Return of The Betrayed Luna

Chapter 5 : Poison Ivy

Morning dew fell on the green grass outside, birds started chirping as early as sunrise and Naomi grumbled in her sleep due to nightmares.

She dreamt of a lot of things, some scary, some sad, some torturous as well. But as soon as she opened her eyes to reality, the images faded away as if they weren't haunting her in sleep. The thin line between dreams and reality was as wide as a blink. The dreams shattered into a million pieces.

It took a good twenty minutes for Naomi to get out of bed and open the windows. Sunrays were in abundance today. She soaked up some vitamins and stretched until her bones protested against it. Next came the most luxurious experience of the day - Bath.

Naomi liked to be clean. She picked out a pretty outfit and went to take a bath. The bathtub was filled with bubbles and she soaked in it for another half an hour before washing and dressing up.

By the time she was out of the bath, Vienna was already making her bed. The messiness of the sheets showed just how much she moved throughout the night.

"Good morning miss!" Vienna greeted her in a good mood when she saw Naomi coming out, "What would you like for breakfast today?"

"Anything is fine," Naomi wasn't going to be picky about food on such a beautiful morning. The amount of sunlight poring into her room was so aesthetically pleasing that Naomi wanted to play some music and dance to her hearts content. But that would be weird.

"Master is about to have breakfast in a while," Vienna mentioned him carefully and suggested, "Would you like to eat with him or separately?"

"Let's eat downstairs before your master comes to eat. I don't want to see anything that might ruin my vibe," Naomi was very particular about her mood on that day. She hadn't felt so good in years as the Luna. As Juliette, a neglected chosen mate, she was finally feeling what freedom feels like.

Vienna nodded and went downstairs to prepare everything. Since there was nothing to do, Naomi finally took the time to go through Juliette's phone. Juliette was a young girl but there wasn't much to see on her phone. A few pictures, some with Vienna, some of Marvin, a few of her own and a picture with her parents.

This was the first time Naomi saw what Juliette's parents looked like. She had to say that the girl got her looks from her mother. Other than that, there were a few contacts. If the phone was stolen, they'd think it was an old person's phone. Extremely boring. Even the apps on this one were outdated and useless.

It took barely twenty minutes to go through all of the things on the phone. Once Naomi was done scrolling through it, Vienna came back to call her for breakfast.

"Miss, the table is set."

Naomi's stomach was sunk from hunger, so she hurriedly kept her phone aside and followed Vienna out. The table was indeed set. The arrangement of food was no less than a buffet.

"Is there going to be a party that I am not aware of?" Naomi asked softly. Her eyes were stuck to the wide arrangement of food. Its scent was overwhelmingly good and appetizing.

"No Miss," Vienna smiled, "These are little things that the chef prepared for you and master like different things."

Naomi's attention was on the food, so she forgot to register Vienna's words. She nodded absent-mindedly and took a seat on the comfortable chair. The spread was wide and there were so many options to choose from. She grabbed a plate and got Vienna to serve her a little of many dishes.

There were eggs, bacon, toast, sausages, roasted vegetables, a variety of jams and spreads, juices and basically whatever breakfast food might come to mind.

Naomi liked a lot of them, so she wasn't polite about it. Vienna served her a little bit of each before she could reach out for it. Naomi experienced the luxury of being served once again and a giddy feeling spread throughout her body like venom.

" The doctor said you need more nutrients," Vienna said in a distressed manner.

Naomi nodded while stuffing a spoonful of scrambled eggs into her mouth. It was so tasty that she fell in love with it. Good food always managed to put her in a good mood!

"Don't worry," Naomi reassured him, "I will never lack nutrition now. Look at how I eat."

Vienna watched Naomi finish the entire plate of food and go for seconds. She was stunned to see the way she was eating. Juliette never ate so much before for various reasons. Her health was never good either. Seeing her eat well, Vienna's heart swelled.

Naomi was having the time of her life with the delicious food. She was focused to the point that all her senses were shut down. She did not hear the light but sturdy footsteps coming her way.

Marvin had to attend a meeting in another pack at noon, so he went downstairs to have breakfast early today. He knew Juliette was eating at this time so he wanted to take this opportunity to talk to her.

She had been acting strangely recently and hadn't spoken to him. He had to ask if she was dissatisfied with anything so he could fix it. She was his responsibility after all. Her parents had high expectations of him as they left their daughter in his care. As her guardian and partner, he should be responsible for her.

When he arrived, he saw Juliette's clean plate and thought she hadn't started yet. He took the designated seat, which was the farthest from her. As his maid was serving food, he realised that the distance between them was too much. How was he supposed to have a conversation when they were so far away from each other?

He waved his hand and the maid stopped serving. He was about to tell her to move his plate next to Juliette. But his words were stuck on the top of his tongue because Juliette stood up and walked out of the dining room.

