SAFBIAN Ch 13

Chapter 13

 

“Kyeng!”

Dori let out a sharp scream and retreated.

The cage, built solidly, remained unscathed without a single dent. In truth, Haban might not have struck it that hard.

But to the fox trapped inside, it looked like an immense force had come crashing down. Dori was so startled that he hid behind the cushion.

‘What is he doing?’

Haban was dumbfounded as he looked at the fox curling up tightly against the cushion. There was no way the cushion could hide him, yet the fox even went so far as to bury his head underneath it.

With his head and tail hidden, his already small body looked even smaller.

“Y-Your Majesty! Still, it’s a p-precious white fox…”

“Strip off the fur and it’s just a pelt.”

A white ear poked out at the edge and trembled. Grrr… a whine seeped out from beneath the cushion.

Haban stared at the fox’s rounded back for a moment, then added more words.

“Noisy thing. Gag it as well.”

Chamberlain Kim let out a sigh silently as he stepped outside. Haban, already walking ahead, looked colder than usual.

“That’s enough. No need to follow.”

Though he hurried his steps to catch up, it wasn’t long before Haban waved his hand. It was an order for everyone to withdraw quietly and not to follow him at all.

‘Strange. Wasn’t he waiting for the fox to awaken? When he was heading this way, he seemed in good spirits.’

It had looked like he was expecting something.

But now that he’d confirmed the fox had woken, the air around him felt more ominous than ever.

Chamberlain Kim carefully sidled up next to another.

To match the other’s height, which was about a handspan taller, he stood on tiptoe.

“Hey. You there.”

Huff, warm breath tickled Court Lady Jang’s ear.

“You rotten old man! What are you doing again!”

The upright and composed lady’s posture crumbled in an instant. Court Lady Jang recoiled in disgust.

“Why are you so startled? You act like you’ve done something wrong.”

“What kind of crazy old man suddenly sticks his wrinkled mouth in your face without warning? Of course I’m startled!”

“Come now, that’s a little hurtful to this old man’s ears. Anyway, have you noticed anything strange about His Majesty?”

“Has the thaw loosened your wits too? What a blasphemous thing to say.”

“No, no. Never mind then.”

Chamberlain Kim quickly turned his head away. He seemed to be the only one who had noticed the emperor’s excessive interest in the fox.

‘It’d be better if no one else knew.’

He straightened his back and scanned the surroundings. Somehow, the Grand Steward had been removed from the scene, and now he was approaching from far away.

[Late at night. The gates of the palace opened wide upon seeing the banner.

Haban summoned a royal physician to treat the wounded man. Though he had ridden swiftly, time had already been lost. The place where the arrow struck was soaked in blood, and the broken ankle dangled limply.

The wounds were treated urgently, splinted and wrapped, but the man’s body grew feverish.

The physician said the night would be critical.

Haban turned his head toward the man.

“Ha!”

It was unmistakably a human.

Though he had the ears and tail of a beast, his smooth skin and rounded nails proved it.

The Grand Steward had conducted a body search once during the hunt, and later, when the court physician examined him, his pants were torn, revealing what lay between his legs.

Surely, not everyone was under some hallucination. The man was clearly human.

And yet, what was this?

Haban furrowed his straight brow.

He had only just dressed him in clean clothes, wrapped him in silk blankets, and laid him in bed. But now, the man was gone, and in his place lay a bandaged beast curled up in a deep sleep.

A fox.

A white fox from head to toe.

Though it still had beast-like ears and tail, Haban had clearly placed a human on the bed, yet what he saw now was a fox. An unbelievable, yet undeniably real event had occurred.

Haban couldn’t even think to call anyone as he stepped toward the bed—just in time for the fox to flutter its eyebrows.

Huff.

Letting out a long breath, the fox raised its head and looked at the spot where it had been lying in surprise.

It examined its wounded body, then turned its head. Its eyes met Haban’s, and it was so startled that it dove under the covers.

A regular animal would have tried to flee outdoors to avoid a human. But though it looked like a beast, this white fox acted like a person.

Though Haban was the one startled, the fox didn’t raise its claws to attack—instead, it even hid its tail. It trembled so violently that the thick blanket shook.

Haban approached slowly, careful not to scare it.

As he closed the distance, the blanket pile on the bed flinched and pressed closer to the wall. With nowhere left to run, the fox scratched frantically at the bed as though trying to dig a hole. Its movements were desperate.

‘Tsk. The wound was quite deep. If it splits open again, that’ll be trouble.’

