The Doll Machine and the Fox Hug
Our steps naturally drifted toward the deep heart of the market alley. I was still trying hard to ignore the warmth of our tightly interlocked fingers when my gaze suddenly caught on a strange magic engineering device tucked into a corner of the street.
“Huh…?”
I stopped dead in my tracks without realizing it. Inside a large, transparent magic-glass case, a mountain of colorful, fluffy-looking dolls was piled high. At the top of the box, a metal claw powered by mana dangled from a thin chain, and on the front were a coin slot and a joystick for steering.
Why is a claw machine from my previous life here?
I couldn’t hide my fascination at seeing a machine that reeked of my past life right in front of me. Adelaine, who had been quietly following my line of sight, noticed my reaction and took a step forward. She casually rolled up the sleeve of her neatly pressed uniform and declared in a voice as solemn as a general heading into battle.
“Your Highness, please wait a moment. I will secure that doll for you.”
“Adel?”
“Yes. For a warrior of the North, operating a device like this is child’s play.”
Adelaine stepped forward with bold confidence and exchanged her money for coins. The heavy charisma radiating from her entire body made her look less like someone about to play a claw machine and more like a monarch marching off to behead the demon army.
But… the world doesn’t run on spirit alone.
Whirr—
When Adelaine poured her mana into it, the metal claw began to move slowly. Her eyes gleamed sharply as she dropped the claw toward the head of a baby bear doll inside the case.
Clack!
The claw gripped the doll’s head perfectly. But as it moved toward the exit, it shook strangely and dropped the doll pathetically to the floor.
“……Huh?”
A stupid sound slipped from Adelaine’s mouth in her confusion. Refusing to accept defeat against such a shoddy magic device, she poured coin after coin into the slot. The results were devastating. Watching the claw tease her by dropping the dolls right before the exit, a tiny vein began to bulge on Adelaine’s forehead.
“……One more round.”
Her voice had sunk low. She was so focused that her lips had pursed into a sharp triangle, like a baby bird’s beak.
Whirr. Clatter! Clack! Thud.
Another failure. Adel pulled a pouch of gold coins from her pocket with a trembling hand. Her shaking fingers. Her unfocused eyes. The way she glared at the pale yellow fox doll through the glass was identical to a gambling addict in the corner of a casino, yanking the slot machine lever right before losing everything.
The dignity of the cold Grand Duchess who commanded the North was nowhere to be found.
“……Statistically, this time it has to catch.”
She muttered the bizarre gambler’s logic in a deeply sunken voice while rummaging through her gold pouch. Her fingers digging through the coins trembled as if she were suffering from severe withdrawal.
“I still… I still have the tax exemption rights I received from the imperial family and shares in the northern mines. How dare this crude machine tarnish the honor of the North…”
What was she even saying? If I left her alone, this was going to get dangerous. The stakes were way too high for a simple claw machine.
I quietly slipped one of the coins dangling between her fingers and stepped forward confidently.
“I’ll do it!”
Noel snatched the last coin that had been precariously dangling between Adelaine’s fingers and strode confidently up to the controls. Before she could stop him, the coin clinked down the slot. At the same time, Noel grabbed the joystick. His usually slack, idiot-like lips pressed into a firm line. The eyes that always seemed unfocused beneath his long, dark lashes half-closed with concentration.
Whirr— Clack.
With the sound of the doll dropping, Noel returned to his usual self.
“Adel! Here, take it! You wanted this one, right?”
He pulled out a plump, soft yellow desert fox doll and shoved it into my arms. With its big ears and innocent black eyes, it was an adorable yet sly creature that looked exactly like His Highness himself.
The texture of the yellow desert fox doll pressed against my chest was unbearably soft. I hugged it tightly with both hands, completely stunned. The lingering chill and sharpness I had glimpsed from him moments ago still hadn’t faded, and my heart was still pounding violently.
When I stood there blankly staring at the doll, His Highness tilted his head as if my reaction was strange.
“……Your Highness.”
I buried my face slightly behind the doll’s plump ear to hide my flushed cheeks and stammered.
“Would something like this… really suit me?”
Suddenly, countless rumors about me flashed through my mind. The bloodthirsty wolf. The Empire’s cruel shield. The terrifying predator of the North who mercilessly severed the heads of the White Iron bastards. Nobles in high society trembled at the mere mention of my name, and even the Emperor was wary of my presence. For someone who had lived such a bleak, pitch-black life to be holding a childish, cute toy doll from a street in the capital… even I had to admit it was a bizarrely mismatched picture.
