The Nine-Tailed Reunion in the Imperial Garden
The carriage jolted and rumbled as we left the Black Horn Mountains behind, rolling toward the Imperial Palace. I sat quietly opposite a gumiho on the opposite seat and stared at her without blinking.
“Kyaawoong…”
Those tails look so incredibly fluffy… I really want to hug them.
The nine fluffy tails swayed in time with the carriage’s motion.
My instincts screamed.
If I buried myself in those tails, I’d feel like the best possible drug cushion.
I tried to slip out of Kailian’s arms.
Tug.
“Where do you think you’re going, Blanc? Stop being distracted. Today you’re staying with me, right? Right?”
“Kyaa…”
Seriously… this separation-anxiety butler…
I got it.
Kailian wrapped her arms around my waist so tightly I couldn’t move.
Her fluffy tail was right there in front of my face, and I couldn’t touch it.
This is what picture meat feels like.
“Kyau! Kyang!”
If you’re going to be separated, at least be gentle! My fur will get all flattened!
My irritation spiked. I buried my face in Kailian’s belly, showed my displeasure, and started spanking her knuckles with my tail in protest.
My fur gets flattened!
Slap slap!
“Kyaa.”
Take this, you bastard. Let me go.
But Kailian only smiled faintly as my tail struck her, the corners of her mouth twitching with amusement.
“Hoo, our Blanc. You’re sulking at me and hitting my hand with your tail? How cute.”
“Kyau.”
I was being honest about my durability… if I hit properly I’d injure her, so I couldn’t do much.
I gave up on resistance and, for sleep, tucked my nose into her belly and closed my eyes.
“Hoo hoo, even sulky Blanc is adorable.”
“Kyau.”
Stealthily don’t touch my butt, Lina.
I smacked her hand hard with my tail.
“Ha… this isn’t bad either.”
“Kyau.”
All the butlers are terrible.
Finally the carriage stopped.
A bodyguard cautiously knocked on the door.
When it opened, Emperor Karsion himself stood before the grand imperial gate, holding the jerky I liked in one hand and coming to greet me.
*He must have dumped the job on Demian again.*
A reasonable suspicion arose that Demian wasn’t around.
“Blanc, did the hunt go well? With you gone, the palace has been so quiet.”
Kailian stepped out of the carriage and released the arms that had trapped me like a poisonous snake.
As soon as I landed on the ground, I pecked Kailian’s shin in displeasure and spun away.
“Kyau.”
You won’t groom me for a while.
I ran straight toward Karsion, tail wagging as I reached out.
“Kyau! Kyaaang! Grandpa! I’m here! Did you know what I hunted in the mountains?!”
“Hahaha! Yes, yes. You look like you’ve returned with a very spirited catch.”
Karsion squatted down and rubbed my head and neck with his rough, massive hands.
It was rough but refreshing, nothing like Kailian’s touch.
“Kyaawoong… grandpa, I’m back.”
I enjoyed the rough hands, licked the back of his hand in greeting.
The Emperor’s gaze, which had been smiling and stroking my head toward Blanc, shifted to the gumiho who stood stiffly scanning around.
The Emperor’s sharp eyes scanned the gumiho for a moment, then smiled softly at Blanc.
“I heard you were off hunting… but you brought home a guest instead of prey, Yonseok.”
‘Mom… there’s a bit of a story…’
Karsion shook his head at his daughter who was trying to explain urgently, then lifted me high by putting both hands under my armpits.
“Enough. What’s so surprising about this little troublemaker being brought back by someone else?”
Karsion held me in his arms and called the frozen gumiho.
“Come here, gumiho.”
“…It is an honor to meet you, Your Majesty.”
The gumiho approached trembling with fear at the Emperor, whose presence crushed even a spiritual creature.
“Relax. If Blanc personally brought you, you are a precious guest to me too. Rest easy.”
At the Emperor’s words, the gumiho’s shoulders drooped and she slowly lifted her head.
