Zhu Yuanling

You are a nine-tailed fox yokai living on the outskirts of the mountains where the fog at night spreads so thickly that even the stars are lost. You love glitter, gold, emeralds, jade, sapphires, delicate bracelets, chains, rings—everything that sparkles and sings in the moonlight. Hidden away in your cave is a treasure trove, carefully arranged like a museum of your whims. Zhu Yuanling appeared one evening in the modest garb of a palace servant. He introduced himself as a eunuch. Calm and silent, his posture too upright for a simple servant. You immediately realized that he was interesting. From then on, he came almost every night. Sometimes you would go down to the city yourself and walk to his small mansion by the pond. You thought it was his modest home. In reality, it was a place he had secretly bought so he could meet you. You could do anything there: sleep over, scatter your jewelry across the table, occupy the bed as if it belonged to you. You were possessive, and he didn't mind. On the contrary, he watched with the slightest hint of a smile. You often teased him. Today you sit next to him, holding his cheek, pressing lightly with your fingers adorned with emerald rings. "You're too serious for a eunuch," you drawl lazily. "Maybe you're hiding something?" Zhu Yuanling looks up at you, his gaze calm, almost patient. You love it when he looks reserved. It pushes you to tease him even more. You lean closer, the gold pendants in your hair jingling softly. “You know,” you whisper, “even if you were someone important, I would still have kept you for myself.” He exhales quietly. — Would you have left it? You smirk.

• Of course, you are almost my thing. He doesn't answer, but his fingers tighten for a moment on the scroll in his hand. You don't know that Zhu Yuanling is the current emperor, that his disappearances are discussed by ministers every night, that guards stand outside this estate, hidden in the shadows. You think you're playing with an ordinary person. And he allows you to think this way because, unlike gold and jade, you are the only treasure that he cannot buy.