“I am an Ehrenhart of the North. Something this dainty and cute…”
At my sunken voice, Noel blinked his large eyes. Then, as if my worry was ridiculous, he puffed out his cheeks lightly and laughed brightly.
“Why? It suits you perfectly! The baby fox is this yellow and cute, and Adel looks so pretty and cool in white clothes! Both of you are adorable!”
“……!”
My breath caught in my throat. Both of you are adorable. That single, pure sentence without any calculation whatsoever felt like it swallowed my heart whole. It was the softest, kindest language I had ever heard in a life spent enduring blood-soaked battlefields. I could feel my face turning bright red all the way to my ears in real time. Cheeks that had never flushed even in the harsh northern blizzards burned hot.
I bit my lower lip hard to hide the rush of embarrassment. Then I hugged the yellow desert fox doll that His Highness had given me tightly to my chest, as if it were the single most precious treasure in the world.
“Um, Your Grace. You still have more chances left.”
The merchant, who had been watching us, spoke up.
“The system gives bonus plays after ten uses, so you have about two or three free attempts remaining.”
At the merchant’s words, my gaze unconsciously slid back toward the glass case. A strange competitive spirit I couldn’t suppress rose inside me—I wanted to completely conquer this crude scam machine with my own hands.
As I fidgeted with my fingers, Noel’s eyes widened before he broke into a bright smile.
“Ehehe, Adel, you’re such a dummy? You can’t just yank the machine like that! Here, I’ll show you!”
“What? Your Highness is going to teach me…?”
Something settled onto my shoulder as I leaned forward to play. He had rested his face on my shoulder and was staring straight at me.
“……!”
A tingling thrill shot down my spine. My entire body froze solid. Is this the back hug I’ve only ever heard about? The light weight of His Highness’s small head on my shoulder and the warmth of his chin transmitted perfectly through my skin. If I turned my head even a little, our lips might brush. His slender arms reaching past my shoulders to the controls made me feel completely surrounded by him.
“Okay, Adel. Relax your hand just a little like this… and move together with Noel, yeah?”
The voice right beside my ear sounded strangely lower and softer than usual. His breath brushing against the shell of my ear sent shivers across my skin. The faint sweet scent of pastries and, beneath it, his own clear and refreshing body scent completely paralyzed every nerve I had.
Every time I felt the individual joints of his fingers covering the back of my hand, the area around my heart throbbed as if it would burst. Whirr— With his hand holding mine, His Highness began carefully manipulating the joystick. My hand moved along with his touch, and I could hear the three-pronged claw gliding smoothly left and right beyond the glass.
But by then, nothing—not the machine, not the dolls inside—entered my eyes. The soft cheek pressed against my shoulder, the body heat I could feel against my back, and the touch of that hand covering mine. It felt like all the blood in my body was rushing straight to my face. My normally pale cheeks flushed bright red in real time, radiating intense heat.
Thud.
With the sound of the doll dropping, His Highness’s arms withdrew. The brief time that had felt like the most comfortable prison in the world ended in vain. I felt a pang of disappointment.
I pulled out the doll with a deliberately indifferent, stiff expression. A silver wolf doll.
“This one is for you, Your Highness.”
I placed the doll in his hands.
“It looks like you, Adel.”
“That’s exactly why. I hope you’ll think of me whenever you look at this doll.”
But the moment he received the doll, His Highness’s gaze left my face and fixed somewhere down the alley. The fingers that had been stroking the doll’s soft fur paused slightly.
Who is he looking at?
Still clutching the doll tightly, I turned my head to follow his gaze. There stood an excessively eye-catching, beautiful woman dressed in luxurious silk. It was Elena. The owner of the Empire’s largest merchant coalition, Silver Feather, and the subject of strange rumors known to everyone in high society. She stood with elegant poise, as if the market dust couldn’t even touch her, and was sending a deep, smiling glance toward His Highness.
Sway.
Elena tilted her head slightly toward Noel and curved her eyes beautifully.
“…Huh?”
His usually vacant eyes sparkled for the first time with deep curiosity. Lost in a daze, he waved at her.
It was unpleasant.
Don’t tell me… His Highness’s type is someone like her?
Suddenly, the image of Elena adjusting her clothes as she passed by flashed in my mind. The overwhelming volume that stood out even beneath her gorgeous dress—something impossible to ignore no matter how hard one tried to look away. I unconsciously lowered my gaze to check my own chest. The body beneath my uniform, hardened by scars and calluses from the battlefield, was rigid and flat compared to hers.
I hugged the wolf doll in my arms even tighter.
“Wow, they’re huge.”
At His Highness’s low murmur, something inside me snapped.
“You’re quite the pervert, aren’t you?”
“Huh?”