She looked at the Emperor with eyes full of desperation and spoke carefully.
“…I apologize to Your Majesty, but I have one question. Is there a young fox child with pure white fur staying in this palace?”
When she asked that, Karsion glanced briefly at Blanc’s face.
He roughly guessed the situation from the spiritual creature before him.
The Emperor felt a strange kinship with the gumiho as a parent and smiled gently.
“Chamberlain, bring Lumia to the princess’s palace. When Blanc returns, send word and she will come at once.”
“I obey, Your Majesty!”
The chamberlain hurried away. The gumiho clutched both hands to her chest and held her breath anxiously.
Dada dada!
Soon small footsteps of someone running hurriedly approached.
“Blanc Oppa!”
From far away, Lumia came sprinting full speed.
The moment Grandpa set me on the ground, she crashed into my arms.
She has separation anxiety too.
“Euaaa… Oppa! I was so worried! I was so scared thinking maybe you wouldn’t come back because I was bored!”
“Kyaa, kyau.”
This idiot is overdoing it. Would I really get hurt by monsters? I ate properly, right?
I buried my face in my fur and caught Lumia’s cheeks with my paw while she sulked.
Then I licked every corner of her face with my tongue.
“Hehe… Oppa’s smell… It’s really okay, really okay.”
Lumia rubbed her face against my neck and wagged her tail happily.
The gumiho, watching this from behind, stood frozen, eyes wide.
It was unmistakable.
The child she had lost in that hell and cried blood every night searching for.
“Se…olwa…”
Her lips trembled, and without realizing it, she whispered the child’s name softly.
She approached Lumia and Blanc slowly, like she was possessed.
“Kyau.”
I had to skip the touching mother-daughter reunion.
I saw the approaching gumiho and stopped licking Lumia’s cheeks, then naturally slipped out of the embrace with a slight backward step.
I wasn’t the one to interfere now.
“Eh? Why are you doing that, Oppa?”
When I fell from her arms, Lumia tilted her head curiously and looked at me.
Then, as she reached toward me with a trembling hand, her eyes met the approaching gumiho.
“…Eh?”
Lumia’s eyes widened until they looked ready to burst.
In her unforgettable memories.
The memory of that day with its terrible stench of blood and the last sight of her mother slammed into her head.
In disbelief, Lumia’s small lips quivered slightly.
“Mom…? Mom is here…?”
At her daughter’s pitiful cry, tears long suppressed by the gumiho burst forth like a flood.
“Aga… yes, I’m your mom… my child… I finally found you… this useless mother who arrived late is sorry…”
The gumiho knelt on the ground immediately and hugged Lumia tightly.
Her large nine tails, spread wide behind her, gently enveloped Lumia’s small body as if they would make up for the times she hadn’t been able to hold her.
“Mom… Euaaa! Mom…!”
Lumia, who had only known her mom was gone, let out all the fear and sorrow she had held back and cried her heart out, throwing a tantrum in her mom’s arms.
The sound of the mother-daughter reunion echoed through the imperial garden.
“…Kyau.”
I stepped back a little from them and watched the mother and child quietly, my body curled into a round ball with my tail.
I’m glad.
The gumiho stroking Lumia’s head, wiping tears from her head and cheeks over and over.
Lumia smiling brightly with tears in her eyes while her tail wagged, nestled in her mom’s arms.
“Kyau…”
I did another one.
My chest felt warm with pride, but strangely it ached emptily and prickled on one side.
“Why am I like this? Did I eat something bad?”
I raised my paw and carefully stroked my head and neck with my paw pads.
It was the place where, once upon a time, Mom had licked me for the very first time.
Even though it was only once, the warmth and touch were unforgettable.
“Kyaa…”
Damn… I want Mom too. I want to be held in someone’s arms.
My tail, which had been drooping all day, hung limply and dragged across the ground.
I hope I can meet Grandpa tonight.