Chapter 3

When I opened my eyes again, I was tied to a sacrificial altar.

Firelight flickered around me. Shadows moved.

A man in ritual robes knelt directly in front of me, murmuring prayers.

People formed a circle around him, holding drums and performing something like a Guozhuang dance.

The prayers and buzzing voices hammered at my head.

I had no strength at all. They must have forced some drug down my throat.

When the high priest raised his head toward me, I immediately shut my eyes and let my head droop, pretending to remain unconscious.

Cardcaptor Sakura had said the sacrifice would begin at the first light of dawn.

The horizon was already paling.

I had little time left.

Before long, several people came onto the altar and checked for signs that I was waking. From their tone, they seemed puzzled that I hadn't.

I didn't know what would happen once I opened my eyes, so I kept them closed.

For now, no reaction was the best reaction.

Soon, a voice spoke.

“Rourou.”

Gongbu.

He still had the nerve to come near me.

“I know you're awake. Will you open your eyes?”

He sounded as gentle as ever, though he was the one who'd brought me to this altar.

I didn't answer.

My eyes stayed tightly shut.

Something touched my clothes.

One by one, my buttons came undone.

I knew it was Gongbu.

Of course. They couldn't remove my skin with my clothes still on.

“Don't touch me,” I said through gritted teeth.

Slowly, I opened my eyes and stared into that handsome, tanned face.

“Rourou, you're awake?”

His hands didn't stop. He kept undoing the buttons, smiling warmly, his voice mild.

Now that smile only disgusted me.

“I said don't touch me!”

Suddenly, I lunged with every scrap of strength I had left and knocked him to the ground.

His eyes widened.

He clearly hadn't expected me to get free of the ropes.

“You… Impossible! I threw away your glass!”

“Who said I only had one piece?”

“Yangjin searched you. You didn't have any more!”

Before I could answer, the people conducting the ritual dragged me off him.

Ignoring my resistance, they swiftly pulled off my clothes.

Being stripped by other people was horrible, of course, but I didn't struggle much.

Once my outer clothes were gone, I wore only a bra above the waist.

A long, deep, bloody wound stretched across my chest from left to right.

The first sunlight fell.

The ritual attendants were horrified.

In an instant, they prostrated themselves, shouting prayers and confessions to the sky.

Their offering was ruined.

The ritual had failed before it began.

Back on the mountain, I hadn't known whether I'd find Cardcaptor Sakura.

So I'd hurt myself first, leaving myself a last resort.

The high priest pushed through the crowd and strode onto the altar.

“What happened?”

Gongbu stared at me.

Perhaps he couldn't imagine that someone he'd always regarded as weak, someone he'd pampered and protected, could be so ruthless with herself.

Then he suddenly laughed.

“You think they'll let you go because of that?”

Before I could take in his words, the high priest ordered me bound again.

I couldn't understand what they were saying, but their expressions made their fury clear.

I'd insulted their gods.

They meant to kill me to appease them.

And they weren't going to spare Gongbu's family either.

The four of them and I were lined up on the altar, pelted with insults, rotten vegetables, and rotten eggs.

His family desperately tried to bargain with the high priest, shouting themselves hoarse.

I watched them and laughed coldly inside.

Now it was their turn, they didn't seem quite so fond of smiling.

The high priest approached with a sharp sword.

I was the source of the gods' anger.

Naturally, I would be punished first.

Before I could do anything, the crowd below suddenly erupted.

Shouts rang out.

I looked toward the sound.

Not far away, the entire village was engulfed in fire. Thick smoke billowed into the sky.

Screaming and scrambling, people rushed toward the flames, leaving only a few guards with us.

“Why are they acting as though they've gone mad?”

I asked Gongbu, bound beside me.

Firelight reflected in his terrified eyes. He muttered without thinking,

“That direction… the whole village… the temple… the gods' images… Heaven has sent disaster!”

So the shrine their cult worshipped at was burning.

No wonder they were frantic.

I sneered.

“Lunatics.”

The whole tribe was mad.

Then I sprang up, snatched a discarded torch shaft from beside me, and struck the nearest guard across the back of the head.

He dropped.

The others rushed me.

Gongbu's entire family stared too, apparently unable to understand how I'd escaped the ropes a second time.

With the little self-defense training I'd had, I struggled against the guards.

For an instant, I left myself exposed.

Someone swung an axe at me from the side.

I couldn't dodge.

But the next moment—

Thud!

He fell.

Behind him stood a tall, lean figure dressed entirely in black.

After taking down the man with the axe, the newcomer didn't stop. He swiftly dealt with the others.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Bodies hit the ground one after another.

At last, he stopped and turned toward me.

Pale skin. A cool, distant manner.

Something about that manner seemed familiar.

Hesitantly, I asked,

“Are you… Cardcaptor Sakura?”

