Bonds at War: The Untouched is Mine novel Chapter 412

Chapter 412 The Hidden Beauty

MINA

For such a long time, I had hidden behind a cloak.

I didn’t remember when it actually started, but I reckoned it was because I was hideous.

+10 Free Coins

I didn’t grasp the meaning of “hideous” the first time the word was dropped on me like a stone, but I understood the way my aunt’s lips crimped when she uttered it. I noticed how the others in Montrose glanced at me, only to quickly look away.

Eventually, I learned that “hideous” meant I should cover my face.

So I did. Every day. Every night. Every hunt.

Right now, as I crouched low in the frost–bitten brush with a handmade bow in my hands and my cloak hood dipped forward, I remained concealed even from the trees.

Ahead of me, a boar pawed softly at the forest floor. Boars should have been meaty by nature, but this one’s ribs looked as though they wanted to pierce through its skin. Food had been scarce all winter. Montrose had always been poor, but this year felt particularly cruel.

Bad luck.

That was what they called me.

My mother died giving birth to me, and apparently, that was enough proof. I didn’t know much about her, of course. The moment I took my first breath, she took her last. Marina Elowyn–that was her name. I heard stories that she glowed like a star despite Montrose’s struggles. They said she charmed plants into growing faster. They said a lot of things… except how she actually felt about the child inside her.

Then she died, and the whispers started.

“Bad luck child.”

“Omen of ruin.”

“Born under a cursed moon.”

I didn’t remember her warm hands or her voice–only the stories. None of them belonged to me.

A soft snap of a twig brought me back into the moment. The boar lifted its head, ears flicking. I held my breath, my fingers tightening around the bowstring.

I was the hunter in this family. It wasn’t because I was particularly skilled, but because, according to Rowena, my mother’s sister, I was useless for anything else.

I bore scars all over my arms from brambles, claws, rocks, and traps. Rowena hated them. Calista, my cousin, would wrinkle her nose whenever she saw even a hint of blood or dirt on me, which was often. “Don’t contaminate the house,” she’d hiss whenever I returned.

Corvin, her twin brother, said nothing. He would just stare with that cold, amused gaze he inherited from their mother.

1/4

2:54 pm

M

Chapter 412 The Hidden Beauty

+10 Free Coins

But Garrick Vespera…

He had been different.

He married Aunt Rowena before I was born and accepted me into the household after my mother passed. He helped feed me when the other witches turned away. He carried me on his shoulders during the harvest festival one year and told me my face was fine, that I looked just like my mother.

But then, when I was four, he was killed in his sleep.

Somehow, that became my fault too.

The boar shifted again, its legs trembling from hunger. This hunt mattered. We didn’t have any meat left, and Calista and Corvin couldn’t go without it. Moreover, Christmas Eve was approaching soon, and Rowena wanted a grand celebration.

I slowly exhaled, steadying my aim.

One breath.

Two.

Release.

The arrow flew cleanly, striking the boar just behind its shoulder. It bucked, stumbled, then fell.

I stood, lowered my bow, and whispered the small prayer Garrick once taught me a thank–you to the creature for feeding us, a promise to not waste it.

I dragged the deer across the snow–patched ground. My cloak snagged on branches, my arms burned, and the rope cut into my palms. The Montrose forest was quiet today, marked only by the wind and my own breath fogging against my hood.

When I reached the small wooden gate behind our home, I paused.

I tightened my hood, pulling it low over my brow.

Rowena Vespera hated seeing my face.

Calista and Corvin said it spoiled their appetite.

I didn’t know why, I didn’t understand what made them recoil. I didn’t possess mirrors–Rowena banned them from my sight, just in case I “got any ideas.”

But I learned to stop wondering.

The smell of iron clung to my hands as I walked into the kitchen, dragging the small boar behind me. I had already butchered it outside, washed the parts in the cold stream, and lined them neatly on the worn wooden table the way Rowena liked.

However, the moment she and her children turned their heads toward the meat, I saw their expressions fill with disappointment.

“Why is it so small?” Calista said, poking the meat with one long finger. “Honestly, Mina. Do you even try?”

“This won’t last until Christmas Eve,” Rowena murmured. “You shouldn’t eat, right? That should make it last a little longer.”

I pursed my lips and nodded before stepping back from the table. My hood slipped slightly as I moved, and I quickly tugged it lower

2/4

2:54 pm G GM M

Chapter 412 The Hidden Beauty

until my face was swallowed by shadow again.

“I’ll go to my room,” I murmured, still bowing my head.

+10 Free Coins

Rowena waved her hand dismissively. “Go on. We’ll cook. Try not to bring your presence back in here until dinner is done.”

“Alright,” I answered, starting to walk toward my room.

I overheard Calista whispering something under her breath. “Why is she like that, really? She’s so scary.”

My “room” was at the far end of the house, attached only to the walls. Garrick built it long ago when I had been too young to understand kindness. It wasn’t truly a room; it was just a narrow space with three wooden posts, a slanted roof, and thin curtains for walls. The wind pushed through them easily, cutting through the fragile barrier and chilling the small straw bed inside.

The others had real bedrooms in the house. Still, it was the one place where no one bothered to look at me.

I ducked inside, pushing the curtain aside. I sat down on my bed, hugging my knees as I listened to the muffled sounds of Rowena’s family within.

Suddenly, my stomach growled, hunger gnawing at my insides. Thankfully, I had something else.

