Chapter 1

To stop my fox clan from being hunted to extinction, I decided to step beyond the barrier and draw close to Derrick Carter—my childhood friend, now a top geneticist.

He hadn't forgotten me after all.

For those few days, he held me locked in his arms, as though trying to make up for all the years of longing at once.

I thought there might still be a trace of warmth left in this tangled affair.

Until that night, after the pleasure had faded, he suddenly gripped the base of my tail and yanked.

He held the still-trembling tail up, weighing it in his hand.

"Audrey hasn't looked well these past few days. This should make a decent tonic."

"Derrick... please, don't do this."

"Then tell me where my parents are."

I reached back, unconsciously, and touched the empty small of my back.

Nine tails, once. Now only one remained.

——

After that, I lost count of how many times I hung between life and death.

Derrick used my clan's lives as leverage, forbidding me to step so much as a foot outside.

His scalpel was the thing I knew best—every so often, he would cut open my chest and draw out the spirit pearl growing within, the finest tonic to nurse Audrey's health.

Shackled, I cleaned away the traces they left behind after their nights together, kneeling outside the door, listening to the tangled breathing within, unable to close my eyes for the entire night.

After his fiancée Audrey became pregnant, a new layer of torment was added.

He began tearing off my tail on a fixed schedule, taking that bit of flesh and blood to nourish her body.

He hated me down to the marrow, and yet, whenever I was on the verge of death, it was always his hand that saved me.

He would feed the medicine into my mouth himself, murmuring against my ear:

"Do you really think that just because I've gone soft, this secret can stay buried forever?"

"Tell me. Where are my parents, really?"

I quietly sensed this obsession of his that made no sense at all, and found that by then, I had no desire left to speak.

The secret wouldn't need to stay hidden much longer.

Once a fox spirit leaves the barrier for more than a year, if it fails to return to the clan grounds, its soul will eventually scatter into nothing.

I reached back without thinking and touched the empty small of my back—nine tails, once, now reduced to a single, lingering one, barely clinging to life.

At three in the morning, a violent kick against the door jolted me out of shallow sleep.

The wooden door nearly came off its frame. Before I could react, a hand had already seized my hair and hauled me up.

Then came a string of slaps.

"The mistress is hurt, and here you are sleeping soundly!" Derrick's assistant snarled as she dragged me out, gripping hard enough to nearly wrench my arm from its socket.

Blood dripped in a trail from the storeroom all the way to his bedroom door.

Derrick stood there, brow furrowed, staring at the dark pool on the floor.

"Go take care of Audrey's wound."

I looked up—first catching sight of Audrey's tear-glossed cheeks, then, lower, the faint swell of her belly.

Before I could look away, my view was blocked.

"What are you staring at? Get up and treat her. Quit dawdling." He looked down at me from above.

I lowered my head at once, my voice trembling.

"I'm sorry."

Then I crawled toward the bed.

It turned out Audrey had been bitten on the fingertip while feeding the caged fox kits in the middle of the night.

A wound this small—I'd long since grown used to seeing them.

Practiced, I pulled back my collar, dug my nails into the flesh over my chest, sweat sliding down my spine, and slowly drew out the last remaining spirit pearl.

"Lucky for you, it's actually useful for once."

I said nothing.

My blood had long since become worthless. The only thing left that still had any value was this tail, barely holding on.

Audrey stirred awake, and he immediately gathered her into his arms.

"Does it still hurt?"

She frowned, her gaze sweeping over the wound on my chest.

"It smells awful. The scent of blood makes me want to throw up..."

Before she finished speaking, he kicked me out of the room.

"Get out. Wait outside."

I crawled away bit by bit, his softened voice trailing after me.

"Has the baby been moving normally lately? Let me listen."

My chest clenched violently, and the wound that hadn't yet healed wept fresh blood.

I made it to the end of the hallway and had no strength left.

Suddenly, the maid Nancy dumped a basin of ice water straight over my head.

"They say foxes are supposed to be clever creatures, but look at you now—not much to show for it."

She reached out, seized the single tail still clinging to the back of my neck, and yanked hard. The pain made me suck in a sharp breath.

"This thing's useless anyway. Might as well cut it off now and use it to nourish the mistress."

"Don't touch me."

My own voice came out cold and hoarse.

"Oh, still got the nerve to glare at me?" She let go with a sneer, turning to toss one last line over her shoulder. "If this blood isn't cleaned up before sunrise, you'll be sorry."

All through that night, I knelt in place, scrubbing over and over, my fingertips long since numbed with cold.

From inside the room came the intermittent sounds of intimacy.

Just a little longer, and all of this would finally be over.

By the time I wiped away the last trace of blood, the wound on my back had finally closed.

Dawn broke, and the estate stirred back to life with its usual morning bustle.

Derrick emerged from his room, an unmistakable flush still marking his throat, and walked straight into the sight of that patch of blood, already dried black.

"Where did all this blood come from?"

I didn't argue. I simply bowed.

"I'm sorry. I'll clean it up right away."

Nancy, trimming branches nearby, suddenly raised her voice, as if meaning for someone in particular to hear.

"Funny thing, isn't it? That fox was sneaking around Mr. Carter's bedroom last night. I tried to stop her, but she wouldn't listen. Wonder if she's trying to seduce Mr. Carter."

"Now that I think of it, back when Mr. Carter's parents went missing, she was always wandering around in the middle of the night too..."

Derrick's expression darkened instantly.

"What kind of games are you playing now?"

Before I could even open my mouth, the water basin in my hands was already kicked flying, and the next moment I was being dragged toward the laboratory.

My limbs were bound one by one to the cold examination table, electrode pads plastered densely across my skin, my head spinning with nausea.

Derrick sat across from me, legs crossed, turning a small remote between his fingers, his expression dark enough to make my heart seize.

"Seems like you've been living too comfortably lately. Forgotten what it feels like to be interrogated."

He leaned in, his eyes locking onto mine, each word deliberate.

"Tell me! Was it you who killed my parents?"