Ch.78The Only One for Each Other (3)

We remained entangled for a while.

My shirt was disheveled and open.

Through the exposed front of my white shirt, only miserable scars remained.

A heavy silence flowed between us.

“……”

The fox looked down at me.

A body completely covered in scars.

It was difficult to find any unmarked area.

Cut, burned, torn, and stitched marks still flickered as if proving a terrible past.

I separated my lips that had been pressed together.

“…So you saw them after all.”

A briefly uttered question.

The girl quietly nodded.

“Yes… I discovered them while changing your wet clothes.”

“It was a precious secret of mine.”

“So that’s why. The reason you always insist on wearing stuffy formal attire even in summer. Because it covers all the scars on your body.”

“I’ve been found out.”

I admitted it readily.

As I gave a bitter smile, Irene’s hand suddenly moved and touched my chest.

Her lukewarm body temperature gently caressed the scars.

Her black pupils trembled faintly.

Unable to take her eyes off my body, the girl asked:

“What… exactly happened to you?”

“……”

“Is this going to be another secret?”

“……”

I didn’t open my mouth.

I just remained silent beneath her.

We faced off for a moment.

At a distance close enough for our breaths to intertwine.

Perhaps because I was half-undressed, our bare skin pressed together with a soft sensation.

We lay in the sticky mixture of our body heat.

After several minutes of stillness.

Irene was the first to withdraw.

“…Sorry. I didn’t mean to criticize you.”

Her voice echoed faintly.

The girl slowly separated her body from mine.

With her animal ears drooping behind her, she revealed her complicated feelings.

“I just feel a bit frustrated.”

“……”

“You know so much about me. Even things I’ve never told you. But I feel like I don’t properly know anything about you.”

Her expression was complex in many ways.

“I feel like I’m being unreasonable. Forget it.”

Irene muttered to herself.

She shifted under the blanket, then rested her head on my arm that happened to be lying beside her.

The distance between us closed again.

The sweet scent of her skin reached me.

Leaning her body against mine, the girl spoke:

“Come to think of it… I’ve never properly told you my story either. Would you like to hear it, if you’re interested?”

“What kind of story are you referring to?”

“The things from my past that I’ve kept hidden.”

“I already know most of it.”

“Hearing it directly from the person involved is different. Both in content and meaning.”

“I suppose that’s true. I’d be happy to listen.”

I quietly lent my ear.

Some might wonder what use it is when I already know everything, but a story heard directly from the person involved carries much deeper meaning.

The inner wounds she had been hiding all this time.

It meant she trusted me enough to reveal such vulnerabilities.

The girl seemed to be opening her heart more and more.

“It’s not exactly an entertaining story.”

Her eyes reflected memories of days gone by.

After a moment of silence, the girl carefully parted her lips.

“The village where I lived as a child was a quiet countryside. Since our kind easily becomes targets for humans, we often lived in hiding in quiet places.”

The content didn’t deviate much from what I already knew.

A humble but happy village.

People full of affection.

A girl who grew up righteous among them.

Daily life seemed to flow peacefully, but misfortune always comes when least expected.

It happened when the fox was about three years younger than now.

-Nice to meet you all.

-I run a small business in the capital.

A man visited the village.

He went around offering gifts and greeting everyone, asking for their goodwill.

-I came to this area for work, and since I’m here, I’d like to become friends with everyone.

-I want to be your friend.

The simple village people.

At first, they were wary, but after months of continued kindness, they eventually gave in.

Before long, the man had blended in as a member of the village.

That’s when it all began.

The tragedy started.

-Capture them all! Don’t let a single one escape!

-Erase all traces of this place! Drag out any hiding cubs and burn everything that remains!

They should have known.

Humans.

Were a cunning species.

The smiles they had shared disappeared, and only greed gleamed in their dim pupils.

Malicious deceit devoured the foxes without mercy.

It was truly a pathetic ending.

The village burned, the adults died, and the children were taken as slaves.

The girl stood amidst all these scenes.

Her lips curled into a bitter smile as pain spread across them.

“…My master remained alone in the burning village. She wanted me to escape with my younger siblings.”

Her voice was calm and lifeless.

The girl didn’t tremble.

She simply recounted with composed eyes.

“But I failed. We didn’t get far before the hunting dogs caught us.”

Was this her most painful memory?

Her fine brow furrowed.

Perhaps the fox was recalling the moment when she was forced to kneel miserably in front of her sobbing siblings.

After briefly biting her lip, Irene concluded her story.

“After that, I lived in a cage. Then I met you at the auction house.”

“I see.”

“Was I too long-winded?”

“Not at all. I’m just concerned. Are you alright?”

“No reason why I shouldn’t be.”

Her answer came back softly.

“But sometimes I do fall into certain thoughts.”

“What kind of thoughts?”

“Thoughts like what if I had been different. If I had been cunning enough not to trust humans, strong enough not to be helplessly overpowered, could I have protected the people I cared about?”

“……”

The girl was alone.

Bearing the full responsibility for that day, suffering from terrible guilt.

