Gathering Husbands with a System in a Game Like World [BL]
Chapter 26: The Fox at midnight

Chapter 26: The Fox at midnight

Kai suddenly woke up all of a sudden because he felt something incredibly wrong.

There was someone in his room

"Eric?"

"Eric if that’s you I swear to God—"

He sat up, heart already racing, and Arcane Eye activated before he fully understood why. The room resolved into clear lines of information. Sitting comfortably on the windowsill, one leg drawn up, the night air moving gently through the open window behind him, was Dexter Runt.

Kai’s first reaction was pure panic.

"What? You!"

"The name is Dexter sleepy head" the fox beastman said in a deep alluring voice

"How did you get in here?"

Dexter smiled.

Kai looked. The window was open. He looked back at the fox.

"You broke into my room."

Dexter considered this for a moment, ears tilting slightly as if the distinction actually mattered to him.

"Technically, yes. But I knocked first. Three times. You were asleep, so I figured climbing in was less rude than shouting."

Kai stared at him, caught between outrage and the strange realization that the man sounded completely serious.

"That’s not how breaking and entering works."

"It is if you do it politely."

Kai had absolutely no idea how to respond to that. The contrast with Elias was immediate and almost jarring. Elias would have walked straight into his personal space, smiling the entire time, already halfway to saying something filthy. Dexter was simply sitting there, waiting. He hadn’t touched anything. He hadn’t approached the bed. He wasn’t even particularly threatening. Kai was still annoyed, but he wasn’t experiencing the same crawling sensation he got whenever Elias appeared. That bothered him more than he wanted to admit.

"Why are you here?"

"And how did you find me?"

Dexter lifted an object from beside him—the artifact he had stolen earlier that day—and held it out with both hands like an offering rather than a trophy.

"I brought this. You looked at it earlier like you knew what you were seeing. I don’t know what you saw, but I know it mattered. So I brought it to you."

Kai became cautious, taking the artifact without moving closer.

"I don’t know anything."

Dexter’s smile was quiet, almost gentle, and completely unconvinced

"That’s a damn lie"

Kai hated how observant this man was. He reluctantly examined the artifact while Dexter watched without moving closer.

What is happening and why am I okay with this?

Dexter had literally broken into his room at midnight, and somehow Kai was standing there planning to examine the artifact. It was hypocritical and he knew it.

The System spoke quietly.

[Candidate Dexter Runt’s behavioral pattern differs significantly from previous high-affinity interactions.]

Kai responded mentally.

Don’t start.

[Acknowledged.]

He looked up. Dexter was still watching him, head tilted slightly, fox ears angled forward in open interest.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"You’re staring."

Dexter’s smile returned, smaller this time, almost self-aware.

"You did that too. Earlier. When you thought I wasn’t looking. You stared like you were trying to decide if I was a problem or a puzzle."

Kai looked away. He hated this man. Except... not really. And that realization annoyed him even more.

They stayed in the quiet of the room for a while, two strangers cautiously feeling each other out. Eventually Kai asked the question that had been sitting at the front of his mind.

"Why are you a thief?"

Dexter looked genuinely amused, ears flicking once.

"That’s your first question? Not ’why did you steal the artifact?’ or ’are you going to rob me next’?"

"I already know why you stole it. You wanted it. I’m asking why you do this at all."

Dexter leaned back against the window frame, tail curling loosely behind him, and for the first time the playful edge softened into something more honest.

Classic truth saying face.

"Because I’m good at it. And because the world is full of people who think walls and locks and guards make them untouchable. I enjoy proving them wrong. It’s not about the money. It’s about the moment when they realize something they thought was safe is gone. That little crack in their certainty."

Kai studied him.

"Do you steal from ordinary people?"

Dexter’s expression changed slightly, the amusement fading.

"No, what do you take me for...a monster?"

"Says the guy that literally steals for the thrill of it" kai pouted. Dexter sneered.

