The next day, I went to the jewelry store to pick a return gift for Ebony's bracelet.

I remembered that Ebony's beast form was a black snake with green pupils, so I picked a pair of snake-shaped cufflinks with emerald eyes.

Even now, I thought to myself that since the Serpentskins had money and influence in space, what was there to be upset about?

After I had paid and started to leave, I heard someone exclaiming in exaggerated surprise, "See, Sirius? Winnie's such a tsundere—she had refused your slave mark just yesterday, and now, she's buying you such an expensive present. I really lack her cunningness…"

I turned to see Lola snuggling in Sirius's arms, while he was grinning gleefully at me. "And here I thought you were a strong, independent woman! But you'll really do anything so that you don't have to marry a rogue, will you?"

That was when I remembered that it was Sirius's birthday, and they presumed I was buying a gift for Sirius.

He snorted in disdain when he saw the cufflinks I was holding. "Anyway, those are hideous, and I don't like them. Get me a pair of wolven ones instead!"

I frowned as I corrected him, "These are for my fiance, not you."

Sirius laughed coolly as if I had just told him a joke. "Quit being so pigheaded already—you're almost twenty-five! Who would willingly marry an old hag like you?! So stop playing hard to get, or I won't mark you as my slave."

That was when Lola's eyes twinkled as she turned to the store next door, pointing and exclaiming, "Look, Sirius! You can brand her at the slavers' hub. I really can't bear seeing her constantly worrying about her future, so let's just do her a favor and mark her now."

"Oh, Lola… you're too kind for your own good." Sirius sighed, tapping the tip of Lola's nose before wheeling on me haughtily and snapping, "Well? Get moving!"

He even leered at me as if he were bestowing me a great gift and left before I could say a word.

Right in the middle was a huge fire pot filled with burning coals and rows of branding irons with the worst profanities described.

That was when we saw a slaver was pressed down with a red-hot branding iron on his back. Even the strongest beastfolk would scream shrilly because of the pain despite his sheer muscular bulk.

Even Sirius cringed, but he said nothing as Lola told a bodyguard to drag me inside.

At that moment, I realized that the same Sirius, who had doted on me and protected me from any harm, was nothing more than an illusion.

As for Lola, she was grinning at me in malice while clinging to me with a vice-like grip, her usually delicate mannerisms suddenly vaporized. "It's alright, Winnie—I'll get you something real nice!"

She looked around the hub and found one with the word 'whore' on it.

Giggling, she picked it up as she hopped toward me, exclaiming, "This one suits you best, Winnie!"

That was when I struggled to get rid of the bodyguard's hand, but even before I could touch Lola, she fell backward, as if I had pushed her.

She dropped the branding iron. A spark brushed against her hand but didn't even leave a mark.

However, Lola quickly covered the back of her hand, her tears instantly overflowing as she wailed, "You didn't want to marry a rogue, and I'm just trying to help you, Winnie! But you burned me instead!"

Even before I could react, Sirius rushed toward her, knocking me toward the fire pot.

I lost my balance, and my palms pressed over a chunk of coal.

The agony struck instantly, as the scalding sensation on my palm engulfed me from head to toe, and I couldn't even breathe.

Smack!

But as I lifted my hands, Sirius slapped me viciously across the face!

Glaring at me in disgust, he bellowed, "You're such a vile woman! Lola kept vouching for you, but you'd do this to her?! Apologize to Lola right now!"

I stared at my bloodied palm and suddenly laughed out loud.

Sirius's heart tightened inexplicably, and a trace of panic showed on his face. "Why are you laughing?"

I shrugged, not about to tell him that I was laughing at my own stupidity—for giving myself so much grief, just so that I could retain the shallow affection of my parents and Sirius.

Every time Lola played the delicate maiden, they would believe everything Lola said without question, even if I was my parents' real daughter and Sirius's childhood sweetheart.

And she kept going, giving the impression that I was a wicked villainess who kept hurting my sister and taking away everything that was rightfully hers.

I clenched my fists so hard that my nails dug into my palms and looked up at Sirius with reddened eyes. "No, I won't apologize—I've done nothing wrong."