Simply because she had survived.

“Sometimes it feels like it was all my fault.”

“……”

It was a foolish thought.

But I understood.

Even knowing it’s not your fault, people ultimately blame themselves and crumble.

I understood the girl’s guilt.

Because I had experienced it myself.

In my previous life, until a few years ago, or perhaps even now…

-Brother! Play with me!

The auditory hallucination of times past brushed my ear.

I shook off the unnecessary thoughts.

Turning my head to the side, I saw black eyes staring at me.

We lay facing each other.

I quietly raised my hand and caressed her snow-white cheek shrouded in darkness.

“Irene.”

The nightmare that had tormented her life for so long.

Although I couldn’t heal you, there was one thing I really wanted to tell you.

“It wasn’t your fault.”

There was no one to say such things to me.

Because in my previous life, I was alone.

Therefore.

I thought all the tragedies that occurred back then were because of me.

Only with time did I gradually realize.

“While you may grieve over misfortune, you shouldn’t turn it into self-hatred.”

What a suffering person needed most.

Was not a pile of medicine packets, but a warm word of comfort.

“Because you can’t live for the future that way.”

“……”

Irene wore a blank expression.

Her black eyes wavered.

She seemed to be considering how to respond, then soon gave a faint smile.

Her body drew closer and entered my embrace.

“…You’re thoughtful in strange ways.”

“Was it unnecessary meddling?”

“No… I’m just surprised. You’re the first person to tell me it wasn’t my fault.”

“More precisely, there was no one who could tell you.”

“That’s true too.”

We remained still.

Time seemed to stop.

Our lips were close.

As if they might overlap at any moment.

Through the precarious gap between us, our unswallowed breaths intertwined.

Only my image was reflected in her transparent pupils.

The fox broke the silence.

“I’ve been thinking.”

“Hmm?”

“I want to join your organization.”

“Organization… you mean Astro?”

“Yes.”

What sudden wind had blown her way?

She had acted uninterested before, but now Irene was suddenly expressing her desire to join.

She added an explanation:

“Until now, I’ve stayed by your side as a servant. If I’m going to continue assisting you, I think it would be better to have a more official position.”

“Seems your loyalty has suddenly surged.”

“I suppose you could say that.”

“It’s not a bad proposal. We’ll be together for the next three years anyway, whether we like it or not. I was thinking of suggesting it to you sometime.”

“So you’ll accept me?”

“Gladly.”

I answered with a grin.

I extended my pinky finger.

Given the limited space, I planned to conduct an abbreviated induction ceremony.

The fox linked her little finger with mine without hesitation.

Immediately.

Mana sparkled.

A long strand of thread. It glowed blue as it wove our fingers together.

As the soft color spread, I said:

“Many things will change from now on.”

Taming means forming a relationship.

It means the process of becoming special to each other.

From now on, you will become the only one in the world for me, and I will become the only one in the world for you.

I recited as if defining the future.

“The only one for each other.”

The intertwining thread of mana soon formed a clear knot.

I lowered my head.

The fox was slightly below me.

Our foreheads touched.

Feeling the warmth transmitted between us, I smiled with my eyes.

“I look forward to continuing our relationship.”

“Yes.”

Irene answered quietly.

The soft-colored mana.

A scene that shone brilliantly even in the dark dawn.

And so, with our fingers linked, we fell asleep waiting for the night to pass.

It was a peaceful day.

***

Meanwhile.

In the underworld of the Empire.

“……”

Unknown was bowing his head.

The young man knelt on one knee, paying respect to the throne shrouded in darkness.

The space was filled with the smell of thick blood.

As he maintained his silence, a voice suddenly reached him.

“So… you’ve returned after breaking the alliance?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Unknown answered toward the throne.

The shadow sitting on it soon spoke with a deep nasal tone.

“This alliance was quite important… Our relationship with the businessman will be greatly strained from now on.”

“I have committed the sin of taking your command lightly. I will accept whatever punishment you bestow.”

“Even if that punishment is death?”

“If that is your will, I would gladly accept it.”

Unknown answered without a moment’s hesitation.

The shadow watching him burst into laughter as if satisfied.

“I was just testing you, so don’t mind it.”

“I am grateful for your mercy.”

“I can’t abandon such a loyal subject. We didn’t need to rely on that alliance in the first place.”

The shadow stroked his chin.

“By the way, I didn’t expect the snake to make a move. His whereabouts had been unknown for the past year.”

“He was still overwhelming.”

“Of course. He’s the one who brought down a kingdom, after all. It would be disappointing if he had regressed in just a year.”

“The contract that bound our hearts… because of that, I missed the opportunity to deal with him.”

“That was probably calculated from the moment he boarded the ship. He used the fact that you couldn’t attack him. Truly a cunning villain.”

“What do you plan to do now?”

“Well.”

In response to Unknown’s question.

The corners of the mouth hidden in darkness smiled viciously.

“Yes… I’d like to see his face after all this time.”

The shadow muttered ominously.

In the thick shadows that had fallen, only an inauspicious atmosphere swirled.