Chapter 8

Moreover, the man did not only stop at his action of picking me up, but he had also brought his face close to my neck. I could feel a faint breath as if he were looking for something.

‘What is….’

As I continued to feel his breath, a danger alert sounded in my head. It was different than the time I was with Ahin and I could feel the hair on my body rising up.

‘This beast!’

Please. I looked at Meimi with eager eyes and continued to struggle, but sadly, she only gave me a look of pity.

‘Meimi–!’

As our eyes met, Meimi’s complexion turned even worse. After such a terrifying moment, the man’s beautiful face became contorted.

“….Why is the scent of that black panther so strong?”

How am I supposed to know that? Get those terrible fangs away already! Frightened, I pushed the man’s cheek away with my hind legs.

Soon after, when I was at the peak of my fear, the scared Meimi began to talk.

“Mister Manionche, please.”

“Put it down.”

For the first time, that low-pitched, deep voice made me feel happy. As I turned my head in a hurry, Ahin, dressed in an elegant uniform was standing there.

Why am I so relieved?  Struggling, I extended my front paw towards Ahin.

“How unexpected. Lord Grace is raising a rabbit.”

“Come here.”

Ahin, ignoring the man’s words, bent down and beckoned me. Fortunately, the man put me down on the floor without much resistance.

‘Ahin!’

Running as fast as I could, I quickly hid behind Ahin’s legs and stepped towards that man, trying to threaten him. My response was in defense of the danger.

But the man put his hands in his pocket, not caring about my threat or remorse.

“When did you start having such a hobby?”

‘What is the relationship between you two?’

I looked at the two wild beasts alternately in surprise and confusion. They look like they’re of the same age, but there’s definitely an unpleasant feeling in their voices.

Moreover, anyone who dared to talk to Ahin in this way must be a person of similar status.  Ahin, who didn’t answer that question, picked me up and spoke very seriously.

“It smells like a filthy lion.”

‘Li-lion?’

There shouldn’t be anything shocking about that remark. My trembling eyes turned to the man at the back.

His golden eyes weren’t the eyes of the ox shapeshifters that I had expected, but instead, they were the golden eyes that belonged to the lions. What is a lion doing at a black panther’s house?

‘Not here.’

This isn’t real. This mansion was never a place for herbivores.

Terrified, I kept shaking my head and hung on to Ahin’s finger. Then, his face became strange. The emotionless red eyes seemed pleasant.

“You want to go to the lion?”

What kind of bullshit is this? I expressed my answer by drawing an X on his hand with my forefoot. Ahin nodded lightly as if he understood.

“Oh, you want to be that lion’s prey?”

As if I hadn’t been dealing with enough nonsense from Evrin already. With great vigor, I shook my head but Ahin bent down as if trying to put me on the ground.

‘No way, no way!’

I wanted to scream, but I felt frustrated because I couldn’t even speak. As I held Ahin’s hand as if it was my only lifeline, a smile spread over on his handsome face. It was a laugh beyond measure.

“Hold on more if you want to live.”

Listening to those words, with a sigh, I let go of Ahin’s fingers which I had been holding on to with my life. Surprised by the sudden appearance of the lion, I had forgotten that Ahin was a black panther with a loose screw who liked to mess with me.

“Aren’t you hanging on?”

It’s a shame that I can’t hang on to you anymore, but the smile faded from Ahin’s face. His eyes, which were slightly lowered, looked upset.

If it were you, how long would you continue to hang on. The lion’s hand then touched my head. Unintentionally,  I almost fell and looked up at him.

The lion, who was staring at me, soon curved up his mouth. The smile, which seemed dull and boring, reminded me of the peculiar laziness of a lion.

“Seems like the rabbit prefers a filthy lion over Lord Grace.”

“.…That can’t be true.”

Ahin, with a fierce look on his face, approached without hesitation. In a flash, even the surrounding knight guards were frozen.

Contrary to my concern, he stopped in front of me and gently picked me up. On a closer look, Ahin did not seem to appear angry.

‘…. ?’

Should I say it’s serious, or should I say he looks upset. It was difficult to tell what kind of expression he was making.

“It’s windy.”

Ahin, who uttered a word out of annoyance, put me into his pocket.

“I’m telling you since I’m worried, but double marriage is forbidden in the territory of the black panthers.” (1)

Why are you telling me something like that at this moment? Before I could grasp his intentions, he turned his steps towards the mansion.

Crawling out of his pocket, I managed to barely hang on to Ahin’s shoulder. At that time, the lion at the back muttered something.

“….Anyway, you’re still a crazy bastard.”

Unknowingly, I nodded and agreed.

Right, I’m not really sure what this guy is thinking at all. I think it’s a really accurate way to describe him.

After bringing the little rabbit back to the bedroom, Ahin went to his office and unbuttoned his shirt collar. In the middle of loosening it, he felt a strange scent around around his finger which made him even more uncomfortable.

Rune Manionche. That troublesome lion had intentionally left his pheromone scent on the rabbit. Rune has been meeting Ahin since a long time ago, so it was clear that he was aware of Ahin’s scent on the rabbit.

‘Bothersome.’

Sitting at his work desk, he lifted some papers.

In recent months, the wolf clan have become very shameless and restless.

Valence, the chief of the black panther clan had sent a letter of alliance to the chief of the lion clan.

Sure enough, the chief of the lion clan immediately sent back a positive reply. Since a long time ago, they’ve also regarded the wolves as thorns in the eye.

