Chapter 5: 5

Episode 5: The Very, Very, Very Precious Fox (II)

 

However, Heinricion merely glanced at her and replied leisurely.

“I don’t even know the owner.”

‘You…….!’

As if he had been waiting, Rowen tried to expel Eristella. She glared at Heinricion, feeling a sense of betrayal.

It was then.

“But what can I do? It’s already my fox.”

“Yes?”

Heinricion stretched his hand out towards the fox.

“I can’t let my fox ride on someone else’s hand. This fox is a troublemaker, but I’ll feed it well and raise it well.”

Heinricion’s eyes curved into a half-moon shape.

I should gently tickle the fox’s nose right? — It was as if he was saying this.

Eristella bit Heinricion’s hand again.

Rowen freaked out and tried to push her away, but Heinricion was faster. Rather than shaking the fox off, he clasped it in his arms and played with it with his bitten hand.

“I think it’s asking me to take care of it?”

At the words of Heinricion, Rowen’s face was colored with astonishment.

‘What? No, Your Highness. Something seems a bit odd. I can’t understand what the fox is saying, but I can tell that the fox is angry.’

Rowen looked at him as if he had a lot to say in absurdity, but he quietly shut his mouth when he saw Heinricion smiled as if he was having fun.

*******

The appearance of the white fox that was always attached to Heinricion was so natural that it felt like a part of the grand duchy now.

Rowen couldn’t help but ask what he was curious about in his heart when he saw the fox sitting at one side of the office even now.

“You obviously didn’t like foxes, right?”

At Rowen’s puzzled question, Heinricion fell into his thoughts for a while. He slowly opened his mouth, remembering what had happened a long time ago.

“I hated it. There was a time when one was caught.”

For a second, Eristella was furious.

As the one Heinricion was talking about was right in front of him now.

She didn’t know that he hated foxes. Rather, she thought he liked foxes, and that’s why she thought he might take her since she became a fox. Then why did he bring her?

It was when she was wondering. His voice rang meaningfully.

“But this time, it rolled in itself, didn’t it?”

There was a glint in Heinricion’s eyes. Conversely, Eristella reflexively tensed up at the sensation of her spine getting cold enough to stand upright.

“Now it’s completely mine.”

One corner of his lips rose up.

‘No. It’s not…….’

Since when did Heinricion become so possessive? Eristtella, though puzzled, wanted to make a fact correction, but of course it didn’t get across.

“I will never lose it to anyone.”

There was a strange obsession in his calm voice.

For a moment, Eristella felt a chill. She didn’t want to meet Heinricion’s eyes, so she quietly buried her face in her front paws.

Eristella eventually had to return to her original body. Then the fox would disappear.

When she thought of what the reaction of Heinricion would be at that time, cold sweat seemed to run down her back.

‘Have you not forgotten the fox of that time?’

She didn’t know Heinricion would be so obsessive. But even if she knew, she couldn’t give it.

The fox he loved so much was none other than Eristella herself.

She was about to turn her head the other way when Rowen held out the document he was holding and said,

“I have one more thing to report to you. Recently, traces of the use of taboo magic are being discovered.”

‘This is it!’

Eristella widened her eyes. She was so excited that her heart was pounding like it was going to explode.

As expected, a clue could be found here.

Information about black magic was limited. Those who systematically collect and study information about it were difficult to find even in the empire.

However, in the Grand Duchy of Adelasia, information about black magic moved on a daily basis.

She wanted to get a little more information.

Unfortunately, Heinricion only checked the report, and did not have any further conversations with Rowen.

‘I guess I’ll have to approach one of the aides to figure something out properly.’

‘But of all things, it’s Rowen who is dealing with the black magic stuff?’

‘I’ll have a hard time with Rowen… What can I do?’ While contemplating, she had a sudden crazy idea — Rowen’s apprentice assistant Anessa.

First, let’s approach Anessa.

Just in time, Anessa left the office under Rowen’s orders, so Eristella followed at a brisk pace.

It was time for her to outrun Anessa and make her presence known. Realizing an important fact, Eristella’s steps came to a standstill.

‘…….What should I do?’

