I simply hadn't anticipated that Sera's life would be so drastically destabilized by this intervention.

Originally, she should have enjoyed a perfectly secure, peaceful upbringing within that wealthy household until she turned eighteen, just as I had.

But now, with Chloe's premature return, her circumstances had naturally become immensely perilous and difficult.

15

My dark forebodings proved entirely accurate.

Following that fateful evening, Sera was routinely driven out of the house by Chloe's relentless bullying.

On numerous occasions, even as the clock ticked past half past nine, I would still spot her sitting entirely isolated on the cold concrete edge of the flowerbed.

Sometimes, Christian would emerge into the night to search for her.

Other times, I would simply take her by the hand and guide her back into the warmth of our home.

And after I intervened to assist Sera a handful of times.

Chloe successfully redirected the entire venomous focus of her malice straight toward me.

On yet another rainy twilight, beholding Sera shivering violently on a park bench from the biting chill, I had no choice but to grab her and pull her along with me.

Unexpectedly, we collided head-on with Chloe, who materialized out of nowhere.

She glared fiercely at Sera, her small face contorted with a vicious rage.

"Splendid! I was wondering how you managed to survive perfectly fine every single time. It turns out you have a pathetic little accomplice!"

I leveled a freezing gaze directly at her.

"It is pouring rain outside. Are you completely blind?"

"So what if it's raining? She ruined my drawing, so she deserves to be punished!"

Sera shook her head in a frantic panic.

"I didn't ruin it! You clearly tore it to shreds yourself!"

"Who cares? If I say you ruined it, then you ruined it!"

Chloe's face was flush with an insufferable arrogance, her spoiled, tyrannical nature fully laid bare in that very instant.

Subsequently, she swept her eyes up and down my form in a slow, calculating assessment.

"I heard the two of you crawled out of the exact same orphanage. Unsurprisingly, both of you reek of the exact same disgusting stench."

As she spoke, she even mimed a wave of her hand in front of her nose, feigning an expression of deep revulsion.

The glowing descriptors his mother had used to paint Chloe's early years flashed through my mind once more.

Soft and sweet?

Gentle and obedient?

This display was truly an eye-opening revelation for me.

The mother's delusion was thick enough to rival a fortress wall.

I had absolutely zero intention of tolerating her behavior.

"I heard you were trafficked to the countryside for a whole year? You must have taken quite a few brutal beatings there. Did they force you to live in a filthy cowshed? Because the stench radiating off your own body is incredibly foul."

Chloe's face instantly shifted color, and she practically leapt into the air with fury.

"What did you just say?!"

"You heard me perfectly clear the first time."

Her features twisted in a monstrous rage as she violently lunged forward, delivering a sharp, resounding slap right across my face.

This time.

I had fully experienced the explosive, unhinged temper of this little brat.

By the exact same token, it was high time she experienced mine.

Snap!

With a completely expressionless face, I whipped my hand up and delivered a ferocious slap right back across her cheek without a moment's delay.

The impact left Chloe entirely thunderstruck.

This young lady had clearly grown accustomed to ruling over her household like a tyrant, trampling over everyone in her path.

Absolutely no one had ever dared to treat her with such defiance.

Consequently, several long seconds ticked by before her brain fully registered the reality that she had just been struck.

Her eyes stretched wide, bulging like brass bells.

"You actually dare to hit me?!"

"Why on earth wouldn't I dare?"

"Ahhh!!!"

Chloe erupted into a frenzied, foot-stamping rage, unleashing a piercing, blood-curdling shriek.

In the very next instant, the two of us dissolved into a chaotic, physical brawl.

The spectacle left a nearby Sera completely paralyzed with absolute terror.

Though I was hardly a seasoned street fighter, I possessed the invaluable advantage of a reincarnated soul.

I knew exactly where a young girl's physical vulnerabilities lay.

I clamped my fingers into Chloe's hair with a death grip, pulling with all my might until she began to howl and screech in agonizing pain.