Seeing how unsettled the fox was, Haban could no longer just watch. He sat at the edge of the bed and silently waited.

After a while, the blanket slipped down, revealing the ears and eyes.

“…A fox.”

The ears twitched.

“You know how to take human form?”

Twitch, twitch.

For a mere creature, it blinked as if it understood human speech. Haban reached out to pet its head but held back.

After another moment, the fox cautiously raised its body. It tested its paw on the floor, but the leg gave out, and it collapsed in pain.

Unthinking, Haban reached out his hand.

“Hiss!”

Of course, the fox bared its teeth and raised its sharp claws. It made a warning sound, but—

“Hiss!”

Perhaps from struggling in pain, its throat had become hoarse, and now only a whisper of air escaped its long snout.

“Hack, hack.”

The wary fox let out dry coughs and repeatedly rubbed its eyes with its front paws. The fur around its eyes was damp.

The more he looked, the stranger it seemed. The broken ankle had done its job well, keeping it from running away.

Haban wrapped the fox in the thick blanket. It flailed within the fabric, but soon went limp from exhaustion. This tiny thing had squirmed so fiercely that the loosened bandages looked about ready to fall off.

When it stopped moving, Haban looked down and saw its eyes were closed. Dozing gently, the fox’s face looked unbelievably innocent.

A strange glint appeared in Haban’s eyes.]

He had never simply blamed the world.

He had always found the best answer within the given circumstances and worked to the utmost.

“…Kaang.”

But trapped like this in a cage, there’s nothing he can even do.

Dori looked down at the bandaged leg. Of all places, it was the exact same spot where Haban had broken the ankle himself in the original story. Fortunately, it had been treated in time, so there was no limp, but it had still been quite painful during the healing process.

When the hind leg was wiggled, aside from the bandage being uncomfortable, it felt fine. Back when he was human, Haban had cruelly broken it so he couldn’t escape, but did he think it was okay now just because he was a fox?

Dori stared helplessly at the collar. The red cord was tightly braided and unnecessarily sturdy. As he fumbled with the bit in his mouth using his front paw, he felt soft leather.

‘What is Haban trying to do with me?’

This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. The desire to make Dori happy had somehow made things worse than in the original story.

‘Why……?’

He didn’t know. What should he do?

Where had the calculations gone wrong?

Dori rested his chin on his paw and fell deep into thought. For now, it seemed certain that he couldn’t return to reality. A moment of clarity was needed.

But the more he went over things, the more strange things stood out.

‘The more I twist the original story, the more strange situations keep popping up?’

When he tried to take care of Wonwoo early, the obsession began. When he tried to leave the village early and hide, Haban appeared sooner than expected. Yet the wedding with Wonwoo still happened as scheduled, and he was dragged to the palace he had tried so hard to avoid.

‘In the end, even with all the variables, the story flows according to the original in some form.’

Why?

It doesn’t make sense. Isn’t the whole point of transmigration novels that the protagonist knows the plot in advance from the point of possession and avoids the events?

Is this the difference between fantasy and reality? If so, then this was serious.

Dori shook his head vigorously.

‘No. I still don’t know for sure. Anyway, my identity as a human hasn’t been revealed, right? I just have to keep pretending to be a fox until the end. Surely he wouldn’t do something like that to a fox.’

No matter how much Haban treated the original Dori like an animal, he was still the emperor of an empire. With just a gesture, smiling women would fall into his arms, and there was no way he’d reject beautiful men either. So why would he… with a fox… anyway.

‘Right. For now, let’s not make things worse and stay like this. I’ll need to watch the situation to decide what to do. If he was going to kill me, he would’ve done it already, right? If it comes to it, I’ll just escape the palace.’

Dori pressed his face close to the bars of the cage, his soft cheeks squishing, and looked around the room.

A large round window let in long rays of sunlight, and the interior was enormous. Delicate fabrics were draped everywhere, even along the walls.

‘Is that… real gold?’

The palace room was truly extravagant and luxurious. Just taking one thing would be enough to live off for a while.

But that was it.

What meaning did it have while trapped in a cage?

“Kang!”

‘Excuse me!’

The fox’s cry echoed through the empty room.

“Kang! Kang!”

‘Is no one there?’

Dori stuck his head out here and there, then flopped down onto the cushion. The longer he looked, the more he felt crushed by the grandeur and splendor of the room.

Trying to comfort himself and summon strength, the little fox curled his tail again and shrank into a tight ball.