The Thousand-Year Fox's Testimony
The little bride was far smaller than the boy.
And yet this tiny child, far from fearing his darkness, had tried instead to comfort him.
She's so small, and yet... when she said she would help me, it felt as though I could lean on her.
Impossible. It should not be possible.
The boy stared silently at the sleeping bride's face.
"I will help you!"
"Your Highness will surely overcome it!"
It was a miracle.
In the two years since the day he had become a monster, no sane person had ever entered his darkness — and this girl was the first ever to take his hand and promise to help.
Something nameless stirred and welled up inside him.
It almost felt — delusionally so — as if, with his wife's help, he might truly escape this wretched curse.
No. It's a delusion.
Cheon Gyeol-woo clenched his jaw.
His wife was a child of nine, barely. Two years younger than he was.
A darling little girl who drifted off mid-meal with a grain of rice stuck to her lips, nodding off bit by bit before finally toppling into sleep.
An abandoned imperial princess. A pitiful child bride who had crossed to a distant foreign kingdom only to be murdered by her own husband.
She was no one for him to lean on. If anything, it was right and proper that he become her pillar instead.
He was two years her senior, and as of today, he was this girl's husband.
Whatever the circumstances, she is my wife now. Someone I must protect, by any means necessary.
Cheon Gyeol-woo gently brushed the sleeping girl's face with his fingertips.
Soft, delicate cheeks. The faint, thread-thin warmth of a child's breath against his skin.
The boy's eyes hardened with resolve.
My wife saved me when I was meant to die. So I will save her, no matter what it takes.
Even with a miracle, the fragile reality of their situation had not changed in the slightest.
There would be no leisurely time to practice, as she had suggested.
A couple wed for the express purpose of killing one another — if neither of them died, chaos would erupt first thing tomorrow morning.
And in the midst of that chaos, how could he keep his wife alive?
The boyish crown prince sank deep into agonized thought, unable to sleep for a long while.
[My lady. My lady.]
"Mmm..."
[Princess, you must wake up.]
"Mmmyhh..."
[Princess!]
"Hah!"
I jolted awake at the sound of Ansi's voice ringing through my head.
It was the dead of early morning. I couldn't remember when I'd fallen asleep.
I remember being sad that my belly was full before I could eat everything I still wanted to try...
Apparently I'd conked out somewhere between full and exhausted.
Don't tell me I actually fell asleep in the middle of dinner?
Good grief. What an actual child. How was I supposed to look the crown prince in the face after this?
I was clutching my burning cheeks and heaving a sigh when Ansi's voice drifted in again.
[Are you awake, my lady?]
[Mm. When did you get back?]
[I have only just arrived.]
[You're late. Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?]
[I am perfectly unharmed. The wicked fox bolted the moment she saw me, so I was delayed chasing her down and dragging her back.]
[Good work. Did you bring her outside?]
[Yes, she is waiting obediently.]
[Wait there, I'm coming out.]
I pushed back the covers to rise — and the crown prince was right there beside me.
"...!"
Memories of the previous night flashed back and I flinched, but looking again, he was asleep, and I relaxed.
But why is he sleeping on the bare floor with no blanket? He'll catch a cold.
I couldn't imagine carrying him somewhere to sleep, so I pulled over the blanket I'd been using and tucked it around him instead.
Sleep well.
Even his sleeping face was clean and composed — how was it that he looked more upright and proper than the court officials?
After gently patting him to let him sleep in peace, I eased the door open and slipped out. Ansi was waiting on the veranda, and behind her stood a figure whose eyes darted anxiously this way and that.
A fairly beautiful woman, notable for the teardrop mole beneath one eye and a beauty mark at the corner of her mouth.
"Caught her exactly as ordered. Not a scratch on her, either."
"As the Princess's phoenix, anything less would be an embarrassment!"
Ansi puffed out her chest, brimming with pride, and I stroked her soft golden hair.
Standing up on the veranda meant I didn't have to stand on tiptoe to reach her. Wonderful.
"Well done. You really are my phoenix."
"Hee hee. Hee hee hee."
The musician, who had been watching the two of us intently, narrowed her eyes.
"...My lady? For a phoenix to call you 'Princess'..."
I looked at her with a small smile.
"Do you know who I am, then?"
"...?"
The musician cocked her head, gave her nose a sniff — and then leapt straight up off the spot.
"Kyang! Celestial peach!"
snowy white fox ears popped up above the startled musician's head. A tail burst free beneath her skirt, and her nose stretched long.
The woman wearing the musician's clothes had, at some point, become a white fox standing on two legs.
The moles by her eye and mouth turned out to be patches — the fur there was jet black.
"C-celestial peach scent, jade eyes, and a princess... c-could you be... Princess Cheonmyeong, nya?"
the fox asked, ears trembling. Ansi glared.
"How dare you speak casually to the Princess!"
"Kyeng..."
Under that icy stare, the white ears drooped low. The fox glanced around furtively, then muttered,
"She smells like a celestial peach but her body's just human, which is sooo weird. Are you really Princess Cheonmyeong, nya?"
"Would I, a phoenix, serve a false princess? Foolish monster."
"Kyeng, I suppose not, but... why on earth are you in human form, nya? You look delicious..."
The fox licked her lips. Ansi's eyes went blade-sharp, and she kicked the fox's leg.
"You wretched beast, how dare you spew such nonsense at the Princess!"
"Kyahek! Then why do you have to look human and confuse everyone, nya! A human that smells like celestial peach looks way too tasty, nya! *Slurp.*"
"She's gone completely mad!"
