SAFBIAN Ch 108

Chapter 108

Having come straight from the banquet hall, the clothes, more extravagant and cumbersome than usual, had soaked up the rain and now flapped heavily with each movement.

Dori liked rare silks and expensive ornaments. So, on the off chance that he might be pleased, Haban had gone through the trouble of wearing them all the way here.

He peeled off the heaviest layer and tossed it aside carelessly, then stormed out of the residence with steps full of fury.

“What are you all doing! Search for him, now!”

From the moment he had entered the palace, Haban had the court ladies lying face-down on the floor complete the search of the Fox Palace. There was no time to wait for Jipyeong to arrive.

Sometimes, Dori, unwilling to take the bitter medicine given by the royal physician Haewon, would run away or go for a solitary walk after climbing out the window. So Haban clung to the faint hope that he had simply hidden somewhere and fallen asleep.

Because of the rain, the sky was dark, and lanterns were lit throughout the Fox Palace. The court ladies, sensing this might be their last chance, anxiously stamped their feet and called out for the Fox.

With such a commotion, even if Dori had fallen into a deep sleep, he should have awakened. Yet the Fox never showed himself.

Haban’s anxiety reached its peak.

Please, let him still be inside the imperial palace.

Dori would never run away from him in this manner. If he had intended to leave, he would have taken every single ornament with him, not left them behind.

Even when his identity had been discovered, he had been wearing the clothes Haban gave him, adorned with all sorts of accessories, and carrying a bundle full of belongings in his arms.

That left only two possibilities.

One: Dori was still somewhere within the imperial palace.

Since he hadn’t been summoned to the banquet and was not allowed to take a single step out of his chambers, he might have snuck out in resentment, only to be caught in the sudden downpour and unable to return.

Or someone had succeeded in abducting him but hadn’t managed to escape the palace yet and was hiding somewhere inside.

Either way, if he was still in the palace, it was a relief. As his head cooled down, his heart grew ever more aflame.

“Your Majesty!”

“What on earth…?”

Having heard the situation on the way, Jipyeong rushed over. Coincidentally, Geumhu, who had been standing nearby, followed along.

Since both of them had seen Dori in human form, they knew he wasn’t just an ordinary beast, so they first checked Haban’s expression.

As expected, his rage was palpable—fierce enough to make one believe someone had just died.

“The gates?”

“They’ve all been sealed immediately.”

All four gates of the imperial palace had been locked. The ministers should have gone straight home after the banquet, but the torrential rain had caused them to seek shelter and delayed their departure.

Haban ordered that all movement between the inner and outer palace be restricted and that anyone exhibiting suspicious behavior be rounded up. Then he left the Fox Palace.

Even if the soldiers and court ladies searched every corner, Haban was the only one who could guess where Dori might go.

He quickly made his way down the path leading to the rear garden. The garden, where Dori used to hop around during strolls, was now soaked in the downpour and resembled black waves. The grass and flowers drooped and swayed in the direction of the wind. If the snow-white Dori were hiding here, he would surely be seen. So it wasn’t here.

Next, he headed to the pond Dori used to stir with his fox paw like fishing. Carp were hiding under the wide lotus leaves to avoid the rain, but Dori was nowhere to be seen. If he had fallen into the water, Haban would have at least been able to urgently pull him out. But only the heavy rain pelted the pond. He wasn’t here either.

Anxious time passed.

Every time he realized Dori had disappeared, more and more expression drained from Haban’s face.

‘It was just once.’

He had looked away just once, afraid that he might unleash intense emotions on Dori if he lost to the anxiety he’d been suppressing all this time… yet as if that moment had been anticipated, Dori had vanished.

Inevitability. That which must happen will always come to pass. Maybe Dori dying—and himself dying too—was also…

‘Don’t be absurd.’

Haban inhaled sharply, as if chewing down his breath.

The very fact that he had returned to life had already defied fate. Even if he were to die again, it would be on the same day and hour as Dori. And if there were an afterlife, he intended to follow even there.

Finding Dori came first. Haban decided to check every place Dori might have gone before returning to the Fox Palace.

Perhaps Dori had already come back in the meantime.

If their paths had simply crossed, he would surely be sulking by now. No matter how much he coaxed him, Dori would stubbornly refuse to take human form.

But if he hadn’t returned—

There was only one possibility left: that Dori had been kidnapped. A dangerous situation, and time was of the essence.

Amid the chaos, the court ladies and soldiers were running frantically throughout the palace.

