SAFBIAN Ch 41

Chapter 41

TW-(Noncon)

As the thick shaft grew even harder under pressure, the man slowly opened his mouth and took in the tip. His jaw, gradually descending, paused halfway.

“Don’t pretend—it’s not that bad. Open your throat and swallow deeper.”

Haban thrust his hips upward in one sudden motion. He pinned the man’s head down to keep him from escaping, pulling out halfway only to slam back in forcefully.

With wet, sticky friction, groans of pain mingled in—“Ugh, mmph…”

The man’s toes scraped against the floor as he endured Haban’s relentless pounding and pressure. Each time his throat was completely filled, leaving him no room to breathe, he gagged and choked on the pressure.

“Ha… You really know how to eat. Then again, this is the only thing you’re good at.”

[“You really know how to eat. Then again, this is the only thing you’re good at.”]

Dori’s ears rang. His legs buckled as he could no longer stay upright.

If only this were a dream he’d conjured up on his own.

Horrifyingly, he remembered every word that Haban had spat out. What haunted him most was the black earring swinging like a dancer with every movement of the man’s head.

“Hrrk!”

Short of breath, Dori clutched at Haban’s thigh in desperation—on his fingers was a jade ring.

For a moment, Dori’s legs completely gave out.

“Gasp!”

It was like surfacing after being submerged—his breath burst out of him.

His pale golden eyes darted from ceiling to walls, to the curtains draped around the bed. The vividness of the dream left a jarring disconnect.

Dori instinctively sat up and clutched at his chest, rising and falling rapidly.

‘H-hands!’

Then, spotting the smooth and pale backs of his hands, he flinched in alarm.

Five fingers, spread wide.

He looked down toward his legs. When he fell asleep, he’d been a fox, but now he had returned to human form. One leg stuck out from the blanket, its toes twitching.

‘N-no!’

If someone sees me, it’s over!

Poof!

His ears popped out first and twitched.

“S-stop that!”

Dori pressed his ears down with his hands in panic. In the midst of his confusion—Poof!—his fluffy tail also burst out. It was exactly the appearance ‘Dori’ had when he met Haban in the novel.

Dori turned ghostly pale at the thought that someone might see him. His heart pounded furiously.

Thankfully, it was still early dawn, and the room was cloaked in silence. Thick and long curtains were drawn around the bed. Even so, he was terrified.

Poof!

Dori hastily transformed back into a fox.

‘Did I do it right?’

He patted his fluffy chest with a forepaw. He checked his snout and moist nose too.

Only after confirming several times that he had long ears and a tail—fully fox-like—did he feel a bit more at ease. His heart, which had dropped to the floor, finally began to return to its proper place.

Only then did Dori burrow under the covers. Hugging his plump tail, he buried his head deep into the blanket.

‘Haban…’

He gasped at the name that surfaced unbidden.

Of all people, it had to be Haban in this moment. The cruel man he’d just seen in the dream was Haban.

The eyes that once looked down at the fox so kindly now gleamed with savagery, ready to tear him apart. The hand that had once gently petted the fox now gripped his hair with brutal force. The pressure at the back of his skull held no mercy.

The sticky, wet sounds. The animal’s ears flapping frantically and the fox’s tail twitching in spasms. But aside from that, everything else was human.

Just the small difference between fox and human had changed the situation this drastically.

Dori felt like crying.

‘That bastard…’

Sniff.

At last, tears fell. Scared and overwhelmed, Dori rubbed at his eyes with his forepaws. He cursed the god that threw him into this damn novel, though, truthfully, that god had never been on his side.

Sniffle.

Dori wiped his nose.

As the fear began to fade, he remembered what he needed to do. He slowly peeked his head out of the blanket and looked around. Right beside him was the cushion where he’d fallen asleep.

“Mmmrgh.”

Dori stuck his forepaw deep under the cushion. After some fumbling, his paw caught on something. Hooking his claws around it and pulling, he dragged out a heavy, hidden bundle.

He spread the edge of the cloth and stared at the jewelry inside.

‘This is it. I’m sure of it!’

A pair of black pearl earrings with an elegant sheen and a jade ring the size of a knuckle.

He hadn’t clearly seen anything else, but those two items were unmistakable. He had received the same accessories that ‘Dori’ had received in the novel.

