She bit her lip, her face twisted into a mask of anguished sympathy.
"You're just too strong for your own good. I've told you a hundred times—I can help you. With resources, with pack connections, with anything you need." Her voice trembled with admiration. "But you insist on doing everything yourself." She shook her head slowly. "You're nothing like those pampered Alpha heirs who've had territory and tribute handed to them since birth..."
The Howl-Net chatter exploded across the scrying mirrors:
【Can the former intended mate seriously not tell the female lead is throwing shade at him?! Just forfeit the rite already and give first standing back to our precious male lead!】
【The female lead only offered tribute for this whole Moon-ink rite so she could sit on the adjudicator council—all for the male lead's sake!】
【Doesn't matter how much he lies. Once they pull the scrying mirror records, his "pure moonlight" image is going straight into the gutter!】
【The male lead comes from such a struggling pack and has to hunt his way through the Academy. He's been through so much hardship!】
I stared at Darian.