The Moon Trial: Memories of a Broken Princess Chapter 07

The Moon Trial: Memories of a Broken Princess Chapter 07

A soft smile tugged at Mother’s lips as she stepped forward briskly to greet her.

“Welcome home, Serena. Come inside quickly, it’s freezing out here.”

She acted as if nothing had ever gone wrong, brushing snowflakes from Serena’s hair.

My brother hurried to hand her a glass of water, watching intently as she drank every drop.

Father lowered his head, masking the cold glint flickering in his eyes.

Still oblivious to the trap laid for her, Serena took the glass and drank.

“Father, Mother, Adrian, have you all…”

Her words died mid-sentence as her eyelids grew heavier and heavier after she swallowed the water.

“What’s happening—”

As Serena crumpled to the floor, I finally understood what they had prepared for her.

Father and my brother dragged her down to the basement together, where an array of tools lay waiting.

Mother bound Serena to a metal-framed bed, using the exact same restraints that had once held me captive.

What exactly did they plan to do to her?

Serena woke soon after, letting out a shrill scream when she spotted a hooded figure smiling down at her.

“Who are you! Stay away from me!”

The figure did not move, only silently raised a syringe.

If Serena had calmed down long enough to observe closely, she would have recognised these identical movements from the night she faked her own murder.

But terror had overtaken her completely, leaving her too panicked to notice.

“Lyra? Is that you?”

“What is that in your hand? Don’t come any closer!”

The hooded figure lifted an arm and drove the syringe deep into Serena’s flesh.

Eyes blazing with malice, Serena spat accusations.

“So it is you, Lyra, playing these cheap tricks?

How are you still alive? I thought those underground rogue dens would break you completely.

Why can’t you stop haunting me?

I’ll drag you down to hell with me if it’s the last thing I do!

She lunged forward, grabbing the hem of the figure’s robe and yanking it loose.

The hood slipped away, revealing a familiar face.

“Mother?”

Serena stared in utter shock, lost for words.

“Mother, untie me at once! It’s Serena, your beloved daughter!

Let me explain, everything has a reason behind it.

Lyra locked me in a dark cell and tortured me relentlessly. I only barely managed to escape recently.

She even injected herself with memory-erasing wolfsbane serum to forge false evidence and frame me.”

Mother slowly turned to study her as Serena rambled.

“You claim Lyra was still tormenting you only days ago?”

Serena nodded frantically, rolling up her sleeve to display faint marks.

“Look at these wounds—she stabbed me repeatedly with needles!”

Mother suddenly broke into a cold laugh.

She raised a blade and drove it straight into Serena’s thigh.

“Serena, I have never cared for children who lie.”

“Tell me again—was it Lyra who hurt you?”

Serena flinched in agony, her courage fading beneath Mother’s deranged gaze.

“But Mother, you’ve always loved me most.”

Before she could finish her plea, Mother stabbed her once more.

“Lyra died months ago. She breathed her last in my arms. How could she possibly have hurt you?”

The basement lights flickered on.

Father and Adrian stood in the doorway, their faces dark and grim, all three cloaked in black like vengeful spectres come to claim a soul.

“Speak, Serena. Tell us exactly how Lyra mistreated you.”

Serena fell silent, shrinking backward again and again just as I had once done.

“Stay away from me, all of you.”

Adrian glanced down at her, his tone lazy yet icy.

“You faked your own death and chose to return straight into our trap. Did you truly think we were so easily deceived?”

Serena shook her head, paralysed with fear.

When Adrian reached to take the knife from Mother’s hand, she pulled away.

“Adrian, everyone believes I have lost my sanity.”

A bloodthirsty smile curved her lips.

Under pack law, the mentally unfit cannot be held accountable for murder.”

The stench of urine filled the air as Serena lost control of her bladder out of sheer terror.

I turned away, unwilling to witness the brutal scene unfolding before me.

I held no mercy for Serena, nor did I wish to beg my family to spare her bloodstained hands.

I only longed to flee this cruel world for good.

As Serena’s desperate screams slowly faded, my spiritual form grew increasingly faint and unstable.

My time to depart had finally arrived.

I waved gently toward the three people below, then turned away without a single trace of longing.

I prayed we would never cross paths in another lifetime.

I hoped in my next life, I could live freely and purely as myself.

Somehow, my family sensed my presence.

They dropped to their knees, shouting toward where my spirit hovered.

“Lyra! Is that you? We are so sorry, please come back to us…”

But their voices faded beyond my reach.

All I could hear was the gentle blessing of the Moon Goddess echoing around me.

“Brave child, you will be blessed with a loving, happy family in your next life.”

It was the perfect ending I had ever dared to wish for.