Look at me. Play with me.
Even his crying was as pitiful, as pathetic as possible. The fox raised his head and looked up at Adrian. His two eyes were full of moisture as if tears would form at any moment.
“Haa.”
Finally, the pen fell helplessly onto the paper.
Adrian admitted defeat. He couldn’t continue signing documents with this small troublemaker on his hand. It was another moment of defeat in a battle of wills with a fur ball barely the size of a fist.
“Fine, you won. You’ve won.”
The moment those words fell, the tears pooled in the fox’s eyes disappeared as if by magic. As if it had never happened, the guy let out a cry that sounded like a victory shout—Kyaang!—as his tail began spinning furiously.
“So, what do you want?”
Instead of answering, the fox jumped down lightly. Landing well while holding up his injured foot, the fox tottered to the office door and scratched at it with his front paws.
Scratch scratch scratch.
The face looking back was urging him. Let’s go out. Let’s go outside.
‘Does he want a walk?’
Being cooped up inside, he seemed to want fresh air. Adrian mentally checked today’s schedule.
In the morning he had to receive work reports from Kael, in the afternoon he had an appointment with the high priest, and after evening he had to process remaining documents.
But… the moment he saw the fox looking up at him with eyes sparkling brightly with anticipation, the piled documents and Kael’s urging voice all disappeared cleanly from his mind.
Adrian resigned himself with a sigh. It would be best to give up this morning’s work.
He quickly revised his plans mentally. Spend the morning with the fox, and in the evening call Kael to handle the backlog of reports and document approvals all at once. If there still wasn’t enough time, he could stay up until dawn to finish the work.
He seemed to hear Kael’s anguished cry from somewhere, but he ignored that sound and stood up holding a book.
When he moved, the fox excitedly jumped in place like a rabbit. Seeing that sight, thoughts about backlogged work completely faded. Rather, seeing the fox showing off to get his attention or liking him this way, he felt the stress that had accumulated unknowingly melting away. He’d traded work speed for peace of mind—quite a good deal.
“You’ll aggravate your wound doing that. Be careful.”
He spoke out of concern that the injured foot might be strained, but it didn’t seem to be taken to heart. The moment the door opened, a black bullet shot out.
The fox who’d escaped the stuffy room ran excitedly down the marble corridor flooded with brilliant sunlight.
He almost slipped several times on the smooth floor, but such things didn’t matter. As if finding the sound of his own claws echoing in the wide corridor fascinating, he pricked up his ears and kept running. Perhaps because he’d been here once before, or because Adrian was with him, the corridor didn’t feel scary like before.
‘Does he know where he’s going?’
Adrian, slowly walking behind, thought while watching the excited fox.
As he expected, the black fur ball ran down the corridor with great momentum, but that momentum broke before a fork in the corridor.
Not knowing which way to go, the fox stopped in place and tilted his head as if troubled. Then he looked back and started whining. It seemed like behavior asking him to come quickly and show the way.
Running off alone, I knew he’d end up like this.
Whether the fox urged him or not, he leisurely walked toward the right corridor. Following behind him, the fox approached right up to the feet of the huge armor statue that was no longer scary at all to smell it, and made futile attempts to catch the colorful pools of light on the floor created by stained glass.
Because the fox took time exploring the corridor, it took over 30 minutes to reach the garden that would normally take 10 minutes, but Adrian said nothing. He just let the fox roam the corridor freely.
Finally arriving at the garden, the fox froze with eyes widened as if discovering a new world.
The scent of earth, the scent of grass, and sweet flower fragrance. It was a feast of smells stimulating his nose. Perfectly safe and beautiful nature spread before him, with no scent of dangerous beasts at all.
“Now, there’s no one here, so play freely.”
At Adrian’s words, his tail slowly began to wag. Slowly at first. Then gradually faster. Finally, as if unable to endure it, the fox shot out onto the grass like an arrow.
Bounce! Bounce! He ran around on the soft grass and rolled around rubbing his back. This was a peaceful place with no hunger, no cold, no threats. Only warm sunlight and pleasant fragrances filled it.
Adrian watched that sight before sitting on a bench under the largest tree’s shade. Confirming the fox was playing well alone, he soon picked up his book.
While Adrian sat on the bench reading, after the fox had been playing alone for quite a while, something sparkling yellow suddenly entered his field of vision. An insect fluttering small wings and flying through the air.
A butterfly!
