Chapter 173: The Drunken Uncle

As Albert looked upon his sister's smiling face, he couldn't—despite the tender grin adorning her features—prevent himself from remembering that day.

The day he had walked alongside Amelia, attempting to invite her to his vile uncle's home so she could meet his younger sister for the first time.

He could never forget what transpired that day, no matter how hard he tried.

The scene remained burned into the deepest recesses of his memory, refusing to yield or fade; in fact, it played out before his very eyes in that exact moment.

He saw his uncle once more—the man staggering under the influence of alcohol, seizing his younger sister Mio, who had failed to control her draconic transformation and mistakenly shifted into a small dragon form.

He dragged her violently without a care for the fact that she was a helpless child, striking her and throwing her right before Albert's eyes.

Back then...

Albert hadn't known what to do.

Truly, he had been at a complete loss.

He was merely a young boy standing before a fully grown man who had lost his mind. His sister was weeping before him, while he was powerless to do anything beyond staring in absolute terror for her safety.

Then came the furious roar of his uncle:

"Damn you monsters! Were it not for my fear of dirtying my house, I would have slaughtered you monsters where you stand!"

His uncle glared down at them with eyes overflowing with malice and hatred, his hand tightly gripping a sharp dagger. It was as though the two children standing before him were not innocent, blameless kids, but dangerous beasts that had arrived to threaten his life.

He roared again:

"You and your wretched kind killed my brother! My brother, who thought you were like humans and married that cursed woman, only for her to consume him in her flames as if his love meant nothing at all!"

He unleashed every ounce of hatred and fury stored within his chest upon them, even though they had committed no sin—holding not the slightest connection to what had happened to their father or the brother he spoke of.

Yet in that moment, logic had no place.

The man was drowned in rage and intoxication to the point of being entirely incapable of distinguishing the innocent from the guilty.

"I thought you were humans, but as you grow, it becomes clear you are anything but... You are monsters! Monsters waiting for the right moment to burn everything in your path! You care for nothing!"

He gestured wildly toward the exit.

"Get out of here!"

Albert looked at his little sister crying before his eyes, physical traces of violence evident upon her small body. In that moment, nothing existed within him except pure terror.

He was terrified for her.

Terrified of his uncle.

And terrified of losing the only shelter they could return to.

They had no choice but to beg so their uncle would allow them to remain in his home; otherwise, they would have nowhere else to go, forced to spend the night out on the cold streets.

He needed to treat his sister swiftly if she had sustained any wounds, and he had to apologize to his uncle—even if he had done nothing deserving of an apology.

None of that mattered to him back then.

If an apology was the price he had to pay so his sister could have a place to sleep and something to eat, he would apologize.

Dignity always dies before a starving stomach.

Even Amelia, standing by his side at the time, seemed in a state of absolute shock at what was unfolding. She couldn't fathom how a grown man could reach such a level of cruelty, harming innocent children simply because they belonged to a race he despised, or because his brother had perished under circumstances completely unrelated to them.

To her, it was pure madness.

Children were innocent.

And this man was inflicting harm upon them over something they had never done.

Albert, however, had no time to ponder the madness of it all.

He knew only one thing.

He had to make his uncle calm down.

He had to do whatever it took so they wouldn't be thrown out.

Albert approached the man, bowed his body, fell to his knees, and spoke with a trembling voice:

"Uncle, please forgive me and forgive my sister... She is young. You can strike me instead, and I promise you we won't do anything bad ever again. I swear to you... I swear."

Amelia froze, staring at him in utter shock.

She couldn't believe what he was doing.

Yet to Albert, kneeling and begging was nothing more than a survival mechanism.

He saw nothing in it worth overthinking, for he lacked the luxury of worrying about his dignity at that moment. It made no difference to him whether he was forced to kneel now or later, so long as it secured a safe haven for his sister to return to.

His uncle, however, did not see a child begging for his life.

Under the influence of alcohol, fury, and deep-seated malice, he couldn't see the reality before him; instead, he envisioned something entirely distorted.

He saw a lurking criminal.

He saw a monster feigning weakness to deceive him, waiting for the first opportunity to pounce.

In his clouded mind, this served as further proof of his beliefs:

They were dragons.

Dragons devoid of mercy or love.

Creatures that knew only how to slaughter and eradicate.

Mere monsters waiting for the opportunistic moment.

Consequently, the sight of Albert begging provoked him even further rather than placating him.

The man advanced toward him with enraged steps, raised his foot, and...

Kicked.

Albert's small frame tumbled across the ground, rolling away like a small barrel before grinding to a halt.

The pain was agonizing, yet he fought it.

He fought the urge to cry, and he suppressed the wrath mounting within him, knowing that retaliating was not a wise choice.

He had to remain calm.

He had to wait for his uncle to sober up and regain his composure.

Thus, despite the pain coursing through him, Albert merely raised his head and uttered in a faint voice:

"I am sorry..."

Yes, that was the right thing to do.

At least in Albert's eyes.

In the end, he possessed no other alternative.

Yet his uncle viewed the apology as nothing more than a fresh provocation.

"You bastard... Are you still putting on a show? You're truly disgusting!"

The man stepped forward again, raising his boot as he prepared to strike Albert once more.

This time, however, Amelia could not simply stand idly by and watch.

Suddenly, a orb of pure silver burst forth from her palm, enveloped in a vivid blue aura. Pushing it with all her strength, she hurled it directly at the man preparing to strike Albert.

Yet strangely...

Whoosh!

The man moved with a speed Amelia hadn't anticipated in the slightest.

He successfully parried the incoming attack, and in the very next instant, lunged directly toward her, the sharp dagger held firmly in his grasp.

Amelia retreated in shock as she finally grasped the true extent of the man's strength.

The old man was a 3-Star powerhouse.

As for her...

She was merely a six-year-old child who had not even surpassed the 1st Stage of the 1-Star Level.

The gap between them was monumental.

So vast that Amelia realized in that split second that the threat before her was no ordinary enraged man she could easily halt, but an opponent whose power exceeded hers by an insurmountable margin.