In the end, she still brought her back.

Like the Big Bad Wolf who devours children, she’d lured Little Red Riding Hood from the forest—and swallowed her grandmother too…

Lenna walked ahead, Minas trailing behind, her small hand timidly clutching Lenna’s sleeve as she struggled to keep pace.

At just 1.6 meters tall, her legs were simply too short. Lenna slowed her steps, waiting—almost as if *she* were the master.

“Rest a moment?” Lenna halted, frowning.

“I’m fine, Master. Please don’t worry about me…”

Minas was clearly unfit. Barely five hundred meters from the arena, she was already panting, sweat glistening on her flushed cheeks.

*How could someone like this kill anyone?*

Lenna felt as if she’d picked up a frail Lin Daiyu—delicate as Xi Shi clutching her heart. Beautiful, yes, a rare porcelain doll… but what kind of bodyguard collapses after five hundred meters, forcing her master to wait?

“Never mind. We’ll stop here.”

Lenna glanced at the sky. It was late. The others should be returning from their trials soon.

“I *can* do it!” Minas insisted urgently.

Her narrow chest heaved. “I’ll excel at this job, Master. Please trust me!”

“......”

Lenna’s expression remained blank.

“Master…”

“I meant for you to go home, pack your things, and report to the manor tomorrow,” Lenna said flatly.

*Do I really seem that cruel? That heartless? Why is everyone so afraid of me?*

She felt wronged. She just wanted to go home and snuggle with her Fox Maiden…

“What time tomorrow… exactly?” Minas pressed, desperate to avoid another mistake.

This guard position was everything. Her siblings’ safety—the survival of her twelve-member family—depended on it.

Minas had long resolved to attach herself to someone powerful, just like her friend who traded her body for comfort.

If needed, she’d offer the most precious thing a girl could give… hoping this “Master” wouldn’t scorn her scarred body…

A shadow flickered in Minas’s crimson eyes. She lifted her gaze to Lenna like a fledgling fallen from its nest, flapping helplessly toward its mother.

She clung to this lifeline—refusing to let go.

And this Master… seemed kind. No disgust at her skin. No bullying demands like the others…

“Come early tomorrow. I rise with the sun,” Lenna said casually. “As for pay… ten gold coins a month. Don’t scoff—it’s top rate for mercenaries. After a month’s trial, it doubles.”

*Twenty gold coins…*

Enough to feed and house her siblings for years—with plenty left over.

And this was just *one month’s* wage from this Master.

*She’s so good to me…*

Minas’s heart swelled with genuine joy, yet doubt lingered beneath it.

“Master…” she whispered, her gentle face radiating quiet submission. “Is the work… dangerous?”

Such generosity unsettled her. Only if Lenna admitted she’d be sent into fire and blades—or wanted her body—would Minas feel at ease.

“Scared?” Lenna paused, a faint laugh shaking her shoulders. “Brave enough to fight to the death for coin, but not to work for me? Don’t tell me you killed Tyrann by pure luck…”

“I… I understand now.”

Minas’s last hesitation melted away.

“I’ll protect you, Master. I swear no harm will come to you.”

“Sweet words. But they lack conviction.”

Lenna led Minas to a shop, buying her a new outfit. “Try it on. That evening gown doesn’t suit you.”

Minas hesitated, then slipped into the changing room under Lenna’s gaze.

Moments later, a girl in a crimson feathered dress appeared.

The neckline hugged her skin, revealing slender collarbones and a pale, delicate throat.

Her soft, wavy black bob framed a face small enough to fit in one’s palm. Curled lashes brushed downward-slanting eyes—crimson pools shimmering like starlight, yet shadowed by a sorrow no one could decipher.

She was painfully thin. Even the smallest size hung loose on her frame. The burn scars across her back were horrifying—a monstrous leech sucking the life from her body.

“Do I… look alright, Master?”

Minas’s voice trembled with the shyness of a girl unused to attention.

Under Lenna’s stare, pink bloomed on her cheeks like ripe peaches.

“Anything odd?”

“Perfect. Crimson suits you. It cuts through the gloom around you.”

The dress flowed like a phoenix reborn in blood—a symbol of shedding the past for a brighter future.

Lenna paid without hesitation and stepped outside.

“This is your uniform now. Wear it for duties inside and out. I’ll buy more styles for rotation…”

*Damn. I spent money too soon!*

She hadn’t even checked Minas’s combat rank before gifting the dress. *Can I still take it back?*

“Thank you, Master. I love it. I’ll work twice as hard to repay your kindness.”

Minas’s earnest words sealed Lenna’s guilt.

*Forget it…*

Just one dress. Lenna wasn’t petty. “One question first—what’s your profession?”

*Crucial. Especially the rank.*

Lenna guessed Minas was at least Tier 4. Killing Tyrann, the arena’s undefeated champion, in one strike? *She must be Tier 5!*

Twenty gold coins a month for a Tier 5 bodyguard’s loyalty?

*Damn, what a steal!*

Minas: “Profession? I don’t have one.”

“???”

Lenna’s glare sharpened, certain it was a joke.

But Minas nodded solemnly, her voice frail. “I haven’t awakened one yet, Master…”

“You said you were *adult*!”

“I am…” Minas bit her lip, twisting her hands. “Adult… but no awakened profession…”

Lenna nearly fainted. She almost demanded the dress back.

*But… if she has no profession, how did she turn her hands into blades?*

*The little fox is hiding something!*