She Was Cast Aside, Until She Carried the King

"I've got an idea!" I excitedly told Azhi, revealing the secret of the ancient golden-striped werewolf.

Upon hearing my plan, Azhi's emerald green leaves instantly tensed, and she cried out, "What? An ancient golden-striped werewolf? How old must that be! Lunessa, this is too much for you..."

I waved my hand dismissively, my gaze hardening. "He's an ancient, pure-blooded werewolf with golden markings. His bloodline purity is something that imposter like Darius can't even begin to match. If I can get pregnant with his child, my revenge will be more than halfway done!"

“Besides, the pain of a pureblood werewolf’s heat cycle is unbearable for most people. Although I coveted his bloodline and wanted to use his power for revenge, in the end, I also helped him a great deal and alleviated his pain.” I narrowed my eyes, recalling Darius and Elara’s faces, and the hatred in my heart surged again. My clenched fists tightened, and my knuckles turned white. “This time, I will make them pay a terrible price for what they have done to me in the past and present lives!”

I know the path leading to the back mountain of the high-ranking wolf clan palace like the back of my hand. Every bluestone slab worn smooth by time, every ancient tree with twisted branches, every bend in the path hidden with thorns, is deeply etched in my memory—the tracks I followed Darius to find in countless months of my past life, the witness to my glimpses of his sordid secrets, and now, the only shortcut to my revenge.

Darius wasn't a pure, high-level werewolf at all. He was merely a mixed-blood inferior being who barely maintained his human form by consuming his mother's high-level pure-blood inner core. The power of that inner core was so domineering that his mixed bloodline couldn't possibly suppress it. Therefore, every month at the end of the month and the full moon, he would suffer a backlash from the inner core, experiencing excruciating pain as if his meridians were being severed. He had to go to the spiritual spring deep in the back mountains to absorb spiritual energy in order to barely survive the ordeal.

In my past life, I only dared to secretly follow him after I noticed his strange behavior by chance. The moonlight that night was exceptionally cold. I hid behind a boulder by the spiritual spring and witnessed him remove his magnificent brocade robe, revealing the ugly black stripes characteristic of a mixed-blood wolf on his neck. His once handsome face was contorted with pain, emitting a howl that was neither wolf nor human. At that moment, I realized with horror that the husband I had given my heart to was such a fraud. Yet, at that time, I was still blinded by his occasional tenderness and chose to keep his secret, only to end up being skinned alive and thrown into the abyss of darkness.

Thinking of this, my fingertips turned icy cold, and my knuckles turned white as I clenched my fists. In this life, I will never make the same mistake again. My purpose for this journey is clear—to find the cave of the ancient golden-striped pure-blooded werewolf, and take advantage of his once-in-ten-thousand-years heat cycle when his power is out of control and he desperately needs the comfort of his kind, to step forward and seize his pure essence.

I am a pure-blooded silver-furred wolf. The purity of my bloodline is unmatched among ordinary pure-blooded wolves. More importantly, we silver-furred wolves are born with the perfect fertility for high-level pure-blooded offspring, able to perfectly lock in and nourish their essence. Darius's elaborate wedding procession wasn't out of affection, but precisely because he valued my rare physique. He knew that with the stolen inner core, he couldn't possibly conceive a true high-level pure-blooded offspring, so he placed all his hopes on me.

For him, those years of intimacy were nothing more than a utilitarian attempt at procreation; for me, they were endless humiliation and emptiness. Each time it ended, I could clearly feel the emptiness within me—his essence was impure and chaotic, unable to be contained by my constitution, which led to my infertility for a century. And that's why he was so enraged when I gave birth to a mixed-race child, blaming me for all the failures.

Humiliation and hatred surged within me, and I took a deep breath to suppress my turbulent emotions. This time, the ancient golden-striped werewolf's essence was pure and powerful; with my physique, I was certain I could succeed on the first try. Once I conceived a true high-ranking pure-blooded werewolf, I could completely wash away my stain, trample Darius and Elara underfoot, and make them pay for what they had done to me in both past and present lives!

Without further ado, I changed into a set of dark, practical clothes and, under the cover of night, slipped silently out of the clan's territory and headed towards the back mountain of the high-ranking wolf clan's palace.

The night was as dark as ink, the mountain wind howled, and as I passed through the dense forest, the leaves rustled against each other, sounding like countless eyes peering into the darkness. I kept my body low, my steps light as I traversed the mountain path, each step precisely landing within the safe zone of my memory. The scenery along the way overlapped with that of my past life: the crooked old pine, the babbling brook, the moss-covered stone steps—everything reminded me of the trepidation I felt when I followed Darius in my past life, but now, it was replaced by an unwavering determination.

I deliberately avoided the direction leading to the spiritual spring, and could sense the chaotic spiritual energy emanating from there from afar—Darius was suffering the pain of his inner core's backlash there. A cold smile curled at the corner of my lips; his torment was the prelude to my revenge.

After avoiding the area around the spirit spring, the mountain path became increasingly rugged and steep, the air filled with a crisp yet oppressive atmosphere. After walking for an unknown amount of time, I finally arrived at the entrance to the cave of the ancient golden-striped werewolf. The entrance was hidden behind a dense thicket of bushes, pitch black, like a gaping maw ready to devour everything in its path, swallowing up all light.

I stopped in my tracks, my heart pounding uncontrollably, a mixture of tension and anticipation. According to my memories from my past life, these past few days were his once-in-a-millennium heat cycle, and he should have been enduring the excruciating pain of losing control of his powers here. But the cave before me was eerily quiet; there wasn't a sound, not even the slightest noise, let alone a painful roar.

"Could I have remembered the date wrong?" I muttered to myself, my heart tightening. Was my revenge plan going to fail right from the start? I frowned, desperately trying to recall the details of my past life—yes, it was around this time that news came of the golden-striped werewolf's death. I couldn't be mistaken!

With a desperate determination, I pushed aside the bushes, took a deep breath, and carefully moved towards the cave. A faint, crisp scent of grass and trees filled the cave, completely different from the ancient, decaying smell I had imagined. I had only taken two steps when my foot suddenly stepped on something soft and warm, followed by a low, suppressed groan in my ear.