The women I set free are obsessed with me

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The new house in the third district.

Not a bird house, but a new house.1

Or even a wolf's den.

I felt bad saying this to Seira, but it was much newer than our previous house. Overall, the amenities were better and it was more spacious. It was even big enough to give Rin her own room.

Rin, now a five-tailed fox, had grown not just physically but mentally as well. The form of her soul was no longer that of an innocent child, but closer to that of a woman.

Judging by appearance alone, she was in puberty. There's a saying that women are in puberty from birth to death, but anyway, Rin was currently in her stormy adolescence.

I needed to recognize Rin as a woman of that age and be considerate. Things that were once normal were now off-limits.

But out of boredom, I just threw out a casual suggestion.

"Rin, want to bathe together with Master?"

"Sure. Of course I'll bathe with Master, why wouldn't I?"

Oh boy.

I didn't expect her to actually agree.

Her confident response made me hesitate.

"I was just kidding."

"Huh? Whyyy~ Let's bathe together~"

"Rin, you're all grown up now. You should know how to bathe by yourself. More importantly, you shouldn't bathe with men."

Did she still not quite grasp the concept of boundaries? Rin tilted her head, acting innocently like she didn't understand.

"Rin doesn't mind if it's Master though?"

"I mind."

"Doesn't Master want to see how Rin has grown? Rin has grown a lot, here and there, you know?"

As she murmured this, Rin lowered her head and placed her hands on her chest. There certainly were small bumps that weren't there before…

Gasp.

What am I imagining right now?

Banish these thoughts!

Remember how TOS went bankrupt!

"Absolutely not. If you keep this up, I'll make you stay a slave forever."

"Rin doesn't mind being a slave though?"

"…Rin. I've told you many times. Being a slave isn't good. You shouldn't say things like that. People will look at you strangely. Understand?"

"Teehee. Master, your expression right now is hilarious. Well, alright. I'll let it slide today. Seira~ Let's bathe together."

Rin answered with a giggle. It was hard to tell if she sincerely understood or not.

This kind of small argument happened every time we bathed, but it wasn't just bath time. Bedtime wasn't much different.

Rin used to sleep curled up on my stomach. Naturally, as she grew bigger, she couldn't sleep in the same position as before.

To be honest, if I let her sleep on top of me now, my stomach would be caved in by morning. But Rin insisted on sleeping on top of me.

"Rin, you have your own room now. There's a nice bed there, so sleep there."

"The bed is uncomfortable! Rin can't sleep unless it's on Master's tummy! Why have you been saying this isn't allowed, that isn't allowed?! It's been like this the whole time!"

Rin shouted loud enough to shake the house. The elegant tone and attitude she had been maintaining shattered with that one yell.

"What if something happens to Master again while I'm away?"

"It's only the next room over, and you've grown up now, so you need to act accordingly."

I did sleep while hugging Mirabelle too, but her situation was a bit different.

Apart from feeling like a comfort doll when hugged, Mirabelle had severe dependency issues, thinking she had been abandoned by her parents. She couldn't sleep unless I hugged her.

But Rin wasn't that extreme, and since I had raised her since she was young, I felt more like a father to her. I wanted to give her a proper education, you could say.

But she clearly didn't see it that way.

"Rin tried so hard to be by Master's side. If I knew it would be like this, I wouldn't have tried at all. Master, if you keep acting like this, won't Rin fail to become a gumiho?"

Threatening not to become a gumiho? I never dreamed Rin would pull such a strong move. As her tails increased and she became more fox-like, she was using a cunningness that I hadn't experienced with other slaves.

If she were throwing a tantrum with force, I could subdue her with a command, but this situation was not the same. As someone aiming for complete liberation, I couldn't just come down hard on her.

"Alright. Let's sleep together."

"Yay!"

Rin clung to me tightly, hugging me like a body pillow. She used her limbs and tails to bind me so I couldn't move an inch.

