Chapter 29: punishment pond

"Don’t," Adrian and Alaric answered at the same time.

The two of them nodded and moved quickly, grabbing Liliana’s arm and making her fall to the floor.

Liliana’s body was sent tumbling and rolled down the stairs because she was caught off guard. Her left arm felt incredibly painful. She wanted to use her power to heal the injury in her arm, but Viktor had said that the only safe place for her to use her power was inside her own room.

"Ugh..." Liliana uttered in a muffled voice.

Alaric grabbed Liliana by the neck and slowly strangled her.

"Liliana... I don’t care if you hurt other people, but you dared to hurt Valerie? The Luna we have chosen?"

"L-let go..." Liliana begged. Her face was pale, but she could not dodge at all.

"There is only one ending for those who dare to hurt our Luna," Alaric said in a low voice.

Liliana slapped Alaric’s hand repeatedly, trying to remove it from her neck.

"It-hurts..." she said.

"Let her go," Adrian said when he saw Liliana’s pained face.

"You’re defending her?" Alaric asked.

"Throw her into the pond. Don’t dirty your hands," Adrian said coldly.

A smile appeared at the corner of Alaric’s lips instantly. He released his grip from Liliana’s neck, then stood up and roughly dragged Liliana by her leg, taking her toward the pond.

Valerie behind him said nothing. Her eyes glinted sharply with satisfaction.

Liliana, who was still trying to take as many breaths as possible, could not struggle when Alaric pulled her leg. The rough surface beneath her body and her still-disordered breathing made it impossible for her to think properly.

Splash!!

Alaric threw Liliana into the middle of the academy pond.

The pond was not an ordinary pond. It was a punishment pond for academy students who violated the academy’s rules. Anyone who entered it would surely experience hallucinations of cruel deathly torture.

"Ah... help!" Liliana screamed as the punishment from the pond began to react upon her body.

The pond was not deep, only reaching her knees. However, Liliana continued to struggle, trying to call for anyone to pull her out.

"Valerie... Alaric... Adrian... please, help me..." Liliana begged in a hoarse and desperate voice.

Her body trembled violently. Her eyes finally closed after a while.

Liliana dreamed.

In her dream, someone dressed in black surrounded her body. They carried whips and continued whipping her body.

Liliana tried to struggle, begging them to stop.

However, they only stared at her blankly without any intention of stopping.

In the dream, the wounds on her body healed instantly, but they had absolutely no intention of stopping the whipping on Liliana.

Healed and wounded again, over and over.

Alaric watched with satisfaction as Liliana finally became still and stopped struggling completely in the middle of the pond. He turned around and glanced at Valerie, who was now hiding in Adrian’s arms.

"Valerie, are you satisfied now?" he asked.

Valerie looked up. "Liliana won’t die, right? Noli only wanted to repay Liliana for her wrongdoing. We only wanted to help her, that’s all."

Adrian smoothed Valerie’s hair. "Of course. She only..." Adrian said softly, "almost died."

"Will she blame us?" Valerie asked.

"She? She has no right to blame us. This was her fault. Stop thinking too much, understand?" Alaric said, also reassuring her.

"Noli, you can return to your room by yourself, right?" Adrian asked.

"We have to accompany Valerie. She will cry if Alaric and I leave her alone tonight."

Noli smiled lightly and nodded. "Of course. I am the beta princess of Pack Beaumont. You can accompany Valerie. I will return to my dormitory. See you," Noli said while waving her hand.

Adrian and Alaric nodded in satisfaction before returning to comfort Valerie.

When Noli turned around, her expression changed. The happiness on her face disappeared, replaced by pure darkness.

"Valerie, you are too annoying. Even more annoying than Liliana," she said dissatisfiedly.

Adrian grabbed Valerie’s face, forcing her to look at him.

"Feeling better now?" he asked.

Valerie nodded and looked at Adrian with innocent doe-like eyes. Her voice returned to normal, sounding very pleasing to the heart, as if erasing all traces of the moment when she had pushed the two of them to hurt Liliana.

Adrian smiled. He kissed Valerie’s lips passionately, his hand moving along her body.

"Adrian... not here," Valerie whispered shyly.

Alaric grabbed Valerie’s arm and forced her to look at him.

"You did it with Adrian. Don’t think you can forget about me," Alaric said while forcing the girl to open her mouth.

Valerie returned Alaric’s kiss with the same passion.

Adrian said nothing. Valerie was their Luna, and sharing was not difficult for either of them.

After they were satisfied with kissing Valerie’s lips, the two of them took Valerie back to her room, forgetting about Liliana, who was still lying with her eyes closed in the middle of the pond, her body continuing to tremble.

After fifteen minutes had passed, Cassian arrived at the academy’s backyard with a panicked expression.

He had just returned from the dean’s office after discussing many problems. Who would have thought that upon returning, he would see Liliana’s room door wide open?

He knocked down the doors of the rooms one by one along the corridor. Everyone said that they had heard a dispute behind their dormitory.

Bang!!

Cassian forced open the back door of the dormitory.

He walked through the academy’s backyard, which was now very quiet.

"Liliana!" Cassian called.

"Liliana!" he called again.

However, there was no answer. Cassian’s steps finally stopped when he saw the punishment pond not far from the back door of the dormitory.

Cassian’s face changed instantly. He moved quickly toward the pond.

"Liliana!" Cassian called while gently patting Liliana’s face.

Cassian lifted Liliana’s body and immediately carried her onto the shore.

"Liliana..." he called again, trying to awaken Liliana, who was now unconscious.

Cassian’s hand stiffened when he touched Liliana’s swollen face. There was a shoe mark on one side of her face.

Not only that, even Liliana’s long hair had fallen out and scattered over her clothes.

Cassian swallowed hard. His hand moved to touch Liliana’s arm, which felt strange.

"Liliana... your arm..." Cassian asked, more to himself.

"Liliana..." Cassian called in a low voice. "Who did this to you?"

Cassian tightly gripped Liliana’s fingers. His black eyes glinted sharply.