Chapter 4

Even Haysa was utterly astonished and stunned. She hadn’t paid any attention to the slave until Kattie exclaimed and staggered, prompting her to look closer at the enslaved person’s face. It had been so long that Haysa could barely remember someone’s face, so recognizing him took her a while. Once she did, her emotions became as stirred up as Kattie’s were at that moment.

As for Kattie, her mind was blank now. She couldn’t think of anything, her mind empty. She stood still, and it felt like the world stood still with her. The person in front of her looked at her, and she looked at him. His face imprinted deeply into her eyes, and suddenly, old images and sounds began to resurface in her mind.

Jasper—she had never forgotten him. Every day, she yearned and remembered him, gazed at his picture, held it close, and burst into tears. Over the past few years, her eyes could have become blurry from the daily tears, but Jasper’s image in her heart remained forever vivid. She remembered him to the point of exhaustion—his face, voice, gestures, gaze, everything he had done for her, everything they had done together. But somehow, the more she remembered, the more she forgot.

There were nights when Kattie remembered Jasper, but suddenly, the images and sounds in her head would become chaotic. She would struggle to remember him, and then she would have to wake up to search for his picture, gaze at it, and hold his belongings—things she had to hide from Viktor secretly.

But whatever the case, Kattie could be sure that if he appeared before her, in any form, in a crowded place or not, she would recognize him.

And now, it was the same.

Kattie’s eyes welled uncontrollably, and her tears fell involuntarily, warm tears streaming down her cold face. It was as if she was jolted awake, blinking rapidly. The person in front of her remained there, looking at her perplexed and suspiciously. But this helped Kattie confirm something—Jasper wasn’t a hallucination. Everything was real. He was genuinely standing before her, flesh and blood.

“Jas… Jasper…” Kattie croaked, her voice hoarse. She seemed to want to rush forward and embrace him, but the person in front of her immediately stepped back, then looked at her with a shocked and even startled expression.

“Who… who are you? Why do you know my name?”

Kattie was stunned, as if she couldn’t accept that Jasper didn’t recognize or even remember her name. She stammered to explain:

“I’m Kattie, don’t you remember me? I’m Kattie!”

The person in front of her remained unresponsive to the name Kattie, and he even appeared more puzzled and baffled.

“Kattie? I’m sorry, my name is Jasper, but I don’t know who Kattie is, and I… don’t know you.”

“Don’t know” was like a mortal blow to Kattie. She stood frozen, her face revealing shock. She swallowed saliva, and now even the act of swallowing felt like a pain—like someone was holding a blunt knife and slashing her throat. She stared blankly at the person before her.

“You… you don’t recognize me?” Kattie persisted. Yes, she had yearned to remember him for ten years, and there was a time when she had been so stubborn that she couldn’t accept his death or take the truth that he had vanished from this world. How could she quickly let go of her belief like that? Kattie continued:

“I’m Kattie, the omega of the Blue Moon pack. We grew up together, and then…” you were killed by Viktor on my birthday.

The latter part of the sentence seemed stuck in Kattie’s throat, and it felt like she was swallowing it down. It was like a cold splash of water hitting her, awakening her. Yes, Jasper had been killed by Viktor on her birthday, and she had been the one by his side until his last moment.

He died in her arms.

This truth sent Kattie into a state of panic. She staggered to the point that she had to lean on Haysa’s body to stay steady. She looked at the person in front of her once again and said:

“Who… who are you from? Which pack?”

The person responded very frankly:

“I’m from the Sourire pack.”

Sourire pack—that’s right. This was a pack far removed from the Blue Moon pack. These two packs had never had any connection with each other.

Someone with a face and a name like Jasper’s but who didn’t remember her came from a different background. So, this was just a coincidence.

Despite the truth seemingly laid out before her, Kattie’s heart still ached ceaselessly. She would rather not have seen this, but the moment she saw someone resembling him, the longing inside her seemed to burst forth. It spread throughout her body, tormenting her to the point where she couldn’t breathe.

Kattie took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She wiped her tears away with her hand. At this point, she was clear-headed enough to realize that if she didn’t regain her composure and stood here for too long, Viktor would indeed detect something unusual. If he discovered someone with a face resembling Jasper’s, even if it was only a resemblance, he would undoubtedly kill that person—cruelly.

Kattie didn’t want to drag others into her problems. She tried to suppress her emotions and said:

“I’m sorry, I mistook you for someone else…”

Jasper saw the emotions surging within her like that, and he felt a hint of sympathy and emotion. He nodded slightly.

“It’s okay.”

Their voices—even their voices—were so similar, yet they weren’t the same person. Could there be such a coincidence in the world? Kattie seemed to want to nurture a small glimmer of hope within herself, but it seemed all in vain, as the gaze of the person in front of her, though looking at her, was genuinely numb and cold—unlike Jasper, whose eyes always sparkled with laughter and warmth. Therefore, this certainly wasn’t him. It had to be certain.

Despite the pain in Kattie’s chest, she had to accept that truth. Just at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out—Viktor’s voice. It seemed to pull her back into the painful and cruel reality.

“Kattie, what are you doing there? Come back, we need to set off.”

Because Kattie was currently huddled in a narrow alley, Viktor didn’t notice anything unusual or the emotions on her face. But if he came closer, it would be dangerous. To prevent Viktor from approaching, there was only one way: Kattie needed to move toward him. She hastily wiped away her tears, then fumbled for her wallet and handed it to Haysa.

“Can you help me redeem him, set him free?”

Even though he wasn’t truly Jasper, Kattie still wanted to do something for him. The most precious thing for an enslaved person was freedom. Regardless of who he was, Kattie hoped he would have a better and happier life, free from the chains and oppression of owners.

After handing everything over to Haysa, Kattie composed herself and returned to Viktor.

He stood there waiting for her. When he saw her approaching, a gentle expression appeared in his eyes, starkly contrasting the cold surroundings. But upon looking at her face more closely, Viktor’s expression seemed to freeze.

“Have you been crying?”

Perhaps for all other wolves, Viktor was a ruthless and cold-blooded wolf who acted indifferently toward his kind and had lost his humanity. Many even viewed him as extreme and authoritarian, willing to kill anyone who opposed him.

But for Kattie, he was a particular case. He paid attention to every small detail, every minor change in her. He remembered her habits and preferences. And his care—or to put it more accurately, his love—for her had no apparent reason; no one knew why he loved her, where it originated, or why. Every question seemed to need an answer.

However, no matter what, Kattie couldn’t accept or reciprocate this kind of affection. The biggest reason for that was that Viktor was the one who killed Jasper. This made Viktor her enemy—made her want to kill him, let alone talk about love. She despised him, hated him to the core.

The second reason was that she loved Jasper. Yes, this love might have never been spoken aloud, and Jasper was unaware of its existence. Ironically, even though she had never confessed, everyone knew about Kattie’s feelings for Jasper after his death. The longing of over a decade, combined with her unwavering emotions, proved the depth of this love beyond measure.

The third reason was how Viktor loved her—leaving her breathless. He could be indulgent yet controlling, possessive, and coercive, forcing her to stay by his side even though she didn’t love him. And Viktor himself knew best how deeply she loved Jasper. Despite this, he relentlessly constrained her, confined her, and pressured her to forget about Jasper.

If Kattie were to forget about Jasper, there was only one way—to carve it out of her heart. As long as her heart beat, she would continue loving him.