TCPUAAV Chapter 109

 

Liv had only ever mentioned Nota’s father when she spoke with her mother about her origins.

 

Later on, she secretly snuck into the royal palace, hoping to catch a glimpse of her father. The thoughts of a child were always simple—having grown up without parents, learning who her father was sparked a natural curiosity in her, along with a flicker of secret joy and hope.

 

She wondered whether her father might be like those other parents who picked up their children from school. Maybe… she too could live carefree like the other cubs at school.

 

But when she finally saw him, her wish fulfilled, he ended up siding with Liv to bully her.

 

Nota wasn’t sure if he simply didn’t know who she was, or if he did know but simply loathed a child of such impure blood and refused to acknowledge her.

 

Either way, ever since then, her hopes for any familial love had dimmed. Once her wounds had healed, she never returned to linger near the cubs’ school again.

 

It wasn’t until she met Liv again that she hesitated for a long time. Though she didn’t hold much hope, she still wanted to ask about her mother.

 

—Since Liv knew who she was, maybe she also knew who her mother was.

 

“Who was my mother?”

 

Behind her, flaming red fox tails swayed gently, shimmering with watery light.

 

Liv instinctively wanted to sneer, to say something cruel like, “A bastard’s mother is naturally also a bastard. How would I know which lowly woman gave birth to you?” But when she opened her mouth, the words that came out weren’t under her control: “She was a palace maid.”

 

But this maid wasn’t just any ordinary servant. She had served the Fox King since he was a youth. Among the palace maids, her status wasn’t low, and the Fox King had been fond of her. But she was merely a lowborn eight-tailed red fox. No matter how fond the Fox King was of her, it was useless—she didn’t even have the right to bear the royal heir.

 

Later, when the Fox King married the Fox Queen, he dismissed all the women who had once served him, to show sincerity to his new wife. That maid was among those dismissed.

 

No one had expected that she was already pregnant—and she kept it hidden, giving birth in secret.

 

The child took after her mother completely, born a red fox of low lineage. Only the tips of her ears, chest, and tail bore white markings, revealing a trace of noble white-fox blood.

 

And she had nine tails.

 

The Nine-Tailed Fox Clan was so named because every clansman possessed nine tails. Among them, the pure white nine-tailed foxes with no trace of other colors were considered the noblest. Those with impure coats ranked below, and those with mixed colors were the lowest. Anyone with less than nine tails, or of unclear bloodlines, were broadly labeled as mixed-bloods and deemed the most base and despised.

 

After the maid gave birth, she had someone deliver the child back to the palace.

 

Royal blood could not be allowed to wander outside, and the number of newborn nine-tailed foxes within the clan had been declining steadily. In the end, the Fox King chose to take the child in. But when he ordered a physician to examine the child, they discovered that her so-called nine tails were fake.

 

The child had been born with ten tails.

 

Her mother, in a desperate bid to have the Fox King accept her, had actually cut off one of her tails and passed her off as a nine-tailed fox—an audacious deception.

 

But the wound, though mostly healed, was still noticeable enough for the doctor to discover the truth.

 

Her scheme exposed, the Fox King flew into a rage and ordered the child sent back.

 

“And then? Where did she go?”

 

Nota hadn’t expected such a story. Emotions surged within her, and her silver eyes locked onto Liv. The swaying of the fox tails behind her quickened.

 

Liv finally realized what she’d done—she had been forced to speak. Channeling her inner strength, she tried to resist Nota’s influence. Her expression twisted with rage and venom. “You want to know? I’m not telling you!”

 

“Where is she?” Nota gripped the metal bars, her slender fingers extending razor-sharp claws uncontrollably. Silver light shimmered in her eyes, and even her voice turned ethereal and strange. “Tell me where she is.”

 

Liv’s resistance faltered. Her voice softened once more, answering obediently: “She’s dead. Died in childbirth.”

 

Life had never been kind to mixed-bloods. As a dismissed palace maid, pregnant and alone, her circumstances were even worse. When the Fox King sent the child back, he learned that the woman had already passed. She died from complications after two agonizing days of labor.

 

But the royal family would never allow the bloodline to be tainted by a lowborn bastard, nor would they let such a scandal come to light. So the newborn child was left behind in that ruined house.

