It would be a lie to say he wasn’t scared. But the fox recalled the things Adrian had done for him. How he had saved him, treated him, and given him delicious meat.
‘Go away!’
The fox swung his front paw toward where the black haze rose most thickly.
What is this fox doing?
He told it to absorb the curse, but the fox suddenly swung its paw at the air. Theodor almost shouted asking what he was doing.
That’s when it happened. The fox’s paw flying precisely toward the black smoke entered his vision.
Could it be… can it see the curse?
Recalling that until now it hadn’t even recognized that the Emperor’s curse existed, it must have only started to see it now. His divine power seemed to have granted the fox the ability to perceive the curse.
Theodor decided to watch what it would do instead of stopping the fox’s actions.
Yap, yap! Meanwhile, the fox swung its paws diligently. The paws passed right through the smoke. Or so he thought. Strangely, when his paw touched it, the black energy flinched and faded.
Huh?
The fox swung his front paw once more in puzzlement. Sure enough, the black haze retreated backward as if frightened.
It’s working!
The moment he realized that fact, fear disappeared and courage surged. How dare you torment Adrian? I can’t forgive you. The fox tried to make the smoke retreat by swinging his paws. At first, it certainly had an effect. But the dispersed smoke gathered together again and created even larger smoke.
What do I do?
Just swinging his paws to chase it away had no effect. How could he save Adrian? The fox looked up at Theodor. Then he silently moved his lips.
‘Eat it.’
Bad meat. Right, this is bad meat. So I have to eat it.
The fox took a deep breath as if resolved. And very carefully brought his snout toward that black smoke. As if licking a wound, he stuck out his tongue and lightly touched the black energy.
Tingle.
It tasted like metal on the tip of his tongue. The root of his tongue ached as if he had chewed bitter herbs. It was an unpleasant, sticky sensation. He wanted to spit it out but held back. When the fox gathered more courage and opened his mouth wide, a wondrous thing happened.
Whoosh. As if an invisible straw had been inserted, the sticky, heavy energy that had been pressing down on Adrian was sucked into the fox. The feeling of it going down his esophagus was vivid. A cold, heavy lump passed through his stomach and dropped right into the middle of his chest, where the bead was.
‘Ugh….’
His stomach churned. His belly ached softly as if he had drunk spoiled milk. It was a more terrible taste than anything he had ever tasted since being born into this world. The disgusting taste, like a mixture of rotten blood and old hatred, made him retch. He wanted to spit it out right away, but the fox held back.
‘I have to eat this so Adrian won’t hurt.’
The fox forced himself to swallow that energy as if swallowing honey. Gulp. His throat stung. As the black energy entered his stomach, the bead in his chest whirred and rotated rapidly. The bead fiercely ground away the poison that entered and began to convert it into energy.
His body grew hot and his belly filled.
The effect was immediate. Every time the black smoke disappeared into the fox’s body, Adrian’s furrowed brow gradually smoothed out. His rough breathing became deeper and more comfortable. The pained expression had disappeared at some point and peace settled in its place.
Soon, even breathing continued. He had fallen asleep. Seeing that, the fox even forgot the pain in his belly. He did it. He had eaten away the bad thing that was hurting Adrian.
Theodor slowly withdrew his hand. To think it would actually eat it when told to eat. Actually seeing what he had only imagined in his head, surprise came first. He looked down at the fox, who showed signs of slight exhaustion. As if it had eaten more than usual, inside the fox’s body, black smoke writhed fiercely, confronting the bead. Theodor channeled divine power into the fox’s body to protect the bead from the curse.
At the feeling of his body becoming much more comfortable, the fox raised his head.
‘You did well.’
Theodor offered praise with his eyes. The fox couldn’t hide his pride and wagged his tail. Theodor left the happy fox behind and stood up. Today’s work was done. When Adrian woke up, he would believe that divine power had cured his insomnia.
It was a perfect scenario. The Emperor came to blindly trust his abilities, and the fox was placed under his control. Now all that remained was to come and go from the imperial palace to build the Emperor’s trust and rise to the pinnacle of power through the fox.
Theodor smiled soundlessly and left the office. After he left, silence flowed through the office. But it wasn’t the heavy, suffocating silence from before. It was air as warm and peaceful as afternoon sunlight.
The fox settled on Adrian’s stomach. As if he would watch to see if there was any remaining smoke, with his eyes wide open.
Fortunately, the black smoke no longer appeared. When the smoke was no longer visible, the fox’s gaze, which had been scrutinizing the area around Adrian’s body thoroughly, turned to Adrian’s sleeping face. He had long eyelashes. A long, high nose bridge. His sleeping face looked much gentler than when he was awake.
