My Pet Fox Is Actually A Demon Prince-Chapter 28: Fall Of The Crimson Den- II

"H-human girl?"

The warden stammered, his mind unraveling as fear, panic and confusion closed in on him. The question drew a faint curl of disdain to Calhoun’s lips.

"Oh, and now you don’t remember the human I’m inquiring about?" his grip on the man’s face tightened, punishing in every sense. "Do you need me to help jog your memory a bit?"

The warden choked on a breath before finding his voice. "There’s... there’s a slave girl. She escaped a few days ago. Killed the captain– poisoned him and fled. We haven’t seen her since."

Calhoun’s golden gaze narrowed slightly.

So this captain was the one who tinted her name as a murderer.

He tilted his head, as though weighing the words, before finally releasing the warden’s face.

Rising to his full height, he watched as blood seeped steadily from the man’s ruined eye, soaking into his shirt. He must have shoved the rod a little too deep, and that satisfied Calhoun to a point. Now... he wanted to know what resulted in his human killing off this captain.

What had that man tried to do to her?

And more importantly—

Had there been others before him?

How many had dared to lay their filthy hands on her before she finally refused to endure it any longer?

His fingers curled into a tight fist, then slowly loosened.

"Do you have her file?" he demanded. "Obviously you’re meant to keep records of every slave here, aren’t you?"

The warden, trembling from unspeakable pain, forced a nod.

"What is her name?"

"K-Kyva."

"For how long has she been enslaved?"

"I... I don’t know," the warden stammered even more now. "She... she was sold to us about a year ago. I’m just a worker here. I don’t know how long she’s been in slavery for, or what came before that."

So she was trafficked.

Calhoun’s expression darkened as the word settled heavily in his mind.

"How many?"

He took a step closer, his presence suffocating.

"How many of you thought yourselves entitled to touch her?"

"The captain... he was the first," the warden immediately dropped. "She was never able to attend to anyone. She was always under some poisonous influence, and got to work as a domestic servant for a while before they tried to make her a bed slave. That’s all I know."

Calhoun clicked his tongue.

His human really was the victim all along.

Before the warden could so much as draw another breath, Calhoun seized the rod and wrenched it free from his eye. The warden was barely spared a moment to scream when a claw flashed.

His throat was cut open in a clean, brutal line, his body dropping as the last traces of life drained from him.

Calhoun turned away and used the unsoiled corner of the sheet to wipe the blood from his nails.

He despised unnecessary noise.

He glanced once more at the lifeless body of the warden, a flicker of disdain crossing his features. So this was what remained of the man who had postured himself so proudly in the forest.

"What a fool."

With that, Calhoun stepped out of the chamber. He pulled the door shut behind him, as though he were simply taking his leave after some private indulgence.

In truth, he had enjoyed himself...

Just not in any way these people would understand.

He retraced his steps, moving through the corridor with quiet purpose. As he turned a corner, the murmuring voices of two finely dressed men drifted into his path, drawing him to a halt.

"Did you hear about the girl who murdered the captain?" One said. "I heard she was very exquisite. Several of the Minister’s guards are out searching for her. It’s crazy how no one has found her yet. It’s like she just disappeared."

His companion replied, "I was present on that night. The captain paid two-hundred gold to bed her, can you imagine? It turned out he was paying his death rites."

"A girl trafficked for eleven years," he continued in a practical tone. "She would have been caught by now. I doubt she knows her way at all. If you ask me, I’d say she likely fled and took her own life, that’s why she hasn’t been found. Of course, that’s not what the public was told. They spun it into some tale about a servant who murdered the captain for coins. His reputation would have been ruined if the truth about his actions came out. Best for everyone to believe she died of guilt."

The two men chuckled, and the shadow on Calhoun’s face deepened, but he didn’t intervene and moved on.

Eleven years, they said.

She had endured it for eleven years... and still smiled like that. Still carried that distant, dreamy light in her eyes.

Still... kind.

How?

How had she managed it?

The captain was fortunate he had died by poison, and not by his own hands.

Calhoun was not new to the feeling of empathy, that much he understood. But this was something else, something deeper in a way he did not want to name.

And still–

These wretched beings dared to stain her name.

He did not... fancy that at all.

Stepping out of the Crimson Den, Calhoun turned around to study the building, disgust creeping into his expression, slow and unrestrained.

He took a couple more steps back, the night breeze stirring the loose folds of his attire.

Such an abomination should never have been allowed to exist.

A warm, shimmering light began to gather around him. It was soft at first, then blazing into a quiet intensity that covered him whole. It curled over his form like a living flame, distorting the air itself as his presence deepened into something far more ancient... more terrifying.

His form rose, expanding and refining. Silver white hair spilled like moonlight to his waist, and his golden eyes burned the brightest it had ever been.

From behind him, eight great tails unfurled, vast and luminous, swaying slowly with a will of their own. Each one carried a quiet, overwhelming power, their presence bending the air around him.

Then, he lifted his hand.

A low hum spread through the atmosphere, subtle at first... then rising into something unexplainable. The very space around him began to resonate, as though answering a call only it could hear.

Foxfire.

Five small balls of fire gathered at his fingertips, flickering in flames of gold and crimson. The flames deepened the more he concentrated his energy into it, his powers synchronizing with the world itself.

Above the structure of the crimson Den, the sky dimmed.

Dark clouds twisted unnaturally, folding inward as glowing sigils flickered faintly within them. It seemed the people staying in the brothel had sensed the change in the air, and someone looked out the window to see a luminous figure ahead.

"What the hell is that?"

"No, what the hell is that?!!"

Someone pointed toward the sky, where the clouds continued to gather, a soft rumble echoing in the area like it might rain at any moment. The building trembled, and for a brief suffocating moment, everything went still.

Then—

Flames fell from the sky.

Massive spheres of flame tore through the heavens, descending like divine judgment. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

They struck the earth with terrifying precision, slamming into the structure and engulfing it in an instant.

The Crimson Den erupted.

Screams of agony filled the air.

Heat devoured everything it touched, yet the flames moved with intent, consuming only what deserved to be erased.

Calhoun’s expression remained cold, untouched by the inferno he had summoned.

He was determined to let no one escape.

A rustle nearby suddenly drew his attention, and he turned his head just in time to see a pair of wide, child-like brown eyes staring at him from within the bushes. Those eyes froze, then widened further as if only now realizing they had been seen.

"Hey..." Calhoun’s eyes narrowed slightly as recognition dawned on him. "I remember you."

The girl hiding behind the bushes stiffened, her heart plummeting.

She had only meant to pass by, hadn’t meant to see anything or peek in the first place. But now, standing before her was the fox lord... the same one she had heard frightening stories about. The eight-tailed demon prince. The one who committed genocide against his own kind.

He was currently on the run too.

Terror seized her, and she turned and fled without thinking.

Her small legs carried her as fast as they could, her breath hitching as she prayed to get away. Branches snapped beneath her feet until suddenly, something caught her.

"....!!!"

A hand closed around her ankle.

She let out a sharp scream as she was yanked upward, the world flipping as she was hoisted in the air. Dangling upside down, her vision spun, until it steadied on him, specifically on those golden eyes.

Calhoun leaned in, studying her as though recalling a distant memory.

"You..." he murmured.

A faint, knowing curve touched his lips.

"We meet again, young fawn."