 

No one knew how she had survived.

 

Liv once overheard her mother mocking her father about it, warning him not to fool around outside again—otherwise he might end up with another ten-tailed bastard, and that would be a real embarrassment.

 

Later, when she saw a ten-tailed red fox wandering near the school, she recalled her mother’s words and instantly recognized her.

 

“She died?”

 

Nota’s silver eyes lowered, blank and dazed.

 

The young ones who had been hiding nearby finally couldn’t bear it anymore. One by one, they emerged from the shadows and came to stand by her side.

 

Ruan Yuebai reached out and gently rubbed her head, silently comforting her. Ruan Jiao tiptoed and pounced onto her, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist, his forehead tendrils twitching anxiously. Even Rong Heng stretched his neck out and nuzzled her cheek gently.

 

She might look like a young girl now, but deep down, she was still a fragile little cub.

 

His Highness the Crown Prince thought for a moment, then slowly typed:

 

[Your mother loved you very much.]

 

He had heard stories of how harsh life was for mixed-bloods on Tutar Star. A palace maid cast out while pregnant—her situation was easy to imagine. And yet, she still chose to bring that child into the world.

 

She had even cut off one of her daughter’s tails with her own hands and entrusted someone to deliver the baby back to the royal palace.

 

She knew how much the royal family valued bloodlines. She also knew her days were numbered, that she wouldn’t live long enough to raise her newborn. So she gambled everything, trying to pull off an impossible deception.

 

But fate was not kind to her.

 

Nota, eyes lowered in sorrow, slowly looked up at him. Behind her, her fox tails swayed gently.

 

Of the ten tails she had, the one in the very center was slightly smaller than the others. As she grew, the difference became nearly imperceptible—but it remained irrefutable proof of the desperate love and protection her mother had tried to give her.

 

She pressed her lips together and gave a faint smile. “Mm.”

 

Heli, however, didn’t offer any words of comfort. Instead, he casually smashed open the electronic lock on the prison cell and dragged out Liv, who was completely powerless to resist. “What’s there to be sad about? Just give her a good beating, and you’ll feel better. If you’re still not happy…” He tilted his head, thinking aloud. “Next time, we’ll just go to Tutar Star and beat up that damn Fox King too!”

 

Liv had never suffered such rough treatment before. She struggled violently and screamed in panic.

 

But Heli’s hand gripped the back of her collar like an iron clamp, and with overwhelming strength, he kept her firmly in place, leaving her unable to escape.

 

Nota looked down at her with calm, heavy eyes, memories of childhood humiliation flashing through her mind—the panic, the shame, as she scrambled to flee.

 

Back then, she had escaped the royal palace, hiding in filthy trash heaps, licking her wounds, all while thinking bitterly that one day, when she grew up, she would make Liv suffer just as she had.

 

But for a long time after that, she never did grow up. She wandered from place to place, still a weak little cub, still at the mercy of others.

 

Until, one day, she was lucky enough to meet “Dad.”

 

She narrowed her eyes, gazing down at Liv from above. Mimicking Liv’s tone from back then, she said coldly, “Let’s play a game. If you can escape, we’ll let you go. But if you can’t…”

 

She deliberately left the sentence unfinished. Lifting her blaster, she aimed it squarely at the center of Liv’s forehead.

 

“You have three minutes to run.”

 

Back in her childhood, Liv had done the same—tilting her chin proudly as she stood surrounded by palace guards, aiming a delicate crossbow at her and saying, “You’ve got three minutes to hide. My arrows will turn you into a porcupine.”

 

Liv stared at her in terror. “You can’t do this to me! I’m a princess!”

 

But Nota had already begun the countdown, her voice steady and unshaken.

 

Perhaps it was the chill in her eyes that shattered Liv’s bravado—trembling in fear, she scrambled to her feet and bolted.

 

Faced with the threat of death, she finally cast aside the dignity of a princess. She kicked off her high heels and ran barefoot as fast as she could, trying to flee from Nota and the others.

 

“Let’s go help block her escape routes!” Heli’s eyes sparkled mischievously, clearly up to no good.

