The fox, now having completely let down its guard, slinked up onto Adrian’s lap and settled in. It wrapped its tail prettily around its body as if draping it, placed it cozily over its paws, and looked around with clear, transparent eyes. For a fox that had lived its entire life in the forest, this room full of human objects was itself filled with fascinating things.
Adrian watched the fox unable to hide its curiosity on his lap, then turned his gaze to the desk. On it remained some official documents to process. Though they weren’t urgent and didn’t need immediate handling, for him suffering from insomnia, working at this hour was now far too familiar. He naturally picked up his fountain pen.
With a small companion on his lap, Adrian’s late-night work resumed.
The fox took in the room with the sound of the pen nib scratching parchment as background music. But as time passed, the ball of fur grew increasingly bored. At first it sat obediently observing its surroundings, but when he didn’t give it a single glance and only devoted himself to work, everything soon lost its appeal.
Should I just sleep like this?
But I’m not sleepy though.
While pondering, its gaze fixed on the fountain pen in Adrian’s hand moving with rhythm.
Each time the sparkling silver fountain pen glided over the paper, the fox’s blue eyes followed that movement. As if the object looking like a living snake was fascinating, it watched with concentration while shaking its small head left and right.
And finally, the fox unable to contain its curiosity carefully raised its front paw.
Tap.
A small black front paw touched the fountain pen brushing over the paper. Black smudging appeared over letters not yet dry with ink. Adrian’s hand hesitated. He slowly lowered his head and looked down at the small troublemaker sitting on his lap.
The fox was looking up at him with clear, large eyes as if knowing nothing. Then it shifted its gaze again to the fountain pen in Adrian’s hand. It seemed to really like the object.
Tap.
This time it was bolder. It even pressed down on the pen nib part with its front paw.
“Don’t do that.”
Adrian warned in a low voice, but the fox, having learned from that earlier incident that this person didn’t easily get angry at it, got excited instead and swished its tail while swinging its front paw. He dodged by a hair’s breadth, but at that moment the fox’s front paw precisely struck the inkwell on the desk—which happened to have its lid open.
With a thud, the glass bottle tipped over and pitch-black ink poured out.
The ink flowed like a river over important treaty documents that were just about to be signed. The pure white parchment turned black in an instant. Not only that, the fox’s front paw also turned jet black.
This is fun! Even seeing the disaster it had caused, the fox just wagged its tail excitedly because it was fun, but the moment it saw his hardened expression, the fox’s ears drooped. Only then did it realize it had crossed the line.
“……”
Adrian watched the scene without a word. Documents involving several major affairs of the Empire had become scraps of paper in an instant. Normally, he would have immediately twisted the neck of the culprit who dirtied the documents.
However, for some reason, he wasn’t angry.
To be precise, he was angry, but the fact that the target of that anger was merely a ball of fur the size of a palm rendered him powerless. Seeing it already losing spirit while rolling its blue eyes around, the emotions that had been boiling cooled feebly. In the end, all he could do was let out a long sigh.
“You troublemaker.”
His voice held resignation that it couldn’t be helped rather than reproach. Then the fox made a whining sound as if apologizing. Adrian tapped the fox’s nose lightly so it wouldn’t hurt. He lightly lifted the fox whose front paws were covered in ink.
Since he couldn’t let it roam the office with those dirty paws, it needed to be washed. He brought water in a basin himself to wipe the fox’s dirtied paws.
“Give me your paw.”
Adrian held the dirtied front paw and dipped it in water. Then the fox began jumping and resisting desperately. Long ago, it had almost fallen in while playing near a lake in the middle of the forest. Since then, the fox had become afraid of water.
“Kyaaaak!”
I hate it!
The fox screamed while struggling to escape from Adrian’s arms. Those small kicks were quite fierce, splashing water all over his uniform.
“Stay still!”
Adrian scolded in a low voice, but the fear of water was stronger than the Emperor’s dignity. The fox twisted its entire body to escape from his arms.
Eventually, Adrian lost his grip on the wet ball of fur. The fox that landed on the floor dashed to the corner of the room without a moment’s hesitation. It hid its body in the darkest place under the desk and glared at him.
What are you glaring for like you did something right?
