The Arranged Suitor Was the Kidnapper

After picking up the young fox in the forest, Zenox returned to the mansion.

He entrusted the fox to the butler and locked himself in his room.

Although Zenox was the owner of the Krassium Mansion, he couldn’t stay at ease. All the other servants feared him. Zenox himself also felt more comfortable when he was alone.

He had spent so long in solitude that having someone by his side felt awkward.

Above all, he couldn’t trust himself.

While regular contact with the fox orb helped suppress his madness, it wasn’t perfect.

The moments when he couldn’t control himself and lost his sanity were becoming more frequent. If it continued like this, madness might consume him, and when that time came, he vowed to go to a secluded place and die alone.

It had been his silent resolution and goal for some time.

Not long after he had locked himself in his room, he started hearing hallucinations that incited murder.

Subsequently, he began experiencing hallucinations. Scenes of standing among corpses or corpses grabbing his legs passed one after another.

As the insomnia that visited him every night became more tormenting, he even blacked out the fact that he had brought the baby fox with him.

On a night when sleep particularly eluded him, Zenox engaged in a battle with the boiling desire for destruction, accompanied by auditory hallucinations.

He fought to keep his sanity intact, but in the end, he lost consciousness in a daze.

When he regained consciousness, Zenox found himself lying on cold, hard tiles.

As he slowly raised his eyelids, he saw a chaotic corridor.

Broken shards of pottery and shattered furniture were all too familiar.

However, one strange thing stood out: his side was unusually warm.

Perplexed, he looked down and unconsciously murmured:

“…A fox?”

Thinking it might be another hallucination, he blinked several times.

There was a fox curled up, tucked in, and asleep next to him. It held Its tail, which was larger Its own size, with both legs and breathed softly.

Only after feeling the soft touch of its fur did he realize it was real.

Upon closer inspection, it was the baby fox Zenox had picked up a while ago.

As he tried to get up, the fox jumped onto his chest and sprawled out.

It was as light as a cotton ball, but he couldn’t move as if he was pinned under a rock.

Zenox looked down at the fox, which was breathing faintly just with the movement of his eyes.

“Have you lost your sense of fear?”

Otherwise, it couldn’t have slept so peacefully.

Most animals can recognize their predators from birth, but not this fox.

He judged the baby fox in front of him to be a unique creature.

Even after that incident, the relationship between Zenox and the baby fox didn’t change. He was still confined to his room, and the baby fox was cared for by the butler, so there was no interaction.

He had to leave the capital soon anyway.

Zenox intended to leave the baby fox at the mansion in the capital.

One day, while he was working in his office, he heard a commotion in the hallway.

“Miss Fluffy!”

Zenox thought it was a strange, even bizarre name.

Losing interest quickly, he was about to return to his work when…

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a white lump and looked up to meet the round eyes of the baby fox.

It felt as if time had stopped as they both stared at each other without moving.

The baby fox was the first to move. It ran towards Zenox as if asking for protection and hid under the desk.

Soon after, the door opened wide and a servant entered.

“Ma, Master.”

Upon seeing him, the servant’s eyes widened in shock.

His flushed cheeks lost their color in an instant.

Shaking like a withering tree, he quickly knelt and bowed his head to the floor.

“Please, spare, spare me.”

It was a familiar reaction.

People acted as if Zenix would bring disaster even without doing anything. They mistakenly begged for their lives, thinking he would kill them.

He was getting tired of clarifying misunderstandings, but then the baby fox started climbing up his robe.

Looking down, Zenox saw the ball of fur starting to climb him.

Holding the fox with one hand, he asked:

“Name?”

“…Yes?”

After glaring at the confused servant, he shouted in fright:

“It’s Jason!”

“Not your name.”

With a grunt, the servant looked at the white fox and nodded.

“It’s Fluffy.”

“That’s a name?”

Too afraid to mention that the head butler had named him, the servant bowed his head, his back drenched in sweat.

“…”

Well, it doesn’t matter.

It didn’t matter since it wasn’t a pet he was personally raising.

Zenox would leave it to the subordinates and move on, so any name was fine.

“Kyu!”

The fox, whose neck was grabbed, let out a cry and waved its tail side to side.

It was a bit feisty, but not threatening.

Zenox frowned more.

There seemed to be something off about it.

If this fox wasn’t odd, other animals shouldn’t be running away from him either.

But not long ago, hunting dogs had fled from Zenox, and the bird the butler had kept fainted in its cage, so the fox was indeed peculiar.

“Get out.”

The servant, who had forgotten even to reply, rushed out of the office.

Zenox set the fox on the desk.

Instead of running away like the servant, the fox began exploring the desk like an adventurer in a new land.

Its short legs moved so busily that Zenox was kept entertained just watching. The fox lay at the edge of the desk and stretched its leg, tapping a drawer.

Then it looked at him once.

“Keuun.”

With a little grunt, he opened the drawer and the fox seemed pleased.

Without even realizing, he had catered to the fox’s whims.

The fox jumped into the drawer.

And began to rummage through it like digging a hole. Its ears perked up and its tail wagged nonstop, seemingly excited.

After making a mess of three drawers, it finally seemed satisfied.

Looking down, Zenox saw the fox resting after its ransacking, purring like a kitten. It was almost laughable how it didn’t think of running away.

Having indulged it enough, Zenox decided to send it away.

He picked up the fox from the drawer.

“Keun! Kyu!”

It let out noises of protest, but he couldn’t understand what it was trying to convey.

It’s been a while since someone faced him like this.

Everyone else avoided his gaze.

Zenox called the butler and ordered him to take the fox.

The fox left, and the office was instantly quiet.

Zenox tried to focus on his paperwork, but the fearless fox kept popping into his mind.

Its soft white fur flashed before the eyes, then disappeared repeatedly.

Shaking off the distraction, Zenox concentrated on the documents once more.

After that, he occasionally looked at the baby fox.

Not out of interest, but out of curiosity if it still wasn’t afraid of him.

The fox, seemingly mocking, often came to visit Zenox.

Even…

“Ha.”

It came looking for him, holding a bowl as big as its own body.

Asking for food? From me?

Zwnox was so dumbfounded that he couldn’t speak and just touched his forehead with my hand.

Even Verdo, who had served the Krassium family since before Zenox was born, had never approached in this manner.

This frail baby fox had been stepping all over the boundaries set by Zenox in less than a month.

It seemed like it didn’t even understand the concept of keeping distance.

Should he scare it off?

If he threaten it, it probably won’t come back.

That would be very easy for Zenox.

Just raising his hand made everyone run away in fear.

So, he should’ve just acted like usual, but… for some reason, he hesitated.

“Go to the kitchen.”

Instead of a threat, that’s all he said.

“Kwaang! Kyuu!”

The furry bundle holding the plate wiggled up and down.

Every time the plate hit the floor, there was a clanking sound.

Then, with its forepaw, it thumped on the floor.

“…”

That day, for the first time in his life, Zenox visited the kitchen.