Primordial Villain with a Slave Harem

Chapter 1234: Black Fang’s Past

”Lady Black Fang, if I might, could you tell me about your past? As someone born into the Fujimori clan, I’m dying from curiosity. My father never told me you were a Fujimori.”

Her tone softened. ”But I understand that speaking about our past is deeply personal and might cause pain. I fully understand if you’d rather not open up about it.”

For a moment, no one spoke. The heat hummed in the background, the only sound in the room.

Black Fang didn’t make a single move; she didn’t part her lips to answer.

Her eyes stayed locked on Ayame, unreadable beneath the haze. Then, slowly, her thighs shifted, one crossing over the other with silent grace. She reached for the ladle and poured another stream of water over the stones.

A hiss split the stillness. Steam rushed upward, rolling across the benches and swallowing everyone in thick, white heat.

”My past...” she whispered.

Ayame hesitated. ”Did I ask something I shouldn’t have?”

No reply.

The heat pressed closer. The mist had grown so dense that Quinlan could barely see a silhouette in front of him. Then, streaks of violet appeared through the haze, the light from the serpentine tattoos along Black Fang’s skin.

Ayame’s palms began to sweat against her thighs. The silence stretched longer, too long. Her mental voice sounded in Vex’s head, searching for help. The Hexwitch was uncertain herself.

Before she could speak up and ask Black Fang what was going on, the steam began to thin. Slowly, the fog rolled back toward the floor.

When Black Fang’s shape reemerged, her eyes were open and fixed on Ayame.

”Your name is Ayame Fujimori,” she said evenly. ”Heir to the Fujimori clan before your sister, Kaede Fujimori, took the throne from you when it came to inherit. Is that correct?”

Ayame’s body tensed at the words. Her jaw locked tight. Then, through clenched teeth, she nodded once.

”And that means you are the daughter of Raijin Fujimori?”

The question struck Ayame as strange. She blinked, uncertain how to respond. Wasn’t it obvious if Black Fang already knew she was the heir? Everyone knew that Raijin was the previous lord of the Fujimori clan and Silverwind Duchy.

Nevertheless, the oriental beauty responded evenly. ”Yes. Raijin Fujimori is the name of my late father.”

Vex tilted her head, puzzled.

Even Quinlan frowned, his expression mirroring the others’. Yet Black Fang only gave a small nod. ”I see.”

Then, without a word, she lifted the ladle once more and poured it over the glowing stones.

The reaction was violent. A searing hiss split the air, and the steam burst outward, engulfing the room in molten white heat. Within seconds, sweat streamed down every face.

Blossom whimpered softly, her tail drooping as she wiped her brow with both hands. ”M-Master, Blossom’s melting...”

Even Vex, whose body could endure a lot if needed, had beads of sweat trickle down her temple. Quinlan’s hair clung to his forehead, and Ayame’s towel was already damp. The air felt thick enough to drink.

And yet, through the suffocating warmth, Black Fang looked untouched. Her skin glistened slightly, but her composure remained unaffected. Only her voice betrayed something new, something darker.

”My past...” she repeated. Her tone was hollow, as if it came from a place far removed from the present. ”I was thrown out of the Fujimori clan shortly after I learned to walk.”

Silence fell again, save for the crackle of heat and the slow hiss of her next breath.

”They threw me into a forest teeming with monsters.”

No one spoke.

Quinlan’s brows furrowed. He felt his heart twist at her calm delivery and the casual cruelty in those words. Who threw such a young child out? What kind of a monster would do that?

The purple-eyed woman looked deep into his eyes, making him feel as if his very soul was under scrutiny. ”Quinlan Elysiar, you once called me cruel for throwing a ten-year-old Vex into a forest with nothing but a knife.”

Her eyes flicked toward the hexwitch. ”It was cruel. Evil, even. But I was three years old... and I had no knife.”

The room went still.

Quinlan’s throat tightened. Three years old? A child barely past infancy, thrown into a monster-infested forest? Even for the brutal families of Iskaris, that bordered on the unthinkable. Most would just abandon their children inside a city, or, ideally, place them in an orphanage or in the care of a family they trusted.

But going out of their way to throw the child into a dangerous situation?

”How...” he asked quietly, almost afraid of the answer. ”How did you survive?”

”...”

The steam swirled around her as she began to narrate her story.

”At first, I didn’t move. I remember the smell of wet moss, the feeling of insects running on my skin, and the taste of dirt on my tongue. I curled into myself and stayed that way for a long time. Hours. Maybe a day. I cried until my throat bled, but no one came.”

Her gaze unfocused, lost in the memory.

”When my stomach began to ache, I crawled toward the light between the trees. I found berries, small, blue, and sour. I ate them because I had nothing else. By chance, they weren’t poisonous.”

She closed her eyes. ”I lived like that for perhaps a week. Sneaking. Shivering. Listening to the sounds of the forest around me, to the things moving in the dark that I couldn’t see.”

Her tone dropped lower. ”But eventually my luck ran out. A beast found me. A massive tiger. It didn’t kill me right away. Instead, as the playful predators felines tend to be, it played with me.”

Vex’s hand had risen to her lips before she realized it. ”Master... you never told me this,” she whispered.

Black Fang didn’t seem to hear her, lost in her past.

”It batted me around like a toy. Every time I tried to run, it knocked me down. Every time I screamed, it purred louder. It was enjoying itself. When it finally grew bored, it bit my hair and dragged me through the mud. I thought it would end there.”

Her fingers clenched the wooden bench.

”But something else had been watching.”

Her eyes darkened, pupils thinning into serpentine slits that shimmered faintly violet in the haze.

”A serpent emerged. Not a mere beast, but a proper monster. Its body was as wide as a carriage, and it was longer than some city streets. It lunged. The tiger turned to flee, but the serpent was faster. The serpent swallowed it whole.”

Blossom gasped as she thought of something. Her ears flicked upright. ”Wait! Wait!! Did the child Miss Black Fang get raised by the big serpent?! Blossom heard stories like that from her mom, Natalie, but never with a serpent!”

Black Fang’s head tilted slightly, and for the briefest moment, a ghost of a smile touched her lips. ”Me? Raised...?” she echoed. Then her eyes darkened even further. ”By that thing?”

Her voice fell to a whisper. ”It ate me, too.”

Blossom’s eyes went wide. ”W-What?!”

”It bit me once before swallowing me. I felt the poison spread, freezing me. When it pulled me in, I could no longer move. Some poisonous serpents do this to ensure their prey remains paralyzed while they digest them whole.”