In life, you will always have enemies, whether you are good or bad. You will meet people who will hate you because you have hair. You will meet people who will appreciate your kindness. You will meet people who are so stupid that common sense was the same as air to them.

That was why it was best to always focus on yourself, make mistakes, fail, push, try again, do it better, and live happily.

Though someone thought otherwise.

"Just why does it have to be him?! Couldn’t she have chosen someone better?! Now who would continue the damn line?!" A red-haired fox man in black and white sect clothes, raged at the people gathered around him. They were all foxes, but he looked to be the leader there.

Looking at his appearance, one would notice him in an instant. Red hair, fox-kin, red eyes, unfairly handsome; a Kurama.

Rexi Kurama... to be precise.

And he was talking about no one but Bahamut. He couldn’t understand just why Lily chose him as his mate. In some way, he was right to care and even rage about it, because they were obviously family. But anyone who knew Rexi knew why he was truly angry. Beast-kin culture was different from other racial cultures, and one thing allowed was inter-mating. Thus, right in the family. That was how they always had pure-blood descendants. Lily choosing Bahamut as her mate wasn’t entirely wrong, but it wasn’t good either, since Bahamut wasn’t a fox.

And as for Rexi, well, let’s say, he felt something for... no, he loved Lily. He had thought she would end up with him despite all preparations, but no. She had fallen for Bahamut, and that didn’t sit well with him.

Rexi’s chest rose and fell violently, his nails digging into his palms as his breathing turned ragged. The air around him felt suffocating, thick with a heat that had nothing to do with the sun above.

Silence stretched across the gathering.

The other fox-kin stood still, their eyes flickering between one another, but none dared to interrupt him. They all knew that look. That look wasn’t just anger.

It was an obsession. It was madness.

"Do you all think this is a joke?" Rexi’s voice dropped suddenly, low and dangerous, sending a chill through the group. "Do you think this is just some childish... affection that will pass?"

No one answered.

One of the older fox-kin, a woman with silver-tipped ears and calm golden eyes, finally stepped forward.

"Rexi," she said carefully, "Lily has made her choice. Whether we agree or not, the bond..."

"Don’t!" Rexi snapped, his head whipping toward her, eyes blazing. "Don’t talk to me about bonds!"

His aura flared violently, a ripple of invisible pressure spreading outward, forcing a few of the weaker ones to take a step back.

"That thing she has with him... is not a bond. It’s a mistake."

His voice cracked slightly at the end, but he forced it down, swallowing whatever fragile emotion had slipped through.

A mistake.

That was what he needed it to be.

Because if it wasn’t... then everything he had believed in would crumble.

"I grew up with her," he continued, quieter now, but far more intense. "I know her habits, her thoughts, her expressions. I know what makes her laugh, what makes her angry... I know her."

His hands trembled.

"And you expect me to believe that she would choose... him?"

That word came out like poison.

Him.

A human.

A stranger.

An outsider.

Rexi’s lips curled.

"He appeared out of nowhere. No lineage, no roots, no past that anyone can trace clearly... and suddenly he’s at the center of everything."

His eyes darkened.

"Her attention. The sect’s attention. Even the elders are watching him closely."

The silver-eared woman frowned slightly. "That only proves he is extraordinary."

"Extraordinary?" Rexi let out a sharp, humorless laugh. "You call that thing extraordinary?"

His gaze turned distant for a moment, recalling what he had heard.

The massacre. The way Bahamut had torn people apart. The way he had eaten them.

Rexi’s expression twisted.

"That is not extraordinary. That is a monster."

The word hung in the air like a verdict.

"And you want Lily... a Kurama... to bind herself to that?"

No one spoke.

Because deep down, some of them... agreed, but none of them dared say it aloud. Rexi took a step forward, his voice lowering again, becoming calmer... too calm.

"The fox curse..."

At those words, everyone stiffened.

The ancient law.

The eternal bond.

A fox only truly bonds once, and when they do... it is forever.

No betrayal. No second chances.

No escape.

"If she fully binds herself to him..." Rexi continued, his eyes narrowing, "Then that’s it."

His fists clenched.

"She will be tied to him for eternity."

The word eternity felt heavier than anything else he had said.

Because for beings like them...

Eternity was not a blessing.

It was a chain.

"And I refuse..." his voice dropped into a whisper, but it carried more weight than his earlier rage, "to watch her throw herself into the arms of a monster."

The ground beneath his feet cracked slightly.

His decision had already been made.

The others could feel it.

"Rexi..." The silver-eared woman’s tone turned serious now. "Whatever you are thinking... don’t. This is the Shadow Fang Sect. You cannot just..."

"I won’t act recklessly."

He cut her off smoothly. That alone made her uneasy.

Rexi slowly straightened, brushing invisible dust off his sleeves, his earlier outburst fading as if it had never existed. His composure returned, but his eyes...

His eyes had changed, becoming cold and calculating.

"If he dies inside the sect, there will be consequences," he said, almost thoughtfully. "The elders would investigate. The Pharaoh..."

He paused slightly at that title, but continued.

"...would know."

A faint smile appeared on his lips.

"But outside the sect?" The silence that followed was heavy and dangerous.

"There will be no witnesses, no interference, and no protection."

His gaze lifted toward the distance, as if he could already see it.

A mission. An opportunity. An accident.

"So many things can happen beyond those walls," he murmured.

The silver-eared woman stepped forward again, her expression firm now. "You are walking a dangerous path, Rexi. If Lily finds out..."

"She won’t."

The certainty in his voice was absolute.

"And even if she does..."

For a brief moment, something cracked in his expression.

Pain. Raw and unfiltered, but it vanished just as quickly.

"...she will understand."

No one believed that. Not even him, but he didn’t care anymore. Love, for him, had already twisted into something darker, something possessive.

Something that demanded.

Rexi turned away from the group, his long red hair swaying behind him as his voice echoed one last time.

"I will remove him."

A finality that sent chills through everyone present.

"And when he’s gone..."

He paused. His shoulders tightened slightly.

"...everything will return to how it should be."

But deep down, even Rexi knew.

Nothing would ever be the same again.