Chapter 8

Upon leaving the hospital, Elara received a call from the Council Secretariat informing her that the approval for the dissolution of the mate bond had been granted. She returned to the empty manor and began organizing her documents and packing her bags.

Every day, she tore a page off the calendar, watching the stack of paper grow thinner until only a few sheets remained. The year was coming to an end. Soon, she would leave this territory that held all her joys and sorrows.

For a whole week, Kaelen did not return home once. Instead, Elara received a steady stream of provocative text messages from Serafina.

Seven days before departure, Serafina sent a video. In it, Kaelen was kneeling on one knee, carefully and meticulously massaging the bruises on her calf with a healing potion.

Watching the video, Elara took all the combat gear and custom clothing she had once bought for Kaelen and threw them into the trash.

Five days before departure, Serafina sent photos. In them, Kaelen was handing her an exquisite jewelry box and personally placing a ring shimmering with magical light onto her finger.

Without a moment's hesitation, Elara smashed the large wedding oil painting hanging on the wall and threw the fragments directly into the roaring fire of the fireplace.

Three days before departure, she received a recording. Kaelen was murmuring Serafina's name in his sleep, his voice full of longing and insecurity.

Elara packed up every expensive gift Kaelen had given her during their marriage and donated them to the orphanage. The main house, which she had once viewed as her sanctuary, was emptying little by little, while her small suitcase was nearly full.

Watching her clear out the house so thoroughly, the old butler began to feel uneasy, asking her more than once what was happening.

Elara smiled with an airy lightness. "I'm just leaving the pack."

"Did the Alpha agree to this?"

Agree? Elara wasn't sure. But she thought that if Kaelen saw the finalized papers dissolving the contract, he would probably be ecstatic. After all, the only thing occupying his mind and attention now was Serafina.

The day before she left, Serafina messaged Elara again. This time it wasn't a photo of Kaelen, but of his parents—the retired former Alpha couple. They were gathered around Serafina's hospital bed, their faces full of affection, chatting like a family.

Elara's heart remained as still as water; she did not reply. She opened her contacts and deleted Serafina, Kaelen, and everyone associated with the Blackwood family.

On the day Elara left, the first blizzard of winter arrived. Clutching the diary she had sorted out the night before and her unsent love letters, she walked into the snow-covered garden.

The orange glow of the flames danced on her face as those tender, naive memories of her girlhood turned to ash. She tilted her head back, watching the snowflakes spiral and fall through the air.

She wondered how much snow it would take to bury this ground full of ashes. Just as she was lost in thought, the heavy iron gates suddenly creaked open.

Kaelen, who seemed to have vanished for a century, finally returned. He strode into the courtyard, glanced at Elara squatting in the snow, and walked straight toward the living room of the main house.

When he came out again, he stopped beside her. His gaze fell on the stack of pale pink envelopes on the ground, and the anger that had been building for days actually dissipated slightly. It reminded him of the letter that had been read aloud at the alumni reunion.

"I've been very busy lately," he said, his voice somewhat hoarse. "When I'm done dealing with the matters at hand, let's sit down and have a proper talk."

Elara wondered, what was there to talk about? Divorce? She smiled faintly and looked up at him.

"There's nothing left to talk about. A month ago, I already gave you the thing you wanted most," she said calmly.

Kaelen didn't immediately understand what she meant. Just as he was about to ask, his phone vibrated. He looked down to check the message, and a smile instantly touched the corners of his eyes and brows.

Watching his expression, Elara threw the last few love letters into the fire and stood up. Her long skirt billowed in the wind, obscuring the flames behind her.

By the time Kaelen finished replying to the message, the letters had long since turned to ash, and the question he intended to ask had been thrown to the winds.

Elara saw him to his car, even opening the door for him.

A biting gust of cold wind blew past. Worried she was too lightly dressed and would freeze, Kaelen urged her to go back inside quickly. But Elara insisted on standing at the gate to see him off.

Through the car window, he saw her raise her hand and wave gently. Her lips moved, but he couldn't hear what she was saying.

He thought it was probably another gentle admonition—perhaps something like "drive safely." In the past three years, she had said such words so many times that he never took them to heart.

Kaelen's SUV roared to life and quickly disappeared from Elara's line of sight, leaving only a trail of deep tire tracks.

She stood in the snow for a long time before finally turning back to the house. She put on a heavy wool coat and dragged her suitcase downstairs.

The snow was falling harder now, covering the ends of her hair. From a distance, her long dark brown hair seemed to have turned white—making her look like an old woman who had weathered the storms of time.

A taxi stopped outside the manor. Before getting in, she looked back one last time at the building that had held three years of her youth, softly repeating those inaudible words.

"Never to meet again, Blackwood Manor. Never to meet again, Kaelen Blackwood."