"Don't you want to drink my blood anymore? You just bit my wound and licked some of it…"
Don't ask. It didn't know why it had done that, and it couldn't answer.
Seeing her continue to ignore her wound, the snow fox couldn't help but let out a frustrated growl. It couldn't bear to watch the wound keep bleeding—what a waste!
Startled by the fox's fierce expression, or perhaps finally understanding its intent, the woman obediently used the remaining cloth to bandage her wound.
Meanwhile, the fox retreated to the depths of the cave where it had been hiding.
It no longer had to worry about her wound. That foolish human had thoroughly bandaged its own injury, and the bleeding had stopped. Now, it just needed to rest, heal, and wait for the blizzard to pass so it could return to its den.
"Are you tired? Going to sleep? Are you cold? I'm freezing. I don't have thick fur like you. Your fur is so thick, like a warm blanket—you must never feel cold. When I touched your fur earlier, it felt so warm and comforting…"
The woman fell silent for a moment, gazing at the fox. Half-asleep, lulled by her hypnotic voice, it was on the verge of drifting off. "If I held you while I slept, I bet it'd feel so warm and cozy… Can I hold you? …If you don't answer, I'll take that as a yes!"
It had never imagined feeling sleepy with a human around, nor did it mind when she gently pulled it into her arms.
What's wrong with me?
Oh well, it thought helplessly. Being held by this human actually feels kind of nice. Especially when I'm so tired and sleepy. Nothing else matters right now!
"Mmm, you're so soft and warm. Holding you feels like having a furnace—so cozy," came a satisfied sigh from the dim cave.
"I could hold you like this forever! But you probably wouldn't want that, right? Who wants to be tied down for a lifetime?"
"You know, I escaped from my master. He was actually a good man. Everyone said he treated us servants well. Other households' servants would get beaten for no reason—some were even beaten to death!
But I didn't want to stay with my master for the rest of my life…
When I was little, my mother often talked about her hometown, a place covered in snow every winter. She always wanted to go back, but she never got the chance before she died. She was sold to my father, who always said that while she was alive, she belonged to his household and couldn't leave without his permission. Even in death, she'd become a guardian spirit of his house, never allowed to leave… My mother died crying. I'll never forget how she looked that day.
Later, my father racked up huge gambling debts and sold me to a master. That master married a mistress, and she said there were too many servants in the house and tried to sell us off. So… I ran away. I didn't want that kind of life. I wanted to see the place my mother always dreamed of, the place she longed for—a land with endless blue skies and pure, fairytale-like winter snow.
So, I overcame all sorts of hardships to get here. I was thinking, once the snow stops, I'll go see that fairytale world my mother spoke of. Want to come with me? It must be a breathtakingly beautiful place."
The woman's voice, choked with emotion, kept talking. The snow fox didn't look up. Her hypnotic voice made it unbearably drowsy, and fragments of her words drifted through its half-dreaming state, broken and tearful… When it could no longer hear her voice, its consciousness was swallowed by sleep.