Cassandra kept a proper little smile on her face, but the jealousy in her eyes gave her away.

"Hilda's always been the lucky one. That top-tier wolf king looks strong just standing there. My Vermilion Phoenix isn't much of a fighter, after all."

Same trick as always. Whenever Cassandra wanted something, she never asked straight out. She talked in circles, then let Mom and Dad step in and put the pressure on me.

And right on cue, the moment she said it, they took her side.

"Hildegarde, show a little sense. Your sister summoned that beast. If she has two top-tier beasts she can win the arena matches, and this family's life will only get better and better."

Neither of them had a refresh left, and here they were, trying to take mine with a straight face.

In my last life this was the favoritism I refused to swallow. The world was already falling apart, and the two of them still wanted to force me to give up everything for Cassandra.

So last time I did the opposite of what they wanted. I bonded the ice wolf fast, and they cursed me over it for days.

"Fine."

Dad, who'd been getting ready to back Mom up, froze. Clearly he hadn't expected me to fall in line before he even had to push.

"If my sister wants him, she can have him."

I walked over to Cassandra, took her hand, and got ready to transfer my ice wolf to her.

Maybe he could hear us. On the screen in the wristband, the ice wolf went wild, howling without stop.

"See, Cassie? He likes you so much he's jumping around, happy just to know he's bonding with you."

Cassandra noticed the screen too and lifted her chin, pleased with herself.

The transfer was quick. In a few seconds she'd bonded the ice wolf.

I let out a long breath. My old partner from the last life. However well the two of us used to fight together, he'd betrayed me. I didn't want him.

The instant the bond formed, the ice wolf leapt out of Cassandra's wristband, and the moment his feet hit the ground he changed into human form.

He didn't spare Cassandra a single glance. He walked straight up to me, grabbed my hand, and demanded through a frown,

"Hildegarde, why won't you bond with me? Why are you giving me away?"

That was all it took for me to understand. This wolf had come back with his memories too.

I gave a cold little laugh and threw off his hand.

"Frostgale, you actually have the nerve to ask me? You betrayed me. Why would I choose you again? So you can kill me a second time?"

He rushed to explain.

"It wasn't like that. Cassie needed that win. The reward from that match could cure her heart condition."

Yes, Cassandra had a heart condition. But that heart condition was a lie she'd told to compete for Mom and Dad's affection at home.

I was the one who'd actually taken a grave wound protecting Frostgale, one that left lasting damage. That reward was really my lifesaving medicine.

But so Cassandra could have that victory all to herself, once the enemy was dead he'd walked me by the hand straight into the harm array the enemy had left behind, and taken us both to a mutual death.

"So, since you can't stop thinking about her, this time I'll grant your wish. I'm sending you to her side. What else could you possibly have to complain about?"

Cassandra and my parents stood watching us argue, lost, unable to work out how the two of us even knew each other.

"I had no idea you and Frostgale already knew each other, Hilda. If I'd known, I'd never have taken what was yours."

Cassandra's face was all guilt, though she'd already started hating me inside.

I rolled my eyes.

"Please, don't. You two are already bonded. Locked together for life."

Frostgale still wouldn't let it go.

"Who's going to look after you without me? Who's going to protect you in the arena?"

I turned and scanned the room, found my target, and pointed at the doghouse without a second thought.

"Him. I've made up my mind. I'm bonding Shadow as my partner."

Shadow was the stray I'd picked up a while back. Right now he was curled up in his little doghouse, fast asleep.

"A dog? Hilda, have you lost your mind?"

It was exactly what Cassandra and my parents wanted to say too.

"What's wrong with a dog? At least a dog is loyal. Not like certain ungrateful mutts who bite the hand that feeds them the moment an outsider comes along, no matter how well you treated them."

Frostgale had nothing to say to that, but he still thought I was joking.

I ignored him, walked straight over to Shadow's doghouse, crouched down, and raised my wristband to scan.

"Bonding standards met. Do you wish to bond?"

The prompt caught me off guard. Bonding Shadow had been a spur-of-the-moment idea. I hadn't expected that animals in this world could be bonded at all.

