Hope Is Not Optional — Manuel Flores 70
Chapter 70
Chapter 70
Selene
“Do you have a death wish?”
Isabella’s voice cracked through the room like lightning, sharp enough to make the walls feel smaller. I looked at her, and despite all my lifetimes, she hadn’t changed at all.
Same hard stone face. Same commanding presence.
Same sharp eyes that saw through everything.
She was still Isabella.
Her family line had served the moonborn long before any of us were born. Generations dedicated to training the moonborn. Only the best among them were ever allowed to train a moonborn, and Isabella had been the one to train my mother. And in all my past lives, she trained me.
She was strict, and cold. She didn’t care about status, power or rumors. She spoke what she believed, and she never sugarcoated anything. She’d scolded the alpha without blinking. She’d thrown elders out of lessons for interfering. She did whatever she wanted.
Yet she was one of the few people who treated me with fairness. When the entire pack whispered that Sienna should have been the moonborn, Isabella was the only one who didn’t listen.
“The moon goddess does not make mistakes,” she’d said.
For once, I wasn’t expecting it, but I felt warmth rise in my chest at seeing her again.
Joseph, on the other hand, looked like his soul had left his body.
“M-mistress,” he stammered, “w-what did I do?”
Isabella finally tore her gaze away from me and turned toward him. The glare she fixed on him could have sliced stone.
“What did you do?” she repeated slowly. She was too calm, and that kind of calm meant danger. “Are you truly saying you don’t know what you did?”
Joseph swallowed, his hands shook, and his feet shifted on the floor as if he wanted to bolt but didn’t dare.
He lifted one trembling hand and pointed at Sienna.
“M-mistress, I know only the moonborn should be allowed to be tutored, but, even though Selene is the moonborn, Sienna is-” he hesitated, then pushed out the words, “Sienna is even more powerful. And I believe she has the capacity to be useful to the pack if you train her as well.”
“Tutor Joseph, please, don’t say that. Selene is powerful too. She is the moonborn. Maybe… I shouldn’t have come.” Sienna said.
The performance was almost impressive.
I stared at the two of them, wondering whether I should feel disgusted or simply amused. Their act was so ridiculous. Sienna, feigning reluctance she didn’t possess, and Joseph, puffing up like a good person.
Joseph shook his head quickly.
“No, no, don’t say that, Sienna,” he insisted. “It is just a white wolf. Everyone knows that doesn’t mean anything. Capacity
12:57 Tue, Dec 23
Chapter 70
and strength matter more, and you are far more capable than her. You’ve achieved so many things in the past. I don’t believe having a white wolf makes someone better than others.”
He lifted his chin proudly, as if he’d said something profound. “That was why I brought Sienna too, Mistress, so you can-
CRACK!
A deafening slap echoed through the entire hall.
Joseph’s head snapped sideways. His body followed a second later, stumbling as he lost balance and landed flat on his ass on the floor. He stayed frozen there, one hand clutching his rapidly swelling cheek, eyes wide with disbelief.
The room fell into complete silence.
Behind me. Evelyn choked out a strangled whisper, “Ah-did you see that? How does she have that much strength?”
My lips curled upward. “That’s Isabella for you. She may be old, but she has more strength than most people can dream of”
I turned my gaze to the old woman, and she looked nothing like her usual calm, stone-faced self. Isabella’s hand was still suspended mid-air, shaking with fury. Her breaths came heavy with rage as she stared down at Joseph like he had personally offended her.
Which, in her eyes, he had.
Evelyn leaned closer behind me, whispering, “Why is she so angry…?”
I didn’t look back. My gaze stayed on Isabella.
“Joseph disrespected the moonborn,” I said quietly.
That was the thing about Isabella’s bloodline. They were a powerful family. They might not bow to alphas. They might not care about status or politics. But they were loyal to the moonborns. And that was because centuries ago a moonborn saved Isabella’s ancestor. Ever since then, her entire family line swore loyalty to the moonborn. It was a vow passed down generation to generation.
Isabella might be strict with training, but outside of lessons, she treated me like royalty. She never met my gaze directly. She bowed when I entered the room. She corrected anyone who spoke to me without respect.
So for Joseph, a mere assistant to dismiss the white wolf in front of her, it was the same as insulting her family’s sacred duty.
Honestly, this was exactly why I hadn’t bothered shutting Joseph up earlier. Men like him always dug their own graves. And Isabella never hesitated to push them straight into it.
“M-mistress…” Joseph whispered, voice trembling.
“You fool!” she snapped. “How dare you speak so disrespectfully about the moonborn? Have you forgotten your training?”
Joseph flinched as though she had slapped him again.
“The moonborn is the chosen child of the Moon Goddess,” Isabella continued, fury vibrating through every word. “By denying her, you deny the Moon Goddess herself. Have you no fear of the goddess’s wrath upon your own head?”
Joseph sank to the floor. His lips trembled. “I—I didn’t mean it like that, Mistress. I apologise. I must be out of my mind. Please forgive me.”
“Forgive?” Isabella scoffed. “I will never forgive you for such an insult. You will be imprisoned until my family decides your
fate.”
“Guards!” Isabella barked. “Take him to my family house.”
ue, Dec 23
Chapter 70
Two guards hurried in, grabbing Joseph by the arms.
“No! Please!” he shouted, twisting uselessly in their grip. His eyes shot to me. “Moonborn, please! I apologise for my words. Please beg for me. Please be merciful!”
I tilted my head at him, and read his mind.
‘It’s this bitch fault! But I heard that girl is a nice idiot. She will beg if I ask her to.
His thoughts were as clear as the disgust I felt for him.
In my past lives, Joseph insulted me, humiliated me, dismissed me. And every time Isabella tried to punish him, I begged for him like a fool.
Isabella’s eyes flicked toward me, watching.
Would I repeat my past mistake?
I looked at Joseph’s shaking form and felt nothing.
“Me?” I said softly, pointing at myself. “Beg?”
He blinked rapidly. “Y-yes!”
I shrugged. “I don’t think I can do that.”
“Why not?!”
“You said it yourself, didn’t you?” I said, repeating his earlier words back to him with a sweet tone. “Capacity and strength matter more. And since I apparently have none of that, I can’t possibly help. Maybe you should ask someone who does.”
Joseph’s face turned white.
He jerked his head toward Sienna. “Lady Sienna, please-”
Sienna turned her face away, pretending she didn’t hear him at all. He looked back at her in betrayal. The guards dragged him toward the door, his pleas echoing, growing weaker with each step.
I watched him leave. Isabella inhaled slowly, controlling the last remnants of her rage before turning her gaze to Sienna.
“I would like to ask you to leave, Lady Sienna,” she said. “Only the moonborn is allowed in my lessons.”
Sienna stiffened. I could see the humiliation burst across her face. But Isabella’s stare left no room for protest.
Sienna forced a shaky smile and bowed her head.
“I-I understand, Mistress Isabella.”
No, she didn’t. But she had no choice.
She gathered what was left of her dignity and turned sharply, hurrying out with Emma trailing behind her like a frightened mouse. I watched her leave in absolute silence, almost tripping over her own feet in embarrassment.
When the doors closed behind her, Isabella turned toward me. And despite her age, she lowered her head in a deep, respectful bow.
“I would like to apologise to you for my assistant’s behavior. I will ensure he faces appropriate punishment. He has gravely insulted you.”
12:57 Tue, Dec 23
Chapter 70
“It’s okay, since that is taken care of…” I stood up, straightened my back, and bowed my head slightly. “I am Selene Bloodrose, your new student. Please take care of me.”
田
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