When Anna woke up, her mind was in a daze. She looked down and realized she was tied up. The tightness around her limbs sent a pang of anxiety through her.
She tried to summon her mana, but the ropes only tightened further.
A strange force rushed back along her mana, making her whole body go limp and her face flush red.
What… kind of new tying method is this?
Anna’s mind went blank. ‘This type of binding… I think I’ve only seen it in those improper little picture books in Lady Iwitte’s room.’
It was supposed to be a magic-sealing rope specifically for subduing villains—the more you struggle, the weaker you get…
Who’s a villain here?!
She was at her wits’ end.
“Perfect Miss Anna, keeping up the disguise for so long… it must have been really hard, right?”
Yelena’s lilting voice came over, sounding like she was enjoying the show.
“Now, tell me, you beautiful little fox, who do you belong to?”
Anna jerked her head up, forcing down the discomfort in her body. Her face remained respectful and innocent.
“Lady Yelena, what are you talking about? I’m just an ordinary human maid. Maybe… maybe the roast chicken at lunch wasn’t fresh, and I ate something bad so I fainted.”
She tried to keep bluffing.
“An ordinary human maid?”
Iwitte let out a cold laugh.
Bam!
A loud crash, sparks flying. A glowing nodachi stabbed into the floor between Anna’s legs, the blade only a few inches from her.
“A human who’s taken ten times the dose of Fox Heart Powder would still be sleeping like a kitten and snoring?”
Iwitte’s face looked terrifying under the light. “Do you really think this Sword Saint is an idiot?”
Anna flinched at the sword aura, and her face turned extremely ugly.
“Anna…”
Yelena immediately chimed in, one hand over her heart, her face full of fake hurt.
It was the classic good cop, bad cop routine—Iwitte playing the bad cop, Yelena the good cop.
“I trusted you so much, treated you like my best sister… You’re not like that damned succubus Mira, are you? Another spy sent by the demon race to lurk beside me?!”
That accusation was a bit of a stretch.
Iwitte cooperated perfectly. She grabbed the nodachi off the floor and pressed the blade right against Anna’s neck.
“No wonder you always pretend not to care about anything, and you’re such an amazing fighter! So you’re actually of demon descent.”
“To protect Yelena, I’m going to chop you down today!”
With that, she raised the nodachi, ready to strike.
Anna’s eyes flew wide open.
The two of them, with their flawed yet intense performance, drove her into a sweat.
Demon spy?
If that got out, she wouldn’t even need Iwitte to act—the Holy See would show up the next day, and then she wouldn’t be able to explain herself.
Worse still, when she looked at Yelena, she clearly saw the feigned caution and disappointment in the other woman’s eyes.
Even though she knew it was an act, that gaze still stabbed like a needle into Anna’s heart.
The words the Moon Tail Queen had said before parting suddenly echoed in her mind…
“Feihong, take care of my daughter… No matter what happens, never let her lose trust in you…”
“W-Wait! Spare her life!” the little fox girl yelled out in protest.
Anna looked up in surprise, thinking there might be a turn of events.
“Ahem… Iwitte, hold on, don’t be so rough.” Yelena placed her hand on Iwitte’s sword hand.
“Use the soft approach first, don’t be so direct.”
With that, Yelena showed a sly fox’s grin. She took out some newly purchased itching powder and tickling tools from her space ring.
“There’s an ancient saying in the Yuan Kingdom: ‘Xi xi wu zhe Wei Junjie.’”
“These torture instruments I have here, I believe, will definitely pry open your mouth.”
?!
Although Anna didn’t understand what Yelena was saying, when she saw Yelena pull off her shoes and socks and apply itching powder to the soles of her feet…
She realized something was very wrong.
“Wait! Lady Yelena, wait…”
But before Anna could stop her, Yelena had already taken out the tickling tool with a wicked smile and was furiously scratching the bottom of her feet.
The torture props Yelena had bought from that strange merchant took even Iwitte by surprise.
This itching powder, when applied, greatly heightened a person’s senses. Normally it was just a child’s prank item.
But Yelena, remembering Anna’s good points, was using this nasty trick purely for teasing.
Iwitte didn’t say anything, just quietly watched Yelena put on her show.
“Ahahaha! Hahaha! Help!”
“Ahahahaha! Miss, I was wrong! I shouldn’t have disguised myself in front of you! Ahahahaha!!!”
…
The teasing went on for a while. Anna was about to collapse from exhaustion.
With the last of her strength, she shouted out a defensive explanation.
“I’m not a demon! I’m from the fox tribe!! Hahahaha!!!”
Her emotions flared up, and the concealing formation inside her body could barely hold—something seemed to crack.
Yelena stopped. She took out a clean towel to clean Anna up, then helped her put on her shoes and socks.
The two of them held back their laughter, exchanged a look, and both saw the “almost there” in each other’s eyes.
They put on an expression that said, “Let’s see how you keep pretending,” and stared intently at Anna, waiting for the show.
Anna took a deep breath, rested for a moment to collect herself.
She looked like she had resigned herself. Slowly closing her eyes, then opening them again, her gaze was full of helplessness and fondness.
“Miss, Lady Iwitte, I have deceived you until now.”
“What follows, please don’t be alarmed.”
No sooner had she finished speaking than a bright pink light burst from Anna’s body, illuminating the entire room!
The disguise beneath that maid uniform shattered.
Her jet-black hair began to rapidly change from the roots to a cherry blossom pink. Her black eyes turned a vivid crimson.
Six fluffy pink fox tails, each larger than Yelena’s nine tails, emerged from behind her, waving unconsciously in the air.
Then, two soft pink fox ears popped out on top of her head, twitching nervously.
The entire room went silent for over ten seconds.
Clatter!
The nodachi fell from Iwitte’s hand.
Yelena gaped, speechless, and the tickling tool dropped from her hand as well.
“Y-You you you…”
Iwitte pointed at Anna, her mind blank. But then her eyes lit up, locked onto those six fluffy tails.
“You’re really… a fox too?!”
Iwitte’s heart was laughing—now she had double the happiness.
Yelena and Iwitte scrambled over and untied Anna’s ropes.
Anna rubbed her wrists, red from the bindings. Her six fluffy fox tails hung behind her a little sheepishly.
The next second, she straightened her somewhat messy clothes, and under the astonished gazes of the two, she knelt on one knee before Yelena.
Her expression was no longer that of a maid’s respect, but an indescribable devotion.
“Let me reintroduce myself.”
“I am Yuzuo Feihong, the last accompanying maid of the Moon Tail Family.”
“By the order of the Matriarch of Moon Tail, I live only to protect Princess Yelena for all my days.”