The fox’s blue eyes shone with curiosity. Instinct reacted first. He lowered his front paws, wiggled his rear slightly, and took a hunting stance. And the next moment, he kicked off the grass and jumped toward the butterfly.
But cruelly, the butterfly flew up right before the fox’s nose.
The provoked fox didn’t give up. His body bounced repeatedly as he chased after the butterfly. However, the butterfly nimbly dodged every time. When the fox extended his front paws, the butterfly lightly flew up one step ahead, and when the fox jumped, the butterfly dodged slightly to the side. Unlike the fox whose breath rose to his throat, the butterfly flew around leisurely as if dancing in the air, leading the fox to a secluded spot.
Then, the butterfly lightly landed on a broken flowerpot. The moment the fox launched his body for the last time thinking he’d caught it, the butterfly flew up once more and disappeared somewhere.
The fox who’d futilely swung only his front paws bumped his nose into the ground. It hurts. His bumped nose tingled. When he raised his head with tears dangling while rubbing his sore nose with his front paw, the fox hesitated at the scene spread before his eyes.
Everything was dead.
The flowers had withered black and shriveled, and the leaves had crumbled brown into powder. Everything was rotting and crumbling as if the energy of life had completely disappeared.
When the previous Emperor changed the garden structure, this area was no longer used, and since then it had been left abandoned with no one touching it.
“Kking….”
The fox, who couldn’t know this fact, suddenly became gloomy. This scenery reminded him of the harsh cold and hunger of the winter forest. He deeply hated this appearance where everything was barren and silent like death.
The fox approached a blackened, shriveled flower cluster with a downcast expression and brought his nose to it. Then he blew warm breath onto it, whoosh. As if believing it would come back to life that way.
But the dried petals only fell helplessly. The moment he lowered his head in disappointment, something lightly landed on the tip of his nose.
It was that yellow butterfly from before.
The butterfly moved its small antennae, then flew up lightly again.
As if the sadness from just moments ago never happened, the fox’s interest instantly shifted to the new prey. He kicked off the ground and once again excitedly chased the butterfly, rushing out into the sunlight.
Flutter flutter, the butterfly flew up to the sky avoiding the fox’s persistent interest. The fox followed closely behind, not knowing how to give up. Soon the butterfly that tired first stopped briefly looking for a new resting place. This time the destination was a fountain.
Seeing that, the fox didn’t hesitate. Like a hunter discovering a target, he rushed at full speed toward the butterfly. Then he leaped with all his might.
Hiyah!
In the moment he seemed to stop in midair, the fox was confident. That he could catch it this time.
But reality was different.
Splash! With that sound, the black fur ball disappeared into the fountain.
At the shock of cold water covering his entire body, the fox desperately flailed his front paws trying to cling to the fountain’s edge. But his normally prettily sparkling fur had become heavy as lead from absorbing water and dragged the fox’s small body down below the water.
Actually, the fountain’s water was fairly shallow, so if he’d handled it calmly he could have swum out easily. However, the fox’s body gripped by fear wouldn’t move as usual. He desperately scratched the fountain wall with his claws, but it was useless on the slippery stone surface.
The terrified fox screamed at the top of his lungs.
“Kyaak! Kyauung!”
Adrian, who’d been distracted reading a book for a moment, jumped up from his seat at the sudden scream. When he turned his gaze toward where the sound came from, small feet were flailing in the fountain.
When on earth did he get in there?
He immediately ran to the fountain and pulled up the soaked body desperately struggling in the water. The fox clung as if his arms were a lifeline and frantically scratched his clothes with his claws.
“Kkyung, kking, kking….”
“It’s okay, it’s okay.”
Adrian didn’t care that his sleeves were being torn or that cold water was soaking his clothes, and tightly embraced the trembling small body in his arms. After patting him until the fox calmed down somewhat, he took off his outer garment and wrapped the fox who’d become like a mouse caught in the rain.
Surrounded by warm body heat and familiar scent, the fox’s trembling gradually subsided. Only then seeming reassured, he burrowed while rubbing his soaked head against his chest.
“That’s enough of a walk. Let’s go back.”
Returning to the bedroom with the cotton ball heavy from absorbing water, Adrian ordered maids to bring dry cloths without even thinking to change his wet clothes. For him, caring for the fox took priority over changing clothes.
The maids were shocked at the sight of the Emperor returning soaked, but no one dared ask the reason and only brought dry towels.