I pulled a small cloth bundle from beneath a loose floorboard. Inside was a plump bird–alive, its wings tied loosely with vine. It flapped wildly now, startled by my movement.

“Shh,” I whispered gently.

The bird blinked at me with frightened eyes, flapping again. Its feathers brushed against my palms. I had caught it that morning, thinking I might need it if Rowena decided I didn’t deserve to eat.

I sighed, rubbing my thumb softly along the bird’s side.

“You were supposed to be dinner,” I said quietly. “But, maybe not today.”

It stared back at me.

“I know. I know,” I murmured. “It’s not fair, is it?”

It wasn’t the bird’s fault that Rowena hated me. It wasn’t its fault that Montrose was dying.

I unwrapped the vines binding its wings and let them fall to the floor.

But before I let it go, I reached beneath the straw bed again, this time pulling out a small piece of bread–the one I had stolen from the fridge yesterday, knowing this exact situation might arise. I hid food when I could. If Rowena caught me, she’d punish me, but hunger was punishment too, and much more familiar.

“Here,” I whispered, tearing off a corner of the bread.

The bird pecked at it quickly, chirping softly. It must have been starving too.

Once it had eaten enough, I gently cupped my hands beneath it and lifted it toward the open side of my small room.

The bird hesitated, then flapped its wings, free now, and flew into the fading sunlight. I watched until it disappeared beyond the

trees.

3/4

2:54 pm G GNN

Chapter 412 The Hidden Beauty

“So long,” I muttered.

+10 Free Coins

2:54 pm G GM M

Chapter 413 Dying Alone

Chapter 413 Dying Alone

ELIAS

+10 Free Coins

I watched as Arden welcomed her child into the world after the war finally came to an end. Tears of joy streamed down everyone’s faces at this moment. It was well–deserved after the turmoil we had endured over the past few months.

I was happy, too. Genuinely.

I was happy for them.

I stood at the edge of the room, arms folded, leaning against the wall as I took it all in. I didn’t really fit into picture–perfect moments like this, but I’d been present since the very beginning. I had observed them fall apart, fall in love, fall again, and somehow manage to claw their way back up. I had earned my spot in the corner.

I was a witness to the love story of these two.

Arden was laughing softly, brushing a tender kiss onto her baby’s forehead while Cade looked like he might combust from joy.

It was a good scene.

A peaceful scene.

Which is precisely why the universe decided to ruin it.

Calla, who had been sitting quietly, suddenly stilled. Her eyes glazed over, that eerie blankness swallowing her pupils until it looked like she was staring into a void that only she could see.

The room froze.

“What did you see, sweetheart?” Rowan asked, his voice tight with worry.

However, Calla didn’t look at him. Instead, her gaze drifted toward me.

My brows lifted. “What? What are you staring at? I don’t owe you candy today.”

She pointed her finger straight at my face.

“I saw Uncle…” she whispered.

Children were already terrifying. So, imagine this psychic child right here. The way she looked at me sent shivers creeping down my spine.

I grinned, lifting my chin. “Yeah? You saw me? What does your favorite uncle do in your vision? Save the world again? Become famous? Finally get a girlfriend?”

Her expression didn’t change.

“You died alone.”

The room fell in silence for a moment until Rowan decided to break it.

“That’s what you get!” he declared triumphantly, smacking my shoulder while laughing.

1/4

2:54 pm GGMM

Chapter 413 Dying Alone

+10 Free Coins

Iscowled. “For what?”

“That’s your karma,” Cade added, a chuckle escaping his lips.

“Wow,” I said, lifting both my hands in dramatic exasperation. “Amazing. It’s truly moving to see all of you exploit a sensitive man for your own entertainment.”

“Weak,” Rowan coughed, with a smirk.

“You’re all insensitive–every single one of you. This is a hate crime,” I muttered, rolling my eyes.

They kept teasing. I deflected every jab with sarcasm and every snicker with a dismissive roll of my eyes, but the truth was…

Yeah.

Calla’s words got to me.

They crawled under my skin and stayed there like an unwelcome guest.

My phone lit up inside my pocket.

“I have to take this.” I grabbed the phone and waved vaguely. “Mom’s calling. I probably need to head back.”

Rowan snorted. “Go. Before you start crying.”

I flashed him a grin and even managed a two–finger salute. “Congrats to both of you,” I said, nodding toward Cade and Arden. “Seriously.”

Then I turned around, and my grin vanished in the blink of an eye.

My mom actually didn’t call me.

The screen was blank. It was just me and the lie I told because admitting the truth would’ve gutted me right there in front of

everyone.

In truth, Calla’s vision wasn’t new.

It was exactly what had been told to me for years.

That my mate was gone.

Dead.

That I’d live my whole life without ever finding the other half of my soul.

It came from shamans, seers, whispering elders–people who claimed their magic was absolute. I believed it, swallowing it like poison, and allowing it to rot deep inside me. That was why I spent years being so serious at the Elite Order Academy. The moment I set foot in that place, I threw myself into my so–called Casanova era.

Why not? I didn’t have a mate, anyway.

I clicked my tongue in frustration as my phone buzzed unexpectedly.

I frowned and glanced down at the screen. This time, I recognized the caller–it was my mother.

2/4

2.30 pm

Chapter 413 Dying Alone

Tanswered immediately. “Yes?”

“Come home,” she said firmly.