I Won’t Give It Affection
The morning after picking up something useless.
A problem arose. A very serious one at that.
“So…”
I muttered in a serious tone with my arms crossed.
“What does that thing eat?”
If this were South Korea, a familiar search window would be welcoming me right about now.
[♢ Hello, Master. How may I help you? Ask Pleamini 3]
Although it sometimes gave stupid answers with a confident attitude, there was nothing more convenient for asking this and that.
As I was missing modern conveniences I couldn’t use here, Albert, who had been standing behind me, spoke politely.
“In any case, doesn’t it look similar to a fox? Foxes are omnivores, so just feed it anything.”
“That’s exactly the problem. ‘Anything’ is the hardest thing. There’s no set answer.”
Just as Billy was bringing meals for two people, a youthful voice slipped into my thoughts.
“I think I know the answer, Hyungnim.”
“Hm?”
“Meat.”
Lenox’s eyes sparkled as he gripped his fork tightly.
“It’ll be meat. It definitely wants to eat meat.”
The truth tumbled out of the ten-year-old’s mouth.
“I want to eat meat…”
I gestured with my chin toward the round things on the plate for the drooling kid.
“It’s right there, meat.”
Then Lenox drooped his eyebrows and said.
“That’s bean meat.”
“…What’s wrong with bean meat? What about it?”
The bean meat that had proudly occupied the dining table since last night was Billy’s ambitious creation devised to fix Lenox’s picky eating.
I heard he was excited thinking they were real meatballs and ate them, but then tilted his head at the different texture and taste from what he knew.
Then after hearing the truth, he was upset until bedtime. Since it happened when I had fainted, I felt a bit regretful that I couldn’t see that sight.
“Bean meat is also meat.”
“Beans aren’t meat, Hyungnim. Don’t you know what beans are?”
“How could I not know?”
Suddenly, I was condemned by a ten-year-old as someone who doesn’t even know what beans are.
I pushed the plate toward him again and coaxed Lenox.
“If you eat well like a good boy, I’ll give you meat for dinner.”
“Really?”
Perhaps because I’d fed him bean meat meatballs for two meals in a row, his round eyes were full of doubt.
“…Yes. Real meat, not bean meat.”
“Then please fry chicken.”
It seems kids liking chicken is universal across dimensions.
“Fine. Procure some chicken to feed this kid for dinner.”
Billy, who had been standing silently, nodded.
“I’ll relay the message.”
“Then, will the fox also eat chicken for dinner?”
My gaze turned to the floor a little away from the dining table.
The problematic beast was still there. Swishing its white, fluffy tail, looking up at me with black, sparkling eyes.
“The baby fox needs to eat delicious things to grow big and strong too. So give it chicken, okay?”
It might not be a baby or even a real fox, but in any case, I should probably feed it something.
“I’ll think about it.”
Anyway, chicken will come for dinner, and I should feed it something now.
After asking for a side plate, I put one of my bean meat meatballs on it and set it down in front of the white beast.
“Eat it.”
The fox lowered its head, brought its nose close to the side plate, and sniffed. Its moist black nose twitched as it moved.
And then…
“Huh? Hyungnim. The baby fox doesn’t like beans either!”
I clicked my tongue at the fox that had primly turned its head away. Who picked it up—it was exactly like someone else, even down to its tastes.
“You don’t like beans?”
I heartlessly snatched away the food bowl.
“Then starve.”
How dare a mere beast be picky about side dishes.
If it starves, it’ll change its mind.
***
“Your Imperial Majesty. Are you raising that fox?”
“No.”
I answered while keeping my body in a straight line from ankles to shoulders, with my elbows on the floor and hands clasped together.
“It’s a fox I don’t know.”
“You seem close though…”
“We’re not close.”
“But it’s been staring only at Your Imperial Majesty from the doorway the whole time.”
“You’re looking at me right now too, but we’re not close, are we?”
The knights gathered in the training ground glanced at the doorway and murmured among themselves.
“If you’re not raising it and not close to it, why are you leaving it there?”
“Then should I kick it out? In this weather?”
