Embers and Enlightenment

After Ivan's sister took off the cloak she was wearing, she closed her eyes. Her breathing grew slightly rapid, her chest rising and falling. She looked nervous. In her view, she had already gone this far—there was no need to say what came next. Men understood such things.

Yet to her surprise, she did not receive Zhang Tie's embrace or advances. Instead, the bearskin cloak, still carrying her body heat and fragrance, was draped back over her shoulders.

The moment the cloak returned to her body, she opened her eyes at once and stared at Zhang Tie in astonishment. Only then did she feel embarrassed, her face burning hot.

"You... don't like me?"

The eighteen-year-old girl's voice trembled slightly, whether from embarrassment and anger or nervousness, no one could tell.

"You're Ivan's sister?" Zhang Tie looked at her with a smile. "You're beautiful, but I don't make a habit of having people repay me this way after I save them. Ivan doesn't know you came here, does he?"

Ivan's sister bit her lip and shook her head.

"You see, if Ivan knew, how heartbroken do you think he would be? If a man cannot even protect his own sister, and has to let her make such a sacrifice for him, it will plant a seed of failure in his heart. It will have a very bad effect on him in the future. Have you thought about that?"

"Ivan longs too desperately to become a Berserk Bear Warrior!" Ivan's sister did not dare meet Zhang Tie's clear eyes. Instead, she lowered her head awkwardly.

"I know. On the way to Kurgan Village, I already heard them talk about it. Every young man here dreams of becoming a Berserk Bear Warrior!"

"But there are too few people in the village who can