The light purple eyes characteristic of the rabbit tribe and the white hair identical to my mother’s made it difficult for me to deny.
Even to the point of proving that I hadn’t cut it for years, my hair flowed down as if it were about to sweep the floor. Looking down at the white hair that trailed enough to wrap around my legs, I bit my lip.
‘What happened?’
Beastfolk are born with a human appearance but transform into their animal form within a few days.
And only after going through a certain period of beastfolk fever do they finally undergo complete humanization. The more noble the lineage, the sooner the humanization period, and the shorter the beastfolk fever period.
Therefore, with my humanization extremely delayed and not even having gone through the beastfolk fever, I had no way to explain this situation.
Ah…. As I kept stroking my cheek, I realized I wasn’t wearing a single thread.
Moreover, unlike when I was a rabbit, my body exposed to the cold air shivered uncontrollably. Feeling embarrassed by my appearance, I hugged my arms.
‘There it is.’
My wandering gaze fell on the table next to the mirror. Crawling over, I immediately pulled down the cloth that resembled a tablecloth covering the table. Wrapping my body in the large cloth brought me a slight sense of relief.
I moved again and calmly crawled under the table. Curled up there, it felt like I could hear my heartbeat echoing outside.
‘Calm down. You need to stay calm.’
Vivi, you’re not such a weak beastfolk. Even as I repeated this to myself, I couldn’t calm down easily and ran my hand down my cheek.
I had longed and longed for humanization, but I never expected it to come so suddenly. Rather than joy at becoming human, I was immediately worried about the problems that would follow.
‘…What if Ahin sees this?’
I knew he didn’t consider me just an ordinary rabbit, but what kind of being he saw me as was a mystery. Would he immediately think I was deceiving him and brandish a sword? Naturally, the grim faces of Ahin and Everine with eerie smiles crossed my mind.
‘Master Ahin, how about rabbit beastfolk stew?’
‘Not bad. Let’s have it for breakfast tomorrow.’
‘I will instruct the chef immediately.’
‘No-!’
Lost in these horrific thoughts, I pounded the ground with my fist. The marble floor sent a stinging pain through my hand. It was a ridiculous imagination, but a comment the cold-hearted black panthers could very well make.
‘From the beginning…. Yes, let’s think from the beginning.’
Shaking my head, I bit my lip nervously.
This proves that the fingers I saw last dawn weren’t an illusion. But when I woke up, I had returned to my rabbit form.
‘Then could it be that I’m temporarily human now?’
‘Why? How?’
‘Why?’
Trying to deduce it logically filled my head with unanswerable questions.
From the start, without going through the beastfolk fever, I had only felt inexplicable pain, so the situation of becoming human itself was hard to explain.
Lost in thought, I suddenly widened my eyes at the presence I felt outside. I was so flustered I even forgot to close the door.
‘What if it’s Ahin?’
Would he recognize me? What should I do? How should I handle this? The grip on the cloth wrapped around me tightened. The rush of anxiety made my vision go white.
“Come out.”
Finally, I heard footsteps along with the friction sound of the door closing.
“I know you’re in here.”
The voice that echoed in the quiet room made my mouth go dry. It wasn’t Ahin. It was a voice I wasn’t familiar with but had heard somewhere before.
“They’re making a fuss outside looking for you.”
Rune Manionts, the lion beastfolk who opposed Ahin, was unmistakable. Although I couldn’t see his face hidden by the edge of the table, I could feel his footsteps getting closer. Unable to make any noise, I held my breath and sharpened my hearing.
“Let’s have a talk… What the hell!”
Rune shouted in surprise, which startled me so much that I covered my mouth.
“Who—no, why are you under the table…?”
Rune, who was bending down, froze in place. Our eyes met in the air. Staring blankly at me, his ears turned bright red, and he took a step back.
“What kind of clothing is that…?”
I realized that his reaction was due to the awkwardly draped cloth around me and shrank back. The sense of crisis of being alone with a lion in a confined space surged. I couldn’t even run away as my steps were unsteady.
‘Should I crawl away?’
Or should I push the lion and roll away? No matter what I imagined, I felt I’d be caught within two steps.
Soon, Rune’s feet, which had been stumbling around, stopped.
He approached the table again and bent down to face me. His outstretched hand grabbed a handful of my long white hair.
He brought it to his nose, and after a moment, he lifted his half-lowered eyes. My unfamiliar appearance was reflected in his calm golden eyes.
Seconds of silence passed, feeling like minutes. Rune, with a faint smile at the corner of his mouth, spoke with certainty.
“So you weren’t just an ordinary rabbit; you were a beastfolk.”
The fact that he could make such a judgment with just his sense of smell sent chills down my spine.
I instinctively shook my head, feeling that I shouldn’t be discovered. Then I stopped. Now that I was human, I should be able to speak.
‘…But how?’
Unable to utter a word, I kept opening and closing my mouth. Trying to make a sound, I repeated, “Ah, ah,” and Rune’s golden eyes darkened.
“Can’t you speak?”
‘I’ve never tried before.’
Did you manage to talk right after becoming human, you beast? Unable to retort, I focused on trying to produce sound.
After rolling my tongue for a while, I felt like a decent sound might come out. Surprisingly, Rune patiently waited for me to respond. After practicing a few words, I swallowed my dry saliva.