Inside the buildings, they checked beneath cabinets and atop wardrobes where a small fox might hide. Outside, they looked behind staircases and opened every jar lid.

They didn’t know why the fox, whom they thought was peacefully sleeping in his quarters, had suddenly disappeared like smoke. But one thing was certain: if they weren’t careful, their own lives were at risk.

“What do we do now…”

“Shut up. Use that time to search one more place.”

“Maybe he’s already outside the palace?”

“Don’t say that! If he is, we’re all as good as dead.”

The court ladies assigned to the Fox Palace were especially desperate. They ran until their soles ached and their heels were raw.

They cried out for the Fox until their throats were sore, but the white fox who always poked his head out when called was nowhere to be found. Having been in the rain so long, their lips had all turned blue.

Eventually, Jipyeong was at a loss. He couldn’t believe he had to report to the emperor that no one had found the fox. It was likely thanks to that white fox—who was also a man—that Haban had become so lenient recently.

As he stepped into the entrance of the Fox Palace, Jipyeong felt certain that his worries were becoming reality. In the pouring rain and mud, every court lady of the Fox Palace was on her knees, bowing so deeply their foreheads touched the ground.

Jipyeong quickly entered the building to find the fox’s chamber, where the emperor would be waiting.

“We couldn’t find him.”

Haban murmured in a low voice.

He had returned to the Fox Palace completely drenched from head to toe, and stood motionless in the center of Dori’s chamber, ignoring even Chamberlain Kim’s desperate plea for him to change clothes.

His gaze was fixed on the small pillow and blanket the fox used.

“None of the ministers at the banquet left their seats at any point.”

Geumhu had discreetly summoned the court attendants who served during the banquet to ask them, but they all shook their heads, saying they had seen nothing unusual.

“How frustrating. It’s not like there’s a secret exit for the fox to escape through.”

At those words, Haban, who was about to approach the bedding where Dori’s scent remained, paused.

Could it be there?

The small hole just big enough for a small person to crawl through had been sealed long ago—on the day Dori’s wariness had finally faded.

Still, Haban felt a strange pull, as if going there would bring him clarity. His feet moved of their own accord.

“……”

It was a place one would never notice at a glance.

Jipyeong cautiously surveyed the surroundings, then ducked behind a rock. Rustle. As he lifted a leafy branch, a small hole—just the right size for a fox to pass through—was revealed.

It had been forgotten, assumed sealed. Jipyeong’s face twisted in dismay.

“My apologies.”

Haban knelt beside him and examined the area. Several faint lines dragged through the dirt—marks left by something that had passed through.

Even in this heavy rain, the traces were still visible, meaning it hadn’t been long. Most tellingly, tufts of white fox fur were scattered nearby, as if deliberately dropped.

Haban stood abruptly and stormed back into the Fox Palace.

“Drag them all out!”

Soldiers, acting under the emperor’s orders, rounded up every single court lady of the Fox Palace. Except for Haewon, who had attended the banquet with his master, not even Hong or Cheong were spared.

The fox had disappeared from the palace once before. But this time, the emperor’s fury was beyond comparison. The court ladies, terrified and weeping continuously, couldn’t even cry out in protest. The sound of their stifled sobs faded behind them as they were dragged away.

Next, all soldiers responsible for palace security who had left their posts outside shift hours or behaved suspiciously were imprisoned.

However, these orders were not issued by Haban or Jipyeong—but by Geumhu.

Haban divided the search parties into three groups. One was led by Captain Jipyeong, another by Shadow Assassin Seohon, and the third was to follow Haban himself.

Even though the imperial palace was relatively safe, and Jipyeong had strongly opposed the idea since he needed to protect the emperor, Haban dismissed him with an imperial command.

Having stripped off the heavy and ornate garments from the banquet, Haban changed into light clothing and left the Fox Palace.

On his way to the palace’s main gate, black-clad guards and hidden shadows, now fully prepared, closed in tightly behind him.

“Your Majesty, the horses are ready. What are your orders?”

Haban looked up at the sky. Though the storm still made everything dark, he could tell that quite some time had passed.

At this point, Dori would have gotten far.

Riding would be faster and wiser—he knew this. But for some reason, he felt Dori was still nearby.

Creeeeak.

Before the massive, heavy palace gate had even fully opened, the horses charged out at full speed.

The hunter’s cabin, now abandoned, was cold and bleak without a single ember left burning. Wind, accompanied by rain, pounded the old door hard.

After a long while, the sack lying on the floor gave a faint twitch—just the slightest movement.