SAFBIAN Ch 15

Chapter 15

 

Only one empty bowl was perfectly clean.

What kind of stupid fox would refuse meat? Haban put down what he was looking at and crossed his arms. As expected, its behavior was suspicious.

In front of Haewon, who was pleading with the fox to at least take one sip of medicine or eat one piece of meat, the fox kept twisting its head back and forth. Then, as if asking for help, it looked up at Haban.

Haban’s face filled those round eyes. Its snout opened as if smiling, tongue sticking out and panting. Haban stared at the face that resembled “his own” and then turned his gaze away.

One week had passed since the noisy wedding of Hori. From early morning, the foxes had gathered in front of the bridal chamber, waiting for the newly mated pair to come out.

The village was peaceful today as well.

Except for one thing—the disappearance of one ominous and vulgar white fox.

“Did you hear? ‘That one’ ran away?”

“Haven’t seen him for days, and apparently, his room was found completely empty.”

“They say he even stole Hori’s wedding jewelry before fleeing.”

As usual, the red foxes gathered close together and began gossiping about the white fox who had apparently taken valuables and vanished.

“Not just that, five gold tortoises this big also disappeared. Sunho, who works at the Elder’s house, told me so.”

“That damned bastard. This is why you can’t take in white-furred ones! He doesn’t even know how to be grateful for what the Elder did raising him. Ptui!”

The murmuring of the foxes in front of the still tightly shut bridal chamber door reached the inside.

“He disappeared? Dori?”

Wonwoo suppressed the turmoil rising in his chest. The image of Dori looking down at the village from atop a rock on the day of the wedding kept resurfacing in his mind.

Had he really run away?

All the way to the bridal chamber, that figure had clung to his eyes like an afterimage. Not chasing him immediately at that time had brought things to this point.

“No. That can’t be.”

He must be hiding somewhere because of the villagers’ scorn. Dori couldn’t have left him.

Wonwoo closed his eyes tightly to endure the pain in his chest. At that moment, Hori was placing a hairpin diagonally in her hair.

“Looks good on you.”

“Hmph.”

“Shall we go now?”

Wonwoo, already dressed and ready to go, held out his hand to the well-groomed Hori.

“Get that away.”

Hori snapped and stomped out first. She was angry at the new husband who had done nothing but sleep under the same blanket during their bridal night.

Wonwoo forced a calm smile. But inside, he was boiling hotter than oil.

On the night of the wedding, Wonwoo had undressed Hori one piece at a time as she looked up at him with eyes full of expectation.

They had shared the union wine, and the mood should have built gradually. But the more Hori’s skin was exposed, the more Wonwoo felt like cold water had been poured over his head—nothing stirred within him.

“What… why…?”

Panicked, Wonwoo grasped and rubbed himself. Though he managed to raise it without a trace of moisture, it went cold again before he could even try to enter Hori.

“I must be too tired. Sorry.”

He passed the night using exhaustion as an excuse. But the second day, and even the third, were no different.

“Again?”

Watching in disbelief, Hori pulled the blanket over herself and turned away. She hurled insults—calling him impotent, hollow, a dud. Gritting his teeth, Wonwoo endured. The tension in his jaw made his muscles bulge.

Something was wrong. It hadn’t been like this when he’d touched Dori.

The funny thing was, the moment he remembered the feel of Dori’s soft skin in his mouth and the intoxicating scent, a heavy heat stirred in his lower belly. He swelled thickly with burning desire. More than the physical response, the longing for Dori surged within him.

“…Haa.”

Lying next to a sleeping Hori, Wonwoo thought of Dori. He imagined leaving red marks on that white skin, thrusting again and again into the tight space.

Thwack, thwack.

“Ghk!”

At the climax, he spilled a cloudy white fluid into his palm.

His whole body trembled, unable to recover for a while. Not until the semen dripped from his hand to the floor did Wonwoo wipe his palm with a clean cloth.

“We foxes are like that. Once we form a bond, we feel no desire for any other.”

Why was that conversation surfacing now?

Wonwoo suddenly got up and began rummaging through the room. The noise woke Hori, who complained, but he ignored her.

Finally, finding a mirror, Wonwoo stared at his reflection and clutched his shoulder as if to tear it apart.

The mate mark.

The mate mark he thought had failed was clearly engraved on him.

“…Ha. So this is why.”

He was only startled for a moment. Then a sly smile spread across his face. The thought that Dori must have the same mark made it impossible to hold back.

