Chapter 3: Chapter 3

"A baby?" her petrified soft voice was heard.

Seraphina was nonetheless terrified. In her past life, she caused many deaths, harmed the innocent, and even bloodied her hands countless times. However, she had never seen such a tiny being dead and could not stomach the disturbing image. In spite of that, she, still, slowly crawled into the den and took the baby out in its bloody bundle. She expected the cold stiffness of a frozen body and mustered all the courage in her short body before holding the baby in her embrace. At the same time, far apart from her expectation, she felt the bundle of softness along with the indistinct warmth that was weak but, nevertheless, alive.

This time, Seraphina stiffened into a state of panic.

It's alive. The baby is alive! She screamed internally. However, she did not have the time nor the mood to be joyful because the breathing of the tiny infant, who could not be a few days old, was extremely weak and irregular.

"She's dying," Seraphina whispered with sorrowful certainty while looking at the baby who was born prematurely and abandoned inside a fox den.

I want to save you, but how to do it? It will take a half day for me to reach the closest human abode. Even if the baby survives till then, there is no guarantee that I can find help. After all, it is the human heart that is the most atrocious of all.

However, for Seraphina, there was no longer the need to contemplate more as the weak but fast heartbeat gradually slowed down and the already pale earlobes, lips, and fingers turned alarmingly bluish.

"No! Don't. Please, don't die. Please." She begged in desperation.

In her fright-stricken state, she was startled when something shiny caught her eyes inside the den. It was a dagger that was the size of the baby. She did not have the sound rationality to recognize the wolves engraved on the said dagger but simply got lost in her thoughts.

A dagger. What can it do? Nothing but for drawing a life, she cursed ridiculously. However, as soon as the thought left her mind, her lost eyes that were drowning in sorrow started brimming with life and hope.

"That's right! Drawing a life! Blood!" she shouted in enlightenment while putting the baby down and hastily grabbing the dagger before decisively cutting her index finger in a slash. Her bright red blood started dripping along her fair slender finger, which she immediately shoved into the tiny mouth of the dying baby. She waited with bated breath as each passing second felt like an eternity.

Work. Please, work. Please. She chanted like a mantra.

When Seraphina saw no reaction and the slowing heart rate did not speed up, she really wished to curse the heavens for being so cruel as to deny a chance for life for this pitiful pure soul. She slowly tried to retract her finger, but, miraculously, her fingertip felt a weak but determined suckle bringing joy that no words could ever explain.

"It worked. You survived," she held the infant in her embrace while shedding tears in bliss. In fact, it was the first time, both in her past life and the present, for Seraphina Callenso to shed tears of joy.

Seraphina's action of feeding blood to the baby would not have worked if not for the fact that she was a nine-tailed fox, an ancient divine beast. The goddess was fair. Though nine-tailed foxes possessed enormous strengths and beauty, they carried an equally significant curse, which was the power of nourishing that their flesh and blood had. The tragedy her predecessor mentioned was, indeed, the result of this power that caused it to spend its whole life in captivity while being treated as a possession. In the memory that she received, her predecessor was the true epitome of devastation as the majestic tails that could cover the heavens were cut off and its core, the heart, was pulled out, only leaving a howling beast that could not die even if it wanted to.

"Now, what do I do?" Seraphina asked herself baffled while rocking the tiny infant gently in her embrace. She was not cold at all thanks to her beast blood, but that cannot apply to a baby that was born prematurely in this freezing forest. If not for the little red fox cleaning the wet blood on the infant's body and keeping it warm with its thick fur and high body temperature, the tiny baby would not have survived the snow hail. She put the baby back inside the den fearing the cold wind would bite the child. As if on cue, the red fox jumped into its den and checked the conditions of the infant sniffing and licking before, finally, lying down and coiling up around the baby.

In the meantime, Seraphina decided to inspect the dagger that was left with the baby after gaining the sound mind to function again. However, her faint heart that had finally calmed down was destined to be frightened again as she recognized the wolves engraved on the dagger.

No. It can't be. How is it possible? The wolves. It's definitely the symbol of the house Heroux, the empress's family. Then, the child... No way! She rose hastily on her feet and started going back and forth while trying to keep her calm.

In her previous life, empress Natalia was attacked and killed in the Forest of Lyle before help could come. Her body was found with multiple lethal wounds, one being a horizontal slash on her lower abdomen. The assassins were long gone and it was believed that the child the empress was carrying was taken as a trophy. In this world, where the strong preyed on the weak, there existed one very revolting custom among the assassins and that is to collect their victim's bodily parts or remnants as trophies. Some carried human ears on their belts, while the others collected skulls or cut-off fingers. Because of this despicable action, everyone believed that the killer took the yet-to-be-born fetus from its mother's womb.

But that was not the case. The baby was never taken but was hidden inside a fox den. An assassin would never do it... only...only she would do it. Empress Natalia, herself.

"How much, how much she wished for her child to survive to cut open her own belly?" she asked with heartache and respect.

"Your son, prince Reyan, will be sent away as a hostage to Ruleless Land, and your daughter, princess Aine, will be exiled to the abandoned palace. However, they will survive and will grow up to become outstanding adults. Now, this child, who was lost in this bitter winter forest, will also survive. In this lifetime, I will never hurt your family again. Therefore, rest in peace, your majesty." Seraphina swore while looking at the clearing sky that resembled her own heart that was slowly but surely unknotting.

