Chapter 186 ECHOES OF THE DEAD
Chapter 183
Rosa's POV
“Because I wanted it more,” I snapped.
I didn’t even care if I was talking to the dead. I didn’t even care if it was my late sister. I didn’t even care if she would strike me with a fang of death, as the dead do to the living, then I would hit the floor and give up my last breath.
I didn’t even care anymore.
“Because I fucking wanted it more!” My voice erupted into the air. “Unlike you, who wanted to spend the rest of her life in Father’s clinic, rescuing people who didn’t even care you ever existed, while power was right there—an inch away from you—waiting to be grabbed!
People that could sell you out for a token?”
I stood on my feet at the edge of the riverbank. Anger boiled in my chest as I turned back on my path.
“Look at where I am today. I wanted it more, and everything it took for me to win, that’s what I did.”
My voice rasped into the air.
“There is still room for forgiveness… but can you forgive yourself, Rosa? Turn back before you lose the last piece of your soul.”
Mila’s soft voice echoed in the air.
I didn’t even feel it. It was like she was talking to nothing.
I muttered the word forgiveness on my lips like I had tasted bile.
Forgiveness only comes when evil has been done, and I have never committed any evil.
I just looked for ways to negotiate or remove obstacles on my path to victory.
I couldn’t dwell on the word further because it burned in my chest.
As I marched along the footpath leading back to the palace, it was dawn—probably around six in the morning. A cock crowed in the distance.
A long ray of light stretched across the land, its beam falling on my body, revealing the mess I had become—my torn nightgown, my bare legs stained with mire.
I quickened my pace. A lot of palace workers were looking at me in surprise, murmuring among themselves.
Some of them must have seen Leo and me heading to the orchard farm, and now seeing me in this tattered state—with my nightgown soiled and dirty, must have raised serious concern.
They dared not come closer or ask questions about how I looked.
The only one who could ask me such questions was Alpha Jax—and he was no more.
Joy of victory surged through me. If the gods were going to strike in the aftermath of this, then let them.
After all, I didn’t lay my hands on him, and I never asked anyone to kill him. It was Leo who overacted and killed him.
If the gods were going to lay out their punishment, let it fall on everyone in the pack—not single-handedly picking me out for torture—because I knew nothing about Jax’s death… maybe.
Maybe I shouldn’t have promised that idiot gold bars as a bounty.
My feet quickened on the floor.
Before I broke the palace news to anyone, before anyone started raising questions about the sudden disappearance of Alpha Jax.
Thank goodness I didn’t follow him on that journey, and everyone saw when his car left the compound.
I didn’t have to break any news to anyone first. If the gods liked, let them reveal to Alpha Vexhood that Alpha Jax was no more.
I marched back to my quarters. I had to erase anything that would signal that evil had befallen Jax—or that he was gone.
I walked into the living room.
Then I saw...
Lyra…
Holding a pack of pictures in her hand, picking them one after the other.
“You!”
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
“My lord…” Lyra replied, gathering some of the pictures from the floor.
I quickly moved toward her and snatched the pictures from her.
She wasn’t shocked by my appearance. She just looked at me from head to toe—like someone who had done evil—and there was pity in her eyes.
I couldn’t stand that look. So I snapped.
“What do you want here, Lyra, or whatever your name is?”
She looked at me for a moment, still shaking her head. Like I had committed an abominable sin—and maybe I had, because I contributed to the killing of Alpha Jax.
But I had to be strong and bide my time until the hammer of the gods fell on everyone.
She turned and pointed to a tray, a teacup filled with tea, on a stool close to one of the couches.
“I don’t want any of that now!”
“Just get out of here!” I snapped, pointing to the doorway.
“I don’t want you around me right now,” I fumed.
“Not even for today.”
I knew the wolf shielding her was dead now, and that was Alpha Jax. The floor belonged to me now.
If she tried to meddle in my business when I didn’t call her into it, she would find herself in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Okay… I am sorry, Your Honor…” she managed to utter as she dragged her feet away from me.
I turned, watching her back as she left. Her slippers slapped softly against the floor.
I wondered why she had come so early this morning to bring me tea. What stopped others from doing so?
I knew she must have sensed something. She must have seen Leo and I when we went to the orchard farm.
She was only a few steps from the doorway when I spoke again
“Today marks the last day you are working in this palace. Pack all your things and come collect your wages.”