“Of course. As if someone like you could just run away.”

Once the mate mark is engraved, the bonded pair can’t live far apart. That meant Dori, who surely bore the same mark, was likely still somewhere near the village.

“Probably hiding somewhere, waiting for me to come, crying all alone.”

Wonwoo rubbed the mark with satisfaction. Then, the black engraving—letters etched inside a round circle—glowed faintly blue.

“…!”

Did he see it wrong in the dark?

Wonwoo checked the mark again, but the blue glow was slowly fading.

The engraved mate mark was only a half-bond.

He had bitten Dori’s shoulder with his fangs to check and it had glowed red, so Wonwoo’s mark being blue made sense.

But if the bond had been complete, both would be fully dyed in black. The remaining blue hue meant that only Wonwoo was bonded—unilaterally.

And if a mate is lost, the engraved mark soon leads to unbearable pain.

“Now that I can leave, that’s enough.”

There was no more reason to stay with Hori, who only knew how to beg and throw tantrums.

After the wedding, any interest he had was gone. In a monogamous red fox village, divorce was rare, so if he just played along, it would suffice.

“There they come! They’re coming out!”

“Let me see. Oh my, look at our new bride’s face. She’s blooming like a flower.”

“Well, of course. The groom looks half-dead. Looks like he put in some effort, huh?”

“You shameless fox, talking so filthily! Aren’t you embarrassed in front of the kids?”

“…Ahem. Well, Hori and Wonwoo aren’t kids anymore, you know.”

As the newlyweds emerged from the bridal chamber, the village foxes quickly forgot about the ominous white fox.

They helped adjust Hori’s skirt, stroked her hand, and were busy congratulating the village’s precious red fox. Even as Wonwoo tried to step back, they didn’t spare advice—telling him to treat her well, to treasure her dearly.

‘How unnecessarily bothersome.’

Wonwoo hid his anxious expression behind a smile.

“Everyone, it’s a happy day, so let’s have a drink!”

“Of course! Absolutely! Come on now, Wonwoo must be drained, so we prepared something special for you.”

The foxes, who had already started a drinking party, pulled Wonwoo in. The time to go after Dori was slipping away.

Wonwoo hastened his steps as if running.

He barely shook off the fox from the persimmon house, who insisted the groom have just one more drink. His destination now was the room that belonged to Dori, the white fox.

‘How can I be the incomplete one!’

He was the most valiant and proud fox in the village. Everyone said in unison that he would be the one to succeed the elder, and indeed, it was true.

Yet now, his future, which had once flowed as naturally as water, was smeared with ashes. The fact that it was Dori who did this made it all the more unbearable.

‘Was it all a lie? Even the words that you loved me?’

An imprint is based on deep affection between partners. When a firm heart and a yearning body come together, they form an unbreakable bond.

‘How could you reject me!’

Wonwoo’s vision blurred with fury.

He had known that Dori was wavering because of the marriage talk, but he hadn’t thought that his feelings had truly changed.

‘If I had just one more day… Damn it!’

He should’ve taken Dori’s body first.

Then he would’ve devoured every gasp of hot breath, bit down until that pale skin turned red all over. He might have thrust himself so deeply into that tight place until it turned soft and senseless.

The imprint was the act of carving another’s soul into one’s own body. Pain was inevitable. So most would sink their sharp teeth at the moment when they were joined, when the pleasure dulled the mind, to mark the bond.

By rule, the one who received the imprint first was the one who took in their partner’s seed. The one bitten would bear the mark first. It was a beast-like possessiveness, impaling the other’s entire being to prevent escape.

Once the vow from the receiving side emerged clearly, the mark would then pass to the one who had fully thrust themselves in. Unlike the desire to flee at first, the second mark brought with it a maddening obsession and urge.

No amount of craving was ever enough. Taking in the beloved’s breath and flesh, the bridal chamber would remain tightly shut for a whole week.

That was the bond of mates.

A mark that could not be broken until death.

“Ghh!”

Wonwoo suddenly clutched at his chest in pain. His heart pounded violently, and his breath came short. It seemed he could see the pulsing of his veins bulging bluishly beneath his skin.

Gag.

Blood rose up his throat. The erratic pain that had come and gone now grew more frequent.

“…Damn it.”

He bit into the flesh inside his mouth, forcing himself to endure the pain. When he spat out the saliva, it was tinged with cool blood. His slit pupils flared a furious blue.