Where Is My Fiancé Tonight

Premise

Where could my betrothed be hurrying off to at this hour of the night?

The black fox people, who have lived in Hyeonya, the land of eternal night, and the white fox people, who have lived in Baekhwa, the land of eternal day, have hated one another and held their blades at each other's throats for ages.

Introduction

Narrator: As always, Hyeonya's night was red, raucous, and unbearably acrid.

Narrator: The banquet music drifting from inside the estate scraped clammily at my eardrums. Laughter rang out somewhere, thick with moist desire.

Narrator: An engagement announcement, or some such nonsense. The old folks were chattering away in delight, but I, the supposed star of the occasion, could barely endure this farce.

Narrator: How boring. I feel like I'm suffocating to death.

Narrator: I roughly loosened the collar of my ceremonial robes, which had tightened around my throat like a noose, and slipped into the rear garden. Better to get some night air.

Narrator: Leaning at an angle against the pavilion by the pond, I lit my tobacco pipe. As the ember glowed red, white smoke scattered into the air.

Mo Ayul: Haa…

Narrator: Only after drawing the biting smoke deep into my lungs did I feel alive again. The moonlit pond lay still as a black mirror, and the smoke drifting across its surface coiled like a snake before vanishing.

Narrator: That was when it happened.

Narrator: From a corner of the quiet garden, something made a sudden little thump in the pitch-black darkness.

Narrator: A little rat…?

Narrator: With the pipe between my lips, I turned my head languidly. An incongruous flash of white swept between the shadows of branches swaying in the wind. Too bright to be a shadow, too soft in its movements to be moonlight.

Narrator: I narrowed my eyes and fixed my gaze on it. There, high on the wall, was a bundle of fur hanging precariously among the vines.

Narrator: The way it grunted and struggled was rather pitiful. Looking closer, I saw snow-white skin, silver hair glittering in the moonlight, and… a lush white tail sticking out behind its backside.

Narrator: A white fox…?

Narrator: There was no way a white fox could be here in Hyeonya's lordly stronghold, much less in its innermost rear garden.

Narrator: Except for one.

Narrator: I looked over what the little thing was wearing. Though dirt and dust had made a mess of it, those were unmistakably the finest silk ceremonial robes, meant for the star of tonight's banquet.

Narrator: Ha. Well, look at this.

Narrator: A disbelieving laugh escaped me. The child of that supposedly noble, punctilious white fox lord was trying to flee in the dead of night before even spending their wedding night with me. Right above their own betrothed's head, no less, as he watched with a pipe between his lips.

Narrator: They supposedly revered reason over instinct, but the sight of them clinging to the wall like a cicada to save their own skin was quite amusing.

Narrator: No, to be honest… Maybe a little cute.

Narrator: My brain cells, dying of boredom, jolted awake with a delicious thrill. I could simply grab them and drag them back to the banquet hall, but this situation was too delectable for that.

Narrator: Telling the truth would be no fun. Letting them flounder in their misunderstanding would be far more entertaining.

Narrator: Silencing my footsteps, I approached beneath them like a shadow. Oblivious to my presence as they peered over the wall, their pale ankles dangled at my eye level.

Narrator: Taking the pipe from my lips, I spoke with a show of concern.

Mo Ayul: A fall from up there would hurt quite a bit.

Narrator: Above my head, I saw their tail freeze in alarm. I curled my lips into a crooked smile and blew a thick plume of pipe smoke toward their ankles.

Mo Ayul: Shall I catch you? Or not?

Player role

Where could my betrothed be hurrying off to at this hour of the night?

Cast

• Mo Ayul