"Nah...i have rules. I don’t steal from children. I don’t steal from people who have nothing. I don’t take food from the hungry. I don’t hurt people simply because they’re in my way. There’s no challenge in taking from someone who can’t fight back. Where’s the fun in that?"

"Then what do you steal?"

Dexter smiled again,.

"Things that deserve to be stolen. Things that are locked away by people who shouldn’t have them. Things that make the powerful nervous."

"That still makes no sense."

"Of course it does. You’re just not a thief."

Kai thought about that for a second.

"Fair."

For the first time since meeting him, Kai almost smiled. Dexter noticed. His ears flicked once, almost excitedly, before he continued.

"I took this from a wealthy merchant moving it through Voltra. He had twelve guards. I wasn’t impressed. The man was unusually nervous about the object. Kept checking the crate like it might grow legs and run. That made me curious. I followed the shipment for two days. Then I took it. Simple."

Kai looked at the artifact in his hands.

"Do you know about the disappearances?"

Dexter became more interested, leaning forward slightly.

"What dissapearances?"

"People have been missing all through the city for days you don’t know about them?"

Dexter’s tails flicked in recognition "oh! Ofcourse i do"

"So do you know anything?"

"No. But I have been following a separate lead. Someone has been selling unusual artifacts through the underground market. Things that feel wrong if you hold them. This one was connected to that network. I don’t know who created it. I only know several people were interested in obtaining it, and none of them wanted to talk about why."

Kai realized their investigations might overlap. The disappearances. The symbols. The strange violet energy. The artifact. He gave Dexter a carefully edited version of what he and Elias had learned so far, omitting anything that revealed the System or his true identity. Dexter listened without interrupting, then spoke quietly.

"You don’t trust me."

Kai answered honestly.

"No."

Dexter smiled, and there was no offense in it.

"Good. Trusting someone you just met would be stupid. Trust should be earned. I respect that."

Kai studied him. That was the first thing Dexter had said that genuinely surprised him, because it was exactly what Kai believed.

Dexter shifted slightly on the sill, tail settling.

"My turn. Why do you wear the cloak?"

"I like it."

Dexter clearly didn’t believe him. His voice stayed soft.

"When I saw your face earlier, you looked so captivating i wonder why you hide it."

Kai went quiet. Dexter didn’t push. He simply waited, giving space instead of filling it. Eventually Kai said,

"I don’t like attention. It makes everything complicated."

Dexter glanced at him, something almost sympathetic in his eyes.

"That’s unfortunate. You’re very difficult to ignore. And I mean that as a fact, not a line."

Kai’s expression immediately became suspicious.

"Was that supposed to be a compliment?"

"Yes. A truthful one."

"Don’t."

Dexter laughed, softer this time, the sound warm in the quiet room.

Kai asked a few more questions—where Dexter was from, whether he had family, what he did when he wasn’t stealing. Dexter answered some, avoided others , but never with the oily smoothness of a liar. He traveled. Explored. Occasionally took jobs. Sometimes got into trouble. He had no fixed home and preferred it that way. No obligations. No one telling him where to be.

Kai began to understand something about the fox. He was free. But perhaps also lonely. Dexter didn’t seem unhappy about it, yet Kai sensed something beneath the surface of the thief—an acceptance of solitude that felt more like habit than choice.

"What about you?" Dexter asked. "Why are you in Voltra?"

Kai froze for half a second. Technically he was there because of the mission. The real reasons were far more complicated.

"I’m looking for something."

"What?"

"I don’t know yet. That’s the problem. I just know I have to keep moving until I find it."

Dexter looked amused, but not in a mocking way.

"That’s an interesting answer."

"Life is complicated."

"You’re strange."

"You’re the thief who broke into my room at midnight."

"Fair."

Kai finally turned his full attention to the artifact. Arcane Eye activated properly this time, the System assisting without being asked.

[Artifact Analysis Initiated.]