I glanced back at Frostgale. He was still certain the bond would fail. After all, no one would turn down a powerful beastman for a weak household pet.

The next second I tapped bond without hesitation, and the wristband confirmed it. Shadow and I were bonded, the connection established.

"Hildegarde, you'd really rather have a dog than me?"

Frostgale looked wounded, but I didn't have a second to spare for him. I opened Shadow's detailed stats.

Every number was terrible, just as I'd expected. Next to Frostgale's impressive figures, Shadow's were painful to look at.

"Hilda, stop trying to prove a point. Let me give Frostgale back to you. That stray is far too weak. How could he ever protect you?"

"Sure."

I agreed just like that, and Cassandra froze, stunned that I'd actually say yes.

Frostgale, on the other hand, lit up, his joy plain on his face.

My parents frowned and launched straight into scolding me for being difficult.

Looking at the way each of them reacted, I smiled.

"Even if you give him back, I'll just toss him out to live as a stray beastman. Do whatever you want."

With that, I wanted nothing more to do with the mess. I scooped up Shadow and went back to my room.

Shadow was a stray dog I'd picked up off the roadside a few days before the arena descended.

Last life, the moment I bonded Frostgale I threw myself headfirst into the arena matches. I never had time to pay attention to Shadow, and I never even knew when he wandered off and was lost.

"This time it's just the two of us, and we'll get by together. I'm not going to fight the arena to the death the way I did last time. As long as I can keep both of us in enough supplies to survive, that's enough."

Last life, Cassandra used the excuse that her Vermilion Phoenix wasn't strong enough in combat, and she kept prodding Mom and Dad to pressure me. So I took Frostgale into match after match, and every reward I won went first to Cassandra.

She enjoyed everything I'd won with my life without a shred of guilt. I even begged her once to let her Vermilion Phoenix back me up in a two-person match. More rewards, and a little more safety for me. But she wouldn't do it, no matter what.

What I never saw coming was that Frostgale, who'd gone through life and death at my side, somehow shifted his heart to her too, and I threw away my life for nothing.

Shadow padded up to me and nuzzled my palm with his head.

Then a prompt appeared on my wristband.

"Hidden skill: Fate-Defying Rename. Rename your beastman on the stats page and he will gain the full divine power of that name."

"Nice work, Shadow. Full of surprises, aren't you!"

With a skill like that in hand, it wouldn't matter how weak his base skills were.

A few days later, I decided to take Shadow into the arena for a match, just to sync up.

Cassandra, under the pretty banner of caring about me, brought two beastmen to watch.

The second she walked in, two top-tier beastmen at her sides, Cassandra was the center of attention.

I drew plenty of eyes too, because there was no beastman beside me, just one little black dog.

Frostgale spotted me in the ready zone and, ignoring Cassandra's fury, ran over to me.

"Hildegarde, what are you doing? You're going up on that stage with nothing but this dog? Are you sick of living? Don't worry, this life I won't let you get hurt again. I can go up on the stage and win rewards for you. You don't have to push yourself like this anymore."

"Win rewards for me? Frostgale, what standing do you have to say any of this to me? You're not my beastman anymore. Move. You're blocking my way onto the stage."

I stepped around Frostgale. This was my first time on the stage with Shadow, and the match was against some low-level monsters. As the challenge points climbed higher, the monsters would only get stronger.

Last life, the first time I went up with Frostgale, I ran into this same octopus monster. The fight ended fast, but at the very last moment the octopus played dead and loosed a poison dart at the careless Frostgale. I took that dart for him.

The poison wasn't fatal, but traces of it stayed inside me ever after, and when it flared up the agony was beyond words.

Even after I shielded him like that, he clung to a lie, blocked me from getting the reward that would have healed me, and then wanted me dead.

I laughed at myself. Across from me the octopus monster was already gearing up to attack. Calmly, unhurried, I called out the name I'd given Shadow before we came up.

"Havoc."

Up in the stands, Cassandra smirked.

"She doesn't actually think giving a dog some divine-beast name will make it strong, does she?"

The next moment, Cassandra's eyes went wide.

There was no stray dog beside me anymore. In its place stood a tall man who carried an air of authority all his own.