 

He called out to Ruan Yuebai and the others, then asked Noah for the floor plans of the Public Security Bureau building. The group split up to cut off Liv’s escape.

 

As the countdown ended, Nota calmly picked up her blaster and strolled off after Liv in the direction she had fled.

 

*

 

The temporary prison in the Public Security Bureau was quite large, occupying two basement levels of the annex building.

 

It was equipped with a comprehensive surveillance and alarm system, along with countless patrolling security robots. But under Noah’s assistance, all of it had been temporarily shut down.

 

The entire facility was eerily silent, with only the occasional flicker of a dim, pale light glowing far in the distance.

 

Liv stumbled through the corridors, panicked and disoriented, desperately searching for an exit.

 

In this kind of environment, her fear was magnified to the extreme. Yet even in her terror, she didn’t dare make too much noise—she clamped a hand over her mouth and fled as silently as she could.

 

She crashed around like a headless fly, aimless and frantic. This temporary holding facility didn’t have many inmates, but a few were awakened by the commotion. Some pressed themselves against the bars to watch the scene unfold, amused by the spectacle.

 

Liv racked her memory for the route she took when she’d first been brought in, following the staircase up.

 

Just when she thought she was about to reach freedom, a cheerful voice suddenly echoed from above.

 

Heli floated in midair, bat-like wings unfurled behind him, a playful grin on his face. In his clawed dragon hand, a blazing ball of fire danced menacingly.

 

“This way’s closed, sorry~”

 

The flames he now wielded were far more potent than anything he’d breathed as a young hatchling—easily powerful enough to reduce her to ashes.

 

Liv let out a short scream, staggering backward, and fled in another direction.

 

The prison was built in a neat square layout, with staircases at all four corners.

 

But each time Liv thought she’d found a chance at escape—each time hope surged in her chest—she would be blocked again, greeted with yet another, “No exit here.”

 

Heli hurling fireballs, Ruan Yuebai summoning countless ice spikes, Ruan Jiao conjuring towering illusions of Zerg creatures… Each encounter nearly scared Liv out of her wits.

 

By now, there wasn’t even a shred of her former arrogance left. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying, her hair disheveled, and the delicate tulle overlay of her frilly dress had been torn to shreds, hanging limply from her frame.

 

Three of the staircases had already been sealed off. Clinging to a sliver of hopelessness, Liv dragged herself toward the final set of stairs.

 

As expected, Nota was waiting for her there.

 

She stood tall—nearly 1.75 meters—with her jet-black leather jacket and blazing red hair making her seem all the more intimidating. Liv stood frozen at the foot of the stairs, her body trembling, her teeth chattering uncontrollably with fear.

 

Nota slowly raised the hand that hung by her side, her eyes cold and calm.

 

“You didn’t escape.”

 

The barrel of her blaster once again aimed squarely between Liv’s brows.

 

Liv broke completely.

 

She shrieked and dropped into a crouch, hugging her head, tears and snot flowing down her face as she begged for mercy. “Don’t kill me! Please, don’t kill me! It was my fault—I’m sorry! I’m really sorry…”

 

Terrified and trembling, she curled up on the floor, repeating “I’m sorry” over and over again.

 

Nota stared down at her, expressionless, and pulled the trigger.

 

The shot echoed through the silent prison.

 

Liv jerked once—and then fainted dead away, overwhelmed by sheer terror.

 

“…She’s got no guts at all,” Heli muttered, walking over and glancing at the unconscious girl before clicking his tongue in disdain.

 

The blaster bolt had stopped half a meter short of hitting her.

 

Looking at this pitiful, cowardly wreck of a former tormentor, the shadows that had long lingered in Nota’s heart began to lift. She holstered her weapon, a quiet, liberating smile tugging at her lips.

 

“Let’s head back,” she said to the little ones, “or Dad’s gonna find out, and that wouldn’t be good.”

 

And so, the group of young troublemakers cheerfully filed out of the Public Security Bureau, ready to return home.

 

 

---

 

Poor Nota’s mother,being reduced to such a fate because of some bastards 🙁 I’m guessing that youth is the one who saved Nota too when she was a baby?

 

Thanks for reading!

For every three ko-fis, I will upload a bonus chapter~