Blurb：
When my adopted brother Hank stole my potion and won the competition, he never expected it to be a trap set by the serpent clan to marry off their youngest princess Chloe. Described as barren, cruel, and hideous, she demanded the potion’s creator as her husband. My fiancée Rowena bonded with Hank instantly to save him, leaving me with two bleak options: random matching with a nomad beastwoman or wedding the serpent princess. I chose the latter, but only if Hank confessed his theft. My parents always favored Hank, but this time, I held the power. Encountering Rowena fresh from Hank’s room, she offered me the beast slave mark to avoid marriage—a life of disgrace. I refused. Love or slavery? I’ll take my chances with Chloe. Dive into this tale of betrayal, beast clans, and a marriage that could change everything.
Content：
My adopted brother made a name for himself during the potion competition by using a potion he had stolen from me.
No one expected the competition to be a ruse, but it turned out to be a scheme to find a husband for the serpent clan’s youngest princess. She was born barren, cruel, and hideous.
That very night, the serpent clan delivered a marriage contract, demanding that the creator of the potion take the princess as his wife.
When my fiance heard the news, she panicked and bonded with my adopted brother on the spot.
After sealing their bond, he lifted his shirt, proudly showing me the wolf mark carved into his back.
“Your fiance’s mine now, bro. What are you going to do? You’ll turn twenty-five in three days. If no one marries you by then, you’ll be randomly matched to one of those older, violent nomad beastwomen.”
He was wrong. I still had one choice left.
I found my parents in the front hall, once again cleaning up the mess he had made.
“If he won’t marry the serpent princess,” I said, “then I will.”
Chapter 1
My words hit everyone like a bolt of lightning, freezing my dad’s hand in mid-air as he clutched the marriage paper.
My mom’s eyes popped, and her tail fluffed up. “James, are you crazy? Chloe is mean, ugly, and can’t have kids. People say that when she loses it, she can come close to ripping your throat out. Marrying her is like jumping into hell!”
Before I could say anything, my dad cleared his throat.
“If he doesn’t marry her, what about Hank? He’s already magically bonded with Rowena…”
My mom looked torn for a second, then let go of my hand.
My heart froze over. I was their biological son, but they always took the side of my foster brother, Hank Morris, who was good at acting sweet and helpless.
I smirked. “I’ll do it, but on one condition: on my wedding day, Hank has to tell everyone he stole my potion.”
“How could you? You just want to ruin your brother’s reputation!” Dad was so mad he smacked the table, and Mom just looked at me, so disappointed.
I just smiled slyly.
“The one the serpent clan’s young princess wants to marry is the beastman who made that potion. Reputation or happiness, your choice!”
In the end, they all gave in for Hank’s sake.
I did not think twice before I turned and walked away. However, in the hallway, I ran into Rowena Carter leaving Hank’s room.
She was in a bathrobe. There were tell-tale red marks on her chest and the overpowering smell of Hank’s cologne all over her.
They had clearly been wrapped up in each other for days.
Rowena saw me pinch my nose and try to leave, so she quickly blocked my way.
“James, I know you’re upset, but I had to do this to save Hank. The serpent clan has a strong possessiveness. Bonding with Hank was the only way I could push her away for good.”
I managed a sad smile.
“And what about me?”
I was supposed to bond with Rowena when I was twenty, but she kept putting it off because of Hank’s fits. Now that I was nearly twenty-five, she bonded with him at the worst possible time.
I was stuck between two terrible choices: getting matched with a nomad beastwoman or marrying the serpent clan’s princess.
Rowena looked at me, guilt in her eyes, and grabbed my hand urgently.
“James! I won’t let you end up with a nomad beastwoman! Wait. I can brand you with the beast slave mark, and you can stay at my place as a beast slave. Then, you won’t have to marry anyone.
“Don’t worry, it’s just for show. Once you’re with the Carters, I’ll treat you just like Hank.”
I could not help but laugh at her audacity. How could she be so brazen?
Only a beastman with no other choice, branded by his crimes, would accept the disgrace of the beast slave mark.
In a world where beast slaves were sold by their masters and looked down on by everyone, even their children would be destined to the same lowly fate.