“I,”
A rather unfamiliar voice flowed out. Encouraged by the unexpectedly clear pronunciation, I opened my lips again.
“I’m not a rabbit beastfolk.”
I had said the first words, but instead of feeling relieved, I was overwhelmed with self-reproach.
Ah, why did I say that? Denying my existence as the first thing I said.
Biting my lip to hold back tears of shame, I found a small comfort in the fact that my pronunciation was relatively clear, albeit slow.
“What the…”
Rune chuckled as if he couldn’t believe it.
“That black panther’s pheromones are all over you.”
His voice was filled with certainty, not a guess. When he tilted his head, his light pink hair swayed along.
“No.”
I decided to deny it first. Unable to gauge the expression I was making, I turned my head to block his gaze.
However, Rune wasn’t one to easily give up on questioning.
“Then how do you explain the purple eyes?”
“I’m mixed… blood.”
“So you are a rabbit beastfolk.”
“I’m not.”
A strange argument ensued. I had no idea what pheromones he was talking about. Neither Ahin nor the other beasts’ claims about some scent made any sense to my nose.
‘…Did Ahin smear something on me?’
Didn’t he mention something about removing the lion’s scent? I secretly brought my hand to my nose, which made Rune’s brow furrow noticeably.
Feeling a twinge of fear, I gently tugged at the handful of hair still held by Rune. He released it smoothly just as a commotion erupted outside.
The door burst open, and familiar silver hair shimmered in the lamplight.
The light seeping in from the hallway illuminated the room brightly.
Ahin, who had been frozen with his hand on the doorknob, leaned casually against the doorframe with his arms crossed. His head tilted slightly, observing as if he were scrutinizing something.
‘Ahin.’
Watching him in a daze, I suddenly felt a rush of worry about what would happen if Ahin recognized me. Using Rune as a shield, I shrank back as Ahin’s lips parted.
“Everine, sword.”
The low, emotionless voice broke the chilly silence. Currently dressed in formal attire, his waist was devoid of the long sword that usually hung there.
Everine, who ignored the hand reaching out to him, shook his head.
“Absolutely not. …He is the son of the lion clan chief.”
“It’s not too late to cut him down and think later.”
“It is too late.”
“I’ll cut him just twice.”
“Not even once.”
Who is this son of the lion clan chief? Not only was Ahin’s sudden demand for a sword a problem, but Everine’s statement was also an issue.
My trembling pupils settled on the pink back of Rune’s head, which was facing the door.
‘Him?’
It was in that moment. Without any time to be surprised, Ahin moved, drawing a sword from the waist of the knight standing next to him.
“Sir Manionts, do you enjoy playing?”
The gleaming blade was pointed at Rune.
“Sir Grace?”
“Trying to steal what’s mine here.”
With a possessive statement, his crescent-shaped red eyes looked quite eerie.
Steal? In a daze from the incomprehensible words, Rune turned to look at me. His golden eyes widened in shock.
“No, wait, hold on,”
He stammered several times, seemingly flustered, even waving his hands.
“Attempted kidnapping is a serious crime.”
Ahin’s cold voice resonated through the room again. To mediate the increasingly tense atmosphere, Everine stepped into the room. His outstretched finger pointed at the cloth I had wrapped around myself.
“Sir Manionts, unfortunately, the rabbit is not someone who would be easily kidnapped with just a piece of cloth.”
“…Kidnapping, what?”
Unable to hide his confusion, Rune immediately picked me up. Suddenly grabbed by the scruff, I found myself meeting his gaze in mid-air. Amidst my struggling, I caught sight of a familiar fluff.
‘I’ve turned back!’
When? How? Confused, I alternated between looking at my front paws.
No wonder these beasts seemed excessively large earlier.
Are these really my front paws? To be sure, I stretched out my paws, and Rune blinked in disbelief. It seemed he hadn’t noticed I’d transformed back into a rabbit until he looked again.
“What is this trickery? Just a moment ago, you were…”
‘Wait, no!’
As Rune began to say what I expected, I instinctively kicked his mouth with my paw. Rune, who was caught off guard and hit in the lips, let out a pained groan.
“What are you doing, ugh.”
His words couldn’t continue. Driven by the sole purpose of silencing him, I swung my body wildly.
Dodging the sudden aerial assault, Rune let out a bewildered laugh.
‘Be quiet!’
We need to keep what happened earlier a secret. I glared at him, growling menacingly. As a lion, Rune’s status made this problematic, but revealing I had turned into a human could put my life at immediate risk.
“Vivi, give him another hit.”
Ahin, who had approached quietly, placed his well-honed sword near Rune’s neck. His red eyes narrowed slightly. With a smile as terrifying as a devil’s, I stiffened mid-swing.
“A chieftain’s child stealing from another territory.”
Ahin clicked his tongue and snatched me from Rune’s hands. Rune, unable to explain himself, opened and closed his mouth, looking up at me as I was taken away.
“Kidnapping the rabbit?”
“How could he…!”
The noise from outside grew louder as Rune and I turned our heads simultaneously. The gathered servants were murmuring and sending contemptuous looks.
Even Everine, with his arms crossed, and Meimi, whose expression had hardened, were fingering the apron underneath. It was undoubtedly where she hid her daggers.
Feeling sorry for Rune, who was suddenly branded an attempted kidnapper, I quietly decided to look away as he kept wiping his face dry.
* * *