What could it mean?

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t figure it out.

‘So annoying!’

Dori, full of loathing for Haban, smacked the jade’s flat surface with his paw. He had risked transforming into a human just to move them without damaging them.

‘It’s your fault!’

Frustrated, he struck it twice more—wham, wham!—as if it were Haban’s face. The lustrous gems didn’t lose their shine.

‘I need to hide these somewhere else.’

After thinking hard for a while, Dori began to bundle the items again. Holding the knot in his mouth, he jumped off the bed and surveyed the room.

‘Where should I put them?’

He was too afraid to sleep if he kept them by his pillow or on the bed—worried it might bring back another nightmare. But tossing them carelessly wasn’t an option either. They were clearly valuable.

He was so angry and upset that he resolved to sell them for a good price once he escaped the palace—and use that money well!

Dori searched the room, looking for a good spot. It had to be close enough to access quickly in an emergency, and within reach of his fox-sized body.

Trudge, trudge.

Moving sluggishly, Dori opened the bottom drawer of the dresser with his paw. Then he placed the bundle inside and shut it with his nose. He planned to keep it there temporarily until he found a better hiding place.

‘Whew.’

Dori patted his chest. Something felt lodged just above his solar plexus—tight and suffocating. It almost made him feel nauseous.

‘Did I get indigestion?’

He had eaten a bunch of potatoes before bed, avoiding Haewon’s attempts to stop him. On top of that, waking so abruptly had left him exhausted.

Dori rubbed his face with his forepaws like he was washing it. Then he used the chest as a stepping stone and leapt onto the windowsill, tapping on the window that was split down the middle like a half-moon.

Tap.

Tap-tap.

After a brief wait and just before scratching with his claws, the window opened and someone peeked in.

“Oh? You’re already up?”

It was a soldier stationed outside the window.

“Kaang?”

“What a surprise from you, lazybones. You don’t usually wake up before breakfast.”

The man teased, pressing down on the fox’s black snout with a finger. The soft nose bent sideways and then bounced back.

Dori flailed his forepaw indignantly. The soldier chuckled and turned his back, assuming the bars would keep the fox secure.

And they did—Dori flailed but couldn’t fit his paw through the narrow bars. It seemed impossible to squeeze through, no matter how slim he got.

Dori sat on the windowsill and looked up at the sky. He’d woken too early—only a pale grey light filled the dawn sky. The sun was just beginning to rise.

The soldier, who had been quietly staring ahead, spoke again.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

Dori blinked. Indeed, the cloudless sky slowly filling with color was quite beautiful.

‘Please… let me return to reality safely.’

It was at that moment, as Dori silently made a wish to some godlike force—

“The fox is making a wish.”

“Kkaang?”

…Me? When?

Dori quickly withdrew his neatly placed forepaws and perked up his ears. He hadn’t realized he was being watched.

“That’s what we call it. A fox bride wishing for clear skies on her wedding day.”

Ah! Like the expression “the tiger’s getting married” or “the fox’s wedding day”? Then he should’ve said that from the start. It’s confusing—for the listener, no, for the listening fox.

Still, Dori nodded, finally understanding the meaning.

Then the soldier asked, “Is that really it?”

‘Nope!’

Dori shook his head hurriedly.

‘How would I know?’

He wasn’t even a real fox—just someone possessed into a novel. He’d never even heard of that expression before.

When Dori waved his paw in denial, the soldier’s expression turned curious.

“Huh. This fox really is clever. Almost like you can understand human speech.”

…Twitch.

Dori raised his tail high. Then he tilted his head one way, then the other, before scratching his ear with a hind leg.

As his fur scattered into the air, the soldier sneezed loudly. “Yeah, no way,” he muttered while rubbing his eyes. Then, as if realizing his previous words had been silly, he turned back around and yawned deeply.

“Anyway… when the hell is that guy showing up.”

He muttered that it was almost shift change and he was lucky he was getting sleepy now, probably trying to stay awake through chatter.

Dori quietly lowered his gaze and scratched the windowsill with his forepaw. It didn’t erase his worries, but it soothed them slightly.

‘I’ll be fine. As long as I do well.’

I need to act more like a fox. I have to hide my true nature completely, so no one suspects I’m human.

Dori clenched his forepaw with resolve.