[BotB] Chapter 17

Shocked, Sohwa fell backwards. Her fine skirt, which Dohwi had bought for her, was covered in dirt, but she was too shocked by the corpse of the red fox to care.

At a glance, it was clear that a larger beast had killed it. It was as if a cruel prank had been played; the body was torn apart but not eaten.

Her hands were shaking. As she turned over the body to bury it again, something dangled between the smooth fur.

Horrifyingly... It was a phallus. Even the slow Sohwa could clearly see the half-torn phallus dangling.

This red fox was a male.

Her heart pounded. Why was this here? And why right under the cherry tree she had dug up the day before!

The hastily covered dirt, the scattered blood, the pulled-out fur. All this jumbled together seemed to show that whoever had done this had no intention of hiding it.

Sohwa's delicate eyebrows furrowed. The corpse of this dead fox was shocking, but there was another, even more shocking fact.

'Why... why couldn't I smell anything?'

The ground was so soaked in blood. And she, who was on the verge of her heat, couldn't possibly not smell a male fox!

Just as her instincts had recognized the scent of the unfamiliar female fox, Sohwa's nose should have been keenly following the scent of the male fox.

Sohwa tried desperately to sniff at her hand, which had just touched a carcass, and as expected, a faint yet sharp animal scent assaulted her nostrils. Despite knowing it came from a dead male, the smell was strangely compelling, causing a tingling sensation in her abdomen and making her legs involuntarily retract. 

She chided herself, “I must be losing my mind. I really must be!” Astonished by her own actions, she quickly reburied the dead fox and ran back into the inner room.

'Datura flowers.'

Miho had claimed that those datura flowers were the problem. Sohwa quickly checked the sachet at her waist. Was it really filled with datura flowers? The silk pouch, neatly sewn, was certainly Dohwi's handiwork. Upon opening it, dried leaves scattered over the warm ondol floor.

The pain that followed was sharp, as if someone had punched her in the nose.

"Ouch!"

Sohwa clutched at her nose, falling sideways and moaning. However, the pain was short-lived; she quickly grew used to the absence of scent, and no longer could she detect the smell of grass or feel the dull pressure on her nose.

Sniffing her hands again, she realized she couldn't smell anything. It was as though she had lost her sense of smell completely. The faint scent of the female fox, Dohwi's refreshing fragrance that usually lingered on her body, even the savory smell of the jerky she had stashed away in her room—all had vanished.

Every scent in her surroundings had disappeared.

For Sohwa, it was as if her world had ended. Panicked, she washed her hands, mouth, and nose repeatedly, trying to rid herself of the datura flowers' contact.

Datura flowers were poisonous. They had taken away her sense of smell and transformed the bright, vibrant world into a desolate wasteland.

As Sohwa washed her face until her pale skin turned red, she was overcome with emotion. Without her sense of smell, hunting was impossible; she felt like a fool, oblivious to the presence of others around her.

'Dohwi, Dohwi...'

Her eyes grew hot with tears that mixed with the cold water. Sobbing, she washed her face, her body shaking. She couldn't tell if it was the coldness or the betrayal by someone she had trusted that affected her more.

'Why would he do this to me?'

Her only crime had been to take in a dying child and raise him. She had held him out of warmth, kissed him out of love, and kept him close out of loneliness. That was all.

Feeling a deep sense of betrayal, she began to feel sick, and a fishy odor seemed to emerge.

Upon careful sniffing, it was odd that she couldn't detect any scents because of the small sachet she usually carried. Almost no smells were perceptible in the house.

Leaving the washstand, Sohwa stepped out into the great hall where she sometimes drank tea with Dohwi under the brightly lit moonlit night. Scanning the area, she was dismayed to find a sachet hidden under the main beam; and then another beside it. Sachets filled with datura flowers, all capable of numbing her sense of smell, were everywhere.

And naturally, the only person who could easily reach that main beam was Dohwi.

What could he possibly want from her?

Sohwa's true form was less than half the size of the dead female fox. If Dohwi were truly a beast, he could swallow her in her sleep.

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