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OLIVIA'S POV
I'd had the instinct that something was wrong ever since we returned to the pack to see Alpha Caddel evading us and refusing to talk to us. Whenever we met him, he would always evade us, as if trying to escape.
It wasn't like this in the past. I remembered that Alpha Caddel was such a good man and such a father figure to us. He'd always pampered us like we were his children.
It reached a point where I began to contemplate whether Alpha Caddel might be ill or something and was trying to hide it from us so as not to worry us and alert Elsher.
I'd thought I was the one who noticed all this, but I didn't expect Oliver to also have the same thoughts as mine.
But what both of us never expected was that Father and Elsher had been hiding such a big secret from us.
Even Mother, who had been in the pack all these years, didn't know what was going on. That was the extent of how tightly the news was wrapped.
Yet the current situation made all my unhappiness at their actions disappear.
If we'd known Elsher was the one in charge, we would have returned from the other pack.
After all, all I'd done was go around the world and have a fun vacation, with Oliver being the sweet older brother watching over me and making sure nothing was going to happen to me.
It was all my fault. If I'd returned sooner to the pack, I would have discovered that something was wrong.
Elsher couldn't keep a secret from me for long. I would have definitely known what was going on all this time.
If I hadn't gone for vacation, Oliver would have been at the pack, learning and preparing to take the role of Beta.
With Oliver here, the burden on Elsher's shoulders would lessen a lot. At least if I weren't present, Oliver would be there to help her.
When I saw Elsher's swollen and reddened eyes, her swollen lips, and her body filled with several marks, I instantly knew what had happened.
At that moment, it felt as if my world had come to a stop.
Even though I wanted to talk, I knew whatever I said wouldn't be enough.
I couldn't fathom the amount of pain Elsher must be going through. How could I comfort her?
Especially when her mate, who was supposed to watch over and protect her, was the one who did this to her?
Yet Elsher tried to be courageous, lying and pretending she was fine so she wouldn't worry us. It hurt that she still had to hide and keep her pain from us.
I hated that Elsher had to hide pain from us. I hated that Elsher had to sacrifice herself all these years, and I hated that she still had to continue despite what was going on with her.
The goddess knew that Father and the council elders, including Oliver and me, didn't want Elsher to go on with this marriage thing.
While she kept denying that her decision wasn't made in a rush, I knew it was all lies.
The trauma of that event had left its shadow on her, and she'd do anything to avoid it.
Elsher was so persistent, and that made my heart ache. I wished she wouldn't go through with this marriage thing.
Elsher deserved so much more than an arranged marriage like this. How could I watch her be claimed like a prize? It wasn't fair.
She couldn't even break through the trauma of what Verlice Mintz had done to her. How could she prepare and face a marriage that she didn't know what to expect in three days?
I knew the reason Elsher buried her head in work was due to the trauma.
Even though Elsher still denied it and didn't want to talk about it, I knew that night still haunted her whenever she slept.
Although she didn't want us to know, I could hear her soft cries and her erratic breathing a few minutes after she fell asleep.
But she couldn't keep going on like this.
If Elsher wanted to get married and didn't want to alert her husband about everything that was going on, at least she had to break out of this trauma and get enough rest first.
We didn't want her to collapse on her wedding day due to the trauma and all.
Verlice Mintz was such a damn jerk. After what he'd done to Elsher, the least he could do was check on her.
Yet what I hadn't expected was that Verlice would have the guts to send a threat to each of the packs that were interested in fighting for Elsher's hand.
I still didn't know the details of their relationship, but I recalled Dad telling us how Elsher kept pushing Verlice away in order not to let him discover the secrets of the pack.
I hadn't expected that he was going to go this far to keep her as his!
If Verlice cared about her so much, then he should have stayed with her, asked for her forgiveness, and told the truth.
Elsher wasn't cruel. She would give him a chance if he were sincere enough and won her heart. Yet the only thing he'd done was worsen things over and over again.
I didn't know what he was thinking. He'd marked her and left her in such a state.
Elsher said we shouldn't worry, when in fact she was far from calm herself.
I sighed in relief when I heard Oliver had gone to the Alpha's office to help Elsher with work.
When I saw both of them step out of the office at such an early time, I knew Oliver had successfully taken control—a thing Father and I had failed to do. It was good that someone finally had a handle on her.
Elsher's lips pursed in disgruntlement, and she dragged her feet behind Oliver.
Elsher's plan was to bury herself with work until the next day and pretend that she didn't notice when time ticked so fast. Unfortunately...
I hurried toward them and asked, "Elsher, are you done with work?"
Before Elsher could even say a word, Oliver nodded and said, "Yes, she is. Make sure she eats dinner." When he said this, Oliver left immediately.
I threw my arms around Elsher's shoulders and smiled. Elsher glared at me. "Did you send Oliver?"
I shook my head and refuted, "No. Oliver and everyone are worried about you. He must have used that chance to take control of the situation."
Elsher pursed her lips and parted them several times.
After a while, she nodded her head and finally went with me to the bedroom.
I made sure a maid served a meal, and even though Elsher said she wasn't hungry, I made sure she ate and then gave her some painkillers while adding a sleeping drug to it so she could fall asleep.
Even before we lay on the bed, I could feel Elsher's body getting tense.
I sighed. I should have known that the bed would likely keep invoking the bad memories of that night. I should have ordered the maid to throw the bed away.
But I knew Elsher was quite attached to her bed. "Elsher, should we discard the bed?"
Elsher's eyes flew wide open, and she looked at me bewildered, as if to ask why I'd thought about that.
"You seem not to like the bed," I pointed out in concern.
Elsher shook her head and said, "No, it's just work."
Even though I knew it wasn't about work, I knew she wasn't willing to talk about this, so I kept quiet.
I wrapped my arms around her and ordered her to sleep. But after a few minutes, I asked, "Are you sleeping now?"
She said, "No."
"Sleep." Then I gently patted her back while singing a tune.
Soon, her eyes drifted, but it wasn't even up to twenty minutes when she broke into a sweat and gripped the blanket tight, signifying that she'd had a bad dream while letting out a muffled sob.
I gently patted her back and comforted her until she eventually fell asleep.
I sighed. How could she marry in such a situation?