Chapter 162

• Rosalina's POV
• ​I took an entire seven-day compassionate leave from the office, shutting off my work phone and completely severing all outside ties with the city. Following the ancient traditions of our pack after a matriarch's death, I spent the majority of that heart-wrenching week isolating myself inside my old childhood bedroom, letting the quiet walls absorb the bitter waves of my sorrow.
• ​When the sacred seventh day finally arrived, the traditional Seventh-Day Return when the spirit of the deceased is believed to visit their earthly home one final time before crossing over the Moon Goddess's threshold, I woke up at the crack of dawn and headed straight downstairs into the main kitchen.