When her opponent was Heinricion, she was desperate and bold, thinking that he liked foxes as a child.

But she didn’t know what else to do to win the hearts of others.

When she was Princess Eristella, they hated her no matter what she did anyway. Moreover, she had never tried to gain favor from others because she had no lingering feelings over others’ affection.

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But now she needed someone to be loving and be her ally.

It was when Eristella was troubled and just stared at Anessa’s back.

Deep down, she thought she should retreat and come up with a way first. When she was about to take one step back…

“Oh. Fox!”

Anessa, who had looked back at her presence, found her Eris Stella, and her eyes widened in surprise.

“Are you following me?”

Anessa’s cheeks blushed as she greeted the fox.

“Can I give you a hug?”

When Eristella approached, Anessa picked her up in a flash as if she had been waiting.

“Fox, come with me.”

Anessa walked lightly with an excited face while holding Eristella dearly.

Eristella was stunned. She didn’t do anything, but Anessa was doing everything she wanted.

What’s going on? She was perplexed but pleased.

She followed Anessa eagerly around the mansion, excited to think she might be able to get some information along the way.

When she was about to go down the stairs with Anessa, swiiik— someone grabbed her neck. The moment she floated in the air, Eristella had a gut feeling that it was Heinricion.

“The fox likes Anessa very much.”

“Is that so?”

Anessa was senselessly delighted. Then, a small crack appeared on Heinricion’s face, and a ferocious aura leaked out.

“You’re doing something that you don’t do to me at all.”

Heinricion’s tenacious gaze turned to the fox.

‘Why……. Why do you look angry?’

Eristella, who was trying to walk around the mansion and find information about black magic, was somehow stabbed.

‘Is he suspicious because I’m acting differently?’

Well, it couldn’t be helped.

Now, it would be trouble for her if Heinricion were to feel offended. Eristella resolutely tightened her paws and released it.

And with her eyes tightly closed, she stretched out her four limbs, and…

…She made a dash towards Heinricion.

Puk—

Then she hugged him.

*******

Late breakfast was prepared for Heinricion. And next to it was meat for Eristella.

“I didn’t know what to give to a fox, so I asked for some grilled meat first.”

As Heinricion turned to the side, he saw the fox gazing at the meat with its eyes shining.

‘Meat! Meat! Meat!’

Eristella cried fervently.

No, it was more like madness.

“You seem to like it.”

As he said, Eristella had already focused her attention on the meat.

A well-cooked steak. In addition, it had been cut into appropriate bite-size pieces for her to eat.

She didn’t know she would be so happy to see it.

So far as a fox, even getting a proper meal was not easy. Hence, the meat in front of her looked like a nugget of gold. The instant she rushed to put a piece into her mouth…

‘Tasty…….!’

Eristella’s face filled with happiness.

As the meat disappeared from her mouth, she paused for a moment as she thought of the past.

Princess Eristella was perfect when it came to minimal etiquette.

Her table manners were also elegant without a single discrepancy, but she couldn’t do that with her current fox form.

She couldn’t believe she was eating meat with only her mouth. There was a slight sense of shame.

But Eristella was not discouraged.

Her audacity did not lose its light to this degree.

‘After all, nobody here knows that I am a princess!’

The corners of Eristella’s mouth were raised, and this time, she put two pieces of meat in her mouth at once, savoring it.

Seeing the fox concentrating on its meal, Heinricion also moved his tableware like he was influenced by its appetite.

Eristella’s bowl was emptied at the end of her ‘combative’ meal.

‘Wow. I’m full. I’ll have to invite the chef to the Imperial Palace later.’

She patted her stomach in satisfaction.

It was something that Princess Eristella would never do, but being a fox, she could do it without hesitation.

She was uncomfortable and stuffy because she was trapped in the body of a fox, and she wanted to return to her original form as soon as possible, but there were times when she felt free as if she was wearing a mask.

It seemed okay to not have to worry about royal etiquette.

Heinricion was now putting on the jacket he had earlier taken off, presumably going back to work again, whereas Eristella was rolling around on the sofa, enjoying the softness. Then she heard the employees gossiping as they cleared the table.

The fox’s ears perked up.

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