When I awoke, I was sprawled on the floor of Great Lord Reineke’s temple. The place was still intact. Just like the spirit had said, I’d returned to a time before the revolutionary army had taken over.
I glanced down, noticing my shoddy skirt. I looked like a dirty town girl. What a nostalgic sight! This was probably right before House Renard adopted me.
I must be eight years old, then—the age I became an orphan.
Monsters prowled the sacred mountains surrounding House Renard’s lands, causing disasters and mayhem. In this year I’d returned to, at the coming of spring, more monsters than ever before had appeared alongside the melting snow. Amid the flooding, my family had been attacked by those monsters. My parents had left me behind and fled with my younger brother, but their escape had failed and they were slain.
With no family remaining, I had sneaked into Lord Reineke’s temple, stealing a bite of food that had been left as an offering. From the start of spring, when the attack happened, to when House Renard took me in at the end of summer, I had lived in secret at the temple.
Overcome with nostalgia, I gazed at my own hands. They were so small. My fingertips were stained in purple grape juice. When I hurriedly wiped my hands on my skirt, I noticed something I hadn’t seen before.
“I... I have a tail?!”
A fluffy, white fox tail was protruding from my backside, lifting up my skirt.
“Eek!” I quickly pushed the skirt down. “Wait... No way...” I murmured, hesitantly patting my own head. “Ears! I have fox ears too! Is this what Lord Reineke meant when he said he’d give me ears that can hear sacred voices?! Huh?! Does this even follow the laws of nature?! Ah! The mob called me a vixen, and now it’s come true!”
In our land, magic could be used to make contracts with spirits. I thought hearing Lord Reineke’s voice was just going to be done with some simple magic. I never imagined I’d end up looking like this! There were animal hybrids in fairy tales, as the incarnations of spirits, but they didn’t actually exist.
Making contracts with spirits was also very difficult, and only those who attended magic academies knew how to do it. Contracts with nameless spirits were hard enough—only extremely skilled magicians and saints could do it with those who did have a name.
“Either way, I’ve never heard of anyone making a contract with Great Lord Reineke! What kind of magic do animal spirits even wield?”
Generally speaking, spirits possessed four types of magic: earth, fire, water, and wind. In my previous life, both Marquis Renard and my brother Liam had made contracts with wind spirits. There was also light and dark magic, at least according to legend. One fable said that the Lord of Light had made a contract with the founder of the royal family, and it was taboo to even mention the Lord of Darkness.
“Mind your volume, Lune.” Lord Reineke’s voice resounded from the fox statue inside the temple.
I looked up to see him emerge from the statue in his fox form and sit down in front of me. He was a bit larger than an average fox, reaching to about the same height as my chest. He had the same grapevine crest on his head, and the purple eyes that matched my own. It was clear that he was no ordinary being.
“Lord Reineke!” I cried out.
“As promised, I came with you,” he said, looking very proud of himself. It was so adorable that it made me want to squeeze him.
I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “May I pet you?”
Lord Reineke’s face hardened at my impudence. “Well...all right. Do as you like.”
I started petting him, smoothing down the fur on his back and patting his head. I scratched under his chin and thoroughly tousled the fur on his belly. Lord Reineke cooed in satisfaction, showing his tummy.
“Hmm, very good. Yes, that’s the spot. Right there. More!” he prompted, enjoying my petting. Lying on his back like that, he didn’t look like a lofty spirit in the slightest.
He’s like a dog! I thought, getting my fill of petting him as well.
“All right, that’s enough. The marquis’s son is about to arrive. Pull yourself together,” he said after some time, making me snap back to my senses.
“Oh, right! This is where he found me!”
In my past life, House Renard’s only son—Liam—had been the one who found me and brought me back to the estate. He was thirteen at the time, and had come to the temple to leave an offering in place of the sickly marquise. House Renard’s daughter had passed away three years prior, causing the marquise to fall ill. However, she still held out hope that her daughter would one day reappear.
On the day Liam found me, I had eaten the previous offering as usual. Once I was full, I’d accidentally fallen asleep in the corner of the temple and was discovered. Apparently the color of my eyes and hair were the same as that daughter’s. I was the perfect person to console the marquise, so I was adopted into the family.
“B-But if they adopt me again, the Renard domain will face the same misfortune again! It’s best if I don’t meet them at all!” I exclaimed, getting ready to run outside.
“Hold it! What nonsense!” Lord Reineke protested. “Do you think you’ll be able to protect my temple if the Renards don’t take you in?! No. It’ll be fine as long as you don’t marry that rotten prince!”
I was suddenly paralyzed. I drifted up into the air, some strange power tightly holding my limbs in place as though I were on a cross.
Huh? What’s going on?! I wanted to yell, but no matter how hard I tried, my voice wouldn’t come out.
The temple door swung open. A purple-haired boy and a servant stepped in and froze at the sight of me.
“This girl’s silver hair and purple eyes are just like my sister’s... And she’s a hybrid, like those in the legends...” the boy muttered.
Liam!
Only minutes ago, I had seen him be killed because of me. And now here he was as a child. We’d had a strained relationship, but he had tried to save me in the end. My heart ached with a mixture of gratitude, nostalgia, and remorse.
I won’t let anyone execute you this time! My eyes welled up with tears. Suddenly, a glowing halo appeared around me. Huh?! Lord Reineke, what are you doing?!
“I’m making this look like a holy event. Humans need a great amount of faith to hear our voices. I have no choice—I’ll have to use up all my power to talk to him. It won’t recover for a while after this, so prepare yourself,” Lord Reineke replied in a serious tone.
I still couldn’t speak, and my face was frozen too.
The servant behind Liam dropped his basket out of shock. It was filled with fruit for offering at the temple. Well, seeing a girl float in midair with an extraordinary fox sitting by her feet would certainly be astonishing.
“Heed my words, Liam Renard, heir of House Renard. I am the Great Spirit Reineke.” The fox’s voice echoed inside the temple.
Liam gasped, then quickly knelt before Lord Reineke. Even at this age he was composed and mature. He didn’t panic or make a fuss.
“Ohhh!” the servant choked out, prostrating himself with exaggeration.
“This girl is Lune, and she has made a contract with me. Her silver ears are my ears. They grant her the ability to hear spirits. Her silver tail is my tail. It can point to a destination. I bestowed these gifts upon her in order to save House Renard. Have your family adopt her and raise her courteously as their daughter.”
What are you saying?! Please, stop it!
No matter how much I inwardly objected, Lord Reineke ignored me.
Liam remained silent, lowering his head even more.
“As proof, I will give you this sacred cloth.” As Lord Reineke spoke, a handkerchief slipped out of my pocket and fell on the ground. The fox spread it open and stepped on it. When he withdrew, a golden paw print was left behind. He picked it up and held it out toward Liam.
Liam reached out both of his hands and accepted it. He gazed intently at the golden mark for a moment, then held the cloth up above his head. Even in this situation, his expression hadn’t shifted much.
“The paw print of Lord Reineke... I receive it with gratitude,” he said reverently.
A golden light emanated from him and the servant, and Lord Reineke’s forehead absorbed it. But it seemed like I was the only person able to see this light. The grapevine crest mark on the fox’s head grew more pronounced.