BAM!
The door slammed shut as soon as Ruby was thrown into the room. The woman grimaced quietly. She tried to get up and dragged her body towards the corner of the room, towards her mother, Helena Barnette, whose legs and arms were bound with iron chains.
Helena's appearance was very disheveled, her clothes looked shabby, and her hair was tangled because she was always messing it up.
"Oscar! Oscar, have you come to see mother?!" Helena screamed hysterically when she heard the sound of the door opening. Her hands, held by chains, tried to reach Ruby's figure, which she thought was Oscar.
The pain in Ruby's heart grew as she watched her mother's condition worsen by the day. The beauty that once surrounded Helena was gone because of her madness, the tenderness and love that always shone in her eyes was gone with Oscar's death.
Ruby slowly took Helena's hand and wrote a few sentences in her mother's palm. "It's me, Ruby."
Helena was silent for a moment. She tilted her head to get a better look at Ruby's face, then said, "Ruby? Has Ruby come to tell Mother where Oscar is?"
Ruby smiled wryly. She wrote the sentence in Helena's palm. "Oscar is busy, Mother. Now he is going to a faraway place."
"When will he be back?"
Ruby looked at Helena with a sad expression. "I don't know. I can't predict it."
Helena held her daughter's hand tightly, tears streaming down her dirty cheeks. "Can Ruby go find Oscar and tell him to come home soon? Please tell Oscar that Mother misses him very much."
Ruby lowered her head and didn't answer Helena's words for a while.
Even her biological mother never paid any attention to her, preferring to focus on her long-dead older brother.
It seemed that her birth had indeed been a big mistake.
"Ruby," Helena asked again, "don't you want to find your older brother?! Do you also think that Oscar is already dead?"
Helena's voice grew louder, almost hysterical. Her hands relentlessly shook Ruby's shoulders until the woman grimaced for the umpteenth time.
Blue and purple colors radiated around Helena's body, indicating that her heart was filled with deep sadness and fear.
It was these two feelings that would eventually drive Helena insane.
Ruby then touched Helena's cheek. Immediately, all the colors of emotion attached to Helena's body faded and turned white. At that moment, Helena's heart, which had been filled with confusion, became as calm as a puddle of water on a lake.
Ruby wrote the words, "It's okay, Mother. In a little while we will be reunited with Oscar."
Without the protection of the Barnette family, Ruby and Helena couldn't survive out there. They have no money to buy food and shelter, nor do they have the fighting skills to protect themselves.
The only ability Ruby has is the ability to see the color of the emotions of the people in front of her. A power she couldn't use to survive.
Ruby might have to work as a servant or a beggar if she wanted to survive on the streets. At least it was better than being a whore for the werewolves in heat.
[But if there's no other choice, being a prostitute isn't so bad either,] Ruby thought.
Even though Ruby had no fighting skills, Ruby's appearance was quite beautiful in the eyes of men. Her skin looked like a pearl. When Ruby lowered her head, her long, curly eyelashes would fall, adorning her beautiful peach-shaped eyes.
Her lips were as red as an apple and seemed to be able to seduce a man in an instant. Her wavy golden hair looked soft and made her face look adorable.
If Ruby wasn't handicapped, all the men in the Wridal Kingdom would be willing to do anything to mark Ruby as their mate.
Unfortunately, Ruby wasn't born a perfect woman, so the men of the Wridal Kingdom prefer to turn a blind eye to her.
• • •
"As of today, you are no longer part of the Barnette family!"
When the sun had just risen, Marquess Barnette had ordered the guards to drag Ruby and Helena out of the Barnette family mansion. They weren't even given a penny or food. All Ruby could carry was a shabby bag of her and Helena's clothes.
Ruby then looked at Marquess Barnette with a fierce glare. For years she had tried not to be rude to Marquess Barnette because she wanted to live a peaceful life. However, after being kicked out, Ruby no longer wanted to maintain her decency and preferred to scold her father before she left.
Ruby threw a pile of papers in Marquess Barnette's face. Each sheet of paper was written in various harsh languages, the contents of Ruby's heart that she had endured all this time.
