The One and Only for Each Other (3)

We remained tangled together for a long while. My shirt was haphazardly undone. The open front of my dress shirt revealed only the tragic traces beneath. A heavy silence settled over us.

"······."

The fox looked down at me. My body was covered in scars—so densely that it was hard to find an unmarred patch of skin. The cuts, burns, tears, and stitches still lingered like proof of a brutal past.

I finally parted my lips.

"······So you saw them after all."

It was a short, quiet question. The girl nodded silently.

"Yeah… I noticed while changing your wet clothes."

"It was supposed to be my precious secret."

"So this is why. Why you always insist on wearing that stuffy suit even in summer. To hide every scar on your body."

"I've been found out."

I admitted it without resistance. As a bitter smile crossed my face, Irene's hand suddenly moved and touched my chest. Her lukewarm body heat gently stroked the scars. Her black eyes trembled faintly. Unable to tear her gaze away from my body, she asked,

"What in the world… happened to you?"

"······."

"Is this another secret?"

"······."

I didn't open my mouth. I simply remained buried in silence. We faced each other for a moment. Close enough that our breaths mingled. Because my shirt was half-removed, our bare skin pressed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠together, melting into a soft warmth. We lay there, wrapped in our sticky, intertwined body heat.

Several minutes passed like that. It was Irene who pulled away first.

"······Sorry. I wasn't trying to criticize you."

Her voice rang faintly. The girl slowly separated her body from mine. Folding her drooping beast ears back, she confessed the complicated feelings she'd been holding inside.

"It's just… a little frustrating."

"······."

"You know so much about me. You even understand things I've never told you. But it feels like I barely know anything real about you."

Her expression was complex in many ways.

"I guess I was being pushy. Forget I said anything."

Irene muttered to herself. She shifted restlessly between the sheets, then laid her head on my arm that happened to be resting beside her. The distance between us closed once more. The sweet scent of her skin reached me. Leaning her body against mine, the girl said,

"Now that I think about it… I haven't really told you my story properly either. If you're interested, would you like to hear it?"

"What kind of story are we talking about?"

"The things from my past that I've kept hidden."

"I already ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠know most of it."

"Hearing it directly from the person involved is different. Both in content and meaning."

"I suppose that's true. I'll listen with joy."

I quietly lent her my ear. One might ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wonder what use it was since I already knew, but hearing the story straight from the person involved carried far deeper significance. It meant she trusted me enough to reveal the inner wounds she'd hidden all this time—the shame she'd kept buried. The girl was gradually opening her heart.

"It won't be a very interesting story, though."

Her eyes drifted into the past. After a brief silence, the girl carefully parted her lips.

"The village I lived in as a child was a quiet countryside. Since our kind easily becomes a target for humans, we usually hid in secluded places."

The story didn't stray far from what I already knew. A modest but happy village. Warm, affectionate people. The girl who had grown up straight and true among them. Life seemed to flow peacefully, but misfortune always arrives when you least expect it.

It happened when the fox was about three years younger than she was now.

A man visited the village. He handed out plenty of gifts and greeted everyone personally, saying he hoped they would treat him well.

The simple villagers had been wary at first, but after months of continued kindness, they eventually let their guard down. Before long, the man had blended in as a member of the village.

And that was when it all began.

The tragedy.

I should have known. Humans were a cunning race. The smiles that had once laughed with them vanished. In their cloudy pupils, only greed glittered. Their treacherous malice devoured the foxes without mercy. It was a truly wretched ending.

The village burned. The adults died. The children were taken as slaves. And in the middle of all those scenes stood the girl.

The corners of her mouth, aching with pain, curved into a bitter arc.

"······Master stayed behind alone in the burning village. He wanted me to escape with my younger siblings."

Her voice was calm and dead. The girl didn't tremble. She simply spoke with steady eyes.

"But I failed. We didn't get far before the hunting dogs caught us."

Was this her most painful memory? Her delicate brow furrowed. Perhaps the fox was recalling the moment she had been forced to her knees in front of her sobbing siblings.

Irene bit her lip for a moment before finishing the story.

"After that, I lived behind iron bars. Then I met you at the auction house."

"I see."

"It was a bit long-winded, wasn't it?"

"Not at all. But I'm worried. Are you alright, Miss Irene?"

"There's no reason I wouldn't be."

Her answer came in a low voice.

"Still, sometimes I fall into those thoughts."

"What thoughts?"

"What if I had been different? If I had been cunning enough not to trust humans, and strong enough not to be helpless—couldn't I have protected the people precious to me?"

"······."

The girl had been alone. Bearing the full weight of responsibility for that day, she had been tormented by terrible guilt. Simply because she had survived.

"Sometimes it feels like everything was my fault."

"······."

