Xiao Yue fixed Marcus with a look of complete bewildernt, as if he’d just asked why water was wet. "How could the bearer of light be a bad person?" she asked, genuine confusion evident in her voice.
Marcus’s eyes widened in shock. "Bearer of light? You an the light fragnt?"
The fox princess nodded sagely, her ears twitching slightly. "Don’t ask how I know," she said with quiet confidence. "The fox clan has always been close to the Moon Goddess, and as the princess of the clan, there’s no way I couldn’t feel the divinity radiating all over you." Her tone carried the weight of ancient knowledge, matter-of-fact and unwavering.
"If you already knew that," Marcus asked, his brow furrowing in confusion, "then why did you try to kill earlier?"
"I was just testing you," she replied with a dismissive wave of her hand. Her expression turned serious as she continued, "If you’d have said that you wanted power, I would have killed you! If you refused, I’d let you go." Her eyes drifted to the fallen daggers scattered across the cavern floor. "But it wasn’t necessary for you."
Marcus studied her with a mix of fascination and bewildernt. I don’t know if she’s really smart or just a self-aware idiot, he thought to himself.
As if reading his mind, Xiao Yue’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You thought sothing bad of , didn’t you?"
"How did you know... I an... what are you talking about?" Marcus waved his hands frantically, trying to project innocence.
"Hmph! I know that look," she pouted, her fox ears laying flat against her head in annoyance.
After a mont of silence, her expression sobered. "Actually," she began, her voice growing quiet, "I already had a feeling that we had lost." Her gaze turned distant as she continued, "And when I was brought here... whoever brought here went and never ca back. I thought I had been left here to die, but as the days went by, I still couldn’t die."
She drew her knees up to her chest, making herself seem even smaller. "It was then that I realized I wasn’t in the real world anymore, but a dungeon. I seed to have rged with the core of the dungeon and beca one with it. That’s why I didn’t die of hunger all this ti."
"As ti went by, I just thought that the dungeon had a faster flow of ti," she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. "Because- because I didn’t want to admit that ti was running out for my people." Her voice cracked slightly. "I wanted to believe that ti was still as I left it outside, that this was just so cruel torture to break . I wanted to believe that I could still go out and help my people win the war! But now I can’t do that anymore."
Her eyes fell to the ancient scroll in her hands. Straightening her arm toward Marcus, she asked with quiet determination, "Will you let my people enjoy the peace I couldn’t get for them?"
Marcus looked at the offered scroll, then drew his sword in one fluid motion. Xiao Yue didn’t flinch or react, remaining perfectly still even as the blade swung toward her. With a sharp clank, the chains binding her neck fell away.
"Why don’t you tell them that yourself?" Marcus suggested.
The mont the chains hit the ground, an extraordinary transformation began. Xiao Yue’s small form started growing at an alarming rate until she stood nearly eye-to-eye with Marcus. She stared at her hands in wonder, clearly surprised by her own restoration. The chain had been more than just a restraint – it had sealed her powers, leaving her only able to access her clan’s treasure to convert ntal strength into physical power. The collar, a symbol of clan leadership she’d once considered re decoration, had beco her only ans of maintaining any strength while bound.
As she flexed her fingers, testing her restored form, a frown crossed her features. "As expected," she thought, noting that while her body had returned to its original size, her forr strength remained elusive. Yet this revelation didn’t seem to discourage her – she’d grown accustod to working with limited power.
Before she could fully process these changes, her expression suddenly sharpened. Through her connection to the dungeon, she sensed an unmistakable disturbance. "There are intruders!" she announced, her newly restored ears twitching with alertness.
…
Marcus tensed at Xiao Yue’s warning, his grip tightening on his sword. "What?" The news caught him completely off guard – this dungeon wasn’t supposed to be discovered for at least a few more years. His mind raced through possibilities as he positioned himself defensively near the cave entrance.
Could it be that soone found the dungeon earlier but kept it secret? The thought crystallized, making more sense the longer he considered it. After all, discovering soone claiming to be the princess of the extinct fox clan would be an extraordinary find – one that an unscrupulous discoverer might want to keep private. It would certainly explain why he’d never heard of the fox princess’s discovery in his previous life. Such a monuntal finding should have sent shockwaves through the world, yet history recorded nothing of it.
His jaw clenched as the pieces fell into place. Soone must have found her first and taken her before the dungeon was officially registered. The implications were troubling, suggesting that the tiline he knew might be less reliable than he’d assud.
Footsteps echoed through the cavern, accompanied by voices speaking in the empire’s tongue. Three figures erged from the shadows: two n and a woman, even though they were trying their best to hide it, anyone who saw them would definitely recognize them clearly as imperial citizens.
『What do you think is in there?』 Akira’s excited voice bounced off the cave walls, his wire-rimd glasses catching what little light filtered through.
Ruohan’s response dripped with skepticism, 『Probably nothing good.』 Her elaborate white robes seed oddly pristine despite their journey through the cave system.
Akira turned to argue, but Min-jae stepped between them, his massive fra dwarfing his companions. 『Now now, let’s not fight against ourselves...』 His diplomatic tone trailed off as he registered the scene before him.
His eyes swept past Marcus’s combat-ready stance, fixating instead on Xiao Yue’s distinctive features. A broad grin split his face as he shouted in gleeful recognition, 『It’s a fox girl! Hahaha! We’re rich!』
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