The Moon Trial: Memories of a Broken Princess Chapter 06

The Moon Trial: Memories of a Broken Princess Chapter 06

My brother pulled a silver-headed cane from the trunk, its metal tip scraping harshly against the ground as he dragged it forward.

I watched him walk slowly toward Serena’s tombstone before swinging the cane down with brutal force.

Once.

Again and again.

He only lowered the silver-headed cane once the stone monument lay shattered into countless fragments.

“That vile creature manipulated every single one of us.”

Gritting his teeth, he sent a mind-link to his beta.

“Track down every trace of Serena. Start with the therapist who administered the shock treatments.”

It turned out my brother was far sharper than he had ever let on.

With careful thought, he had pieced together that Serena had bribed all those people.

Yet why had it taken my death for him to finally see the truth?

I shook my head, unwilling to dwell on the question any longer.

I was already gone. Even if he hunted Serena down to avenge me, it would never bring me back.

Belated family affection held no worth at all.

I watched as he buried me in the sunniest plot within the cemetery and invited a moon priestess to recite sacred prayers over my grave.

My parents locked themselves away inside their manor, sinking into a numb, aimless haze each passing day.

They still could not bear to accept that they had killed their own biological daughter.

Mother was plagued by endless recurring nightmares.

Night after night, she relived every brutal torment I had endured in the borderlands, waking screaming my name in terror each time.

My brother hired countless therapists, yet none could ease her suffering.

“This is a wound rooted deep in her soul. Only she herself can heal it.”

I stared at Mother’s gaunt, haggard features with quiet curiosity.

A wound of the heart?

It seemed powerful enough to wear her down far more cruelly than all the abuse I had suffered on the border.

Father confined himself to his study every single day, replaying the footage from the Moon Memory Trial over and over on a memory crystal, desperate to uncover some overlooked clue.

At last, he let out a sharp cry.

“Adrian, come quickly. Is that Serena?”

I drifted over beside my brother to peer at the projection.

A flash of striking scarlet caught their eyes at the edge of the frame—a pair of fiery red high heels, fleeting but unmistakable.

“I recognise those shoes perfectly. I bought them as a limited-edition birthday gift for her.”

A bitter stillness settled over me.

My parents had loved Serena so deeply.

They could recall every piece of clothing she wore, every gift they had ever given her, yet had insisted every scar covering my body was self-inflicted.

Was this the unconditional love I had spent my whole life craving?

Father and my brother’s voices jolted Mother out of her grief-stricken stupor.

She stumbled over in a rush, snatching the memory crystal to examine the footage closely.

“It is her pair of heels! Only one such pair exists within the entire Silvercrest Pack! This woman is Serena!”

They exchanged a glance filled with raw dread and disbelief.

The mysterious mastermind who had ordered my torment… could it truly have been Serena all along?

They struggled to accept such merciless truth, yet all evidence pointed to no other explanation.

I paid no mind to their panicked deliberations, my gaze lingering on those vivid red heels.

Such a dazzling shade, mirroring the bright, reckless life Serena had always led—bold and unapologetic.

They debated their next steps for hours, yet whatever scheme they devised no longer mattered to me.

I was nothing but a wandering spirit now, soon to fade away and return to the embrace of the Moon Goddess.

I lingered at Silvercrest Pack for a little while longer.

Mother would spend entire days shut inside my tiny former storage room.

I could never understand what comfort she found in such a cramped, plain space; I longed for boundless open skies where I could drift freely forever.

Father remained glued to his memory crystal, replaying the trial footage endlessly.

Only my brother’s actions made any sense to me.

He visited my grave each morning before heading out to run and train relentlessly.

The three of them existed side by side yet trapped in separate worlds, only gathering silently for meals, crumbling inwardly without a single spoken word.

I could feel a storm of suppressed tension building beneath their quiet despair.

As time slipped by, my spiritual form grew fainter and more translucent.

When the first snow of winter blanketed the land, Serena finally pushed open the front doors of the Silvercrest Pack manor.

She bounded inside like an eager young rabbit, her face lit with unbridled delight.

“Mother, Father, Adrian! I’m home!”

Confidence radiated from her every gesture; she had rehearsed every reply to their inevitable questioning countless times in her head.

She never realised that by stepping through this door, she was walking straight into the carefully laid trap they had spent months preparing.

They had been waiting for her return all along.