The Abandoned Luna's Journey to Power Chapter 339: Dinner at the Monastery

Cindy's POV:

Dinner at Coldmoon Monastery was even worse than I imagined.

On a long, rough wooden table with no tablecloth, there were a few dishes of boiled root vegetables, several pieces of black bread as hard as stone, and a bowl of bland soup with barely any oil in it.

The monastery walls, built from huge blocks of dark granite, kept the storm outside, but they also sealed the bitter cold inside the room.

A few cheap grease candles flickered in the drafty room, giving off stinky black smoke.

I stared at the food. My throat felt like it was filled with sand. I couldn't swallow a bite.

"Your Grace, Knight Silva, I'm very sorry."

Katie walked over and placed two cups of water in front of us. Her weathered, tired face showed a hint of bitter apology. "The head of this monastery is a very kind Beta. She's already done so much to look after Lady Sephiria. But this place is barely getting by. There's no funding from the territory. The nuns grow their own food and weave their own cloth just to survive. In this deep snow, if anyone wants meat, the younger nuns have to go hunt in the mountains themselves."

Viola frowned. She picked up a piece of the black bread and tried to snap it, but it wouldn't even break. "Sephiria used to live in Prince Niall's Castle. She lived in luxury. Now she's this sick—how can she eat stuff like this? How can her body handle it? Even if the monastery doesn't have meat, couldn't you buy some from the town down the mountain?"

When Katie heard that, her eyes instantly turned red. Tears filled them.

"Buy? With what?" Katie choked out, her voice full of sadness. "When Lady Sephiria was kicked out, Leanna used the excuse of 'leaving with nothing to pray for blessings' and took all of Lady Sephiria's assets and jewelry. The few copper coins we had were already spent on herbal painkillers. Besides..."

Katie wiped her tears and sighed deeply. "Even if we had meat, Lady Sephiria couldn't eat it. She was a noble Omega, but now her wolf spirit is gone. Her body is so weak, and her stomach is ruined. Forget meat, even drinking a little of this clear soup makes her hurt so badly she can't sleep all night. She's been a vegetarian for a long time, barely staying alive on vegetable juice."

My heart felt like it was being cut again and again with a dull knife.

"What about her children?" I asked through gritted teeth, trying to hold back the anger rising in my chest. "Lucien, Beatrice, and Amara. They're Sephiria's flesh and blood. Are they really just watching their mother slowly die here?"

When those three names were mentioned, a flash of deep hatred and despair appeared in Katie's eyes.

"Mr. Lucien... he wants to help, but he can't," Katie said, shaking her head. She sounded sorry for him. "He's an Omega with no fighting ability, and Leanna sent him away to work as a patrol guard. The snow mountains on the east side of Prince Niall's territory are full of Rogues and dreadbeasts. He has to patrol in freezing weather for more than ten hours every day. If he makes even a small mistake, he'll be punished by military law. He can barely take care of himself. He's so busy that he can only sneak away once in a while to see his mother, risking a beating just to do it. And every time he comes, he just stands outside the window and cries."

"What about the two daughters? Didn't Beatrice and Amara marry into good families?" Viola slammed the table, splashing half the watery soup onto the wood.

"Them?" Katie let out a harsh, bitter laugh that sounded eerie in the empty dining hall. "They've sided with Leanna! In their eyes, the one who gives them fancy dresses, expensive jewelry, and chances to marry powerful Alphas is their 'mother.' And Lady Sephiria, the woman who gave birth to them and raised them, is just an embarrassing, annoying burden to them now."

"Beatrice, the oldest, hasn't even sent a message in years since Lady Sephiria was sent here. She acts like her mother doesn't exist! The younger one, Amara, sometimes comes to visit. But do you know why? To complain that it's dirty here, that the medicine stinks. She actually got mad because her mother touched her hand and 'stained' her silk gloves! She never stays for more than ten minutes. She just holds her nose and runs away, leaving Lady Sephiria crying alone in bed. They're... they're heartless!"