The short-haired girl heard this and her face immediately darkened. She dared not oppose Suzuran's decision, but she angrily turned around and slammed the door as she left.

The boy called out her name and chased after her.

The long-haired girl stayed behind with Suzuran. She looked at Shinya, who was weakly lying in bed, her eyes full of sympathy.

“Suzuran, is there anything I can do to help?” she asked in a soft, gentle voice.

“Do you know what despair is?” Suzuran sat by the bed, gently cradling Shinya in her arms.

The long-haired girl shook her head. “I don’t know, and I’ve never experienced it.”

“I hope you never will.”

Suzuran’s voice was as soft as a whisper but was clearly heard by Tsuruga standing nearby.

What is despair? Tsuruga didn’t know. Even though he was exiled, he had never felt despair.

But Shinya knew.

For Shinya, despair was losing two people who meant everything to him—Irene and Aoshi—on the same day.

Shinya lost them forever.

The survivors of that massacre could not move on. Instead of feeling lucky to have survived, they questioned why they were spared and why their loved ones had to die.

For three days, Tsuruga had been trying to talk to Shinya. He told him, "You must pull yourself together. Your father wouldn’t want to see you like this." But his words had no effect.

Tsuruga thought Suzuran would say the same thing. However, Suzuran didn’t.

She held the despairing boy in her arms, letting him rest against her chest. She gently stroked his black hair and lowered her gaze to look at him, her eyes filled with tenderness and affection.

“Shinya, you don’t have to speak if you don’t want to. You don’t have to smile if you don’t feel like it. You don’t even have to try if you’re not ready. All I want is for you to promise me two things—eat well and sleep soundly. If you want to cry, cry as much as you want. No one will blame you. You’ve already done so well. Do you know that? You’ve always been my pride, Shinya.”

As she spoke, she loosened her embrace and cupped Shinya’s face with one hand.

“I’m sorry, Shinya. I shouldn’t have waited for the agreed time to pick you up. I should’ve come earlier to see you and taken you home. Please… forgive me…”

Suzuran was filled with guilt and remorse. As Anshu, the guardian of the Bloodwolf’s youngest member, she had agreed to let Aoshi take the then-thirteen-year-old Shinya away—a separation that lasted thirty years.

“I’m sorry, Shinya. I shouldn’t have let Aoshi take you, even during such ‘extraordinary times.’ If I had been stronger, if I had had the power to protect you back then…”

Suzuran choked on her words and couldn’t continue. She lowered her head, unconsciously leaning against Shinya.

After three days of silence, Shinya finally spoke his first word, “Suzuran?”

Hearing Shinya’s voice, Suzuran abruptly raised her head.

Large tears rolled down Shinya’s blank face. “Suzuran?”

Tears dripped from his chin, soaking his clothes. He kept repeating the name, as if it was the only word he knew.

“Suzuran? Suzuran?”

“Yes, it’s me, Suzuran.” Suzuran hurriedly reached out to gently caress his face, not even noticing that her own face was already wet with tears. “Silly child, I’m Suzuran. You remember me, don’t you?”

“Suzuran… Suzuran…”

Memories, like the tide, can recede and return.

Shinya thought he would never remember. He thought all goodbyes were final, with no chance of reunion.

***

That year, Shinya was thirteen years old. For humans, thirteen might already seem mature, but for werewolves, whose growth is slow, thirteen was the equivalent of a toddler needing constant care. At that age, he looked no older than a four-year-old human child, with a mental maturity to match.

Even though he didn’t fully grasp that he was standing at a turning point in his life, he could sense that what was about to happen wouldn’t be good.

Hiding by the door, he clearly overheard a conversation between a man and a woman inside.

“I’m taking him away. Tonight, we’ll leave Togekaze,” said the man, whose voice Shinya didn’t recognize.

“I don’t agree. I can’t entrust a child to a man,” Suzuran’s voice replied.

“Then do you have a better way? With your current power, you can’t protect him. He might not even survive until adulthood…” The man’s words were cut off by Suzuran.

“Escaping with a pureblood child is a capital offense. Neither of us would escape punishment.”

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“I’m not afraid. If the higher-ups come after us, just put all the blame on me.”

“But this way…”

“As long as he can live, I’m willing to pay any price,” the man said with calm but unwavering determination.

“But where will you take him?”

“To Twilight Harbor. There are some human merchant ships there. I’ll take him across the Black Jade Sea to the Asate continent.”

“The human world won’t be good for his growth.” Suzuran was still unconvinced.

“It’s better than losing his life. Please, Suzuran. He’s my child.” The man paused, then repeated with deep reverence, “My child.”

“Aoshi…” Suzuran seemed shaken.

Hearing this, Shinya could no longer stay silent. He realized that if he didn’t do something, he would be forcibly separated from Suzuran—a prospect he couldn’t bear.

He rushed in, clinging to Suzuran, his deep violet eyes brimming with tears.

“Suzuran, don’t send me away. I promise I’ll be good from now on. Please don’t send me away,” Shinya cried and pleaded. “I’m not afraid of their bullying. I’m not afraid of bleeding, getting hurt, or starving. Just let me stay with you, please.”

Suzuran didn’t respond to Shinya’s pleas. She remained silent for a long time before finally making a painful decision. “Aoshi, I’ll give you thirty years. Thirty years from today, I will personally go to the Asate continent to find you. I will make sure to bring Shinya home before he comes of age.”

Shinya’s last shred of hope was shattered.

“No, I don’t want this.” Shinya sat on the ground, heartbroken, unable to accept this reality. “I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to be apart from you, Suzuran.”

The man glanced at Shinya with pity but quickly regained his usual stern expression. “Fine, thirty years. I agree. But I ask one thing of you in return.”