She buried her face in my chest and took a deep breath. Then she slowly slipped her hand under my clothes, her slender fingers gently caressing my scar.

I thought she was playing another trick to toy with my heart, but her heterochromatic eyes shining in the darkness held a rather serious glint.

"You know… Rin couldn't sleep for days after Master got hurt? It was Rin's fault that Master was injured… What if I woke up one day to find Master gone forever? I was so scared that I laid next to Master every day. If I couldn't at least breathe in Master's scent like this, I just couldn't bear it."

Rin began to share the hardships she had endured alone for a month.

"To tell the truth… Rin kind of figured it out, you know? There's a reason people point at her and say she's a cursed fox, a monster that brings misfortune. That Rin… is different from others."

"…"

"But it was okay, better than Rin expected. Because Master would praise Rin, saying she was pretty. Rin thought it was enough if only Master saw her as beautiful. But after what happened this time… Rin started to hate herself too."

Rin paused for a moment before continuing.

"What Persi said… it wasn't wrong. Rin knows she was bad. But it made her angry because it was so true. Rin wants to stay by Master's side. It made Rin see the reality she had been trying so hard to ignore."

Rin let out a deep sigh and lamented self-deprecating words.

"Why was Rin born like this? What exactly is Rin? If Rin was normal like others, she could have lived happily with Master. Why is Rin so unfortunate… Why was Rin born with this fate?"

Rin murmured this with a bitter smile.

She had grown up. Not just in the emotions behind her voice, but in her ability to interpret the meaning behind words. Her self-identity had been established, and she had come to understand what kind of being she was.

It was different from her childish past. Trying to persuade her with sugar-coated words would be like offering her a poisoned apple.

"It's good that Rin is a gumiho. Do you think you could have lived happily if you weren't special? That's nonsense."

But had I ever sugarcoated my words to my slaves? No. What I offered them was always 100% pure sincerity, not just empty words.

"Think about it. If Rin was an ordinary fox, would we have met in White Cloud Valley?"

"…No."

"If you were an ordinary fox, why would I make you my slave? There are plenty of fox people around. I'm a slave trader with high standards, you know?"

"But still…"

"You mentioned fate earlier. This isn't fate or anything like that. I went to White Cloud Valley of my own will, and you appeared before me on your own feet. Let's not lump our choices together and pass them off as some invisible will of heaven, okay?"

Rin closed her mouth and thought deeply for a moment.

"…Okay, I understand."

It seemed she understood, nodding reflexively. Thankfully, it seemed to have gone over well. I patted Rin's back and she nuzzled her cheek against me, savoring the touch.

"Oh right, Master."

"Yes?"

"Actually, Rin did something else besides smelling Master when you were unconscious?"

Rin's eyes and mouth curved like crescent moons, having completely lost the seriousness from earlier. It was the expression she wore when she was about to play a prank.

Even without obstacles, closing your eyes and taking ten steps can be terrifying, let alone unconscious. No matter how pretty the other person is, it's bound to be creepy.

"…What did you do."

"I wonder~? What do you think Rin did?"

That was Rin's answer as she wagged her five tails. We were only halfway there, and the future already looked bleak.

***

"Yuhwa, it's been real hard to catch a glimpse of you lately, hasn't it?"

Late at night, there was a visitor to the Celestial Pavilion. It wasn't the two troublemakers who checked in every day without fail, but Hilde, the Lioness of Vestia.

Sitting in a chair with a posture more befitting a third-rate thug from the back alleys than a princess of a kingdom, Hilde spoke haughtily.

"I apologize, Princess. This old body hasn't been well lately…"

Yuhwa had refused her visits several times. She said she was sick, but in reality, it was a lie out of concern that Hilde and Rin might meet.

After all, Hilde had swung her fist at Yuhwa during their first meeting, saying, 'Are you strong? Fight me!' Even if Rin was born a gumiho, she was still far from being able to defeat Hilde.

