TSROTRATBP Chapter 15

More to the point, it wasn't as if I'd deliberately smeared the lion's scent on myself. Lady Vivi here had nothing to be ashamed of—that argument kept echoing in my skull—but sadly, my body kept its presence pressed down as low as it could go, ears straining regardless.

"Ngh."

A sound of pained groaning suddenly reached me—Ahin's. Reflexively snapping my head up, I felt an untimely dread creep in at the sound scraping against my ears.

No, surely…!

What if he'd been attacked by wolf beastmen again, taken some grievous wound like before.

That wasn't all. A flump, like something giving way, rang out too—the sound of something collapsing.

I couldn't just stand by any longer. Bolting out from under the desk, what waited before my eyes was a sight I refused to believe.

I've been had.

Grasping the situation at once, my face twisted into something well past composure. Contrary to my imagination, Ahin, sitting there perfectly unharmed on the sofa, and Iverin, standing beside him, were both fighting back laughter. The sound of something collapsing had, apparently, been nothing more than Ahin sitting down on the sofa.

Ahin, barely managing to stuff his laughter back down, stretched a hand out slowly.

"See, this is why hiding's pointless. Come here."

"To dash straight out to save Lord Ahin—I'm truly moved. Miss Rabbit does possess a genuinely righteous character."

God, I hate these black panthers. Fury rising in an instant, my eyes turned sharp. Enduring my accusing stare in silence, Ahin's head tilted, faintly.

"Iverin. That glare just did something to me."

"I see. Miss Rabbit, please glare at Lord Ahin even more, then."

"Makes me want to eat her."

"I'll notify the kitchen directly."

Hey—Iverin! Unable to hold back my fury any longer, I lunged and sank my teeth into the hem of his trousers. He put on some clumsy show of fear—and even that fake fear was disgusting.

"Still smells like lion?"

Mid-struggle with Iverin's pant leg, my body lifted, suddenly, into the air.

"Didn't you bathe?"

Lifted by the scruff, Ahin's brow furrowed.

No, I did.

Meimi wiped me down properly with a cloth. No sooner had I shaken my head in denial than his expression openly hardened.

What on earth the lion smell even meant, I had no idea. As I trembled with dread, Iverin, seemingly hoping to diffuse the mood, spoke up.

"By the way, Lord Ahin. It's been a full month since Miss Rabbit arrived at the estate—might it not be time to grant her a proper name?"

Iverin was watching me with a rather complicated expression. He seemed to be recalling the situations we occasionally ran into during walk time. Whenever Meimi and I made our royal procession to the garden—because apparently that's what it was now—the guards would murmur—

'Miss Rabbit is passing, tighten the guard. Miss Rabbit is pass—Miss Rabbit….'

—among themselves, fussing. I couldn't say exactly what shape the rumor had taken by this point, but living alongside Ahin, they'd started treating me like I was their liege.

Honestly, I'd only grown used to it myself—I knew better than anyone how bizarre the whole situation was. Wasn't the fact that it didn't feel strange... the strangest part?

"A name?"

Looking between me and Iverin, Ahin asked, in a dry voice. He'd already set me on the sofa and was turning me this way and that. The mysterious lion smell seemed to displease him quite considerably.

"A name, hm…."

Let go, I'm dizzy!

Flipped onto my back, I struggled with everything I had, but there was no stopping my body from turning over. Ahin tickled my throat with a fingertip, then abruptly poked my cheek.

"It's fine. You've already got a name of your own, anyway."

A meaningful thing to say. Frozen for a moment, I stared straight at him, and he met my eyes and smiled, faintly. The curved red eyes carried their usual dispassionate light.

"Isn't that right?"

Opening and closing my mouth, I nodded, dazed. I wanted to ask how he could state such a thing with such certainty—but with asking impossible, the frustration only settled deeper.

Once Iverin, having sorted the paperwork, had also taken his leave, the night grew late and a heavy drowsiness set in.

But instead of lying down in bed, Ahin spread a large sheet of paper across the carpet. Watching this unprompted behavior, I found him, with a suspicious smile, picking me up without so much as a warning.

…Seriously, so damn annoying.

Caught by the scruff, my eyes narrowed. The lion in the garden had grabbed my nape without asking too, earlier—were all predators this rude? As I glared up at him, eyes wide, he poked my cheek, tap, tap.

