Chapter 99: Chapter 99
Ivy’s Point of View
Everyone stayed at the manor that night, the stone walls echoing with the rowdy, drunken laughter of the uninvited royals until the early hours of dawn.
The next day, the chaotic energy didn’t fade at all... instead, everyone enthusiastically went up the mountain together, eager to escape the stifling protocol of the courts for a wild, untamed tracking expedition.
The guards brought by the princes and princesses didn’t bother staying in their human forms, the moment we crossed the lower tree lines, they eagerly turned into wolves and ran directly towards the deep mountains, as they tracked the scent of game.
Bella and I walked along the narrow dirt trail, with Dominic and the Prince Riven, rolling their wheelchairs just behind us under the tight, watchful eyes of Wolf and Blade.
"The mountain air truly changes everything, Ivy," Bella breathed, a rare, genuine smile lighting up her features. "I haven’t felt this free since before the whole engagement fiasco with Fred."
"You deserve this peace, Bella," I replied softly, offering a warm smile.
Suddenly, the rustling of the dense brush ahead turned into a violent, crashing thud. A massive wild deer, thoroughly terrified by the roaring pack of wolves hunting in the upper thickets, was scared out of its hiding spot and rushed blindly down the narrow trail right towards us.
"Bella, look out!" I shouted, reaching out to grab her sleeve.
Bella couldn’t dodge the charging beast in time, her shoes slipping on the loose gravel as she was deeply scared to retreat. She stumbled backward in fear, her balance completely failing her. But right behind her, sitting in his wheelchair, was Prince Riven.
With a quick gasp, Bella fell straight into his arms, her back crashing against his broad, muscular chest as his powerful hands instinctively flew up to steady her waist.
"Ah! Forgive me!" Bella cried out, her face instantly turning an intense, burning shade of red. In a complete panic to fix her posture, she scrambled to stand up, but her foot caught the edge of his metal footrest, causing her to lose her balance and fall down again right into his lap.
I held my breath, waiting for Prince Riven to snap at her for the disrespect. But the eldest prince only smiled slightly, a warm, genuine amusement dancing in his dark eyes as he gently helped her find her footing.
"There is no need to apologize, Lady Bella," Riven spoke softly, as he released her waist. "The mountain deer are notoriously rude guests."
Bella stood up completely, brushing down her skirt as she stared at the floor of the trail, entirely embarrassed and blushing from her ears to her neck. But to my fascination, she didn’t cry or scream or demand responsibility like an ordinary high noble lady would have done to hook an heir.
She simply offered a neat, dignified bow. "Thank you for catching me, Your Highness. I will watch my step."
I looked on the side, watching the charged silence that settled between the two of them as we continued our trek up the ridge. A slow, knowing smile began to tickle the corners of my lips, and I thought to herself that maybe the Moon Goddess was pulling the strings behind the scenes, subtly weaving their destinies together in this isolated valley.
Bella was strong, dignified, and entirely unbothered by greed, making her the perfect match for a warrior prince.
But as the thought bloomed, the reality of the werewolf kingdom crashed right back into my mind. I looked at Riven’s legs, and then I realized that if the eldest prince successfully cured his leg disease and became the supreme Wolf King in the future, his court would demand political alliances.
He would inevitably be forced to marry multiple noble wives and take countless side concubines to secure the throne. Bella had just survived the agony of a unfaithful fiancé; she deserved a sacred, monogamous bond like the one Dominic had promised me.
I cannot drag her into that cage, I thought to myself, a sigh escaping my lips as I gave up the idea of matchmaking entirely.
At noon, everyone lit a fire on the grass, and the princes and guards began to enthusiastically roast the wild game they had caught on the mountain. The savory scent of sizzling boar fat and herb-rubbed venison filled the crisp air.
A large group of people played, laughed, and drank imported wine until the sky was getting dark, before they finally decided to go down the mountain to enjoy themselves back in the lower village.
At this exact time, the strategy we had planned with the prince finally went into motion. The remaining eldest prince made a polite excuse to stay behind in our manor to rest his aching back, while the other princes, Princess Aria, and Ama reluctantly boarded their royal carriages to return to the capital palace and packed their own packs,
At this time, there were dozens of Silvermoon warriors heavily guarding the perimeter of the manor, their swords drawn against the shadows, and all the servants working in the estate were strictly required under Alpha Alaric’s seal not to release a single scrap of information to the outside world.
Prince Riven lay flat on his stomach across a reinforced wooden table.
"I am ready, Lady Ivy," Prince Riven muttered. "Do whatever it takes."
I stood over him, my face settling into a professional mask as I pulled on my medical gloves.
"Your lumbar vertebrae have already begun to calcify in their displaced positions, Prince Riven," I explained. "To release the compressed nerves, we must first break the broken bone that is about to adhere to your back again. Standard tools cannot generate the correct, distributed shockwave. We must use a raw impact."
I turned my eyes toward Blade, who was standing by the door. "Blade, take off your boots. Step on his lower back barefoot."
Blade flinched, his eyes widening. "Lady Ivy... he is the eldest prince!"
"Do it right now, Blade!" I commanded. "Stand on the third lumbar joint and continuously jump and press with all your warrior’s weight! Break the false alignment!"
Blade swallowed hard, stripped off his boots, and stepped onto the table. He positioned his calloused feet directly over the prince’s spine and began to continuously jump and press, using the physical impact to shatter the calcified tissues.
Crack!!!
A horrific crunch echoed through the silent room.
Prince Riven gritted his teeth and endured the agonizing pain, a low groan escaping his blood-flecked lips. I didn’t waste a single fraction of a second.
The moment the bone shattered back into its fluid state, I plunged my hands over his spine, letting a blinding thread of my energy pool directly into his vertebrae, guiding the bone fragments back into a perfect, straight alignment while simultaneously using my needles to inject the acoustic moon-lily tonic deep into the compressed disc space.
"It’s aligned," I panted, wiping the sweat from my brow as Prince Riven slumped into a semi-conscious state of exhaustion. I turned around, looking straight at my husband who was waiting rigidly in his wheelchair.
"Dominic... it’s your turn to be treated."
Dominic rolled his chair forward, unbuttoning his tunic to expose his badly fractured leg bone. But just as I reached for my scalpels to begin his own alignment, the doors of the pavilion were suddenly pushed open.
Alpha Alaric walked into the room.
"Father?" Dominic gasped, looking up in surprise. "What are you doing here? You were supposed to be managing the council back at the pack."
Alpha Alaric didn’t answer with words at first. He marched straight across the room.
"Your mother couldn’t rest, and neither could I, Dominic," Alpha Alaric spoke, his voice rich with a protective finality as he rolled up his own sleeves, revealing arms like solid iron trunks.
He looked up at my masked face, his jaw clenching with a steady resolve. "Ivy is carrying the future of our pack inside her womb. She has done her part for the royal line today. Tell me exactly where the bone needs to be shattered, child." Alpha Alaric said.
I realized the incredible honor of what the Alpha was offering. I stepped back, a confident smirk touching my lips as I handed over the terrifying responsibility of physically breaking the leg bone to Alpha Alaric personally.
Knowing that the final, brutal cure of the true heir was officially going to be executed by the hands of the King himself.
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