I Became the Narrow-Eyed Character in the Little Prince Game

Apple Tree.

The largest slave auction house in the Empire.
At the same time, it was also the place where the Fox’s story began.
The girl who once glared beyond the iron bars, her gaze steeped in thick malice.
It took a full year for the once powerless Irene to return to this place.
The faint white of her robe fluttered in the breeze.

“······.”
Perhaps overwhelmed by old emotions,
the Fox stood there, unable to take another step forward.
What filled her deep black eyes wasn’t fear, nor revulsion, nor sorrow.
Only a profound and sunken stillness remained.
Her breathing was calm.

‘I thought... maybe I would be more shaken.’
Even Irene herself seemed surprised.
She laid a hand against her chest for a moment.
Her steady heartbeat betrayed no trembling.
‘······So quiet.’

It was a strange feeling.
Rather than boiling with rage, it was as if she had simply cooled down.
The Fox could feel how the world had become a kind of cradle to her.
A faint warmth twined around her fingertips.
“Hm.”
Perhaps sensing Irene’s condition,
Judah smiled as if he found it interesting.
He stopped walking and casually spoke,
his voice a quiet summons leading her world forward.

“Then... shall we go?”
Step—.
The boy stepped into the darkness without hesitation,
with a calmness and composure befitting the night.

As he approached the grand front entrance of the building,
the guards standing watch spotted the moving figure and moved to block his path.
“Stop right there!”
“This auction house is closed! Identify yourself if you wish to approach!”

“Geez... even though we posted notices everywhere, there’s always some punk who shows up.”
“This facility is shut down for the time being!”
It seemed orders had come down from the businessman.
The guards were on high alert, meticulously monitoring every direction.
Their stance was sharp, primed for violence.
But the boy shrouded in black did not retreat.
He simply raised both hands, as if mocking their warnings.

And then—
“How laughable.”
Clap—!

With a sharp, thunderous clap of his hands,
a chilling explosion rippled through the air.
An eerie pressure began to seep into the auction house's entrance.
His lips murmured a short chant:
“Shatter.”
Cra-ck, craaack—

Black fissures split through the air,
the once calm atmosphere now trembling violently.
Portions of the building began to crumble into countless fragments,
fluttering through the air like dust or snowflakes.
“What, what the hell...!”
“What the fuck is going on!?”

The guards panicked.
But Judah paid them no mind.
Instead, he simply reached out his hand toward the frozen Irene.
Under the moonlight, his shadow gleamed with a fragile, almost enchanting beauty.
Judah whispered in her ear:

“I will follow wherever your footsteps lead.”
Before long,
the front entrance of the Apple Tree had been completely obliterated.
More than just breaking the door—it was as if an entire wall had been cleanly sliced away.
Fragments scattered through the night sky like dreamlike illusions.
It was all so surreal, yet somehow felt so perfectly fitting for him.
The Fox gave a faint smile.

“Yeah.”
Her slender fingers tightened around her sword.
A cool sensation pressed against her palms,
while a fierce, growing flame burned within her chest.
The girl stepped forward.

“Let’s go.”
The white of her robe fluttered behind her.
***

Businessman.
Irene had never once forgotten that name.
The traitor who approached her tribe under a guise of friendliness,
only to drag them all into destruction.
Because of the trauma left that day,
Irene struggled with a deep distrust of humans for a long time.
Maybe she still did.

—Catch them all! Don’t let a single one escape!
—Wipe all traces of this place clean! Drag out the ones hiding and burn everything else!
She had lost too many people.
The adults who had raised her when she was an orphan.
The little fox cubs who had always looked up to her.
And—
—Irene.
—Please, live.

Her mentor.
Irene still remembered that night.
The warm, vibrant village burning.
The cries of resentment echoing into the early morning sky.
The figure of her mentor, standing alone, blocking the pursuers so she could escape.
She would never forget it.

—Ugh... That stubborn old man really was a pain in the ass.
—How the hell did he pull out so much strength with all that white hair...?
—Anyway, here, we picked this up.
She remembered the moment she was captured while fleeing.
The hunting dogs had tossed something at her feet with mocking laughter:
her mentor’s severed head, staring wide-eyed.
That image stayed vivid, even after years had passed.
After that, every day was steeped in poisoned solitude.

She lived on by sheer stubbornness.
“...So that’s how it was.”
Slash—!

Without thinking, she swung her sword.
The tip of the blade burned crimson with searing flames.
Her steps carried her steadily down the corridor.
“R-run for it!”

“They’ve already made it this far!?”
“Fuck! There’s no way we can take on something like that...!”
The guards fled in panic.

Irene only watched them.
Just a year ago, the positions had been reversed.
Cold iron bars had once separated her from the human world.
She remembered the way their leering, lustful gazes had burned into her.
 

—"That fox beastkin, huh? Gotta admit, her face is really something."
—"Don’t even think about laying a hand on her. She’s a valuable piece. Even a scratch on her would be unacceptable."
—"Ah~ who said anything about touching? I'm just saying it's nice to look at."

