Return of The Alpha Heiress-Chapter 40: Clarissa – The Lost Necklace

I sucked the bite wound as hard as I could. The metallic taste filled my mouth, and I spat the blood out.

I leaned in to do it again, but Richard held my head back.

"I need to get all the venom out before it spreads!" I protested, my voice tight with impatience.

That’s when I noticed his face; it had turned a deep, burning crimson.

My heart hammered against my ribs. Had the toxin reached his head already? No, that didn’t make sense. Venom didn’t usually flush the skin; it turned it gray.

Richard still kept my face away with his uninjured hand. He looked at me seriously, as if something strange was stuck on my cheeks.

"You shouldn’t talk. The venom could get into your mouth if you keep speaking," he said, his eyes firm.

"I—"

Before I could argue, he shut my mouth.

Not with his hand. With his lips!

"Eumhh!" I pushed him away, and he stumbled back.

His expression said he knew he had crossed a line. Of course he had!

"I just didn’t want you to keep talking," he muttered, lowering his eyelids dramatically, making me look like the heartless one.

I nodded, not daring to say anything else.

"Let’s go to the river so you can rinse your mouth," he said, already turning to lead the way.

I stayed rooted to the spot.

When he realized I wasn’t following, he stopped and looked back, a flicker of confusion crossing his reddened face. Without a word, he caught my hand as he pulled me along, forcing my feet to move.

’Just because I’m not walking doesn’t mean I want to be dragged.’

I pointed at the blood on his arm.

"I’m fine," he said calmly. "That snake venom isn’t that strong. A werewolf’s body can handle it."

Then his ears turned red. "You’re the one who suddenly sucked a guy’s wound."

My cheeks heated too. Long ago, Tasha had been bitten by a snake while we played in the mountain forest near the pack.

I’d sucked the venom out without thinking. It had become instinct. I’d forgotten that Tasha and Richard were nothing alike.

The memory alone made me embarrassed.

We walked toward the river. Richard’s hand was still holding mine, warm and strangely comforting.

Soon, we reached the water. I rinsed my mouth with the clear stream. This forest must be untouched, hidden deep from the world.

Richard cleaned his wound too, moving effortlessly as if the venom truly didn’t bother him.

We continued walking. The forest was quiet. Only our footsteps, my uneasy breaths, and the birds above filled the silence.

Unable to stand it any longer, I spoke. "Earlier you said the teachers wanted students to hunt in groups. So why were you alone?"

"I’m not hunting. I’m just staying away from everyone."

A familiar scene flashed in my head. At Adrian’s birthday party, he had also isolated himself in the side garden.

"Why do you want to stay away from others?"

I didn’t know why I asked something so personal. But I was actually curious. Richard could be blunt and sometimes annoying, but he was still a good person. He even let me use his workshop.

"My reputation is worse than you think. And the misunderstandings around me can’t be fixed anymore."

His voice sounded... sad.

Walking slightly behind him, I saw his shoulders sink.

Without thinking, I lightly patted his back. The back that always looked so sturdy.

He turned, surprised, then smiled softly. There was pain in his eyes, the same look orphan children had when they lost their parents.

Why would someone like Richard, who had a complete family, have the same eyes?

"Clarissa," he said gently, "I hope you clear up the misunderstandings around you before they grow bigger."

I nodded like someone who wasn’t myself.

We continued walking and chatting, but only about light things, like the flying squirrels darting through the trees, and the poisonous creatures that lived in this forest.

Eventually, we reached the teachers’ area at the edge of the woods. A large bonfire burned at the center, surrounded by students who couldn’t shift yet. They chatted while waiting for the hunters to return.

As soon as we arrived, Richard shifted and disappeared.

I sat alone like some abandoned extra character.

...

After the students returned, I followed another best-class students back to the tents. They hadn’t hunted for various reasons I didn’t care enough to remember.

From afar, I saw Edwin standing in front of my tent.

"Edwin! Shannon’s not in there?" I waved happily.