Therefore, Ahin, who was in charge of the agenda for the alliance, had a full schedule since morning.

What’s more, his relationship with the son of the lion clan’s chief, Rune Manionche who came to every negotiation was not very good. His involvement with Bibi almost made him want to shapeshift.

“Sir Ahin.”

Evrin, who had entered the office, walked closer.

A thin document appeared in front of Ahin, who was knocking on the table with his fingers.

“This is the research data you asked for. I investigated all the nobles in the rabbit territory, but there weren’t any family members or children who had recently disappeared. Even though I had looked into all rich and well-off families, no-one seemed to have disappeared on the date that you had given me.”

The document listed the personal details of the nobles and other rich families who existed in the territory of the rabbits. Ahin, who roughly rummaged through the bundles of papers snickered.

“A really suspicious rabbit.”

His attitude did not seem to look like he regretted anything, even though he didn’t get much information. Evrin, who had been waiting for his reaction, carefully proceeded to speak.

“It’s just my opinion… but isn’t is possible that bunny-nim is an extra-terrestrial species and not really a shapeshifter?” (2)

“Extra-terrestrial species?”

“Yes. At first, I thought it might be a shapeshifter who prefers to stay in this form, but it’s been a month and it’s still a rabbit.”

“Indeed, it’s appearance hasn’t changed at all. I mean, it has also gained a little weight.”

“Thanks to Lady Valence, it has fattened quite a bit. How about eating a roasted rabbit now?”

For some reason, due to Valence’s liking towards the rabbit, it had been gaining a lot of weight recently, eating quality hay and snacks that had been brought over from every corner of the country.

Ahin touched his chin, as if in thought.

‘Was it not a noble?’

It’s unlikely. Most of the continent’s aristocrat positions are occupied by shapeshifters who have pheromones of high pedigree.

In this situation, even though the rabbit had peculiar pheromones, it was somewhat a mystery that it wasn’t a noble.

Evrin hasn’t sensed it yet, but the occasional pheromones that can be smelled on it definitely belongs to a rabbit shapeshifter. The more tears that rabbit sheds, the stronger the scent becomes.

‘I’m sure that ability….’

As he lowered his head halfway, Ahin inadvertently took his hand which had a scar on the back. In particular, the scent of the rabbits who were in deep sleep would be very subtle just like the pheromones of herbivorous shapeshifters.

Valence, who was a high level shapeshifter, had immediately noticed this and paid more attention to the rabbit. The stronger the wild beast, the more alert they are to pheromones and other scents.

Moreover, as expected, the ability of the rabbit was a kind that all people all over the continent wanted to covet.

“Sir Ahin.”

A determined voice rang in the office. When Ahin raised his eyes and strangely gazed at him, Evrin clenched his fists in a serious manner.

“I’m going to investigate the identity of bunny-nim myself.”

“It might really hate you if you do that.”

“As expected, that’s there too.”

Recently, Evrin’s biggest concern had been the rabbit. He seemed to be enjoying the reaction of the rabbit to his teasing antics. Therefore,

[ Bunny-nim. Please do not go to the dining room during mealtimes as much as possible. You might end up on the table. ]

[ Bunny-nim. How can you spill the hay bowl that I prepared for you! ]

[ Bunny-nim. The chef said that rabbits taste best when roasted. ]

Due to the brutality of his words, the rabbit had become fed up with Evrin’s constant appearance and teasing.

Moreover, not long ago, he had been carrying a book called 「All About Herbivore Cooking 」. The rabbit had seen it and out of anger, had torn it into pieces.

It was the first time he found out that a little rabbit could also behave like that. As Ahin recalled the quality of it’s front paws, his red pupils turned towards Evrin.

“You’re pretty twisted, Evrin.”

Now that the rabbit would become angry just by looking at Evrin, he had turned into an abomination. Due to Ahin’s meaningful gaze, Evrin’s expression turned bitter.

“I don’t want to hear that from the Lord out of all people.”

“Say that again.”

“Sir Ahin is my light in the dark and the one who is always there for me. Besides–“

“Mouth.”

“Yes.”

Ahin, who was satisfied with his silence, leaned back into the chair.

Looking up into the air, he suddenly recalled the moment he had first picked up the little rabbit. Two male shapeshifters, who were obviously not good people, were moving a basket.

[ It’s the first time ever where I’ve been ordered to throw away a child as prey to a wild beast. ]

[ There is a rumour that it’s an illegitimate child. ]

[ We need to avoid going in too deep, so that there’s no trouble. ]

[ It has been commanded that it should just die at the hands of a black panther. ]

Saying that it should die at the hands of a black panther, they’re throwing it away anyway. Recalling their conversation, Ahin unknowingly rubbed his lips.

Evrin, who was looking at him, became inwardly nervous. Because if his master had such a face, then it always meant that something was wrong.

“Lord?”

Awakening from his thoughts, Ahin shifted his gaze to Evrin. After this, the corners of his mouth curved up.

“Evrin, if there are people looking for the rabbit…”

“Yes.”

Ahin, reached out his hand and pointed at the map on the desk. His fingertips were placed on the boundary between the territories of the rabbits and the black panthers.

“Kill them.”

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Glossary

(1) ‘Double marriage…’ – I don’t know what exactly is the reason for his words but I’m pretty sure this is what he said. Maybe I missed something in understanding it? Not sure.

(2) ‘Extra-terrestrial species’ – I’m not sure if this is the right word. The Korean word means a race that is not human or does not have any human characteristics. Plants and animals don’t count. But I hope you get the idea.