shoulder, looking at me as if I were a monster.

"I know you care about the ashes, but they are just dead objects! Ivy is carrying a living life! She is carrying my Heir!"

"How could you attack a pregnant woman? Has your conscience been eaten by dogs? No matter what, you shouldn't have pushed her!"

I leaned against the wall, sliding down slightly. I looked at my parents' ashes, now trampled and mixed with dirt.

Then I looked at the man who once claimed to love me, now trampling on my parents' dignity for a woman whose mouth was full of lies.

My heart finally, truly died.

I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth and walked up to him, step by step.

Ethan thought I was coming to apologize or explain. He opened his mouth to scold me again.

SMACK!

I channeled every ounce of my S-rank strength and slapped him across the face.

The force was so great it whipped his head to the side, and blood instantly trickled from his lip.

"Did that wake you up, Ethan?"

I spat a mouthful of bloody saliva onto the floor and stared into his shocked eyes with cold indifference.

"Rest assured. As of today, I am no longer your future Luna."