He turned with a blank face, nothing like the bright, grinning Edwin I knew. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Without greeting me, he asked, "Where’s the necklace I gave you?"

"The necklace?" My stomach dropped. I still hadn’t told him it was missing.

My fingers fidgeted anxiously, eyes darting around. Edwin’s expression darkened.

Did he hear something about the necklace?

Among everyone in the Green family, Edwin was the one I felt safest with. As fellow ae-device lovers, we always clicked. His cheerful nature made me feel welcomed.

And he was the one who always defended me without asking questions.

I didn’t want to disappoint him. I didn’t want him to change.

But lying would only make things worse.

"I... I lost it," I whispered after taking a long breath.

His angry glare hit me like a slap, making me feel even more careless for losing something important.

"I’m sorry, Edwin. I tried to—"

He cut me off with a shout. "Lost?!"

He pulled something from his pocket and threw it on the ground.

"My necklace!" I gasped. The one I’d been searching for lay broken in two, in a miserable state.

I bent down to pick it up, but he grabbed my arm, forcing me to look at him.

"How could you treat something I spent months making for you like trash?" he growled, voice low but trembling with fury.

"What do you—"

He cut me off again. "I told you those kids love causing trouble, yet you gave them the necklace like it was their toy?!"

Slowly, the truth dawned on me.

He continued, voice filled with contempt,

"I thought someone skilled with ae-devices would be different from those social-climbing nobodies. But you’re the same. Just a little taste of luxury and you change. No, maybe you were always like this!"

His words stabbed me over and over. This wasn’t the Edwin I knew.

My chest tightened. Hearing such things from him hurt more than I expected.

"I’m not what you think, Edwin!" I finally managed to cut into his insults.

He laughed bitterly.

"Go ahead. Defend yourself. Call your little troublemaker friends to back you up. Typical praise-hungry lowborn."

Without giving me a chance to explain, he turned and stormed away.

Tears fell down my cheeks. Why would Edwin accuse me like that?

I knew something was influencing him, but my heart kept asking the same question.

If even Edwin could be twisted... what hope did I have?

My eyes fell to the broken necklace. I picked it up. It was badly damaged. Its protective casing split, its internal parts crushed. No wonder he was furious.

’Maybe I really don’t belong with the Green family.’

Everything I believed started falling apart.

But, Richard’s words echoed in my mind: clear up misunderstandings early, before they grow worse.

’Right. I need to fix this. I have to try.’

I wrapped the broken necklace in a handkerchief and tucked it carefully into my bag.

Then I headed toward Tessa and her group. I needed to know why Edwin had found the necklace with them.

On the way, terrible thoughts filled my head.

’Did they hide it on purpose? While they pretended to help me search, were they laughing behind my back?’

My chest burned. I felt foolish.

I should’ve listened to Edwin and stayed away from them instead of becoming their entertainment.

Their tent wasn’t far. The four of them were chatting and laughing loudly.

’They’re really mocking me.’

Fueled by anger, I marched toward them.

"Hey, Clar—" Kellan stopped mid-greeting when he saw my furious face.

Tessa, Mira, and Rylas also turned toward me.

I couldn’t hold it anymore.

"So you were the ones hiding my necklace?!" I yelled.

Their expressions darkened instantly, offended.

Especially Tessa, who glared sharply. "Don’t accuse us carelessly. You should be thanking us for not throwing away that broken thing."

My anger flared. "How could you say that?!"

Tessa, Mira, and Rylas looked ready to attack with their wolves.

Only Kellan seemed panicked instead of angry.

"Everyone, calm down. And Clarissa, we didn’t steal your necklace. It was lying in front of our tent when we came back. We didn’t even know it was yours because it’s so badly broken."

"No need to explain, Kellan. People with dirty minds can’t see clearly," Mira said coldly.

Her words hit me like a blade.

I had accused them just because of their bad reputation, without asking anything.

I had become exactly like the people I hated.

...