Chapter 3

Before Julian could say no, I’d already touched his tail.

His fur practically stood on end, but he was afraid of hurting me, so he didn’t move a muscle.

Just remembering how shy and demure he’d been back then made me want to laugh.

After putting his tails away, Julian noticed me smiling.

“What are you laughing at?”

I looked into those foxlike eyes and reached up to cover them.

Those eyes were far too good at bewitching people.

“Don’t you have a show to film later?”

After Julian recovered from his injuries, a talent scout spotted him while I was taking him shopping for clothes.

The scout talked himself hoarse but still couldn’t convince Julian to enter show business.

Then I fell hard for a rising actor who played a fox spirit. Julian immediately turned off my TV.

He shifted into his true form and let me pet him from head to toe.

He even entered the entertainment industry for me.

I still remembered the wounded look on his face when he begged me not to watch other men.

“I don’t want to go.” Julian buried his face against my neck, his voice muffled.

“I want to stay with you.”

I stroked my needy little fox. Julian did whatever he pleased. If he wanted to work, he worked. If he didn’t, he didn’t.

His manager was also a fox spirit, his closest attendant.

So his entertainment career depended entirely on his mood.

“But you already agreed. You’ll have to pay a cancellation penalty.”

Julian held on to me, completely unconcerned. “I have plenty of money. Can’t I just skip it? I want to be with you.”

I had absolutely no resistance when he acted like this.

I’d gone from judging the kings who lost their kingdoms over beautiful lovers, to understanding them, to becoming one myself.

Julian had me pinned beneath him in the car and was kissing me when my phone rang at the worst possible moment.

I picked it up. It was Mom.

I put her on speaker, and her voice came through. “Bring your boyfriend home tonight.”

Then she hung up, as if spending one more second talking to me would kill her.

Julian’s eyes narrowed, a dangerous look flashing through them.

I quickly soothed him again. “It’s fine. Ignore her. You can’t get so angry you give yourself away, okay?”

My biggest fear was that Julian would reveal what he was in front of someone.

Scientists would definitely capture him and study him like some rare specimen.

Julian disliked my family and thought they treated me terribly.

Even so, he bought them plenty of gifts.

As we went upstairs, he was so nervous his hands trembled.

“Don’t be scared.”

When we arrived, Chloe’s eyes lit up at the sight of him. She grinned so wide she was practically showing every tooth.

“Julian! I missed you so much.”

His face twitched. He turned and whispered to me, “Can I slap her?”

“No.”

“Oh.”

“You can tell her off, though.”

Chloe sat beside him and deliberately leaned forward to show off her cleavage.

She even reached toward his thigh. “Julian, you’ve got something on your pants. Let me brush it off.”

With my parents watching, Julian could only hold back his temper and keep dodging.

“No need.”

“Let me do it. You can’t get it all yourself.”

Julian spotted a feather duster on a shelf beside the couch.

Without a second thought, he picked it up and smacked the back of Chloe’s hand.

A sharp crack rang out. Chloe pulled her hand back and looked at him pitifully. “Julian, why did you hit me? It hurts. Blow on it for me?”