It was a foolish thought. But I understood. Even when you know it wasn't your fault, people still end up blaming themselves and crumbling. I understood the girl's guilt. Because I had experienced it myself. In my previous life, until a few years ago… or perhaps even now…

I shook off the pointless thoughts. When I turned my head to the side, I saw black eyes staring back at me. We lay facing each other. I quietly raised my hand and stroked her pale cheek, lost in shadow.

"Miss Irene."

The nightmare that had tormented her life for so long. Even if I couldn't heal her completely, there was one thing I desperately wanted to tell her.

"It wasn't your fault."

There had been no one by my side to say those words to me. In my previous life, I had been alone. That's why I had believed every tragedy that happened back then was because of me. It took time for me to realize the truth little by little.

"You may grieve the misfortune, but you must not twist it into hating yourself."

What people suffering so terribly needed wasn't a mountain of medicine bottles, but a single warm word of comfort.

"Because if you do, you won't be able to live on."

"······."

Irene wore a dazed expression. Her black eyes wavered. She seemed to be wondering how she should react, then a faint smile formed on her lips. Her body drew closer and nestled into my arms.

"······You're strangely attentive in the oddest ways."

"Was it unnecessary meddling?"

"No… I'm just surprised. You're the first person who's ever told me it wasn't my fault."

"To be precise, there was simply no one who could have told you."

"That's true too."

We stayed just like that. As if time had stopped. Our lips were so close. Close enough to overlap at any moment. In the precarious gap between us, our breaths—ones we couldn't quite swallow—tangled together. In her clear pupils, only my reflection shone back.

The fox broke the silence.

"I've been thinking."

"Hm?"

"I want to join your organization too."

"Organization… You mean Astro?"

"Yeah."

What sudden wind had blown this way? She had always acted like she had no interest, yet here was Irene suddenly declaring her desire to join. She added an explanation.

"So far I've stayed by your side as a servant. If I'm going to continue supporting you, I think it would be better to have a more proper justification."

"It seems your loyalty has suddenly surged."

"You could say that."

"It's not a bad offer at all. Whether we like it or not, we'll be together for the next three years. I was planning to suggest it at some point anyway."

"So you'll accept me?"

"Gladly."

I answered with a gentle smile. I held out my pinky finger. Since there wasn't much space, I intended to make it an informal initiation for now. The fox hooked her own pinky onto mine without hesitation.

Right after, mana sparkled. A long thread stretched out. It glowed blue as it wove our fingers together. As the soft hue spread, I said,

"From now on, many things will change."

Taming means forming a bond. It means the process of becoming special to each other. From now on, you will become the one and only existence in the world to me, and I will become the one and only existence in the world to you.

I murmured as if defining our future.

"The one and only for each other."

The tangled threads of mana soon formed a clear knot. I lowered my head. The fox was just below me. Our foreheads touched. Feeling the warmth passing between us, I smiled with my eyes.

"Please continue to take good care of me."

"Yeah."

Irene answered quietly. The softly glowing mana. A scene that shone beautifully even in the dark early morning. Waiting for the night to pass, we fell asleep with our fingers still linked. It was a quiet day.

Meanwhile. In the empire's underworld.

"······."

Bulmyeong kept his head bowed. The young man knelt on one knee, paying his respects toward the obsidian throne. The space reeked of thick blood.

As he maintained his silent vigil, a voice suddenly rang out.

"So… you're saying you broke the alliance and returned?"

"That is correct, Your Majesty."

Bulmyeong answered toward the throne. The shadow seated upon it soon let out a deep nasal sound and spoke.

"That alliance was quite important… Our relationship with the businessman will be greatly strained from now on."

"I have treated your command lightly. I will accept any punishment you give."

"Even if that punishment is execution?"

"If that is Your Majesty's will, I will gladly accept it."

Bulmyeong answered without the slightest hesitation. The shadow watching him burst into satisfied laughter.

"I was just testing you, so pay it no mind."

"I am grateful for your mercy."

"I could never abandon such a loyal subject. Besides, there was never any need to rely on a trivial alliance like that in the first place."

The shadow stroked his chin.

"That aside, I never expected the snake to make a move. His whereabouts have been a mystery for the past year."

"He was still overwhelmingly powerful."

"Obviously. He is the one who destroyed the Kingdom, after all. It would be disappointing if he had regressed in just a single year."

"The contract that bound his heart… Because of it, I missed the chance to deal with him."

"It must have been calculated from the moment he boarded the ship. He took advantage of the fact that you couldn't attack him. Truly a cunning villain."

"What do you plan to do from now on?"

"Well."

At Bulmyeong's question, the corners of the mouth hidden in darkness twisted into a vile smile.

"Yes… It would be nice to see his face after so long."

The shadow muttered ominously. Within the thick shadows that had settled, only a sinister atmosphere churned.