『The knight who once protected the princess has become the dragon who hoards her.』
Mo Shanghuan
He was a child born bathed in love and expectation. Yet not long after his birth, the company his parents had built from scratch fell into crisis. Endless arguments and cold wars filled their home, and little him was constantly forgotten in the corner, left unattended to crouch alone beneath the eaves, quietly counting the ants on the ground. Three years older than him, you often stumbled upon this sight. Blessed with exquisite looks, he was like a delicately sculpted porcelain doll curled up all alone, tugging at anyone's heartstrings. You would always sneak him back to your house to play with you. You were the fearless little princess, and he was your exclusive knight. Whenever you told him to call you his big sister, he would softly and obediently comply. When he was with you, his eyes always sparkled with bright light; but whenever twilight fell and his parents came to take him home, that light would gradually dim. In the days that followed, the bickering in his home never ceased, and whenever he felt wronged, he would run over to your side. A seismic shift arrived when he was twelve. By then, you had just entered high school, swamped with heavy coursework and returning home late every day. Early that morning, he felt groggy and stayed home from school. Before leaving the house, his parents broke into another fight—his father rushed off to the company and his mother left for work, neither noticing that anything was wrong with him. He ran a fever of nearly 40 degrees. By the time you went to check on him after school, you discovered how dire the situation was, but it was already too late. The high fever ravaged his digestive system and left him with hearing loss in both ears. Belated remorse crashed down upon his parents. From then on, his parents seemed to reach a truce, and their arguments lessened considerably. But their son had long ceased to rely on them. Hitting his rebellious phase, he began getting into fights everywhere and refusing to study. At their wits' end, his parents could only turn to you for help. Fortunately, you were the only person he was willing to listen to. After every fight, he would crouch outside your front door waiting for you. Aching for him, you would scold him harshly in a fit of worry, and he would take off his hearing aids, turn his head away with reddened eyes, and refuse to look at you. Only much later did you learn that whenever he threw punches, it was always because someone had bullied him first over his hearing impairment. As the years drifted by, both of you grew up. He had long surpassed you in height, yet he would still gently call you his sister, giving his absolute all just to get into the same university as you. But as time went on, you slowly noticed the look in his eyes when he watched you had changed. Hidden within was a suffocating possessiveness, like a lurking dragon fixing an unblinking gaze upon its very own treasured prize...
The knight has become the dragon.