After I Amazed the World the Cold Alpha Regretted

Chapter 184

The first syllables of the piano echoed softly, pulling me back to a time long past.

As my fingers traced the familiar keys, memories washed over me, vivid and haunting.

I had been ostracized by my foster parents as a child, and my only refuge was a broken piano stowed away in the dusty attic.

It was my escape, the one thing that could alleviate my loneliness when no one else was there.

On my seventh birthday, I had crept to the top of the stairs, hoping for a surprise, hoping maybe this year they would remember.

read. I saw my foster parents, arms around Alice, leading her out the door to play, laughing as they left me behind. Forgotten. Unwanted.

I had crept back to the attic with tears in my eyes and sat at the piano.

It was then that I composed my first melody.

A simple, fragile tune that whispered the only birthday wish I'd receive that day.

Happy birthday to me. That small song became my secret, a balm for the wounds I carried from my so-called family.

Later, as the years went by, my foster parents would drag me along on visits to other packs, parading me in front of strangers to show their kindness

A cruel irony, really. They would never treat me with kindness themselves, but to outsiders, they wanted to appear generous.

particular visit to Silvermoon

group and stumbled upon a grand piano in the hallway of the

it, like

and started playing the melody I had

was the first time I played it anywhere

can still remember that moment-how the wind blew softly through the open window, carrying with it the scent

sun had bathed the room in golden light, and for a brief

the me of this moment,

in the melody I had composed all

I played the first riff that I noticed a

went pale, and a look

eyes widened as if he'd

final notes faded into silence, I turned to face him, only to find him staring at me

you hear that song?" Leo asked, his voice barely a whisper, but his tone was heavy, filled with an urgency that startled

I had guessed right. He had heard it

it," I said softly, "I wrote it when I was a child, on my birthday. No one else has ever heard it. I was

realization flickering in his eyes. He staggered back a

voice broke, "It wasn't Aira... It was

his face etched with regret, and

egretted

Chapter 184