He wanted to touch. Those cheeks, that hair. He wanted to stroke them with human hands, not paws covered in fur. The way he had done for him.
‘Should I transform now?’
Such temptation came to him briefly. Adrian was asleep, so he wouldn’t know. Couldn’t he become human just for a moment and hold him?
Just as the fox was about to gather his energy while raising his front paw, Theodor’s cool voice circled in his ears.
‘You must never show your human form in the imperial palace.’
‘His Majesty will distance himself from you.’
The fox’s ears drooped.
He couldn’t. Adrian mustn’t come to dislike him. If he was driven out because Adrian thought he was a disgusting monster, then he would truly have nowhere to go.
The fox bitterly lowered his front paw. Instead, he gently overlapped his paw on the back of Adrian’s hand.
‘I’ll just stay a fox.’
The reason he had wanted to become human was to convey his feelings to Adrian. But if Adrian would leave the moment he became human, it would be meaningless.
‘If you like it, I’ll live as a fox for life.’
The fox burrowed under Adrian’s chin. The familiar sound of his heartbeat reached him like a lullaby.
“…Don’t go.”
Adrian muttered as if talking in his sleep and pulled the fox into his arms. The fox closed his eyes, held in that embrace.
“Kking.”
I won’t go. I’ll be here.
Before long, the fox’s eyelids also began to grow heavy. Whether it was from eating the bad energy or from relief, he didn’t know. The bead, which had grown stronger after absorbing divine power, was working hard to melt the cold lump that had entered his stomach, and his belly repeatedly grew warm and then cooled.
The fox yawned widely. Adrian’s heartbeat pounded at his ears.
‘Me too… just a little…’
Theodor’s reminder not to sleep together had already been pushed to the back of his memory. The curse had disappeared. Because he had eaten it all. So it would be fine.
The fox closed his eyes in Adrian’s embrace with peace of mind.
The afternoon sunlight pouring through the window settled languidly over the man and small beast sleeping tangled together on the bed.
It was perfect peace, found after a long time.
***
When he opened his eyes, the first thing he felt was an unfamiliar refreshment. The heavy fog that had been pressing down inside his head lifted and his vision was clear. The headache that had been stabbing his temples and the fatigue that had been weighing down his eyelids had disappeared as if washed away.
‘Amazing.’
Was Theodor’s divine power this much? It seemed much more powerful than before. Adrian, who didn’t even think that the fox had eaten away his curse, admired inwardly and tried to raise his body, but stopped his movement at the heavy weight pressing on his chest.
A black ball of fur was sleeping on his solar plexus, breathing heavily.
He stopped breathing for a moment and looked down at that small creature. He could see the fox’s back rising and falling regularly.
Ah, right. The fox.
It wasn’t a dream.
Adrian reached out and lightly touched the fox’s ear. Could it be that this fellow returned and he was able to sleep refreshingly for the first time in a while? Feeling the warm heat seeping through the thin shirt to his skin, he turned his gaze.
He had fallen asleep when the afternoon sunlight was coming in, but looking outside the window, the sunset was glowing. No, looking closely, it wasn’t sunset. The sun wasn’t setting but rising.
Just how long did I sleep? One hour? Two hours? Or more?
He couldn’t even remember when he had last slept this deeply, this soundly.
“Mmm….”
At Adrian’s movement, the fox made a sound like sleep talk and tossed. He rubbed his eyes with his front paws, then yawned widely. Because of that, his pink tongue rolled out and then back in.
“Did you sleep well?”
Adrian’s voice, soaked in drowsiness, cracked lowly.
The fox drowsily opened his eyes and looked up at Adrian. As if unable to focus well, he blinked blankly, then seemed to grasp the situation and sat up abruptly. Then he began to lick Adrian’s chin while vigorously shaking his tail.
“Okay, okay. Stop.”
Adrian chuckled and tried to remove the fox, but the fellow was obstinate. He just thought it was doing this because it liked being next to him, but the fox sniffed and examined Adrian’s face here and there.
The fox wanted to confirm. Whether the bad energy he had eaten away had truly disappeared. Adrian’s complexion had definitely changed from before he slept. The ashen face now had a faint flush, and above all, the black haze that had been surrounding him was nowhere to be seen.
‘Thank goodness.’
The fox rubbed his cheek against Adrian’s chest at the rushing relief. As the tension released, strength drained from his body all at once. He was a body that absorbed curses even while staying still, but since he had directly eaten it, he had taken in far more curse than usual.
Theodor’s divine power had prevented the fox’s bead from being eroded by the curse, but it couldn’t eliminate the burden on his body. His belly felt bloated and his insides stung subtly. Nevertheless, the fox was fine. This degree of discomfort was nothing in the face of the fact that he had protected Adrian.
