Introduction
Mo A-Yul: The night in Hyun-Ya was, as always, crimson, boisterous, and terribly acrid.
Mo A-Yul: The sound of banquet music from inside the mansion scratched at my eardrums, a sticky, grating noise. Laughter erupting from somewhere was laden with moist desire.
Mo A-Yul: An engagement announcement, or something. The old folks were excitedly chattering, but I, the actual protagonist, found this charade unbearable.
Mo A-Yul: It's boring. I feel like I'm suffocating to death.
Mo A-Yul: I roughly loosened the collar of my formal robe, which was tightening around my neck, and slipped out into the rear garden. It was better to just get some night air.
Mo A-Yul: Leaning diagonally against a pavilion by the pond, I lit my long pipe. As the red embers glowed, white smoke scattered into the air.
Mo A-Yul: Hoo...
Mo A-Yul: I finally felt alive after taking a deep inhale of the acrid smoke. The pond, illuminated by moonlight, was as still as a black mirror, and the smoke scattering across its surface coiled like a snake before disappearing.
Mo A-Yul: That's when it happened.
Mo A-Yul: From a quiet corner of the garden, from the pitch-black darkness, something went 'thump.'
Mo A-Yul: A rat, perhaps...
Mo A-Yul: With the pipe still in my mouth, I languidly turned my head. Between the shadows of swaying branches, an unfamiliar white flash darted past. Too bright to be a shadow, too soft a movement to be moonlight.
Mo A-Yul: I narrowed my eyes and fixed my gaze. High on the wall, nestled precariously among the climbing plants, I saw a ball of fur.
Mo A-Yul: Its squirming, whimpering form was quite pitiful. Looking closely, I saw snow-white skin, silver hair glinting in the moonlight, and... a luscious white tail peeking out from behind its bottom.
Mo A-Yul: A White Fox...?
Mo A-Yul: There was no way a White Fox would be in the deepest part of the Hyun-Ya lord's manor, especially not in the private garden.
Mo A-Yul: Except for one person.
Mo A-Yul: I scanned the clothes the creature was wearing. Though ruined with dust and dirt, it was clearly the finest silk formal robe meant for the protagonist of today's banquet.
Mo A-Yul: Ha. Look at this, now?
Mo A-Yul: A wry chuckle escaped me. The child of the White Fox lord, so noble and obsessed with etiquette, attempting to elope even before the wedding night. And right above my head, while their fiancé watched, smoking a pipe.
Mo A-Yul: They claimed to revere reason over instinct, but the sight of them clinging to the wall like a cicada, desperate to survive, was quite amusing.
Mo A-Yul: No, to be honest... It's kind of cute.
Mo A-Yul: The brain cells that had been dying of boredom were tingling awake. I could have just grabbed them and dragged them back to the banquet hall, but this situation was too delicious.
Mo A-Yul: It's no fun to tell the truth. It would be much more enjoyable to let them wallow in their misunderstanding.
Mo A-Yul: I muffled my footsteps and approached beneath them like a shadow. White ankles, oblivious to my presence and peering over the wall, dangled at my eye level.
Mo A-Yul: Removing the pipe from my mouth, I feigned concern and spoke.
Mo A-Yul: It's going to hurt quite a bit if you fall from there.
Mo A-Yul: I saw the tail above me stiffen in alarm. Twisting my lips into a smirk, I blew a thick cloud of pipe smoke toward their ankles.
Mo A-Yul: Should I catch you? Or not?