I jerked my hand away from hers. “Rowena, no matter who I marry, I won’t be a beast slave!”
Rowena’s face clouded over with anger.
“James! Don’t you love me? Is your good name more important than us being together?”
I shot back, “Really? Then why didn’t you suggest Hank become a beast slave so you could save him?”
Rowena gasped. “Hank can’t be a beast slave! He’s too weak and needs to be taken care of. He can’t handle any hardship.”
I felt a rush of anger, my eyes burning. This was just because he was a fragile rabbit beastman, while I was the clans only strong Spirit Fox with nine lives.
My parents preferred him, and even my fiance felt sorry for him. I was the one who had to shoulder all their grievances.
Stung by the scorn in my eyes, Rowena snapped, “Just think about what you’ve done. You don’t have any other choice, anyway.”
After she left, I wandered downstairs, lost in thought. Suddenly, I received a love token from the serpent clan.
It was a crystal flute from an auction I had not won.
Warmth filled me.
Maybe marrying Chloe Douglas would not be such a bad thing after all.
Chapter 2
The next day, I picked out a gift for Chloe in return for the crystal flute.
Chloe was a black snake with striking green eyes, so I chose a snake necklace with emerald eyes for her.
I could not help but smile wryly to myself. After all, the Douglas family was rich and powerful. What more could I ask for?
I had just paid my bill and was about to leave when a loud, shocked voice caught my attention.
“James, you’re such a liar! You say you don’t want to be Rowena’s beast slave, but you’re secretly spending a fortune on her birthday present. I could never be that sneaky,” the voice said.
Hank hugged Rowena close and flashed a winner’s grin.
That was when it hit me: today was Rowena’s birthday.
They actually thought I bought the gift to win Rowena over.
Rowena glanced at the necklace I was holding with a look of disgust.
“You’re not as tough as I thought. You’d do anything to avoid being given to a nomad beastwoman, even groveling to me. This necklace is so ugly! I don’t like it. Go get me a silver wolf necklace instead!”
I frowned and cut her off, “This is for my fiance, not you.”
Rowena let out a laugh as if she had just heard the funniest joke. “Quit being so stubborn. You’re twenty-five. Who would marry an old beastman like you? I wouldn’t even let you be a beast slave if you kept your act.”
Hank glanced over at the shop that branded beast slaves.
“Rowena, they can give James a beast slave mark over there. I can’t stand to see him scared. Let’s just do it today.”
Rowena snuggled into Hank’s arms. “Hank, you’re such a sweetheart.”
She looked at me as if she were doing me a huge favor. “Well, what are you waiting for? Go!”
As if I should have been grateful for the ‘honor’.
A large basin of charcoal fire sat in the middle of the shop, surrounded by branding irons stamped with shameful words.
A beastman was being branded. His screams filled the air, even though he was one of the strongest around.
Rowena shivered but nodded to Hank, who signaled the guards to drag me into the shop.
In that instant, I felt like Rowena, who used to love and protect me when I was little, who never let anyone pick on me, was just a mirage.
Hank’s grip was like a vice, nothing like his usual weak self.
His face was mean. “I’ll choose a nice beast slave mark for you.”
He looked around the room and stopped at a branding iron stamped with ‘slave’.
Holding the iron, Hank let out a small laugh and moved closer to me. “This one seems just right for you.”
I tried hard to get away from the bodyguard, but before I could reach Hank, he pretended I had pushed him and stumbled backward.
The iron dropped, sparking a tiny flame on his hand, but it left no mark.
Hank clutched his hand, his eyes watering a little.
“James, I was only trying to save you from the fate of those wandering beastwomen! How could you try to burn me?”
Before I could say anything, Rowena burst in.
She knocked me into the charcoal, and my hand landed on a hot coal. The pain was like an overwhelming wave crashing over me, knocking all the air out of my lungs.
I had just pulled my hand out of the coals when a sharp slap hit my face.
Slap!
Rowena glared at me, her face full of hate.
“James, you’re so mean. And to think he still said nice things about you to me. How could you treat your own brother like that? Tell Hank you’re sorry!”
Chapter 3
I looked at my messed-up, bleeding hand and started to laugh.
Rowena’s heart squeezed tight, and her face went all panicky. “Why are you laughing?”