Within a mere handful of exchanges, she found herself completely overpowered and pinned down.

Chloe's eyes looked ready to burst with venomous hatred, but despite being thoroughly bested by me, her stubborn pride refused to concede defeat.

Scrambling up from the dirt, she glared at me with a murderous intensity.

While simultaneously tapping into her smartwatch to dial Christian's number.

"Christian! Get over here right now! This instant! Hurry!"

I pushed myself up from the ground as well, throwing a mocking, freezing smirk right back at her.

Oh, so we're calling for backup now?

As if she was the only one with an older brother.

Without missing a beat, I placed a swift call to Julian as well.

Barely five minutes passed before Julian and Christian materialized on the scene at the exact same moment.

Beholding the sight of my hair and Chloe's looking like absolute bird's nests, contrasted with a thoroughly traumatized Sera shivering on the sidelines.

For a brief moment, neither of the boys could fully comprehend the madness that had unfolded.

"Christian!"

Sensing that her protector had arrived, Chloe sprinted to Christian's side, her voice cracking with forced, theatrical tears.

"Clara beat me up! You have to avenge me right now! I swear I am going to beat her to death today!"

The reality of the situation finally clicked for the two newcomers.

Upon hearing her venomous declaration, Julian's face darkened instantly into a terrifying expression.

With a deeply solemn countenance, he conducted a thorough, frantic inspection of my entire body from head to toe.

Only after ensuring that I wasn't bleeding from any visible wounds and that no massive lumps had formed on my head did he snap his head around, his voice dropping into a freezing tone:

"Chloe, are you completely unhinged? If you're suffering from a mental affliction, go check yourself into a hospital instead of throwing a manic tantrum out here."

Hearing Julian insult her so bluntly, Chloe's nose nearly twisted out of joint from sheer fury.

"You're the one who is unhinged! Your entire family is psycho! She was clearly the one who initiated the violence!"

Julian let out a sharp, disdainful grunt:

"So what if she struck you first? I don't believe for a single second that Clara would ever lay a hand on you without an incredibly damn good reason."

"If you hadn't been constantly terrorizing Sera, throwing her out into the cold night with absolutely nowhere to go, do you really think Clara would have ever deigned to touch you?"

"You had better curb your insufferable arrogance. Keep this up, and you might just find yourself trafficked all over again one day."

Christian could no longer endure the verbal assault, cutting in with a sharp, warning bark:

"Julian, you are crossing the line with your words."

"I'm crossing the line? Why don't you direct that criticism toward your own sister's abhorrent behavior? Throwing someone out of the house day in and day out. If this was how you intended to treat her, you should never have adopted her in the first place!"

Christian offered no further defense. Instead, he reached down to firmly take Chloe by the arm.

"It's raining. Let's go back inside."

Chloe stared at her brother in absolute disbelief, unable to comprehend how he could simply dismiss the entire matter so lightly and order her to retreat.

"I won't! Why should we leave?! Clara just slapped me! You get over there and slap her back right now!"

Christian's brows knit together tightly. Facing this violently unreasonable, tyrannical biological sister, a flicker of genuine displeasure finally rippled across his features.

"If you refuse to return, Sera and I are leaving without you."

Beholding the two of them actually turning to walk away.

Chloe began stomping her feet in a wild frenzy on the spot, looking as though she wanted to shatter the very pavement beneath her shoes.

After taking a few strides into the gloom, Christian abruptly halted his footsteps.

"Julian, does your sister still suffer from frequent nosebleeds?"

Julian looked completely bewildered by the bizarre question, turning his head to query me:

"When on earth have you ever had a nosebleed? How come I've never heard about this?"

I shook my head calmly.

"I have never had a single nosebleed in my life."

The bright yellow glow of the streetlamp illuminated the sharp contours of Christian's face.

He pressed his lips into a tight, thin line, training a deeply contemplative, searching gaze upon me for a long, silent moment.

After a protracted pause.