3 months later

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"Shhh, Little Eve. Shhhh. Don't cry, darling." Seraphina rocked the baby.

It has been three months since Seraphina found the empress's youngest child inside a fox den. During these three months she spent in the forest, she indefinitely fell in love with the baby because, in her two lives, she has never seen something so pure and sweet. Each time she hears the soft melodious giggles of the baby, she would find herself smiling without even realizing it. In fact, it would not be an exaggeration to say the baby was the world to her. However, sweet dreams are bound to come to an end and life must go on. As much as she wished to keep the child with her, she knew that would be a selfish thing to do. A baby needs a safe and comfortable environment to grow up happily and Seraphina understood that she was not capable of providing it. Therefore, she decided to leave the child in the care of its maternal grandfather, Lord Heroux, who just returned to the southern border after attending the funeral of his one and only child, empress Natalia.

Presently, she was standing inside Lord Heroux's bedroom with the baby in her embrace and a little red fox that simply refused to separate from the child. Inside the bedroom that resembled its owner with a solemn but warm interior that gave off security and steadiness, Seraphina was trying to rock the baby back to sleep so that she can leave without getting caught. Just a moment ago, the child was sleeping soundly as if the loudest of thunder could not stir it up. However, as if to sense the approaching abandonment, it woke up instantaneously and was shedding big droplets of tear on the verge of bawling her eyes out.

"Shhh. Don't start crying. It's for your best, my dear. So, don't cry." She whispered emotionally while barely holding the tears that were threatening to fall. Unfortunately, unlike usual, the baby was determined to cry her lungs out as if telling Seraphina to not leave. As the loud bawling sound echoed through the room, her exceptionally sensitive ears caught the heavy footsteps that were approaching speedily. From the slight limp that she discerned from the footsteps, Seraphina recognized the owner as Lord Heroux.

I guess, my time is up. 

She kissed the bawling baby on its warm forehead before putting it gently on the center of the wide bed.

"Take care of my Eve," Seraphina said to the little red fox and jumped over the terrace to never turn around.

Behind a wooden desk that accompanied its owner through the thick and thin for more than a decade, sat a man in his late fifties while gently stroking a silver pendant with his callused thick fingers. Though he was not shedding a tear, his heart was breaking into million pieces causing an inexplicable pain that he has never felt in his life full of battles. In a mere duration of three months, he seemed to have aged decades as his once black locks now had streaks of whites here and there visible to naked eyes. Even in the dead of night, he still did not wish to retire because to him, a father who has lost his daughter, as well as, a grandfather who sent away his grandchildren, a study and a bedroom would make no difference to spend the sleepless cold night. However, the night was destined to forever change his lonely nights as a piercing cry of an infant startled him into a jolt. He rose from his seat and headed towards his bedroom not knowing what to expect. Even if he did know, nothing in this world could have possibly brought greater bliss to his aching heart than the bundle of joy Seraphina left him that night.

The tears that were not shed even during his daughter's funeral came cascading down the moment his old eyes landed on the bawling little infant. Lord Heroux, a proud warrior, a big burly man, cried on his knees as the feeling of shock, joy, and gratitude overwhelmed him indefinitely. To him, only a glance was needed to recognize the baby as the eyes that resembled the night sky full of stars, hair black like ink, and, above all, the two small beauty marks under each eye, were all too familiar and the most cherished.

He slowly rose to his feet and carefully held the baby despite the resistance of the growling little red fox. The child was still crying pitifully but soon calmed down when warm big fingers were gently run on its eyebrows. It was the method Lord Heroux used to calm his daughter, empress Natalia, in her infancy, which marvelously worked on his granddaughter who took after her mother like a water droplet.

"Nieves," he called the unfamiliar yet intimate name that was engraved on small tree bark and left with Natalia's cherished dagger.

"Nieves. A lady of snow. What a beautiful name," he whispered while looking at the open terrace.

Seraphina was running through the endless darkness of the silent night. Due to her fast and agile body brimming with beastly energy and strength, she did not find trespassing difficult and easily left Lord Heroux's territory, Khans' Land. However, unlike her nimble body, her heart was extraordinarily heavy.

In my last life, you were kneeling at my feet, begging me to save prince Reyan. Though I eventually saved your grandson, the price you paid...was your life, Lord Heroux. She reminisced.

... "Old man, are your knees as expensive as your grandson's life? You ask me to save him but I don't feel your sincerity." A young woman with blazing red hair and shimmering golden eyes asked while looking at the kneeling old man.

"What do you want me to do?" his rusty tired voice sounded.

"Life must be paid with one. Don't you think so?" she asked mockingly before continuing,

"Pathetic geezer. First daughter, then granddaughter, and now grandson. Well, since you are too pitiful to look at, I will help."

"Thank you, Lady Seraphina." He replied with no dignity, nor pride. After all, he was pleading for help from the murderer of princess Aine, his one and only granddaughter.

"Yes, you should be. Ah, don't forget to pay the price, old man. Tomorrow, at noon, I want to see your head hung at the center of the grand square for all to see. That's the price." ...

With this, consider my debt paid, Lord Heroux. Seraphina continued on her journey.

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