[You bastard! When I die, my spirit will haunt you and kill you in your sleep!] Ruby wrote on one of the papers.
[Idiot! I hope that you and the entire Barnette family will one day live in poverty!]
[Bastard! Idiot! Pinhead! All of you are shit!]
Marquess Barnette's face turned red with anger. His hand holding some papers trembled and immediately kneaded them until they were almost torn.
"How dare you insult me like this! Was the punishment I gave you yesterday not enough?" shouted Marquess Barnette.
Marquis Barnette then raised the cane he was holding and was about to strike Ruby. However, his hand movements immediately stopped when he heard a horse-drawn carriage approaching the Barnette family's mansion.
Marquess Barnette was surprised, as was Ruby, who rubbed her eyes repeatedly to make sure what she saw was not a hallucination.
On the silver and gold covered carriage was a symbol that could make anyone who saw it tremble and not dare to move.
The symbol of two wolves flanking a sword and a crown.
The insignia of the Kingdom of Veritas.
A kingdom ruled by a Lycan known to be cruel and cold-hearted.
"Why is there a carriage from the Kingdom of Veritas here?" Marquess Barnette asked the soldier beside him.
The soldier quickly shook his head. "I don't know either, Your Grace."
Ruby wondered the same thing, since it was unusual for people from Veritas to set foot on the land of another kingdom.
At first, Ruby thought that the carriage had just happened to pass by the Barnette family mansion. But her suspicion was proven wrong when she saw the Veritas carriage suddenly stop right in front of the Barnette family's mansion gate.
Shortly thereafter, the carriage door opened to reveal a man wearing the golden insignia of the Veritas Kingdom on his chest. His appearance was elegant, his long black hair was tied back, and there were no wrinkles in his silk robes.
From the man's appearance, Ruby could guess that he held a high position in the Veritas Kingdom.
"Good morning, Marquess. I am the royal advisor of Veritas, Alger Bournee." A gentle smile appeared on the man's face as he said, "We hope our arrival doesn't inconvenience you."
Marquis Barnette immediately straightened his posture and tried to smile kindly at the distinguished guest in front of him. "No! You don't disturb us at all. It is an honor for the Barnette family to receive guests from the Kingdom of Veritas. Is there anything you need from the Barnette family?"
Alger's presence made Marquess Barnette feel presumptuous, thinking that perhaps the Veritas Kingdom wanted to offer some cooperation that might benefit the Marquis.
Unfortunately, Alger was not interested in Marquess Barnette. His two dark eyes fell entirely on Ruby, who had been staring at Alger with her round eyes for a long time.
"His Majesty, the King of Veritas, would like to speak with Lady Ruby. If the lady doesn't mind, she may enter the carriage to speak privately with His Majesty."
Suddenly, Ruby looked shocked. She kept glancing at the carriage and back at Alger. Alger's words revealed that the number one person in the Kingdom of Veritas was in the carriage. A person whose name the people of the Raeludin Empire don't dare to utter.
Matthew Harelle.
But what surprised her even more was why a king like Matthew would come all the way to the Wridal Kingdom to talk to Ruby.
Before Ruby could react, she heard Marquess Barnette shout, "Greetings to His Majesty King Veritas! I apologize for my rudeness in not knowing of your presence!"
Ruby rolled her eyes and said inwardly, [You dog. Always licking the feet of important people.]
Buk!
Suddenly, Marquis Barnette slapped Ruby's head and cursed at her. "Where are your manners? Quickly bow to His Majesty and apologize! You must have misbehaved again for His Majesty, the King of Veritas, to want to see you!"
Ruby glared at Marquess Barnette. [How can I have a problem with him if I've never met him before?]
Ruby's glare made Marquess Barnette want to hit her head again, but his movements were stopped by a low voice from inside the carriage.
"Are all the men in the Wridal Kingdom a moron wild wolf? Your Alpha rejects the woman he was meant for, while a father beats his own daughter."
A pair of golden eyes suddenly appeared from the carriage window, glowing as if they were about to burn Marquess Barnette to dust.