Louisa's POV

I ran, walked, trudged, and shambled.

Eventually, I fell to the ground in the middle of the storm.

The whole world was turning upside down in front of my eyes.

I couldn't feel my limbs. My blouse and pants were drenched in mud and I felt that my whole body was wrapped by heavy lead.

I had to crawl on the muddy surface of the ground, pulling my body to slowly move forward, until I lost my last strength of life and became completely stagnated in the mud.

I flipped and lay on my back. My mouth, nose, and eyes were sealed by the heavy pouring rain.

The raindrops changed into thousands of knives by the strong wind, darting through my body.

I opened my mouth and tried to catch my breath.

Hunger. It felt like an invisible hand rifling through my stomach, looking for food. When it failed to find anything, it went all the way up my spine and strangled my throat.

I curled up and started to retch, coughing out mud from my mouth.

I hadn't eaten anything since last night. I was out in the forest with the gathering and hunting squad this morning and I got lost. By the time I finally found my way back, everyone had already left without me and the storm came.

I had to get to our camp before it was dark, or else I would be literally starved to death tonight.

I tried to push myself up, but the ground was so slippery and my body felt so heavy.

Just when I was about to give in to gravity, I heard a voice in my head.

"Don't give up. Give it another try."

It was my wolf.

"I can't. I'm too weak," I said. "I don't have any strength because I'm starving."

"You've got two feet. Get back to your feet. Then, just focus on putting one foot in front of the other. You'll find it's not that difficult at all," she encouraged me.

I turned my head and saw some tree roots on the side. I used them as rungs on a ladder and eventually pulled myself towards a nearby tree trunk.

After I finally got back to my feet with the help of the tree trunk, I managed to see the tips of the tents in our camp up ahead in the distance.

"Take one step at a time," I told myself and walked into the pouring rain.

By the time I arrived at our camp, the rain stopped.

Soldiers started to put torches up because it was dark.

I hurried to the canteen and saw some omegas eating in the kitchen.

They were kitchen helps, running errands for chefs in the canteen.

"Who's that? She looks like a tiny teeny little rat!" A maid saw me and gasped with surprise.

"She's a drowned rat as well, haha!" Another maid jeered, which made everyone guffaw.

"She's Alpha's daughter, but don't worry about her. She lives in the thatch just like us and does all the heavy labor just like us."

"She doesn't even have a name!"

"But how's that possible? You said she was Alpha's daughter."

"Her mother was a whore. She passed away without giving her a name. No wonder she's cursed."

"She was born premature and retarded. Anyway, something inside of her head wasn't right. That's why everyone hates her in our camp."

A maid pointed at her brain and added, "She's coo-coo. I saw her talking to sparrows and frogs the other day. What kind of crazy people do things like that?"

They talked and laughed about me as if I wasn't there.

I had already gotten used to that.

I bit my lips and wiped the mud off my face.

"Could I have something to eat?" I asked in a quiet voice.

"The canteen's close, she-wolf," a maid dragged her voice and spoke very slowly as if she was trying to talk to an imbecile person, "No meals for you today. Go away."

I lowered my head and said, "I'm not retarded. I'm just really hungry now. I've been out hunting in the forest all day and I didn't have anything to eat. Do you have some leftovers? Anything will do."

"Look at her. She just doesn't understand what we have just said."

They laughed again.

A maid took up a rolling pin and waved at me, "Go away, she-wolf. We've got nothing for you."

I was afraid of getting beaten, so I ran out of the kitchen in a panic. Then, I tripped over something on the floor and almost fell to the ground.

Another laughter started in the kitchen.

I felt so ashamed of my clumsiness and I just wanted to disappear in thin air.