Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I am a Nine-Tailed Fox, a creature of legend. From the moment I was born, I was the auspicious omen every beast clan fought to claim.

When I came of age, princes from every corner of the beast realm crowded my father's palace. The dowries and promises they offered grew more extravagant by the day. My father loved me dearly and promised I could choose whom I would marry.

I rejected one noble prince after another. I set my heart firmly on the heir to the Wolf Pack, my childhood sweetheart.

The Wolf Pack was not wealthy; in fact, they were on the brink of ruin. Seeing my stubborn determination, my father sighed and sent me away with a massive dowry, desperate to secure my happiness.

But on our wedding night, the Prince left me alone in our bridal chamber. He walked straight into my sister's room instead.

Later, to gift my sister a stronger constitution, he severed eight of my tails. He banished me to the desolate Wastelands.

Five years later, he brought me back to the palace. But I was broken, riddled with illness, a shadow of the proud Nine-Tailed Fox I once was.

Yet, he regretted it. He knelt before me, begging me to love him again, to give him one more chance.

...

When the Wolf Pack's envoy came to the Wastelands to collect me, I had just crawled out of a shifter's shack.

Seeing my ragged state, the messenger's eyes flashed with disgust.

I knelt on the ground to hear the decree. My heart was numb, devoid of any feeling. Seeing my calm demeanor, the envoy looked displeased. "Princess, do you know where you went wrong?"

I obediently bent my spine, offering a humble and sincere apology.

For the past five years, I had heard countless shifters ask me, "Do you know where you went wrong?"

They would violate me, laughing as they grabbed my hair and sneered, "Do you know where you went wrong?"

At first, I held onto the pride of a Fox Princess. I refused to admit any fault. When one shifter tried to abuse me, I bit off his ear in retaliation. But that act of defiance only enraged them, and they threw me into the dungeon.

For those six months, they assaulted me day and night, slapped me, and starved me.

They would find sharp thorns, driving them one by one into my flesh, only to rip them out again. If a single thorn went missing, they would slice open my skin to scour for it.

I only held out against such torture for half a year before I finally broke.

At the beginning, I had hope. I hoped my husband, Silas, would remember the bond of our childhood and come to retrieve me.

I hoped my father would realize my plight and bring me home.

But hope withered away, day by day. I endured countless beatings. I fought wild dogs for scraps of food until I was bloodied and bruised, lying in the biting wind, gasping for my last breath.

Finally, I fell into despair. Silas and my father had abandoned me; they were never coming back.

To survive, to escape the beatings, I stripped off my clothes and learned how to charm those shifters.

I became the common sex slave of the Wastelands. Only by being submissive could I survive in this harsh, god-forsaken land.

The envoy was surprised by my compliance.

After all, I was still the official wife of the Wolf Prince, yet I was so lowly and submissive.

But he glanced at the surrounding environment, and a flash of understanding crossed his eyes. He nodded and said, "As long as the Princess knows her place, I will report back to His Highness."

As soon as his words landed, the surrounding shifters cast murderous glares my way. I simply lowered my head.

The envoy, oblivious, turned and left.

The news of my departure spread through the Wastelands instantly. Once the envoy was out of sight, the shifters crowded around me.

They tore at my clothes with leering smiles. I gritted my teeth against the pain and bent my spine in submission.

In these five years in the Wastelands, I had learned how to endure. Submissiveness was carved into my soul; I dared not forget it until the day I died.

After the shifters had sated their beastly desires on me, I pulled my tattered clothes together without a second thought and walked toward a hut.

Inside lay a male shifter. He was resting on a pelt, his face a map of jagged scars.

He saw me and beckoned. I crawled to his feet like a kitten.

The shifter scoffed at the sight. He swept his hand out, tearing the remaining clothes from my body, and pinned me down without hesitation.

I do not know how long it lasted. Finally, he looked satisfied. He pinched my chin and said, "I never thought I would get to bed a Nine-Tailed Fox, and for five years at that."

"Speak. What do you want? Considering our history, I can be the blade in your hand for one night."