4

LEAH’S POV

"Still standing here like a pathetic ghost, Leah?" Luna Mary sneers, her voice dripping with disgust as she steps further into the dim kitchen.

She adjusts the heavy silk sleeves of her gown, her sharp eyes sweeping over my simple green dress with blatant revulsion. "You really are a continuous disappointment to this family."

I don’t shrink back. I don’t drop my head in shame. I just tilt my face slightly, letting a quiet, pleasant expression settle over my features as I stand near the edge of the large prep table.

"I’m simply enjoying the quiet, Luna Mary," I say, my voice light, carrying effortlessly across the wide room. "The dining hall is quite loud tonight. It can be exhausting to listen to so much forced celebration."

Luna Mary lets out a harsh, dry chuckle that echoes off the polished copper pots hanging from the ceiling. She steps up to the central prep island, her gloved fingers resting near the tall glass dessert bowl filled with sweet berry cream.

"Loud because we are celebrating a real daughter," she says, turning her head to glare at me down the length of her hooked nose.

Her cold eyes look at me as if I’m nothing more than dirt stuck to the bottom of her expensive heels. "A girl with grace, beauty, and true promise. Not the spawn of a treacherous snake who spent her entire miserable life leeching off my family's generosity."

I watch the way her thin lips twist when she speaks. I watch the subtle flare of her nostrils and the tiny line that deepens between her heavy eyebrows.

Luna Mary has never been a stunning woman. Where Bea’s beauty is soft, tender, and feminine like a delicate lily, and Clara’s beauty was sharp, striking, and bold like a black rose, Luna Mary possesses none of it.

Her features are harsh, her skin pale, and her frame angular and stiff. Her power comes purely from her noble bloodline and her strategic marriage to Alpha Everest.

In my first life, I was too foolish, too desperate for affection to pay attention to the bitter edge in her voice whenever Clara’s name was mentioned. I used to think she hated my mother purely out of high-born moral disgust.

But standing here now, looking at her tight jaw and the deep lines etched around her mouth, a sudden, crystal-clear realization strikes me.

Luna Mary did not just look down on Clara because of her low status. She was envious of her.

Clara was a low-ranking omega, yes, but her sharp, dangerous beauty made heads turn wherever she walked in the territory. She had a presence that commanded attention without ever asking for it.

And now that the bloody truth of the baby swap has come to light, everyone in the pack can see exactly who I took after.

I don’t look like Bea. I don’t possess her soft, round features or her meek, pleading expressions. I carry Clara’s sharp jawline, Clara’s bold, dark eyes, and Clara’s high, proud cheekbones.

I’m a living, breathing reminder of the woman Luna Mary secretly hated for her looks.

‘And a woman who relies on status rather than genuine charm,’ I think, my mind working at a terrifying speed, ‘is the easiest kind of person to manipulate. She’s insecure, paranoid, and desperately afraid of losing the power she spent decades trying to protect.’

"You look at me with so much anger, Luna," I say softly, keeping my tone gentle, curious, and almost sympathetic. "Is it because of what my mother wrote in her diary? Or is it simply because my face reminds you of her?"

Luna Mary freezes, her thin shoulders going completely rigid under the delicate lace of her gown. Her hand tightens around the edge of the granite island so hard her knuckles turn white through her dark lace gloves.

"How dare you," she whispers, her voice dropping into a dangerous, sharp hiss that cuts through the quiet room. "How dare a disgraced omega like you even speak her name in my presence! You have her wicked eyes, Leah. You have her arrogant, filthy blood running through your veins!”

“You think because you survived a year locked away in that attic that you are somehow special? You are nothing. You are a stain on this pack's territory, and the moment you step foot outside this estate for Eclipse Academy tomorrow, no one here will ever utter your cursed name again."

I absorb every single insult without flinching. I don’t raise my voice, nor do I let my posture shift into anything defensive.

I let her harsh words fill the empty space, letting her feel powerful, superior, and completely in control of the interaction.

I take a small, delicate step forward, hands folded neatly over my waist, looking at her like a timid child seeking guidance from a strict elder.

"I understand my place, Luna Mary," I say, letting my voice quiver just enough to sound fragile and slightly broken. "I know that I’m not worthy of your kindness, nor am I fit to sit at your fine table with the rest of the family. That’s why I stayed back here in the kitchen. I didn’t want to ruin the wonderful celebration you and Willow worked so hard for."

Luna Mary huffs loudly, smoothing her skirt with a dismissive, sharp flick of her wrist. "At least you possess enough basic sense to recognize your own insignificance."

"Yes," I murmur softly, keeping my eyes fixed on the floorboards between us. Then, after a long, deliberate pause, I tilt my head slightly, letting a flicker of innocent confusion cross my face. "Though... if I may, can I ask a simple question, Luna? Just so I can understand?"

Luna Mary eyes me suspiciously, her thin eyebrows knitting together in immediate distrust. "What could an omega like you possibly need to understand from me?"

"I was just wondering..." I start, keeping my tone naive, as if I am asking about the evening weather, "why would you ask Willow to cultivate bloodroot ivy in her private greenhouse?"

The air in the kitchen instantly vanishes.