The Moon Trial: Memories of a Broken Princess Chapter 04

The Moon Trial: Memories of a Broken Princess Chapter 04

On screen, I lay strapped to a cold metal frame bed, thrashing wildly against my restraints.

Silver chains locked my wrists and ankles fast.

A cloaked figure stepped toward me with a syringe in hand.

I shrank backward, overcome with raw terror.

“What are you going to do?”

“Stay away from me!”

The dark figure never paused, the fine silver needle glinting coldly beneath the dim light.

“Lyra, once this serum courses through your veins, every memory will fade away.”

A woman’s voice rang out.

“When you wake, you will believe you are a cold-blooded killer.”

“Sleep now. When you open your eyes again, you will step straight into hell.”

The hooded woman whispered relentlessly beside my ear.

The needle sank into my arm a heartbeat later, and the serum was slowly pushed into my bloodstream.

Agony burned through my veins like icy fire, searing all the way up into my mind.

I heard my own shrill screams, and the desperate roar of my inner wolf pounding against its cage within me.

Yet no one came to my rescue.

As my vision blurred and I neared unconsciousness, a sudden burst of strength surged through my body.

I had to see the face of the person dragging me down into ruin.

I shot out a hand and snatched hold of the stranger’s hood, yanking the fabric free.

Her face was laid bare for everyone to see on the Moon Mirror.

My parents stiffened in shock.

My brother’s legs buckled beneath him, and he crashed to his knees, unable to stop himself.

“How could it be her?”

The footage kept rolling, yet I could summon no emotion at all.

Who had done this to me?

What had truly unfolded that night?

Was I finally going to die?

Mother clutched her head, muttering over and over in a daze.

“This cannot be real. It cannot be.”

Even Father, always calm and composed, lost his celebrated self-control.

He lunged toward the attendant, rage blazing in his eyes.

“This is fabricated! You have tampered with the Moon Mirror and forged these memories!

Show us the genuine footage at once. I demand the truth, the real truth!”

Adrian cut him off, his voice wild with despair.

“Father, can you not see? This is the truth we spent so long chasing.

Serena never died at all. She faked her own death to mislead every single one of us.

Do you not understand what we have done?”

“What terrible mistakes have we made?”

Serena.

It had been her all along.

The Moon Mirror replayed the whole sequence of events in a loop.

I had been locked inside a sealed chamber, where Serena, hidden beneath a cloak, injected me with memory-erasing wolfsbane serum.

She then staged her own brutal murder, intent on framing me for her supposed death.

Once I was eliminated, she could return unharmed, spinning any lie she chose to become their sole beloved daughter and sister.

Her scheme had been flawless in design.

She never anticipated that my family would refuse to accept me as the killer.

They knew I was too timid to commit such a violent crime, yet remained convinced I held the key to what had really happened that night.

They had hoped the trial would expose the real murderer behind Serena’s supposed slaying.

The screen flickered one last time, freezing on Serena’s malicious smirk.

The brutal truth laid bare for every witness—

Serena had masterminded the entire charade, manipulating my parents, my brother and me as nothing more than disposable pawns.

Shocked murmurs rippled through the crowd of pack members below.

I tugged my lips into a rigid, hollow smile, unable to muster any proper reaction.

I wanted to laugh, yet no sound escaped my throat.

I longed to weep, yet no more tears would fall.

I had grown numb to everything around me, only squeezing the piece of candy tightly in my palm.

It was the only gentle thing my family had ever given me.

My breathing slowed gradually, and even blinking grew an exhausting effort.

I knew my life was slipping away.