Chapter 3

My sister was in a pitiful state, kneeling amidst the ruins.

Her clothes were tattered, scorched by the flames.

Her spirit snake was nowhere to be seen.

Amidst the crumbled walls, her face was a mask of despair. Her hands pressed against the ground as she murmured to herself, "Impossible… why her? Why not me?"

"If you hurry, the spirit snake shouldn’t be far. You can still retrieve it," I offered kindly.

Her eyes turned bloodshot, blazing with fury as if she wanted to drink my blood and tear my flesh. "How dare you come here to mock me!"

Her voice grew shriller with every word. "There’s no way the spirit snake refused my contract—this must be your doing!"

"You’re crazy. Trying to form a contract right after meeting it?"

A mount wasn’t a mere tool to be manipulated at will. Without a foundation of trust, how could it possibly open its spiritual sense to her?

"It’s all your fault!" she shrieked, her madness intensifying. She lunged at me, hands reaching for my throat.

I silently summoned an icy barrier, watching her approach with cold detachment.

I was a realm above her. If she so much as touched my barrier, sharp ice spikes would pierce her, leaving her bloodied.

In the next instant, my sister was sent flying by a headbutt to her stomach, courtesy of the spirit tiger.

Even as a juvenile beast, the spirit tiger’s physical strength was formidable.

Crack—

The sound of her bones breaking was unmistakable. She collapsed to the ground, coughing up blood in waves.

The spirit tiger stood triumphantly, one paw pressing on her stomach. "I can’t stand vile creatures like you."

"My servant is mine alone to bully!"

"Elena!" My father rushed over, his face filled with concern as he looked at my sister sprawled on the ground. Not daring to offend the spirit tiger, he instead directed his fury at me, raising a hand to strike.

"You let your mount attack your sister?!"

There was no time to explain.

When his palm struck, it collided with my barrier instead.

A muffled noise echoed as the barrier shattered.

"Ah!" My father cried out, his hand dripping with blood. A biting cold seeped through his hand from the wound.

"She attacked first," I replied slowly, unsurprised by his blatant favoritism.

"Excuses!" he roared, both angry and flustered. "Disrespectful to your sister, unfilial to your father—this is how I raised you?"

Biting his fingertip, my father drew a formation in the air. From its center emerged a Cerberus, imposing and majestic, its body wreathed in hellfire.

The fully-grown beast stood as tall as a man, every strand of fur ablaze in purple-blue flames. The air around us grew suffocatingly hot.

"I’ll say it one more time—apologize to your sister!"

The spirit tiger quickly retreated, its small frame positioning itself as a shield in front of me. It growled protectively, "Awoo! Awoo!"

Watching the tiny figure standing its ground for my sake, I suddenly felt a strange sense of peace.

In my past life, I had spent every waking moment chasing my father’s approval. I couldn’t swallow my resentment or understand why he favored her so blatantly when we were both his children.

But now I understood. Love and hate couldn’t be forced. Some things were dictated by fate. Affection was unreasonable, and so was disdain.

There was no point in wasting effort on those who didn’t deserve it.

I decided I would cherish the small kindnesses others showed me.

As years of bitterness unraveled in my heart, the realm I had been stuck in for so long began to loosen, showing signs of a breakthrough.

The Cerberus glanced at the tiny spirit tiger before it, seemingly disinclined to fight. With a lazy yawn, it lay down, resting its three heads on its paws. Each head spoke in turn.

"The cub is still young, just being playful."

"But we’ve already made an appearance."

"Shouldn’t we at least make a gesture?"

"You do it."

"No, you do it."

"How could I bring myself to hurt such a small cub?"

...

The three heads debated for a while.

Finally, the middle head reluctantly opened its mouth and let out a small flame.

The feeble blue flame crawled forward sluggishly, extinguishing into smoke long before it reached the spirit tiger.

The Cerberus yawned again, considering its duty fulfilled.

My father’s face turned a mix of red and white, but there was nothing he could do. The era of commanding mounts with human authority had long passed.

"Father…" Elena whimpered, curled up on the ground, blood still trickling from the corner of her lips.

It was as if a bell struck his senses. He immediately crouched down, half-lifting her as he fed her a healing pill.

I stepped forward and scooped up my spirit tiger.

Startled by the sudden lift, the spirit tiger flailed its paws in the air. "What are you doing? Put me down!"