Chapter 8
Ran sat quietly, staring into Silia’s eyes before lowering his nose to the jerky and sniffing it cautiously.
“How is it? Is it alright?”
Ran began chewing the jerky.
Silia immediately stood up and headed toward the kitchen.
It was an unusually flustered side of her—something she would never show while acting as commander.
She returned carrying every bit of jerky she had stored away and dumped it all in front of Ran.
“This one is pork. This is duck. This is chicken. And this is rabbit.”
She pointed to each kind of jerky one by one as she explained.
Her cheeks were slightly flushed.
She looked genuinely happy.
Ran stared fixedly at Silia’s face.
“Ah, you might be thirsty too.”
Silia hurried back into the kitchen.
When she returned, she carried a rice bowl filled with clear water in her hands.
“Here.”
She offered the bowl to him.
Silia was strangely lacking in greed, so there was only a single rice bowl in the entire house.
And now she had brought it over to use as the fox’s water bowl.
Even though she had already bought a separate bowl specifically for the fox and left it in the bedroom, she had completely forgotten about it.
“Eat plenty. You’re too skinny. You need to gain some weight.”
Ran could not understand Silia at all.
‘Why is she treating a yokai kindly?’
Ran was not the sort of being judged good or evil based on his actions.
Everyone had always seen the fox as evil from the very beginning.
Hadn’t even Schula shuddered at the mere fact that he was a yokai?
Yet this absentminded holy knight before him taught Ran as though he were a child still learning the difference between right and wrong.
From one thing to the next, she firmly believed in and supported Ran’s endless possibilities.
Silia was the first human who saw Ran, not merely a yokai.
For a gumiho like Ran, meeting someone who recognized his true nature was nothing short of a miracle.
“You can eat a lot of this. It was dried without salt, so it doesn’t have much sodium.”
The bite marks Ran had left earlier still remained clearly on her forearm.
Holding that injured arm, Silia patiently explained everything in a soft voice.
The fox kept glancing at her gentle face.
For quite a long time.
“…Excuse me?”
The employee at the pet supply shop blankly stared up at Silia.
She was a woman with a chillingly cold yet breathtakingly beautiful appearance.
When the holy knight, who looked as though she had been sculpted from marble, first entered the store, the employee honestly thought she had walked into the wrong place.
So the employee had politely said,
“This is a pet supply store.”
Only for Silia to respond with:
“Do you sell shampoo as well?”
“Sh-shampoo?”
At the repeated question, a faint blush slowly spread across Silia’s cheeks.
Lowering her pale green eyes, she muttered quietly,
“Shampoo used for animals…”
“Ah!”
Recently, the Empire had been swept up in a pet-raising craze.
Naturally, stores selling pet supplies had begun springing up everywhere.
This shop was one such business born from following the trend.
Apparently, even a holy knight could not escape popular fads.
“What kind of animal are you raising? A dog?”
Silia wore a serious expression as she thought carefully before answering.
“A canine.”
“Ah, I see! A canine…”
Rolling her eyes uncertainly while wondering how to respond, the employee skillfully guided Silia through the store.
“Then how about this product? It has a rich rose scent, so it’s very popular among nobles.”
The moment Silia smelled it, her brow furrowed.
“The fragrance is too strong.”
“Would you prefer a different scent?”
“Is there one without any scent at all?”
“Without any scent?”
The employee looked surprised.
“My animal has a sensitive nose. Strong smells would probably stress him.”
‘Oh my.’
Internally delighted, the employee smiled brightly and led her elsewhere.
“In that case, this product should suit you perfectly. It has absolutely no added fragrance, and while it doesn’t foam much, it’s gentle enough that even picky animals adjust to it easily.”
Even after hearing the explanation, Silia carefully inspected the product for a long time.
She smelled it, checked the texture…
Then she walked around the shop once before sweeping armfuls of products into her basket.
Brushes, towels, beds, toys, snacks, food bowls, water bowls…
The employee became speechless at the sight of the overflowing basket.
“You must really love your pet.”
“I only bought what the child needs.”
Silia answered stiffly.
‘She must just be shy.’
Smiling warmly, the employee wrapped up the items.
‘Goodness, how can someone with such a cold face be this kind? If she smiled a little more often, she’d be incredibly popular.’
Ironically, the employee who had only met Silia today understood her more accurately than the knights who spent every day beside her.
“Please come again!”
Hoping both she and her animal would be happy, the employee stuffed in an absurd amount of complimentary gifts as well.
When Silia lit the living room lamps, Ran—who had been curled beneath the table—lifted his head.