Furious, Ansi soared into the air and smashed down onto the back of the fox's head. The fox hopped and yipped.
"Kyaaang! Kyang! I'm sorry, nya! My bad, nya! I won't show it even if you look tasty, nya!"
"You shouldn't harbor such thoughts at all! How dare you! I'll teach you some manners!"
Ansi flitted back and forth, raining tiny adorable punches on the fox's head. The fox covered her head with her front paws, whining kyeng, kyeng and groveling apologies.
I sat down on the veranda, propped my chin on my hand, and enjoyed the little comedy.
That fox is a bit different from what I expected.
Maegu isn't supposed to be such a sloppy monster. Is it because she's a white fox?
White-furred fox monsters were indeed a touch more auspicious than their kin.
Still, a creature that stopped at being a maegu instead of ascending to a celestial fox should have leaned far more monstrous than this.
Once the scuffle finally died down, Maegu stood before me with her white ears flattened so completely against her head they'd practically fused to her skull.
"Princess, I was wrong, nya. I'll behave politely from now on, nya."
"Use honorific speech!"
Ansi glowered. The fox, drooping, answered back.
"Hard to do honorifics in this form, nya. This is a fox mouth, nya, kyeng. I can manage it if I take human shape, nya. May I transform?"
"What's so hard about honorifics? You're just making excuses..."
"Let it go."
I cut in before Ansi could explode.
"Monsters born of beasts were never good at human speech to begin with."
"But the celestial foxes spoke it flawlessly, my lady!"
"That's because a celestial fox ascends to Heaven after refining itself. This one is just a maegu that went on living as she was. A thousand-year-old fox is about the only thing that can talk this well."
At my explanation, Maegu clapped her front paws together and nodded her head furiously.
"That's right, nya! It takes one like me to talk this well while showing my true form, nya! The Princess knows her stuff! Truly a princess of Heaven, nya!"
"Flattery noted. Now let's hear your story. What was your purpose in sneaking into the palace?"
Sloppy or not, a monster was still a monster. Depending on her answer, I might have to put her down.
I studied Maegu carefully.
The fox monster curved her eyes into crescents, wriggled, and replied.
"I came to seduce men, nya."
"..."
For a moment I was struck speechless, then barely managed to object.
"...Men? Who?"
"Mi Jungnyeon, the Minister of Personnel, nya. A widower living alone — I can just taste that matured flavor, nya. There's the young and pretty Hongmungwan scholar who placed first in the exams last year, nya. He looks sweet, nya. I've also got my eye on one of the Royal Guards, nya. His muscles are superb, nya. And also..."
The list came pouring out as if she'd been waiting all her life for someone to ask, and my head began to swim.
I hastily cut her off.
"Do you plan to kill them and eat them?"
"Kill them? Why would I waste them like that, nya! Do you think handsome men grow on trees, nya! I'm going to swoon them, nya! One by one, nice and slow, winning each over..."
Slurp.
"..."
"Ah, well, eating them is sort of the goal, nya. Adults eat each other at night, nya. It's an adult world, Princess — you wouldn't know it, nya."
"I'm two hundred and nine! I know everything there is to know!"
"Keheng, what good is age alone, nya? Even the monsters all know Princess Cheonmyeong's been a baby for two hundred years, nya. You're a baby, Princess, kyeng kyeng! Way too young for the adult world, nya!"
"No, that's not the point... Fine, fine. If that's all you're here for, do as you like."
A wave of exhaustion washed over me.
I waved a hand and got straight to the point.
"By principle, any monster that hides among humans and harms them must be eliminated on the spot. You know that, yes?"
"Kyang! I've never harmed a single soul, nya! There are so many delicious things in this world, why would I eat humans, nya? I'm a thousand-year-old maegu — I don't need human essence or any of that!"
"Really? You've never harmed anyone, your entire life? Not ever?"
"..."
Maegu slyly avoided my eyes and added, dragging it out.
"Y-yes... back in the old days I ate just a wittle... just a teensy bit, nya..."
"I thought as much. Then you deserve punishment."
"B-but I only ever ate bad people, nya! Eating good humans gives me indigestion, nya! I can't stomach them, nya!"
"But you did eat them, didn't you?"
"Keeeng..."
The fox's ears drooped and her face crumpled into tears.
I smiled, chin still in my hand.
"I won't eliminate you. So instead, do a job for me."
"Kyang? What kind of job, nya?"
The flattened ears sprang up with a flap, and the tail began swishing merrily.
Adorable.
Without thinking, I reached out and grabbed that plump, luxurious tail. The fox flinched.
"Kehing!"
"Ah, sorry."
"N-no, it's fine, nya! The Princess smells wonderful, nya! Touch all you like and pet me lots and lots, nya!"
Maegu shook her head frantically and flopped her tail right across my lap.
It was fluffy and silky beyond belief — an exquisite sensation. I stroked the fox's tail as if entranced and spoke.
"First — how long have you been in the palace?"
"Bout five years, nya. My little sister said the royal palace was full of handsome men, so I came in, nya, keheng. Making a convincing identity was such a hassle, nya."
"You have a sister? No — never mind, that can wait. Then you knew what the crown prince was?"
"Course I knew, nya. Saw it with my own eyes, nya."
"Saw what?"
"The day the Crown Prince became an Eodukseoni — I was performing right there, nya."
"...What happened there?"
"Kyaaeng..."
Maegu twitched her ears, knitting her brow. Then, with a long sigh, she began her story.