<h4>Chapter 335: Let Go of Past</h4>


    <strong>Evaline:</strong>


    When I woke up, the other side of the bed was cold.


    I blinked against the pale morning light and turned my head toward the bedside table. The clock’s hands pointed stubbornly to half past ten. My lips parted slightly in shock.


    I could tell that River had left hours ago, and yet, I hadn’t even stirred when he did.


    A strange emptiness pooled in my chest at his absence, but I pushed it down. He had duties, always did. Andst night...st night was still too raw in my mind, too overwhelming.


    The bond we had officially epted was still humming inside me, as if my very soul was learning how to share its space with his along with his brothers.


    With a sigh, I slid out of bed and began straightening the sheets. The simple rhythm of smoothing the nket helped ground me, pulling me back into routine.


    Once done, I padded across the room, poured myself a cup of warm water from the sk left for me, and drifted toward the ss wall.


    The view below was breathtaking. The side garden was buried under a nket of snow, pristine and untouched, sparkling faintly in the weak sunlight.


    Thin clouds were covering the sky, driftingzily to cover and uncover the sun, allowing only shy fragments of sunlight to reach the earth. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to soften the harshness of winter. I exhaled slowly, savoring the smallfort.


    Today was Saturday and Rowan, Mallory, and Kyros would be arriving soon. They had promised to spend the day with me at the mansion. I should have been happy, and I was, but a pang of guilt tugged at me all the same. Noah, Selene, and Ria still didn’t know about my pregnancy, or the truth about my mate bonds with three of the Thorne brothers.


    They deserved to know, but I didn’t have the energy... not yet. Answering their questions, facing their judgment or even their worry, it felt like too much to carry in my current state.


    So after thinking about it and talking with Mallory, Kyros, and Rowan, I had decided that I would tell them everything once the baby was born. Only a few more weeks. I could hold out until then.


    With my cup empty, I set it aside and began my morning stretches. Each movement and each breath felt deliberate. I finished with meditation, centering myself in silence, before slipping into the shower.


    The hot water loosened my muscles, washed away the remnants of restless dreams, and by the time I dressed, I felt lighter.


    But my stomach didn’t care about meditation or rity. It was grumbling loud enough to echo.


    Heading downstairs, I expected to find Oscar in the living room, maybe Draven if he had returned already. Instead, I stopped in my tracks the moment I stepped inside.


    Because Sera was standing there, as if waiting for someone... for me.


    My brows lifted slightly, though I quickly schooled my expression. She was dressed in her usual crisp ck-and-white uniform, her hair pulled back tightly into a bun. Her posture, her eyes - polite but distant - were familiar. So familiar it pulled me straight back tost summer, when I was still nothing but a prisoner here.


    Back when she had looked at me with disdain.


    "Good morning, Lady Evaline," she greeted, her voice carefully measured.


    I blinked at her before forcing my lips into a small, polite smile. "Good morning, Sera."


    There was a time when hearing her voice would have made my blood chilled. When even standing in the same room with her felt unbearable. But so much had changed in the past eight months.


    I was no longer a maid in this house, no longer the unwanted daughter of their enemy. My swollen belly and the bond with the brothers had altered everything... whether they admitted it or not.


    Still, I didn’t expect what came next.


    Sera lifted her hand, signaling silently.


    And within moments, the vast living room filled. One by one, servants poured in. Cooks, maids, butlers - faces I hadn’t seen together in one ce since... ever. The once-spacious room suddenly looked crowded, every inch of floor taken.


    Before I could ask what was happening, they all bowed. And in one voice, they spoke, "Lady Evaline, we are sorry."


    I froze, the words settling in my chest like a weight.


    They straightened only when I asked them to, my voice shaky but firm. And then Sera stepped forward, her eyes softer than I had ever seen them.


    "We are deeply sorry," she said. "For how we treated you when you first came to this mansion."


    Her gaze didn’t waver, though guilt flickered in her expression. "At that time, you were the enemy’s daughter. You had no ce here, and we let our judgments cloud our humanity. But..." she hesitated, ncing briefly at the others before continuing, "it wasn’t until you returned for Christmas that we realized how wrong we had been."


    Her words dug straight into me, stirring memories I had buried deep. The whispers. The res. The constant weight of being unwanted, unwee.


    "You earned the Alphas’ trust," she went on. "You became one of their own. And yet, despite how we treated you... you never took revenge. You never abused your position. You never once used their affection for you as a weapon against us. You remained polite. Humble. Kind."


    Her voice cracked faintly on thest word.


    I swallowed hard as my throat tightened. Their faces, all of them, showed guilt, regret, sincerity. And against my will, warmth bloomed inside me, tangled with the ache of old wounds.


    I shook my head quickly, blinking back the sting in my eyes. "Please... you don’t need to apologize anymore. I let go of that past a long time ago. And you should too." My voice trembled, but I meant every word.


    It was then that the sound broke through.


    <i>p. p. p.</i><fn4870> Follow current nov?ls on find?novel</fn4870>


    It was slow, deliberate.


    The entire room turned, including me, toward the source of the noise.