103 The Mansion (5)

It didn't matter, however. Even if his words were a threat, she couldn't change shape and go up to tell him what had happened to her. 'Not that I'd do it if I could,' she admitted to herself while staring into the empty corridor in which Kyro had disappeared.

She was too much of a coward for direct confrontations. What if he didn't accept her explanation? What if he didn't care that she had nowhere else to go? After all, it was one thing to shelter a little fox and a whole different one to keep a young woman in your house. Other people might misunderstand it a lot.

'It'd be best if I could just stay a fox forever.'

But that didn't mean she was going to accept any kind of treatment. Kyro came to give her dinner, but he mentioned nothing about letting her out of this cage. If that was the case, then she was going to leave by herself. 'Just watch me.'

For a couple more minutes, she lay still and unmoving. Her breath was back, but she still felt some exhaustion in the limbs. 'Maybe I should eat a bit more to have more energy?'

After that, she napped till the sun set and night came in to digest her meal. In the dark, she jumped to her feet, feeling like she was bursting with power. Couple stretching exercises later, she walked straight to the corner of the wooden fence which wasn't covered by the bushes.

'It's now or never!'

She decided on a meter length running start, and after taking a deep breath, she went off as fast she could. Her feet barely touched the ground as she covered the distance and launched herself at the fence.

It shook slightly under the impact, but Iris didn't pay it any heed, focusing solely on her feet and where she was putting them. One step - perfect, second step - too slow, third - success!

Her last jump-step brought her right to the top, but it was a precarious move. There was no way to stay upright at the top, and she hadn't gotten high enough to make a jump for freedom, so she just rolled over the fence like a dirty rag thrown by an angry neighbor to litter the other's courtyard.

The landing was one of the worst Iris had suffered, even with her career of failing to land like a cat on her feet. Her back right hip ached abominably. It was so much so that she couldn't even put any weight on it.

Worried, she licked the bruise, but it only hurt more from that, so she soon stopped. 'Well, that was a mistake,' she mused, looking at her surroundings. It wasn't pitch black yet, but it was getting darker at a noticeable rate, and she was in a foreign place by herself.

'Mhm…' She wasn't too happy with how it all had turned out, but it was a bit too late for regret. It wouldn't help her get back into the warm house.

When she looked around, she saw nothing but a much larger grass field to her right with trees in the distance and the mansion to her left. Most of its walls were wall-length windows, so she could see all that was happening inside.

Not that there was much to see. Most of the bottom floor was reserved for entertaining guests, so there were tables and bar counters everywhere. It was almost like a restaurant more than a living space.

But more importantly than that, there was not a living soul there. She needed to find someone to bring her into the house, yet no human could be found.

As she limped forward, paying attention not to put weight on her back leg, she saw a slightly open balcony door. It was held by a hook to not be thrown wide open by the wind, but the small opening for ventilation was plenty enough for Iris.

She swiftly squeezed through and started walking toward the nearest door. It was a long journey, with the size of the room, and she suddenly felt a sense of desolation. Such a large house, and just two people living inside it?

It was hard for her to imagine what it would be like to live in such a huge mansion with just one more person. Wouldn't it be like living in a ghost house? So many rooms, so many unused spaces.

Once she passed two more rooms, a sound caught her attention. From the hallway on her right, a white shadow emerged. It was way larger than Iris, and it glowed with an ethereal light in the darkness of the house.

'You can't be serious! There really are ghosts here!' she shouted out, retreating swiftly. But her quick movement aggravated her leg, and a soft whimper escaped her lips.

The white shadow came over to her then, and she suddenly realized that it was no ghost but a giant white dog. A Chow Chow. Its white fur was glossy and rich, glistening in the faint moonlight from outside.

'Hi?' Iris ventured, cursing everyone and everything for keeping only giants. Did people here have a prejudice against small dogs or something? Why all of them were different breeds of I'm-ten-times-bigger-than-you-little-fox?

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

The white-furred beast sniffed Iris, then went away, not giving her a second glance.

'Well… that was uneventful…'

Iris wasn't certain how to take such a dismissal. She was happy the dog didn't attack her, but her pride was a bit damaged by how unimportant she now seemed to be. The kingly—or wait, was this the rumored Queen?—beast couldn't even be bothered to react to her.

'Whatever, I have more important things to do now, like finding a place to rest.' She didn't want to just lie down in a random spot. Although nothing would probably happen, she didn't feel safe sleeping out in the open like this. This was a strange new place, and she had no way to tell if the white Chow Chow was the only ghost wandering these halls at night.

At this moment, she remembered that she was a fox and had more reliable senses than her eyes at night. With her nose to the ground, she started sniffing for any familiar scents.

For a time, there was nothing, but then she caught a whiff of Kyro. Looking around, she saw that she had limped near a staircase to the second floor, and her good mood at having found him instantly fell. How was she to get up there? There were over a a dozen steps!

But she really, really didn't want to sleep in the middle of nowhere, and getting back into her room was impossible now even if she wanted to return there, which she didn't.

There was no escaping it then. She approached the first step and looked at the staircase like it was Mt. Everest. Could she really do it? 'No knowing it if I won't try.'

Ignoring her aching back leg, she stood up on her hind legs and climbed up. It wasn't a comfortable action and she almost rolled backwards, but in a couple minutes she managed to get up the first step. Her action was more of a crawl than anything, but she had succeeded in conquering the first challenge in her journey to the top.

She glanced at her back foot that hurt a lot more at that moment, then looked away and concentrated back on her climb. One step after another, she pushed herself up and up. Soon, she lost track of time and only the climb remained in her eyes. Whatever came, she would finish this.

When she got to the top, she went to climb higher once more, but there was nothing there. She almost fell over her own feet, trying to stand up against the step that wasn't there.

The temptation to fall into an exhausted sleep right there and then and rest till Ragnarok came was nigh impossible to resist, but the smell was stronger here, and it was coming from somewhere close. Very close.

'Soon, I'll rest soon,' she murmured to herself, walking mostly on autopilot.

The door to Kyro's room wasn't closed, and she entered without a care that it was an unfamiliar place. With him around, nothing would ever happen to her no matter where they were. She was absolutely certain of this.

Using up the last of her energy, she jumped onto the bed and curled up by Kyro's side. The steady beating of his heart was a familiar melody, and she fell asleep the moment she put her head down.