If they met now, all of Rin's newly grown tails might be plucked out. So she had been trying her best to prevent the two from meeting. Today, she just hadn't been able to.

"Well, you certainly do look sick. You've aged a lot since I last saw you."

Yuhwa, who had started raising a gumiho in earnest, was beginning to feel the backlash of defying the Mandate of Heaven. Even if time left its mark on her, a spirit beast, she still exuded an undeniable mystique.

But now, that light had dimmed considerably. She looked as aged as any grandmother her age.

Hilde didn't question the sick excuse too much due to this, which was fortunate in a way.

"I heard the news. That you've been meeting often with that human slave trader. I hear he opened a cat café too?"

"That's right. I found him quite reasonable after talking with him, so I asked him to keep this old woman company."

"Now that's surprising. To think there'd be someone in this world that Yuhwa likes. You don't even like me much, do you? Well, I wonder how many people in the world actually like me."

Hilde was aware of her difficult personality. She couldn't resist interesting things.

Though she knew this, as evidenced even now, Hilde had no intention of changing. She occupied a position where she could afford to be this way, and she possessed the power to maintain her standing.

"But I hear this slave trader is keeping a pink fox? And they say it even has three tails."

"That's correct."

"I see…"

Hilde seemed to be pondering something deeply with a serious expression, then spoke in a low voice.

"It's not a gumiho, is it?"

"A gumiho? What are you saying all of a sudden?"

"Just a thought. I remembered the nine burning reflections in your orb before. I can't help but wonder if the sealed gumiho has emerged."

Yuhwa's reaction at the time had been strange too. She had closed her fortune-telling shop, saying her powers had weakened, but it kept bothering Hilde.

If a real gumiho appeared, the world would be reduced to scorched earth in the blink of an eye. If that pink fox truly was a gumiho, she intended to eliminate it before it could grow any stronger.

"Hm, so you're saying that young fox might be a gumiho?"

"Yep."

"I'm not certain myself. It seems that fox spirit abilities do not work on each other, so I have no way to confirm. However, I sensed no great danger from that child."

"Is that so?"

Hilde's eyes narrowed sharply. The black vertical slits in her golden irises flashed as she stared at Yuhwa, as if trying to see through her true intentions.

Yuhwa calmly sipped her tea with her eyes closed.

After a moment of tense atmosphere, Hilde let out a small laugh and relaxed her stance.

"Well, if Yuhwa says so, I guess I gotta take her word for it."

Hilde downed her tea in one gulp and set it down with a loud clack.

"Nothing special today. I just couldn't sleep, so I dropped by to get my fortune told."

"My powers aren't what they used to be, unfortunately."

"Doesn't matter. I'm just doing it for fun anyway. Not like I'm the type to be swayed by fortune-telling."

"Since you insist, I'll try reading your fortune."

Yuhwa created a snow-white fox orb and handed it to Hilde, who placed her hand on it. Soon, Yuhwa's tails began to dance like they were possessed, and a mysterious, hazy mist filled the surroundings.

The crystal flashed, divining Hilde's fate.

"The black beast shall turn its back on the heavens and set foot upon this land. At the end of its path, both glorious liberation and calamity intertwine. Though no iron binds it, its shackles are eternal."

The mist disappeared, and the crystal lost its light. Hilde frowned upon hearing her fate.

"What the hell is that bullshit?"

She couldn't understand any of it.

She couldn't even tell if it was good or bad.

"Your Highness, since times of yore, prophecies have always been ambiguous. As long as they do not overstep their bounds, even the slightest coincidences can give birth to new outcomes."

"So you're saying that depending on how I act, a good future may or may not come?"

"That would be a fair interpretation."

If that was the case, Hilde was confident there was no need for concern. After all, with her power, she could snatch even a fleeing happy ending.

Glorious liberation.

Perhaps she might experience a thrill unlike any she had ever known before.