episode_0185

The Apple Tree.

The largest slave auction house in the Empire.

It was also the place where the fox’s story began.

The girl, filled with dark venom, glared out from beyond the iron bars.

Irene, once powerless, had returned to her rightful place after a full year.

Her faint white clothes fluttered in the veil.

“……”

Perhaps it was the fresh wave of emotions.

The fox stood before the building, unable to take a step.

What filled her dark eyes was neither fear, nor disillusionment, nor sorrow.

Only a profound, sunken stillness existed.

Her breathing was calm.

‘What should I say… I thought I might feel a little agitated.’

Was she even surprised herself?

Irene briefly placed her hand over her chest.

There wasn’t a trace of tremor in her steady heartbeat.

‘……It’s quiet.’

It was a strange feeling.

Rather than anger boiling, it felt as if it had cooled down.

The fox realized the world had become like a cradle.

A small comfort wrapped around her fingertips.

“Hmm.”

Had he grasped Irene’s state?

Yuda smiled, as if intrigued.

He stopped his steps ahead of her, then quietly uttered a single phrase.

It was the voice of the night, leading a calm world.

“Then… shall we go?”

Thump.

The boy emerged from the darkness.

Calmly, and quietly.

His quiet steps drew closer and closer to the building’s main entrance.

Having spotted the flickering figure, the guards on watch blocked their path.

“Halt!”

“This auction house is closed! State your identity if you wish to approach.”

“Good grief… We clearly announced it, yet there are still young masters who come like this.”

“This establishment will not be open for a while!”

Perhaps it was due to orders from the businessman.

The guards carefully watched all directions.

Their stance was also extremely sharp.

However, the boy beyond the darkness did not back down.

He merely raised both hands, as if such warnings were laughable.

And then.

“How amusing.”

Clap!

He forcefully clapped his hands together.

A bursting sound echoed with the clap.

Immediately after, a chilling darkness settled over the area.

An otherworldly pressure subtly enveloped the auction house’s main entrance.

Next, his lips chanted a spell.

“Shatter.”

Crack, crackle!

Black cracks split the air.

Following the widening gaps, the previously calm air intensified.

Immediately after, a portion of the building began to disintegrate into countless fragments.

A scene of dust or snowflakes fluttering.

“W-what is this…!”

“What is this suddenly…?”

The bewildered voices of the guards.

The snake paid them no mind.

He merely extended a hand towards the fox, who was frozen in a daze.

The shadow that had swallowed the moonlight was precarious, yet at the same time, dazzlingly beautiful.

Yuda simply whispered into Irene’s ear.

“I will follow your steps.”

Before long.

The Apple Tree’s main entrance was completely stripped away.

Beyond the concept of a missing door, one entire side of the building was neatly cut away.

The fragments fluttering in the night sky were truly a dreamlike, unreal sight.

However, it was precisely because of this that it felt fitting for the boy.

The fox smiled faintly.

“Yes.”

With slender fingers, she gripped her sword tightly.

Behind the chilling touch, a flame burned increasingly vividly.

The girl took a step forward.

“Let’s go.”

Accompanied by the fluttering white.

***

The businessman.

Irene had never forgotten that name, not once.

The traitor who approached her clan under the guise of friendship, only to push them all into ruin in the end.

Due to the trauma left from that time, the girl had to suffer from deep human distrust for a long time.

Perhaps even now.

“Capture them all! Don’t miss a single one, capture them!” “Erase all traces of this place! Drag out the hidden brats and burn everything that remains!”

She had lost too many people.

The village elders who raised her, an orphan.

The little fox cubs who often followed her.

And.

“Irene.” “Please, live.”

Her Teacher-nim.

Irene remembered that night.

The tranquil village burning, the morning sky filled with cries of resentment.

Her Teacher-nim’s back, blocking the pursuers alone, telling her only to survive.

The girl had never forgotten.

“Ah… he was really annoying.” “That old man with a head full of white hair, where did he get such strength…?” “Anyway, we picked this up on the way.”

When she was eventually caught, unable to escape.

The head that the hounds had thrown before her, accompanied by laughter.

Her Teacher-nim’s neck, severed with eyes wide open.

That scene remained vivid even after several years.

Since then, she lived each day steeped in venom.

With a vow not to crumble.

“……Was there ever such a time?”

Swish!

Behind the casually swung sword strike, the fox murmured.

A fiery red flame breathed at her fingertips.

Her calm steps echoed down the corridor.

“R-run away!” “The enemy’s attack is already here…!” “Damn it! There’s no way we can fight something like that…!”

The guards retreated in agitation.

Irene merely gazed.

Just a year ago, they had been in completely different positions.

Cold iron bars had separated the world of beasts.

She remembered the gazes that seemed to boil with lust.

“That fox beastman, I mean. Isn’t her face really pretty?” “Don’t even think about touching that one. She’s a valuable item, shouldn’t get a single stain on her.” “Ah~ Who said anything about sleeping with her? It just means she’s good to look at, good for eye candy.” “The noble lords must be happy. They can play wildly with slaves like that, can’t they?” “I hope I’m born as a young master in a noble family in my next life~.”

