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.

visit to Silvermoon stayed with

away from the group and stumbled upon a grand piano in the

it, like a moth

and started playing the

was the first time I played it anywhere other

through the open window,

had bathed the room in golden light, and for

the me of this moment, standing here at this

in the melody I had composed all

I noticed a change in the air. Leo, who had been quietly listening,

and a look of disbelief washed over

eyes widened as if he'd seen a

the final notes faded into silence, I turned to face him, only to find him staring at me with a mix of shock

voice barely a whisper, but his tone was

I had guessed right. He had heard

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

and realization flickering in his eyes. He staggered back a step as if the weight of the truth was too much to

broke, "It wasn't Aira... It was you.... All this time, it was

etched with regret,

egretted

Chapter 184