Once Gone, Gone for Good

Lina felt a little helpless. Then, in a flash of inspiration, she offered, "We need a staff member to help clean the tables for today's celebration, Emily. If you're willing to be our temporary help, I'll give you 50,000 dollars as a reward."

Jayden agreed as well. "That's right. Since you're not willing to accept the money for free, you can earn it through labor instead!"

Their offer made me laugh angrily. I had turned down several important jobs, clearing five days in my schedule to spend with Cassidy during her summer break.

And yet, Jayden and Lina were asking me to work for them. How ridiculous.

I lifted my head and said sternly, "I know the two of you are rich, but I don't have the time to play the role of pauper for you to boost your egos.

"Please stay away from me. You're getting in the way of my search." If I didn't find the ring today, I'd end up drowning in Cassidy's tears.

Seeing that I had once again turned him down and had returned to rummaging through trash, Jayden fell silent. He looked livid.

"You have no idea what's good for you," Lina complained crossly.

"The Alpha King will be arriving soon, Mr. Porter. If he sees the beggar here, it'll affect our castle's image, so it'd be best for us to drive her out!" the waitress from before urged anxiously.

Jayden had a nasty expression on his face. He gestured at her, expressing his agreement.

"Have her quickly removed from the premises and don't let her sneak back in again. It'll leave an embarrassing stain on our reputation if she were to encounter any nobles."

The waitress ordered the bodyguards behind her to arrest me. I glared defensively at them and shouted coldly, "Don't touch me!"

"The people who will be visiting our castle today are powerful figures from all over the kingdom, Miss Beggar, especially the Alpha King, who even brought his mate and pup. Your appearance is going to offend their eyes," said one of the bodyguards.

"If you stay here even a moment longer, our castle's reputation will be affected. We'll be accused of being lax in our management. I really can't afford to shoulder that responsibility," added the other.

As soon as the words left their mouths, both bodyguards stepped forward. Just as they grabbed my arms, I found the ring within the trash pile and immediately picked it up.

Wonderful. I'd finally found the ring and could hand it back to Cassidy. I looked happily at the two bodyguards and said, "Alright. I'll leave on my own."

Everyone present sighed in relief knowing that I was willing to leave. I had only taken a single step forward when Lina stepped up to stop me. "Hold on."

There was a stormy look in her eyes. She stared intently at the ring in my hand before suddenly grabbing my hand and forcing my clenched fingers open.

A silver-white ring glowing with faint moonlight lay quietly in my palm.

Lina looked at it in surprise. "What's this? Is it… It looks like it has a wolf pattern carved into it."

"It's a promise ring," Jayden interjected, his voice instantly turning hoarse. He gazed at me with a complicated look on his face.

"Why can't you understand, Emily? Our relationship is already unsalvageable."

I looked down at the ring. Silver light reflected a slightly blurred pattern carved into the ring. It was the wolf spirit totem Jayden and I had once seen in the northern forest.

That year, he'd just broken up with Lina and was behaving like a soulless wolf. Jacob sought me out and told me that Jayden might not survive until the next full moon. I was afraid that he really wouldn't make it, so I tried everything I could to keep him company.

We went traveling together. As we passed the Spirit Hills to the north, we saw a group of free-roaming wolf spirits unbound by blood pacts. Jayden smiled for the first time then, commenting that the wolf spirits lived so freely.

Later, we agreed that if we loved each other, we wouldn't make any bonds or mark each other. Instead, we would only give each other a promise ring, just to commemorate the days we were free and sincere toward each other.

Yet, Jayden now stood in front of me with nothing but mockery in his eyes.

"You're not planning to return the promise ring to me, are you?" he asked with a sneer. "You're truly even more naive than I expected, Emily."