The Abandoned Luna's Journey to Power (by Emily Reed) novel Chapter 197

Chapter 197 Inside the Mind of a Wolf Cub

The gate wasn’t locked.

I pushed hard against the heavy doors, and they opened with a dull creak.

In the front courtyard, a thin layer of withered leaves covered the ground.

A stooped figure was sweeping them away.

It was Tom.

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Even though he was now the beta steward of the ducal estate, he still insisted on doing servants’ work himself.

“Who is it? The duke isn’t home today…”

Hearing the noise, Tom slowly straightened, squinting his clouded old eyes in our direction.

The moment his gaze landed on Astra, his entire body froze, as if struck by a binding spell.

The next second, the old broom, polished smooth from years of use, slipped from his hands and hit the ground with a sharp clatter.

“Ms. Spencer?” Tom’s voice trembled violently as he staggered forward two steps, staring at Astra. “Th… this is…”

Jewel, who had been wiping the pillars under the corridor, poked her head out at the sound, a rag still

clutched in her hand.

When she clearly saw the child standing beside me, gaunt yet unmistakably familiar in his features, a piercing cry tore from her throat.

“Astra? Is that Astra?”

That cry shattered the silence that had suffocated the estate for three years.

Jewel dropped the rag and rushed over as if crazed, falling straight to her knees before Astra.

She wanted to hug him, her hands hovering in the air but not daring to touch him, because Astra was too thin, so thin it felt as though he might shatter at the slightest contact.

“Oh my god. It really is Astra…” Jewel sobbed uncontrollably, her entire body shaking. “You’re alive … you’re really alive…”

Tom’s eyes filled with tears as well. He shuffled over, trembling as if to kneel, but I caught him and held him up.

“Tom, there’s no need,” I said, my own voice choking. “It’s Astra. I brought him back.”

“It’s good that he’s back … good that he’s back…” Tom wiped his face, then turned and roared at the stunned

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Chapter 197 Inside the Mind of a Wolf Cub

old servants who had gathered. “What are you all standing there for? Can’t you see Astra is home? Hurry. Boil water. Bring out the best food from the kitchen. Move, now!”

The ducal estate sprang back to life in an instant..

Holding Astra’s hand, I led him step by step toward the main hall.

With every step, I felt his grip tighten.

His breathing grew rapid, his eyes greedily taking in everything around him.

“Cindy,” Diana’s voice suddenly dropped, stripped of its usual teasing. “He smells it.”

“Smells what?” I asked silently.

“He smells emptiness,” Diana sighed. “For wolf cubs, a den is not just a structure. It has a scent. He smells only dust, decay, and the scent of old age here. The leather scent of a prime Alpha father is gone. The jasmine scent of a mother is gone. This place… is a dead den.”

My heart clenched hard.

We entered the main hall.

Everything inside remained as it had been three years ago.

The wide chair draped with mottled tiger fur at the center was Father’s favorite seat. The carved rosewood chair to the left is Mother’s place. The small stool beside it was something Steven had made especially to amuse Astra.

Everything was still there.

And everything was coated in a thin layer of dust.

Astra stopped in the middle of the hall and let go of my hand.

Slowly, he turned in a full circle.

In his memories, whenever he came home, Father would leap up from that tiger-fur chair, laughing as he lifted him overhead, his stubble making Astra giggle. Mother would gently wipe his sweat with a handkerchief. Steven would hide behind a pillar and suddenly jump out to scare him.

Back then, the hall was filled with laughter, arguments, and even Father’s thunderous scolding of subordinates.

Those were the sounds of life.

But now.

Silence.

A deathly silence.

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Chapter 197 Inside the Mind of a Wolf Cub

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Only the rustle of wind through leaves outside the windows and Jewel’s muffled sobs somewhere in the distance.

Astra walked up to the tiger-fur chair and reached out with his thin, bony hand to touch the cold armrest.

Then he moved to the small stool, crouched down, and stared at the lacquer that had long since dried and dulled.

No one rushed out to embrace him.

No one called his name.

The last fragile bubble of hope, the belief that maybe his family was still looking for him, that maybe he had only gotten lost, shattered completely in the face of this cold reality.

The people who loved him were truly gone.

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That one impulsive act of running away, climbing over that wall, had really been a final farewell.

I stood behind him, watching his small back tremble violently.

I wanted to step forward and hold him, but I knew that this collapse was something he had to endure on his own.

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Chapter 198 He Is Stronger Than He Looks