Four years ago, more than three dozen members of the White Fang Clan gathered together. All of them without exception were very enthusiastic to celebrate the triumphant return of their Patriarch, Lucius Corvin.
After all the tragic incidents on the Kulturmak Planet that killed many of their members, everyone was excited by the return of their Patriarch, hoping it would ignite the flames and bring the clan back to its former glory.
However, contrary to their expectations, things began to turn confusing after the Patriarch returned, especially when the latter decided to cut off relationships with Zodiac City.
The man gave them the reason for his actions, but most of them had a hard time accepting it.
"The Magus Academy is no more, so there is no need for the White Fang Clan to remain in Zodiac City. Come with me, you will learn and grow much more in the border area," He said.
With such a promise, though still reluctant at the idea, Chief Heorgar listened to the Patriarch and everyone else followed suit.
The first few months after their leave were indeed exciting. Patriarch Lucius took and accompanied them through many places they had never seen before and joined in on the ongoing war effort. Even though there were some casualties throughout their journey, all of them were honored to die for the cause.
But before long, the Patriarch decided to take them on more threatening missions and, as the level of danger increased, more people from their clan started to die. Yet, the Patriarch continued on, unleashing hell toward the enemies and toward their own.
In the end, when there were only half of them left, the Patriarch made another unpopular decision. He disbanded the White Fang clan unilaterally, taking all the strongest members and merging them with wolf half-bloods from another clan. The man then turned this group into an elite clan that followed him deep into enemy territory.
Because of this, all the young and non-magus wolf half-bloods of the White Fang Clan were sent back to the Corvin faction, where they would receive training and wait for further instructions.
It had been two years since Tatyana along with the few other surviving wolf half-bloods of the White Fang Clan lived on this planet.
Without the protection of powerful seniors like Chief Heorgar or the pack leaders like Anna or Beatrice, Tatyana found herself mistreated by others who saw her as inferior. Not only that, she was unable to compete with the other young wolves, until one day the faction decided to set a different path for her.
Tears streaming down her cheeks, the brown-haired girl spoke while sobbing. "They told me my looks and voice would be appreciated somewhere else… So here I am."
Needless to say, the whole story from start to finish made Emery's blood boil with anger and irritation. In reality, he knew what the faction did was nothing out of the ordinary, but still, he couldn't help but be irritated with what happened to Tatyana and the White Fang Clan.
On the other hand, hearing the story made Emery think of something. He looked at her and asked, "So are there more half-bloods from White Fang that live in this city?"
Tatyana told him that no one she knew was still in the city. Apparently, the Corvin had another base outside the city and last she heard Andrei was there, but she never went there and she had only heard bad things about the place.
The girl wiped the tears off her cheeks before trying hard to smile and said, "Enough about me. What about you, Brother Emery? Why are you here?"
"I am here for the Royal Hunt," Emery answered, which technically wasn't a lie.
Everyone living in Silvermane City knew about the event and its significance, hence Tatyana didn't seem surprised to hear that Emery, a famous talented wolf half-blood from the magus academy, had come here to participate.
However, hearing such a short answer, adding the fact Emery came in disguise, made her think there was something more he kept from her. Nevertheless, she had no intention of forcing the truth out of him.
"I know you're hiding something from me, Brother. But I understand. You don't have to tell me." She said with a smile. "I'm just glad to see you are fine."
Even though the girl was someone he knew well from his memories, Emery couldn't right away risk telling her about his plan for revenge. However, as he once again looked at the girl, he realized how she was such a godsend for him.
Thinking it was worth the risk, he decided to tell her some of his plans.
"I'm sorry I can't tell you much, Tatyana." He said with a wry smile. "The only thing I can tell you is that I am actually here to investigate the Corvin faction. Are you willing to help me?"
"For you brother, of course, I will help." Nodding her head, she answered enthusiastically. "What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to be my eyes and ears in this place."
As Emery explained his request, he noticed the girl looked a little hesitant.
"I'm sorry. Is it too much to ask?" He asked with a worried tone. "It's okay, Tatyana. You don't have to help me if you think it's too risky for you. I can try to find another way."
Hearing that, Tatyana hurriedly shook her head. "No, it's okay, brother." With a wry smile, she said, "I just thought you were going to ask me to join the Royal Hunt. How silly of me… But I guess my situation here was a little difficult to join the hunt with you."
Emery fully understood what the brown-haired girl meant. She must have been tightly restricted to the Red Pagoda against her will and she definitely didn't want to stay in this place any longer. Unfortunately for her, Emery needed information about Corvin more than another person for his team, especially with her living in this base and her current role she will be perfect for the task.
After telling her what kind of information he needed, he said "Thank you, Tatyana. I really appreciate your help… I will come again next week."
"Yes, brother!"
Before leaving the Red Pagoda, Emery went to see the fat man and told how satisfied he was with Tatyana before saying, "From now on, I want her to be available for me every night. She can sing and attend to other guests, but no one is allowed to spend a night with her except me. Do you understand?"
It was apparently not an unusual order as the man could swiftly come up with a price of 300,000 spirit stones every month and Emery readily agreed. Seeing Emery's decisiveness, the man had a greedy grin on his face as he said, "Actually sir, if you want, I'm willing to part with her, you can take her home for just two million spirit stones."
Emery tried hard to hide his irritation from hearing such an offer.
However, although that's a figure Emery could afford, he preferred to not use the Ouroboros' money if he could. Moreover, getting her out could possibly bring the faction's eyes to him, which definitely was not the best situation for his plans. Hence he said, "Let me think about it. Who knows, I might get bored with her after a month or two."
"Understood, sir… I understand." The fat man bowed as Emery finally left the establishment.
There was something inside Emery that told him the old him wouldn't do something like leaving the brown-haired girl in this place like that. However, the new him had no doubts. In order to successfully carry out his plan, he needed to do whatever was necessary.