16

Lana was not someone who had a clean past or a tragic one at the top of that. Before coming to the kingdom Selene she lived far away in some other kingdom. The small town was once peaceful as the green and warm nature reigned there with all its might. Unlike kingdom Selene where the winter had clouded and covered everything like a curse. The former home of Lana was completely different.

Just like every other regular day, everybody was immersed in their own daily chores. The women were holding the wooden baskets tucked to their waists as they headed towards the end of the town. Walking through the narrow streets of the town under the blazing sun, sweat beads crawled down and glistened their beautiful faces. It was a group of ten ladies which dawdled towards the exit of the town as they were headed to the forest behind.

A few of those women were married and had kids with them, those little brats were continuously making noises and hooting as they jumped around while trailing their mothers. Just at the end of that queue was a frail yet beautiful woman who followed the lane of the ladies with some distance. She had a little kid beside her who was also holding a small wooden basket to collect cherries for herself.

She was Lana. The petite little chubby girl with rosy cheeks, blonde hair and emerald eyes just like her mother. Unlike the other ladies who were ahead of the queue Lana’s mother deliberately stood at the end to avoid the subtle insults. It was said that she never married and vanished one day then came back to the town with a girl child in her hands. It earned her a notorious reputation and the townspeople made her life miserable.

Lana grew up hearing insults and scolding, she never understood the reason for the bad treatment. However, it made her realise soon that if she was supposed to live her best life then she had to step up for herself. The very thought process enabled her to bully people before they could bully her. The little girl was unsure how to deal with the adults because her mother was never going to take a stand. Not even for her child’s sake.

Days passed and Lana started to grow popular among the kids for being a delinquent. However it did not stop the other children from beating her occasionally. Lana’s mother could not take it anymore and took her life when a drunk count attempted to rape her. The cowardly woman did not even think of her little child and left Lana all alone to fend for herself.



After all, Lana’s birth was the root cause of her misery and she despised her existence too which was the result of a mysterious intimacy shared with some stranger. Nobody knew with whom she mated but Lana’s birth was the outcome of that desperate one night stand. The man wanted someone to warm his bed, while Lana’s mother needed money to fill her belly.

Even before her birth nobody treated Lana’s mother well, she was wolfless and a sex slave but due to her frail appearance she did not get may clients. And the continuous drastic drop in her health made her quit the brothel job, desperately she started to do odd jobs to survive. On that very night when she was offered a decent amount of gold coins, the woman could not refuse but only if she knew that the very sex would worsen her life.

After giving birth to Lana she tried to look for that man hoping to get some more gold in exchange for that child. But to her dismay she could not find that man nor there was any trace of finding him, it appeared as if he was some kind of ghost or a mirage. Nonetheless, she had to fend and take care of baby Lana now that she was with her and the baby’s father was nowhere to be found.

Nonetheless, the night when Lana’s mother was almost raped and she committed suicide was the worst of Lana’s life. She was still a kid at that time, precisely a teenager when she witnessed the dead body of her mother laying on the cold floor. The dim oil lantern displayed the most horrible sight to Lana when she noticed the torn neckline and the bloodied hem of her mother’s dress.

It was obvious to her who did that because recently that drunk count had been chasing her mother. Lana was not sure how to proceed with the situation, just like the dim light in the room was unable to brighten it fully. Lana’s life was also darkened in just one night. She knew that after her mother was gone the townspeople would not let her live there either.

It drove her mad to the edge of insanity that Lana rushed out of her house and ran through the streets to find the count’s house. No doubt Lana had no wolf just like her mother but she had something else. Rage, determination to get revenge for snatching her mother. It was not that she had some deeply rooted affection for her mother but because they dared to snatch the only monetary support she had.

Lana reached the place where she could see the count’s house from some distance. She stood there opposite to the house in the grassy field which served as good camouflage. The teenager burst into tears looking towards the sky where the bright moon shone with its glory. Lana cursed and begged to the moon goddess to serve her justice for the unfair events which had happened throughout her life.
Nothing happened. When the goddess showed no sign of her blessing Lana became agitated and vowed she would never remember the goddess and renounced her belonging to the moon goddess. Just at that moment a lightning bolt hit the count’s home and burnt the whole damned thing. The wind howled and everything went quiet for some time leaving Lana stunned as she stood dumbfounded at first but then an evil grin graced her face.