Chapter 1

After my orc husband lost his memory, he forgot everything about us. As a Celestor Orc, he couldn't believe he had ever married a human.

Cold and distant, he slapped a dismissal letter in front of me. "Take the money and leave."

I didn't argue, signed it, and packed my things. Then I walked out of the royal city without looking back.

And then, nine massive tails chased me for a hundred miles. Each one tied with a handwritten note: [Darling, I was wrong.[

Every single note came with a badly drawn, tearful doodle.

The entire beastkin realm lost its mind. "Lord Celestor Orc, where is your dignity?"

Clinging to my leg, he sobbed like a child. "Dignity? Doesn't matter at all. Darling, just look at me, please."

*****

My name's Jasmine Robinson, I'm twenty-one. I used to be just an average college student majoring in veterinary medicine. One minute, I was on a graduation trip; the next, I was waking up in a world run by orcs.

There were no human nations here. Humans were just a "weak species," scattered along the borders of orc territories, treated pretty much like talking livestock. And me?

I couldn't even lift a chicken, but three years ago, I got swept off my feet and married by the strongest being in the orc world—the Celestor Orc, the Nine-Tailed Fox, Luciano Compton.

It was the kind of scandal that would make history books explode. What was a Celestor Orc? Only three had ever appeared in thousands of years, and Luciano was the fourth.

He was powerful, and he was the supreme King of the Nine-Tailed Fox Tribe. And he married a human as his queen.

For three years, orc nobles were up in arms, even staging two coups. But Luciano crushed every rebellion and kept me safe. Every day, he'd turn back into his fox form so I could nestle in his nine fluffy tails.

In winter, he was my personal heater; in summer, his tails fanned me cool. The mighty Celestor Orc had basically become my giant plushie.

He even learned to cook—though his first attempt blew up the kitchen. There he was, a fluffed-up fox, holding a plate of charred roast meat in the wreckage, saying, "Babe, look at the roast meat I made."

I was choking on smoke, tears streaming down my face, but honestly, it was the cutest thing I'd ever seen.

Every morning before heading out to deal with kingdom stuff, he'd kiss my forehead and say, "Babe, I'm off to work."

And the first thing he did when he got home was turn back into his fox form and tackle me, his nine tails wagging like a giant dog.

I spent three years living like a queen in this other world, thinking life would just stay this sweet forever.

Then, while putting down the Northel Region rebellion, Luciano got hit with some kind of dark magic. He was out cold for seven days and seven nights. When he finally woke up, he'd lost all his memories.

He wiped me from his mind, like I never existed.

He didn't even remember getting married.

I walked into the bedroom carrying the freshly brewed medicine. He sat on the bed, silver hair falling loose, his nine fluffy tails stretched out behind him without him even noticing. He was as cold as a block of ice.

He looked at me like I was some stray animal that had wandered into the palace.

"Who are you?" Luciano asked, his voice low and icy.

I froze for a moment, thinking he was just joking. "Honey, stop messing around. You're hurt. Just take your medicine first."

He frowned, and one of his attendants leaned in to whisper something. After Luciano listened, his expression shifted from icy to utterly shocked.

"You're saying," Luciano spoke slowly, "that I actually married a human?"

I tightened my grip on the medicine bowl and took a deep breath. "Yeah, you did. Three years ago, you asked me to marry you yourself. You said you couldn't live without me."

He went quiet for three seconds.

Then he laughed, like he thought I was completely out of my mind.

"Human," Luciano stood up, towering over me, his nine tails slowly unfurling behind him. The Celestor Orc's presence was suffocating. "I don't know what tricks you pulled to get into the palace, but you should know—Celestor Orcs and humans? Impossible."

I nearly dropped the medicine bowl.

The fox attendants nearby shot me sympathetic looks. They all knew how much Luciano had loved me these past three years, but the Luciano standing here had forgotten it all.

I tried to keep my cool. "You can ask your guards, your ministers, anyone in the palace—"

"No need," Luciano cut me off. "I don't owe a human any explanations. Guards, hand her some cash, set her up with a place for the night, and escort her out of Tharburg tomorrow."