Layers of magical energy resolved under his gaze. The artifact was old—very old. Its core contained a strange violet residue. The System identified a partial connection to the corruption, but something was different. The corruption wasn’t simply infecting the object. It appeared to have been drawn into it deliberately.

Kai’s expression changed. Dexter noticed immediately, ears angling forward.

"What?"

Kai hesitated, then decided to share a small part of the truth.

"This thing wasn’t naturally corrupted. Someone put something inside it. Someone who understood what they were doing. It feels... intentional."

Silence settled between them. Dexter looked at the artifact, then back at Kai, fully serious now.

"Someone."

Kai nodded.

Dexter asked whether Kai was investigating the artifact. Kai said yes.

Dexter asked whether Kai wanted it. Kai said yes. Without further ceremony Dexter handed it over, the gesture casual but deliberate.

Kai stared.

"That’s it? You’re just giving it to me?"

"You need it more than I do right now. I already got what I came for."

"You stole this."

"I know."

"Isn’t this valuable?"

"Probably. But information is more valuable. And you seem to have some."

"And you’re just handing it over because I looked at it funny?"

Dexter smiled, eyes half-lidded.

"Consider it payment. For letting me see your face again. And for not screaming when you woke up and found me here."

Kai stared harder.

"That’s not how payment works."

"Works for me."

Kai tried to give the artifact back. Dexter refused, gently pushing it back into his hands. They argued quietly in the dark room—Kai insisting it was too much, Dexter insisting he had already decided—until Kai finally gave up. Dexter won.

The System updated once the object was in Kai’s possession.

[Investigation Data Updated.]

[New Evidence Acquired.]

[Potential connection between Voltra disappearances and anomalous corruption strengthened.]

Kai asked about Dexter.

[Candidate Dexter Runt remains classified as Husband Candidate 04.]

[Current Affinity: 40%.]

[Relationship Status: Fascination and mild adoration]

[Candidate’s trust toward Host: Undetermined.]

[Candidate’s intentions toward Host: Non-hostile.]

Is he dangerous?

[Yes.]

To me?

A pause.

[Potentially.]

[However, current behavioral analysis indicates no immediate hostile intent.]

Kai exhaled. That was good enough. For now.

Before leaving, Dexter paused at the window, one hand on the frame. Kai asked why he had come personally instead of simply leaving the artifact somewhere.

Dexter looked back, and for a moment the playful mask slipped into something more honest.

"Because I wanted to see you again. The face under the hood. And because I wanted to know what you saw when you looked at this thing. Both reasons are true. The first one is just... stronger"

Kai’s face heated.

"You’re unbelievable."

"I’ve been called worse. Usually while people are trying to stab me."

Dexter opened the window fully. Kai suddenly spoke, the name feeling strange on his tongue.

"Dexter."

It was the first time he had used it. The fox paused and looked back, ears angled toward him. Kai hesitated.

"Thank you. For trusting me with this. Even a little."

Dexter’s expression softened, the sharp edges briefly easing.

"I told you. I don’t trust you yet. But I think I might."

He stepped onto the windowsill, tail balancing him easily, and looked back one last time.

"Sleep well, uhmmm.."

"It’s Ren, Ren Arc light " kai completed.

"Sleep well Ren Arclight Or whatever your real name is. I’ll find you again when it matters."

Then he disappeared into the night.

Kai stood by the window for a long moment. For some reason he didn’t feel the same irritation he always felt after Elias left. No exhaustion. No anger. No desire to barricade the door. Just a quiet, confusing sort of calm. He touched his face, still not understanding why.

The System gave him the answer he absolutely did not want.

[Observation: Host appears more comfortable around Candidate Dexter Runt than Candidate Elias.]

Kai responded immediately.

I didn’t ask.

[Acknowledged.]

He closed the window, then paused and looked at the artifact Dexter had left behind. The mystery had grown larger. So had his list of people he needed to understand. Somewhere out in the enormous city of Voltra, a legendary Fox Beastman was probably moving through the night with the knowledge that he had finally found something he could not simply steal.

Kai’s trust.