The moment she saw him, Silia’s expression noticeably softened as she pulled out a small stuffed toy shaped like a bone.
“You spend so much time alone, so I thought you might get bored.”
The fox stared indifferently at the bone before lazily biting it.
Pfffk!
The fabric tore instantly, stuffing bursting out everywhere.
Silia blankly looked down at the destroyed toy.
“I should’ve bought something sturdier.”
“Kking!”
Ran snorted as though the whole thing were ridiculous.
But Silia remained completely serious.
‘Next time, I should buy him a wooden toy scented like meat.’
Leaving the garrison required permission from the Empire.
Even visiting the pet supply store today had not been easy, but Silia was already planning to try again soon.
“There’s a lot I want to show you. Want to come see?”
Ran cast a sideways glance at the massive pile of luggage before reluctantly walking over.
“They’re all yours.”
Ran sniffed curiously at the bags.
These days, the fox no longer attacked Silia constantly.
The attacks had become less frequent, though Silia knew Ran was still waiting for the perfect opportunity.
Of course, that opportunity would never come.
“Ah, right. I bought shampoo today.”
Ran tilted his head in confusion.
“You need a bath, Ran.”
And thus, the beginning of war arrived.
“Kkyuaaaang!”
Ran shrieked desperately while flailing all four legs.
Apparently, this was his first bath, because his resistance was extraordinary.
“Ran, look over here. There’s a duck! Aw, how cute.”
“Kkyuaaaaaang!”
Silia desperately wiggled a little rubber duck floating in the bathtub, trying to distract him.
Ran was far too busy panicking to care about any duck.
‘This won’t work.’
Changing strategies, Silia decided to finish things quickly.
She squeezed shampoo into her hands and vigorously scrubbed Ran’s fur.
His beautiful silver coat had looked perfectly clean, but filthy gray water immediately began pouring out.
“Kkuu! Kkuung!”
“That’s it, good boy.”
“Krrang!”
“Oh dear, how scary. Here, the duck.”
Silia shoved the rubber duck into Ran’s wide-open snarling mouth.
Ran violently shook his head and spat it out.
His eyes burned with fury.
“There’s no helping it. You need to be washed or you’ll get sick.”
“Kkyuuuuuk!”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, alright? I’ll finish quickly.”
Covered in slippery soap suds, Ran suddenly slipped free like an eel.
The fox bolted out of the bathroom, his entire body coated in foam.
His fluffy white body rolled across the living room like a cotton blossom caught in a storm.
The soap made everything slippery, and in those few seconds alone, all four of his paws slid in different directions at least ten times.
Hair, neck, even her pants soaked with water and foam, Silia burst into clear laughter.
“Ran!”
At last, she chased after him.
The fox paused briefly to glance back before snorting loudly through his nose as if mocking her.
A lowly human.
His eyes seemed to say exactly that.
“So you were laughing at me.”
Silia finally started moving at full speed.
Seeing her close the distance terrifyingly fast, Ran panicked and sprinted away.
Silia had only been playfully chasing him, but suddenly her eyes widened.
“Careful!”
The accident happened in an instant.
While running at full speed to escape Silia, Ran suddenly slipped.
Still carrying all his momentum, he slammed straight into an empty display cabinet.
Crash!
It was an old piece of furniture whose legs had worn unevenly with age.
The top-heavy cabinet tilted dangerously forward.
Silia rushed toward him so quickly that she slid across the soap-covered floor.
In an instant, she reached the spot where Ran had been crushed and forcefully shoved him out from beneath the cabinet.
Thud—
The heavy wooden cabinet collapsed onto her shoulder and body.
The place marked by the curse took the impact directly.
It was an area so sensitive that even the slightest touch usually made the fine hairs on her skin stand on end.
Cold sweat poured down her body, and violent tremors shook her limbs, but Silia quickly forced herself to calm down.
She had lived with the curse for twenty-three years already.
‘It’s alright. It’s not a seizure. It was only struck by the impact. There’s nothing to fear.’
Gritting her teeth, she braced the cabinet up with her forearm and wriggled free from beneath it.
For a long while, the only sound filling the silent house was Silia’s ragged breathing.
The moment she regained her senses, Silia hurriedly searched for Ran.
“Ran!”
The little fox was trembling violently, his ears drooping low.
Suddenly, Ran stared intently at Silia’s deathly pale face.
For a moment, Silia’s heart dropped as though he had somehow noticed the pain caused by the curse.
‘Ran’s still young. Even if he saw something, he wouldn’t understand what it means.’
Forcing those thoughts aside, she focused on checking the fox first.
“Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?”