The conversation that bordered on mockery.

The cackling voices.

Irene remembered those loathsome eyes.

Now, there were no longer iron bars between them.

Because the fox was no longer the child who cowered and trembled.

A reddish flame appeared on the sword’s surface.

“Burn, Crimson Flame.”

They were at a different eye level.

The fox had become the pursuer.

The hunters, conversely, had become the prey running away.

The blazing crimson light illuminated the darkness.

“Irene.”

She cut them down one by one.

The broken fragments of the past, one by one, and then another.

With her own sword, she burned away even the painful scars.

Before long, Irene recalled a certain scene.

The moment her world began anew.

“Will you not be tamed by me?”

Her first meeting with the snake.

If she hadn’t taken the hand offered then, a day like this would never have come.

Perhaps the girl might not even have been able to dream of tomorrow.

With such stray thoughts, the fox unleashed her sword.

“Argh!” “F-fall back, now…!”

Whoosh!

Her crimson hair whipped in the backdraft.

Following her unleashed sword, only fire and blood raged.

The corridor was entirely red.

“How well you run.”

The fox whispered.

“May you not be caught easily.”

Run.

Run.

As far as possible, beyond the horizon if you can.

Be terrified, abandon someone, push, stumble, and yet run.

Cross the jet-black darkness like a sunset fleeing from the gloom.

As a weak girl once did, on a certain dawn.

You were always the ones to give someone the night.

But this time, I will give you the night.

A night like ours.

That primordial life and death.

“Please.”

Blood-Soaked Clothes Returning Home.

The white clothes, soaked in blood, walked leisurely.

The prodigal child who wandered the dawn, now a girl holding starlight, returned.

Her crimson robe regained its original pure white with a single gesture.

Even amidst the raindrops of blood pouring like a downpour, the fox’s appearance remained completely unstained.

She simply advanced nobly.

“Hmm.”

Irene finally reached.

Before her long-standing enemy.

Boom!

With a deafening explosion, the wall fell away.

Behind the thick, spreading smoke, the crimson fox revealed herself.

On the floor where her gaze landed, a man stood.

A bewildered figure in a suit.

‘I met him.’

The businessman.

Irene had never forgotten that hatred, not for a single moment until now.

The traitor who had pushed her past self into the abyss.

For a brief moment, their gazes met.

Soon after.

“……You.”

She parted her lips.

The fox questioned her enemy.

“Do you remember me?”

A question that weighed lives.

Her gaze was sharp enough to cut.

The adult’s expression was slowly distorting.

***

“……You.”

The voice echoed chillingly.

The man, who had been climbing into his carriage, froze in place.

He had been about to make a hasty escape, but someone had blocked his way.

A sword of blazing crimson light.

“Do you remember me?”

The businessman recognized her instantly.

Even though her hair was dyed red, and an otherworldly flame flickered beside her.

That pretty face was exactly as he remembered it.

Even though time had passed, there was no way he would forget the top-tier ‘merchandise’ he had lost.

The man muttered to himself, uncharacteristically dumbfounded.

“You, could it be…?”

“It’s a relief you seem to remember. I wondered what I’d do if you didn’t.”

“No… why is escaped merchandise here?”

“Because I came to catch you.”

“……You came to catch me?”

The businessman was a cool-headed individual.

Someone who clearly understood his own advantages and disadvantages.

To put it nicely, he was quick-witted; to put it negatively, he was a calculating person.

The man was practically at the pinnacle of such types.

He always clearly discerned whether something was profitable or detrimental to him.

His world was solely about money.

However.

“Ha.”

The situation was urgent now.

The main entrance completely breached.

Surely the Imperial Knights had stormed in.

All the nobles he had connections with had, without exception, pulled out of the game.

In other words, no significant support could be expected from his allies.

In short, it meant he had to tuck tail and run.

“A vulgar beast like you…!”

However, there was the sense of loss from his accumulated wealth crumbling.

Anger towards the nobles who had subtly withdrawn.

Moreover, the humiliation that even a beast, previously just a source of profit, was now mocking him.

From the businessman’s perspective, there were more than enough reasons to kill the ‘merchandise’ before him.

The man commanded the hounds standing by his side.

“Bring me that bitch’s head!”

“But, you must leave immediately…” “Shut up and bring it! Cut her into pieces right now!” “……As you command.”

The hounds moved reluctantly.

The businessman remembered.

At best, it was just one fox.

And a fool who couldn’t even stand up to a single hound, getting caught halfway.

Throwing her Teacher-nim’s head before her dumbfounded face had been a truly delightful memory.

Leaving this auction house wouldn’t be too late even after killing that mongrel.

As the businessman wore a despicable smile, at that moment.

“Still the same.”

A low murmur reached his ear.

Despite the dozens of hounds surrounding her.

The fox did not waver.

“That disgusting smile.”

Irene’s eyes were shining.

Not with a red light as before, but with an utterly pure white.

Her dark eyes now contained pure white.

Like starlight in the night.

“Just as you did to me…”

Whoosh!

Irene’s sword blazed.

The flames beside her intensified.

“I will give you the night too.”

That flame was white, unlike any before.