“Well…”
The gazes of the knights looking at the fox in the doorway all flew to the window at once. Seeing the snowstorm blowing fiercely with a whooshing sound, they all nodded without anyone going first.
“Definitely, if we send it out in that weather, it’ll die.”
“If it gets caught in a snowstorm, we won’t even find the body.”
“Moreover, it’s so small.”
“And cute.”
“Its eyes sparkle.”
“It’s fluffy.”
“And weak.”
Although it’s an impudent beast that acts picky about side dishes as if bean meat isn’t meat, it is definitely small and cute. Its eyes do sparkle, and it is fluffy…
“Weak?”
I raised my body from the plank position I’d been holding.
Wieg, who had been standing next to me timing me, said.
“Yes. It looks completely lifeless. Anyone would think it hasn’t even gotten a single chicken leg.”
I was going to give it chicken, but it’s true that it won’t get a chicken leg. The two chicken legs that will come to the dinner table later will both be for the growing child.
I narrowed my eyes and looked at the doorway.
As if proving the knights’ description wasn’t an exaggeration, the fox lay there lethargically. With its pure white ears drooping, looking at me endlessly—it was clearly a starving beast.
As I recalled the memory from this morning when I gave and then took away the bean meat, I felt a bit uncomfortable. I beckoned to Billy, who happened to be bringing a snack tray, to come closer.
“What’s that?”
“It’s an afternoon snack suitable for the young Your Imperial Majesty when he arrives.”
Colorful cookies made by the newly hired pâtissier were on the plate. Since they would have sugar and butter in them, it didn’t seem like it would be good to give them to the beast.
After thinking for a moment, I took the glass containing milk.
“You go get just the milk again.”
“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.”
After checking that the milk wasn’t hot, I pushed it to the fox, and the little one that had been exploring with twitching nose bridge stuck out its tongue slightly.
“Oh.”
“It’s eating, it’s eating.”
“It’s kind of cute. Looking at it like this, doesn’t it just look like a fluffy puppy?”
“That’s what I’m saying. When I saw it from afar, I was shocked thinking it was a baby magical beast.”
Despite the whispering voices, the fox didn’t lift its head and focused only on drinking the milk. Its ears, now filled with energy, perked up, and its fluffy tail, as the knights said, slowly swept the floor.
Seeing even that puppy-sized thing desperately filling its belly to survive made me feel somehow a bit sorry for it.
As I crouched down and stared endlessly at the furry beast, I suddenly came to my senses.
‘No, no. I can’t do this.’
I have many things to do. There’s a place I need to return to, and there’s even the kid I’ve become unexpectedly responsible for. If I recklessly take on more, the only one who’ll get hurt is this beast with nowhere to go.
So I mustn’t give it affection.
I mustn’t be fooled by pity and do something I can’t take responsibility for.
“I’m going to kick you out.”
I whispered quietly to the fox busily lapping up milk.
“As soon as the weather clears, I’ll throw you out.”
A beast like you—I’m only temporarily protecting you because Lenox threw such a tantrum that I had no choice. So I won’t raise you. When the weather clears, I’ll abandon you in the fields and come back and live well, eating well.
“When spring comes, definitely…”
The fox merely perked up its ears nonchalantly and just kept lapping up the remaining milk.
“What is Your Imperial Majesty saying?”
“I can’t hear well. Is he scolding it?”
“What’s there to scold? No, more than that, even if he scolds it, does it understand?”
“Why not? It might understand.”
“…Really?”
“As if.”
Then, perhaps having filled its belly, the fox raised its head. Milk was dripping from its white snout.
“How messy.”
Clicking my tongue, I pulled my sleeve and roughly wiped the wet snout.
Despite my rough touch, the fox didn’t avoid it but waited obediently. With its ears slightly lowered and head tilted up, it was just like a puppy waiting to be petted.
As I combed and tidied the fur with my fingertips so it wouldn’t tangle, the fox with narrowed eyes made a purring sound.
“…Wait. Were foxes part of the cat family?”
It seems I have more things to learn.