—"Must be nice being a noble brat, huh? Getting to fool around with slaves like that."
—"Next life, I’m being born into a noble house too~."
It was a conversation filled with nothing but mockery.
Sneering voices.
Disgusting stares that Irene remembered all too well.

But now, there were no iron bars between them.
The Fox was no longer a cowering, trembling little girl.
A reddish flame flickered across the surface of her blade.
"Burn bright, Crimson Flame."

The tables had turned.
The Fox was now the hunter.
And the hunters were now the prey.
The blazing crimson light illuminated the darkness.
—Irene.

She cut them down one by one.
Shattering the broken fragments of her past, burning even the scars that once pained her with her own sword.
Before long, Irene found herself recalling a certain moment— the moment her new life had begun.
—Would you not allow yourself to be tamed by me?

Her first meeting with the Snake.
If she hadn’t reached for the hand extended to her back then, days like today would never have come.
Perhaps she would never have even dared to dream of tomorrow.
With those thoughts, the Fox unfurled her blade once more.

“Aaagh!”
“R-retreat! We have to fall back—!”
Fwoosh—!

Her hair, now blazing red, fluttered wildly in the headwind.
Following the thrust of her sword came only fire and blood.
The entire corridor was painted crimson.
"You sure are good at running."

The Fox whispered.
"Don’t get caught too easily."
Run.
Run far, run until you cross the horizon if you must.

Flee in terror, abandon others, shove them aside, stumble and fall—yet still keep running.
Cross the pitch-black dark, as once a helpless little girl had.
You who always forced others into endless nights.
Tonight, I will grant you the night.

The night we lived through.
The night where life and death are one.
"Please."
A blood-soaked return.

Drenched in blood, the Fox in her white robes walked steadily forward.
The prodigal child who once wandered the dawn now returned bearing starlight.
With a single wave of her hand, her once-red robe returned to its pure white form.
Even as blood rained down around her, not a speck sullied the dignity of her stride.
She simply moved forward, untainted.

"Mhm."
At last, Irene arrived.
Before her long-awaited enemy.
Boom—!

With a thunderous explosion, part of the wall blew apart.
From behind the thick cloud of smoke, the red fox revealed herself.
Standing in her gaze was a man in a suit, his body tensed in alarm.
‘Finally.’

The Businessman.
Not once had Irene ever forgotten her hatred for him.
The traitor who had thrown her into the abyss.
Their eyes met for a brief moment.

Soon after—
"······You."
The man managed to croak out.

The Fox questioned her old enemy.
"Do you remember me?"
A question that weighed a life in its balance.
Her gaze was sharp enough to cut.

The man's expression began to twist.
***
"······You."

A voice as cold as steel.
The man, about to climb into a carriage to flee, froze on the spot.
Someone had blocked his way.
A sword, blazing crimson, pointed right at him.

"Do you remember me?"
The Businessman immediately recognized her.
Her hair had turned a fiery red, and otherworldly flames crackled around her.
But that beautiful face was unmistakable.

Even with the years that had passed, he would never have forgotten the finest product he'd once let slip away.
The man muttered, almost stunned:
"You're... you can't be—?"

"It's a relief you remember," Irene said with a faint smile.
"I was worried you might not."
"But how...? Why would a runaway slave be here!?"
"Why else?"
"I came to capture you."

"...Capture me?"
The Businessman was cold-blooded by nature.
He was an expert at weighing profit and loss.
If it was profitable, he'd do it.
If not, he’d discard it without hesitation.

He lived in a world where money was everything.
However—
"Hah."

This was an urgent situation.
The main gate had been destroyed.
The Imperial Knights must have been dispatched.
The noble families he'd bribed had already abandoned him.
No reinforcements would be coming.

In short, he had to flee.
"Fucking filthy beast..."
Still, the loss of all he'd built gnawed at him.
The betrayal of the nobles he'd invested so much in.

And now, even the "beast" he once saw as mere property dared to look down on him.
That humiliation boiled over.
From the Businessman's point of view, he had more than enough reason to kill her.

He turned to the hunting dogs at his side and barked:
"Bring me her head!"
"But sir, you must escape immediately—"

"I said get her! Tear her apart!"
"······As you command."
Reluctantly, the dogs moved in.

The Businessman remembered clearly:
It was just a fox # Nоvеlight # girl.
She hadn't even been able to resist back then, captured midway through her flight.
Throwing her the severed head of her mentor had been such an amusing moment.
Killing this little brat could wait until after he fled.

The Businessman smirked cruelly.
"Still the same."
A quiet murmur brushed against his ears.

Even surrounded by dozens of his hounds, the Fox stood firm.
"That same disgusting smile."
Irene's eyes shone.

Not red anymore, but a pure, brilliant white.
Her black pupils now held the light of the stars.
"Just as you once gave me the night—"

Fwoosh—!
Irene’s sword burst into flames.
The fire around her roared even higher.

"I'll give you a night of your own."
And the fire burning around her—was pure white.