Because the profile picture was a little pink-haired girl, I'd always assumed the person behind the phone was a woman.

It had never occurred to me that it might be a man.

“No.”

His reply was indifferent.

Hope vanished from my face, replaced by suspicion.

“Keroberos,” he added.

I let out a breath.

This man knew how to give someone a heart attack.

“You really came to save me.”

I didn't need to ask.

He'd set the village and temple on fire. No god had sent any disaster.

“Yes.”

That flat answer killed every word of gratitude I'd been about to offer. He plainly didn't want a conversation.

“Let's go.”

His voice held no inflection.

“Okay.”

I nodded.

He didn't move.

I stared at him stupidly.

Then he took off his black jacket and draped it over me.

Only then did I remember they'd stripped off my top.

Embarrassment caught up with me.

I'd followed him a few steps when I suddenly remembered something and turned back to the family on the altar.

“Save me, Rourou! Please! We've been together for years! Help me! When they come back, they won't spare any of us!”

I gave a little sneer.

“Save you? I held you in my heart, and you threw me in a ditch. Why should I save you?”

I picked up the jar of strong liquor from the altar and looked at him.

“Anything else you want to say?”

“I had no choice! If I didn't bring you here, they'd sacrifice my sister!”

He screamed himself hoarse, all his usual calm and gentleness gone.

His family shouted at me too, but I couldn't understand them.

“That's your reason for hurting me?”

I lowered my eyes to him, kneeling on the ground.

To save his sister, he'd harmed an innocent person.

If not me, it would have been someone else.

What a “good” brother.

I poured the liquor over the wooden altar around them.

Realizing what I meant to do, Gongbu shook his head frantically.

“Rourou, don't. You love me, don't you?”

I snorted and flung the last of the liquor into his face.

When he saw I wasn't moved, he fell silent for a moment, then spoke calmly.

“One last question. Just one!”

“Ask.”

“You didn't have any tools left. How did you undo the ropes?”

I gave a cold laugh.

“What? Hoping to copy me?”

Embarrassment crossed his face at being found out, but he didn't deny it.

“You've been distracted all month, Gongbu. You even forgot to trim my nails.”

I raised my right hand.

A tiny, sharp piece of glass was embedded beneath the nail of my middle finger, sunk deep into the flesh, bloody and raw.

It had become part of my body, hidden in the flesh.

Of course a search hadn't found it.

His expression changed.

“You suspected me long ago?”

“It's always easy to tell when someone's cheating. Though you weren't cheating. You were planning to kill me.”

I took the burning candle from its holder and walked slowly toward him.

“Enjoy the sacrifice you've been waiting two years for. Wait for your god to save you.”

I said nothing more.

Lightly, I dropped the candle.

The instant the flame touched the liquor, fire surged up and ringed the entire family.

Bottomless despair filled Gongbu's eyes.

I was smiling.

After all, I had nearly been the one to die on that altar.

I gave him one last long look, then turned away.

“Cardcaptor Sakura” was still waiting.

We hurried out together.

Neither of us spoke along the way.

He really was cold.

Once we reached the mountain path, I asked,

“You called the police before coming, right?”

He shook his head.

“Why not?”

I stared, astonished and bewildered.

Hadn't his sister died because of this?

How could he not have called the police?

We'd just reached the summit.

Instead of answering, he pointed down.

Dawn was approaching, but the sky wasn't fully light yet. Countless villages lay scattered below, their lights faintly glowing.

My eyes widened.

I'd thought Gongbu's cult was the only tribe here. I hadn't imagined so many more hidden deep in the mountains.

“We're across the border.”

I frowned.

Gongbu had led me through so many turns that I'd left the country without realizing.

“Cardcaptor Sakura” walked on.

I silently followed.

When I finally recovered from the shock, I remembered to ask,

“Hey, Keroberos. What's your name?”

The tall figure stopped abruptly and turned.

Still walking with my head down, I collided with his broad chest.

“You don't remember me, Liu Rou?”

There was the faintest trace of anger in his voice.

“You know me?”

His expression darkened at once.

Ignoring me, he resumed walking.

But I really didn't remember ever knowing anyone that handsome.

An overlooked gem in my life.

All the way, I kept asking how he knew me and what our relationship was.

Even when we reached the airport to go home, I was still chattering at his heels.

I followed him inside.

Suddenly, a woman cried out nearby.

“Ah! It's bleeding. It hurts…”

“How could you be so careless? A cut that deep will take at least a week to heal. Do you know that?”

The man's strange scolding caught my attention.

I stopped and turned stiffly.

“Cardcaptor Sakura” reacted at exactly the same moment.

The man's tanned skin…

The snake tattoo on his neck…

Every detail struck my eyes with a terrible clarity.

[THE END]