---- with blood streaking down his swollen cheeks. Connor's father looked at him, furious and disappointed, shaking with anger. He kicked Connor hard in his solid chest. "You clueless idiot! You fool! Your mother back then... back then, she sacrificed herself in that brutal internal pack power struggle to protect you when you were little! It wasn't some affair with a third party!" "She insisted on clearing out all potential threats for you in her final moments! I tried to talk her out of it, told her not to be so extreme, but she wouldn't listen! She was afraid that if you knew the truth later, you wouldn't be able to bear the weight of such a deep-seated grudge, that you'd live in pain and hatred! That's why I kept it from you all this time! Why I didn't let you know the whole truth!" "Aria's father... he was your mother's most loyal subordinate back then! He was framed by the real ---- traitors and took all the blame to protect your mother's only bloodline-you! What did he do wrong?! Marrying her mother was my choice. And Aria, what did she do wrong?! From the day she was born, she suffered so much scorn and bullying for crimes she didn't commit!" These truths, buried for so many years, pierced Connor's heart like red-hot swords. He'd always believed it was Aria's father's ' betrayal' and Aria's mother's interference that caused his own mother to die in bitterness. He never imagined the truth could be so cruel and ironic. Belated guilt, regret, and hatred for his own foolish actions over the years gnawed at his insides like countless venomous snakes. Connor felt like every breath he took was filled with heart-tearing pain. His lips trembled violently, his throat feeling as if ---- it were filled with molten lead, and he couldn't utter a single word. After a long silence, Connor's father took out a pre -prepared pack pardon, completely clearing Aria's father of all 'crimes' and restoring his family's honor, and also... a permit allowing Aria's mother to leave the pack and find a new home elsewhere. With trembling hands, Aria's mother unhesitatingly pressed her wolf-paw print onto both documents, choosing... to leave this place of sorrow forever, carrying her humiliation and pain with her. Connor knew this was the biggest concession and attempt at damage control the former Alpha could make to atone for his son's terrible mistakes. But he couldn't even bring himself to say a word to ask her to stay. Because he, the main culprit, had no right whatsoever. He knelt at the entrance of the cold family