The series of actions were so natural that one may suspect she did not notice his presence at all. She did not even spare him a glance, let alone a morning greeting. This confused Marvin even more. Had he done something to anger her? Was that the reason she was avoiding him?

He had to find a way to find out.

Vienna stayed behind to clean up the dishes. Marvin saw the chance and called her over.

"Vienna, come here," he called.

Vienna stiffly placed the plates down and walked over to him. She maintained a two-chair distance between herself and him. Her head was down in a respectful way as she waited for him to speak.

"Is Juliette feeling alright?" He enquired about her health first.

"Yes, master. Miss is feeling much better now," Vienna added in her heart, 'Now that she has started to live for herself. Of course she is doing a lot better.'

Marvin did not see her face, so the expressions were unknown to him. He casually mentioned her strange behavior to Vienna and asked if she knew what was happening..

"There is nothing wrong, master. Miss has been tired lately. Maybe she was in a hurry to rest so she left."

Marvin glanced at the empty plate on the other side of the table,"Is there anything wrong? Are you sure? She did not eat anything."

"I am sure master. She hasn't shared anything like that with me," Vienna smiled lightly.

Vienna lied through her teeth. She felt guilty for lying. After all, master was the one who signed her cheque every month. But her loyalty towards Juliette was unwavering.

Juliette never said she could say anything to Marvin, so she wouldn't. The fact that Juliette had given up on her love was a secret that Vienna would take to her grave unless Juliette herself wanted her to say it.

"Miss already ate breakfast. She just finished when you arrived."

"Alright. You can go."

Marvin's mood wasn't the best after that. He ate a little and immediately left for the meeting. He did not see Juliette until he came back home in the evening.

While he was away, Naomi explored the property. The house was huge and like Juliette, she had to know every nook and corner of that place. She followed the cleaning maids around all day, saying she wanted to inspect their work when, in fact, she wanted to see what was where.

"Miss, it's noon, would you like to rest?" Vienna came rushing and asked. Although Vienna was given the duty to follow Juliette, she had her own set of work to do. When she finished it, she heard from other maids that Juliette was actually following the cleaning maids! She ran the fastest and found her on the second floor.

"I am fine," Naomi said happily, "Look! Those flowers are blooming so nicely! We should plant more flowers. This place will look so pretty in spring."

Vienna frowned when she saw the flowers. The flowers were small and mustard colored. Naomi's clothes were pulled away and her body was taken away from the open balcony.

"I want to look at them some more!" Naomi complained. She was a Luna before she died, but people rarely listened to her. She loved flowers and wanted to plant a garden full of them in her backyard, but her cheating ex never liked them. He said it made his house appear 'feminine'. Naomi never got to plant flowers because of him.

Now she managed to see a beautiful patch of yellow flowers and wanted to fulfil her wish!

"Miss, those are poisonous!" Vienna pulled her back forcefully, "Don't go near them."

"Poisonous?" Naomi froze at the mention of poison. After dying once, Naomi was quite sensitive towards matters of life and death. She did not dare look at those pretty flowers.

"Why are poisonous plants growing here? Get someone to throw them away!" Naomi said incredulously.

"Those are planted here on master's order. This is the forbidden area of the manor. No one is allowed there. In this part, poison and medicinal plants are grown. Don't you already know that?"

Naomi licked her lips, "Yup, totally knew that. I just forgot after not seeing it for a while. What are your thoughts about a flower garden? I want to plant many pretty flowers for the upcoming spring."

"Spring is months away, miss. The plants will die if you plant them now..."

"It's just a thought."

Naomi's piano lesson was scheduled in the evening. Before that, she had to receive a guest. It was none other than the planner for the upcoming birthday party. Juliette had hired a professional party planner and given a detailed explanation of how she wanted everything to be.

The planner had finalized everything and came to get her approval before starting the preparations. Marvin's birthday was now in less than a week, so everything had to be done fast.

Naomi couldn't care less about his god-forsaken birthday of his. But Juliette did. She also worked a bit too hard, and now Naomi had to do it too, in order to be in character. She flipped through the book and looked at the pictures.

The pictures were for decoration, there was a curated menu for dinner and wine, then the music choices, theme and what not. Naomi had to say that Juliette had good taste. It was Marvin's birthday so she chose everything that he liked but the ones who knew Juliette could see her touch here and there.

For example, the decorations were all in shades of blue although there were also peonies included somewhere, which were Juliette's favourite. The dinner menu was all Marvin's favourite dishes but the cutlery was chosen specifically by her to match her overall aesthetic taste.

Naomi gave it a thumbs up and told the party planner to start preparing everything. Just as she was seeing him off, Marvin's car arrived. He finished the meeting early and happened to see a bakery on the way and thought of Juliette.

She must like sweets, right? All girls do.

With that thought, he picked up a couple of cakes and took them home. He still wanted to ask Juliette some things so he thought he could create an opportunity to do that. When his car entered the gate, he spotted another car leaving the driveway.