“Well, I’m just concerned.
After all, Gareth lives here, and his problem is my problem too!” Lily said.
“And you haven’t told me what the Moonless Curse does.
Is it like a plague from my hometown?
Where people would get really sick and die after suffering from a high fever for a week?” “The Moonless Curse differs from one territory to another.
The curse in Gareth’s territory caused his people to turn into Moonless Wolves.
It causes them to go mad and attack anyone on sight,” Ren replied.
“I heard that Gareth has been imprisoning those who haven’t killed anyone, and executing those who already have the blood of their own kin on their hands.” Lily shivered at the thought of such a terrible curse.
When she was a child, there had been a virus spreading wildly through the town where she used to live, and many orphans died after suffering from three days of high fever.
Only the rich and strong were able to fight it off through sheer endurance or expensive medication, while others were simply lucky enough not to get infected at all, such as Lily, who was bought by Jack Addler and thus isolated at the barn ever since, saving her from the plague.
“Then, how about yours?” Lily asked.
“You said the curse differs in each territory.” “Why would I tell my enemy’s lover about my kin’s weakness?” Ren teased with a sly smirk.
“You…
Ugh, how could you be so devious!” Lily protested.
“Rather than devious, I’d like to call myself resourceful,” Ren said as he picked up two grapes.
One for himself, and the other he slipped between Lily’s lips, forcing her to bite into the grape and eat it.
“The beast monarchs aren’t best friends who hold hands together and walk into the sunset.
We have our own interests, kin to protect, and land to cultivate,” Ren added.
“The Court of Moonlight is merely a truce.
Once the truce is broken, war will be a common occurrence between us.” Lily stared at Ren, who didn’t seem to be worried about war at all.
But her heart ached at the thought of it, because she had a bad memory of war from her childhood days when she was growing up in the orphanage.
If possible, she did not want any war to happen, especially if it would affect those she cared about.
Once again, she recalled how Gareth had been severely wounded in her arms as she tried to help him stay alive.
“But why would you want a war?” Lily asked.
“Is it really necessary to slaughter each other?” “It’s complicated.
Sometimes, there are old grudges that need to be settled, or perhaps a monarch wants something that he doesn’t have and thus invades the neighboring territory for the thing he wants,” Ren said while staring deeply at Lily.
“As for me, I’ll do it once I see something that I want from another monarch’s territory.” Unfortunately, Lily couldn’t convince him otherwise.
She had noticed that Ren saw war as something innate and casual, like playing a game against his rival.
Perhaps that was just how all rulers in general saw it, as they didn’t really think of their subjects.
It was all for their own interests, even if blood had to be shed.
As for the deaths during the war?
Well, they were a mere statistic for these rulers.
Lily was unable to hide her sadness, which Ren picked up on easily.
“What?
Are you that sad because you miss Gareth so much?” he asked.
“You need to be less clingy to him.
After all, he is not alone…” Of course, Lily wasn’t only sad about Gareth.
She was just sad about the war in general, but her attention immediately shifted when she heard the words “not alone.” She wanted to ask what Ren meant by that, but she was interrupted by a fox servant who came up to them and then knelt.
“My lord, the carriage is ready, and everyone is waiting for your order.” “About time.” Ren sat up and settled Lily on his thigh.
“We will depart right now.
I don’t want to waste any more time, since the Court will be held in less than a week.” “Yes, my lord!” the fox servant said.
Then he glanced at Lily, who had been taken from the human realm to become the Fox Lord’s spouse, and added, “My lord, about Miss Lily…” “Give her six sets of East Fox Clan’s traditional dresses,” Ren commanded.
“Make sure that she wears them daily until the end of the Court of Moonlight.” “Yes, my lord!” As the fox servant rushed out, Lily’s interest was piqued.
She looked around and noticed that the dresses from the East Fox Clan were always either red, white, or a combination of both.
There were a few intricate gold threads on the robes as well, but those were mostly for Ren.
Aside from his lavish robes of gold and white or gold and red, the rest of the fox beastfolk dressed rather humbly.
This discrepancy made her wince before she gave Ren another ugly look.
“What is it now?” he asked.
“I hope my dress is just pure white or pure red,” Lily said.
“Nonsense.
My spouse needs to match me,” Ren said, pulling his collar aside to show the gold thread sewn into intricate crane and mountain motifs.
“You’ll have something similar to this, or perhaps something a little more grand.
After all, you are a woman, and a woman likes to show her dignity through what she wears.” Lily winced again upon hearing that.
She didn’t think she was that vain to adorn herself with excessive splendor.
But at the same time, he wasn’t exactly wrong.
Lily had grown up without a single piece of jewelry of her own, but she had always watched Marigold in her jewelry and beautiful dresses.
Thus, sometimes she wished she had enough money to adorn herself, just so she could feel beautiful.
After all, she didn’t think of herself as a beautiful woman.
Which man would choose a woman who worked at the barn all day and night?
She thought that once she wore those beautiful dresses and jewelry, she would finally find a man who wanted to wed her.
“I assume your silence means assent,” Ren said.
She said nothing, and he grinned, continuing to stare at her scowling face.
“Worry not.
I’ll make sure the dress will be good enough to befit your appearance.” CREATORS’ THOUGHTS Apup Ohh~ Court of Moonlight, here we come!