Adrian made an absurd expression looking at the small beast glaring at him while covered in ink and water. Weren’t foxes canines? If it were a dog, it wouldn’t dislike water, but the way it had such a fit from just a drop of water touching its toes was exactly like a cat.
He clicked his tongue once and approached the fox. But the moment he took a step, the fox shrank its body deeper and growled threateningly. It seemed washing would be difficult in this state.
Adrian pondered briefly, then as if a good idea occurred to him, he pulled the bell cord to call a maid. At the appearance of an unfamiliar person, the fox was clearly very tense. He gave a brief order, then had the maid withdraw quickly.
Shortly after, the maid came holding a small plate emitting a delicious smell along with a dry cloth. It was quite different from the meat the fox had eaten earlier.
Adrian, receiving the plate from the maid, set it down on the floor a bit away from the desk. Then a black nose sniffed from under the desk and slowly revealed itself outside. The identity of the smell was oven-roasted duck.
The fox looked at the duck meat and wavered.
I want to eat it, but if I eat that, I’ll be caught.
However, the delicious smell tempting the fox was enough to break down its wariness. The fox crawled out from under the desk while watching Adrian’s eyes. Just as it was about to grab a piece quickly and return to its hiding place, his hand flew like lightning and instantly snatched the fox’s scruff.
“Kyeng?”
The fox dangling in the air flailed in confusion, but a small fox couldn’t overcome the Emperor’s grip strength. Adrian lifted the fox as is and brought it back in front of the basin.
“You have to stay still this time.”
He firmly held the fox with one hand and with the other hand picked up a cloth soaked in water and began wiping the paws dirtied with ink. The fox whined and twisted its body, but Adrian’s hand was unyielding. Finally, as if resigned, the fox obediently surrendered its paws.
Adrian meticulously wiped between the fox’s toes, washing off the ink. Only after completely removing moisture with a soft dry towel did he carefully set the fox down on the ground.
The fox, regaining its freedom, quickly withdrew its body and dashed toward the prepared meat. Then it devoured it in an instant as if someone might snatch it away. It didn’t forget to occasionally raise its head sharply during the meal to glare at Adrian.
I’m letting you off just this once because you gave me something delicious.
The fox’s eyes said so.
Why are you angry at me when you’re the one who made the mistake? At that brazen appearance, Adrian shook his head while looking around the desk as the fox demolished the meat.
It was disastrous. The high-quality parchments were soaked in black ink, hideously ruined, and even the expensive pen holder and desk were all stained black. Just cleaning these would take quite a long time.
Be that as it may.
Nom nom. The culprit who had just caused the disaster was peacefully chewing and swallowing the last piece of duck. At the sight of it meticulously licking its mouth with its tongue then even yawning with satisfaction, a hollow laugh finally burst out. Now that its stomach was full too, there was no telling what mischief it might cause. It needed to be put to sleep quickly.
He instructed the maid waiting outside to clean and called the fox.
“Come here.”
The fox showed signs of hesitation for a moment, but soon when it seemed he wouldn’t do anything strange, it ran over quickly and stood at his feet.
Adrian bent his waist and headed to the bedroom while lightly holding the small body. The small head leaning on his shoulder swayed obediently according to his movements. Contrary to having caused quite a commotion, the fox was docile.
Arriving at the bedroom, Adrian placed a soft cushion under his bed and carefully set the fox down on it.
“Sleep here from now on.”
The fox sniffed the cushion’s smell. Then it spun around and plopped down. Just when it seemed it would sleep obediently like that, as if disliking that spot, the fox got up again and jumped up onto Adrian’s bed. Then it brazenly settled on his pillow, which was heavily imbued with his scent.
Look at this.
Adrian only raised an eyebrow lightly toward the shameless intruder occupying his bed but didn’t stop it. Since he obviously wouldn’t sleep tonight anyway, it didn’t matter if the fox monopolized this large bed alone.
Leaving the fox as it was, he headed to the wardrobe. The wet clothes clung uncomfortably. As he took off his uniform jacket and began unbuttoning his shirt one by one, the small ball of fur that had been burying its face in the pillow sneakily raised its head and peeked at his movements.