I was laughing at how dumb I was, letting myself get hurt to earn the silly, shallow ‘love’ of my parents and Rowena.
Every time Hank acted sad, they always believed him, despite being my parents’ real son and Rowena’s childhood friend, whom she had promised herself to.
Hank had set me up time and time again. Everyone thought I was the mean kid who picked on my little brother and stole his ideas.
I balled my hands into fists so tight that my nails dug into my skin, and I looked up at Rowena with fierce eyes.
“I did nothing wrong, and I won’t apologize.”
Rowena’s eyes narrowed, hurt by my defiance.
“Rowena…” Hank suddenly yelped. “Ow! My hand really hurts.”
Rowena did not waste a second. She turned and started rubbing Hank’s hand.
Worried Hank might get cold, she dashed to the car and grabbed a fox fur coat, wrapping him up snug and warm.
My chest tightened when I saw that coat.
It was made from my eight lost tails.
Hank had once risked his life just to make me look bad.
As a Spirit Fox, each tail was one of my lives. Rowena had forced me to cut off eight to save Hank.
However, that was still not enough humiliation. When Hank won a prize with the potion I made, he complained of the cold, and Rowena made him that fox fur coat to celebrate.
Hank caught me staring and smugly stroked the fur, gazing at Rowena with love.
Any kindness left in Rowena’s eyes turned to disgust for me, and she said in an icy voice, “If you won’t apologize to Hank, forget about being part of the Carter family. Let’s see how long you can keep this up!”
I could not help but smirk. She was in for a letdown.
In two days, I was supposed to marry the serpent clan’s princess to save her precious Hank from the same fate.
Right then, a car spun out of control and headed straight for us.
The wolf clan was known for being strong and fast, and Rowena quickly shifted into her beast form, pulling Hank to a safe spot.
She was running so fast that she bumped into me, the one closest to the car. My leg hurt like I had twisted it.
I thought the car was going to hit me, so I shut my eyes, feeling hopeless.
However, in that scary moment, someone warm grabbed me.
A girl in a cute animal mask pulled me to safety, even quicker than Rowena could have.
When I opened my eyes, I saw dark green eyes that made me think of the emerald on my necklace.
The girl in the animal mask put me on a bench and vanished before I could say anything.
I reached into my pocket and found a tin of burn ointment that was not there before.
I saw Rowena comforting Hank down the street and could not help but sneer.
I pulled out the bonding ring I was going to give back to her and tossed it into the sewer without a second thought.
Two days later, I put on a fancy suit from the serpent clan and stared at all the expensive gifts they had sent for the wedding, feeling kind of lost.
My parents came up to me, nervous. They asked if I could just say Hank made a mistake with the potion, rather than saying he stole it, to preserve his dignity.
That was when I knew I was done hoping they would ever understand.
I had even gotten my own wedding gifts ready, always making excuses for them in my head.
I thought they just forgot.
They did not think to get me a wedding gift, but they sure remembered to stick up for their favorite son.
“No way! If I don’t stand my ground, the serpent clan won’t either,” I said firmly.
“You…”
Then, from downstairs, I heard a bunch of noise.
I went down and saw Rowena sitting in the room’s main chair, acting all spoiled, holding a branding iron.
“James, you’ve got thirty minutes until the system pairs you with a nomad beastwoman. If you can apologize to Hank 1800 times in the next half hour, I’ll grudgingly give you the beast slave mark.”
She paused when she saw my suit, then her brow furrowed.
“What are you doing in that getup? Are you trying to outshine Hank as a beast slave?”
I gave her a cool look. “Rowena, I’m about to bond with someone else. You’re not on the guest list.”
“Don’t be so defiant. Two minutes have passed, and now you owe 3600 apologies if you want to be my beast slave. You’d better not waste this chance.
“If you won’t say sorry, I’m not against getting someone to make you bow and apologize!”
With a snap of her fingers, assistants appeared, ready to grab my clothes and force my head down.
“No… Rowena, I told you! Today’s my bonding day…”
Amid the struggle, a soft chuckle came from behind, and an elegant beastwoman gracefully approached.
“Let’s see who dares to make my husband apologize!”
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