Sirius's eyes widened, clearly stung by my defiance.

"Sirius…" Lola suddenly sobbed. "My hand hurts so much…"

Sirius promptly turned without hesitation and gathered her in his arms.

Unironically fearing that Lola would feel cold in a room with a giant fire pot, he even ran to his car, grabbed a fox fur coat, and wrapped it tightly around her.

My heart could break when I saw the fox fur coat, because it was fashioned out of my eight tails.

As a nine-tailed foxkin, each of my tails was the embodiment of each one of nine lives.

But because Lola didn't mind dying just to ruin my life, she had successfully goaded Sirius into forcing me to tear off my own tails.

She didn't stop there either—the day when Lola won the Elixir Challenge with my work, she said that she was cold, and Sirius pulled out that same fox fur coat to celebrate her victory.

Naturally, Lola noticed where I was looking and smiled smugly as she stroked the fox fur on her coat, while pressing herself in Sirius's arms and complaining about the pain.

Any hint of empathy faded from Sirius's eyes instantly, and he wheeled on me in disgust as he growled coldly, "You're not setting a foot in my house until you kneel and apologize to Lola! Let's see how long you can keep up that stubborn streak!"

I smirked in contempt—he was going to be disappointed, because I was going to marry the future head of the Serpentkins in just two days.

Suddenly, a car came hurtling toward us, clearly out of control.

Sirius quickly transformed into his wolf form, grabbed Lola, and leaped away.

The Lycans had always been famous for their strength and speed, after all.

Still, by accident or otherwise, he knocked me to the ground, close to the car.

I felt a sharp pain in my leg—a sprain—and closed my eyes in despair as the car continued streaking toward me.

But at the very last moment, I felt myself gathered into a warm embrace, as a man in a leather mask scooped me up in his arms, carrying me to safety far quicker than Sirius did with Lola.

When I opened my eyes, I found myself staring into a gaze with a subdued emerald sheen and quickly remembered the green-eyed snake cufflinks.

Still, the man quickly put me on a bench across the street and disappeared before I could speak.

As I reached into my pocket before I knew it, I found a box of burn ointment in it.

I looked at Sirius, who was doting and comforting Lola at the other end of the street, and smirked.

I took his engagement ring from my bag right then and threw it down a ditch without hesitation.

-

Two days later, I was dressed in the bridal gown sent by the Serpentkins, dazed even as I looked around at the room full of priceless wedding gifts.

That was when my parents hesitantly approached me again, asking me not to expose Lola's theft in public, insisting that it was a misunderstanding and that I should be more understanding.

What last hopes I held for them vaporized instantly.

I kept coming up with excuses to forgive them for not giving me anything for my wedding—the worst of it being that they had simply forgotten.

Ironically, they remembered to demand more favors for their favorite daughter.

"Absolutely not!" I snapped right then. "If you insist, then I will refuse to marry. It's either that, or you can bet against the Serpentkins' tenacity."

My parents were left seething, just as thunderous cheers resounded downstairs.

I headed down and found Sirius lounging in the main seat of the parlor, holding the same branding iron from two days ago.

"Come on, Winnie," he chuckled sinisterly. "You still have thirty minutes before the bureau matches you with a rogue. Bow to Lola 1,800 times within these thirty minutes, and I'll brand you my slave, despite my misgivings—"

He paused, cutting himself short when he saw me in my bridal gown and frowned as he growled, "What are you wearing?! Are you trying to steal Lola's thunder again?!"

I looked at him coldly in turn. "I'm about to marry someone else… But I don't remember inviting you."

"Hah!" Sirius snorted. "Now's really not the time to be stubborn, y'know—see? Just talking has cost you two minutes, and that's 3,600 bows now. You'd better think fast… but if you still refuse, I don't mind using force!"

He snapped his fingers, and several of his lackeys stepped forward, ready to shred my clothes in public and force me to bow.

I reeled from the many hands reaching for me, snapping, "Stop! I'm getting marked today—"

"Come on, hurt my wife! Just try it!"

That was when a laugh thundered in the parlor behind me, as a tall man entered and walked up to my side.