“Say it.”

“In those thirty years, climb to the top of the hierarchy and eliminate all threats to him.”

Hearing this, Suzuran raised her eyebrows slightly.

“Can’t do it?” The man’s tone was skeptical, almost taunting.

Suzuran’s smile widened. “In thirty years, I can’t guarantee I’ll reach the position of ‘Matron.’ But clearing out the trash within Anshu? That I can handle.” She paused, her face turning serious. “But you know, this means I’ll have to put all the blame on you. Even if you aren’t caught in those thirty years, you’ll never…”

The man shook his head, signaling Suzuran to stop. “This place isn’t worth coming back to.”

Suzuran looked into his cold eyes and finally understood that there was nothing left there for him.

“Then go. From now on, you are an exile of Togekaze.”

After saying this, Suzuran knelt down, facing Shinya, who was tearfully distraught.

She patted Shinya’s head. “Shinya, say hello to your ‘father.’”

In the werewolf language, there was no word for “father.” Suzuran used the human word, its pronunciation foreign to Shinya.

Shinya didn’t understand the word “father,” nor its meaning.

He simply threw himself into Suzuran’s arms, clinging to her and refusing to let go.

Suzuran gently pulled him away. “Shinya, look at me.”

She cupped his face and gazed at him earnestly. Only when he stopped crying, and when his purple eyes reflected her face, did she finally speak.

“From today, you will forget all unhappy memories of Togekaze. You will also forget me. You will trust your ‘father,’ listen to his teachings, and be a good child.”

Young Shinya couldn’t look away from Suzuran’s enchanting eyes. He had no idea that he was already under her magic.

Shinya nodded blankly.

“Good boy, stand up.” Suzuran helped him up and led him to the man. “From today, he will take care of you. He is your father. His name is Aoshi.”

Shinya looked up, a little afraid, at the tall, cold-faced man before him. “Father? Aoshi?”

Aoshi knelt down and placed his large hand on Shinya’s head. For a moment, his frosty face softened, becoming warm and gentle.

“Shinya, nice to meet you. I am Aoshi, your father.”

***

After that parting, Suzuran’s name gradually faded from Shinya’s memory. He couldn’t even recall why he had been taken away from Togekaze.

It wasn’t until Suzuran appeared before him again that all the blocked memories flooded back into his mind.

His father had once said he would pay any price to keep him alive.

His father had kept his word. For that, he gave up his own life.

When the thirty-year agreement came to an end, Shinya followed the plan and returned with Suzuran to Togekaze—his true homeland, his real home—the kingdom of werewolves.

But the homeland brought him no comfort. Everything here felt so foreign.

After losing Aoshi and Irene, it took Shinya a long time to learn how to speak again, to talk like a normal person. It took him even longer to make friends with his peers.

During this period, to mend Shinya’s broken heart, Suzuran once again used magic on him. This type of magic could alter a person’s perception to some extent, even influence memories. However, it only worked if the person fully trusted the caster.

This “benevolent lie” blurred Shinya’s memories of the massacre, dulled the pain, and even erased some cruel details. He only remembered that his father had sacrificed himself during the massacre, and another beloved person had left him during their escape.

Years later, Shinya knew Suzuran’s magic was still affecting him. Yet he chose to believe he now had enough courage to face his father’s death and Irene’s disappearance. That’s why he decided to accept the priest’s mission—to deliver the tainted Moonstone to the Dawn Prayers, returning to the place that once shattered his heart.

Unfortunately, he had overestimated his own strength.

When the demon’s mace smashed into his father’s face, Suzuran’s “benevolent lie” shattered alongside it. His once-healed heart was crushed into dust.

It felt as if he had been transported back to those years ago, back to being a boy devastated by despair.

The pouring rain had already soaked him to the bone, and everything around him was as cold as an ice cavern.

Amid the thunder and lightning, the torrential rain, he seemed to hear a familiar voice calling his name.

“…Shinya, no, you don't have to watch this anymore.”

“Why didn’t I… realize it sooner…”

“Please, say something. Even if it's to call me an idiot, just don't stay silent.”

The warmth of her forehead against his skin startled Shinya. Her body was so warm.

That warmth flowed through his entire body, dispelling all the cold and darkness, making him unconsciously crave more—he wanted to be closer.

He reached out and tightly embraced her until the rain could no longer seep between them, until she began to struggle from how hard he was holding her.

“Shinya… you’re hurting me…”

Shinya didn’t apologize, nor did he loosen his grip.

“Say you won’t leave me.”

Nicole, feeling like she was about to suffocate, had no choice but to agree. “I won’t leave you… so can you loosen up a bit?”

Shinya eased his strength but still didn’t let Nicole leave his embrace.

The rain continued to pour, and the memories replayed relentlessly in his mind.

The demon had already discarded his father’s corpse and turned to torment the dying Enslaved Fiend. It grabbed the fiend by the neck, effortlessly lifting it into the air.

Shinya knew that if the Enslaved Fiend hadn’t held back when it attacked his father, he, Irene, and Aoshi might all have died that day. In other words, the fiend’s actions might have saved him and Irene’s lives.

But Shinya didn’t feel grateful. He loathed all creatures of darkness and hated everything connected to demons.

The seeds of revenge, once dulled by Suzuran’s magic, quietly revived in the freezing rain. They took root in his shattered heart, silently sprouting and growing.

And along with them, something else seemed to awaken.

Nicole, facing away from the scene, was unaware of the commotion behind her.

But Shinya saw it all.

A withered, decayed hand emerged from the muddy ground. Then another. And another…

There were over twenty in total.

Shinya watched the sudden turn of events without flinching. His face remained as calm as ever, but the storm in his purple eyes betrayed the turmoil within.