"Told you—glare at me and I start wanting to eat you."

"…."

"Not a joke."

Along with those chilling words, the fangs bared between Ahin's lips gleamed. Blanching, I decided I'd simply behave myself. Not out of any particular fear, mind you—purely because I was sleepy. I'll insist on that much.

The item he brought over from the desk, next, was black ink.

Why the ink. No sooner had a bad feeling crept in than Ahin began smearing it onto my forepaw. Furious, I thrashed, but the ink soaked into my paw regardless.

What is he doing—ah,

Having resisted so fiercely, some of the ink ended up splattered across Ahin's fine face. Startled for a moment, but he showed no particular reaction, only set me down on the paper laid out on the floor.

"There."

An action whose intent was genuinely difficult to read, so I looked up at him with confusion in my eyes. Catching the look, Ahin tapped the paper with his finger, tap, tap.

"Write it. Your name."

Hearing the sudden demand, I couldn't help but stiffen.

The question that had long dominated my mind reared its head once more.

Just what did he think I was, to be able to say such a thing? Impossible to call me an ordinary rabbit, and yet calling me a beastman felt uncertain too. So much I wanted to know, but I could neither ask nor hear an answer.

Perhaps reading my hesitation, Ahin slowly stroked down my back. Wearing an unreadable smile, a quiet voice drifted out of him.

"They say naming an animal makes you grow fond of it."

"…."

"Wouldn't you live a little longer, me knowing your name?"

Oh, a genuinely terrifying thing to say. Lower lip trembling faintly, I finally began, carefully, to press my forepaw down onto the paper.

Vi—

Dab. Dab. Dab. Moving one paw at a time, I drew black paw-print marks across the white sheet. Looking at them myself, the prints came out impossibly small.

Vi.

Having finished the name Vivi, I plopped myself down onto the paper, as though I'd just accomplished some great feat of beastman labor.

…Whew.

Who knew writing out a single name could demand so much stamina and nerve. Honestly, most of it came from the tension of the dangerous stare I could feel prickling at my back.

Catching my breath, I turned to find Ahin's mocking smile had, strangely, vanished. Facing that, an unease with no clear source crept over me.

Had I done something wrong? Or did the name Vivi mean something strange—something bad—here in Black Panther territory?

While I sat there gauging his reaction, Ahin, gazing quietly down at the paper, extended his hand. An invitation to climb onto his palm.

The ink on my paws would smear onto his hand. Ending my hesitation, I climbed up, and Ahin held my eyes steadily.

A strange stillness settled between us. Unlike me, avoiding his gaze, Ahin watched me with eyes calm as a still lake, and finally spoke.

"Vivi."

A name I hadn't heard from another's mouth in truly a long while. At some point, not a single soul in House Raebien had called me by it anymore.

More than that, hearing the name Vivi delivered in that low voice anyone could easily be drawn in by left me feeling strangely off. Giving me no time to sit with the feeling, Ahin abruptly brought his lips to my nape.

Wha—what—!

Blanching, I kicked my legs. Him bringing his nose close was nothing to be so startled over anymore, but this time I clearly felt firm teeth touch my nape.

Not painful. But it was, without question, a threat. As I resisted hard, Ahin pulled his lips back for a moment, brow furrowing.

"Be still. I'm getting rid of the lion smell."

Bringing me close again, he closed his teeth gently around my nape. At the same moment, a strange scent I'd never once encountered before brushed against my nose.

Might this be the pheromone coming off this black panther. But speculation didn't get far. The scent I'd drawn in left my mind hazy, all at once, as if I'd been drinking.

…Can't breathe.

The pheromone I'd kept sealed inside myself, strangely, was stirring.

Ever since Ahin bit my neck a few hours ago, my body feels off. Breath chokes in my throat. Gut sits like something's stuck there, undigested. Now even my head throbs, tightening.

"Nngh..."

Shift—and the retching rises too, nameless. Sick, maybe? A chilling guess forms—and, unable to stand the pain any longer, my eyes snap open.

The blurred, smeared view slowly steadied into an ordinary scene. Across from me, I could see Ahin, the blanket pulled up to his chin. Watching him quietly, I felt the nausea ease off, just a little.

Blinking, I studied Ahin, dyed orange by the lamplight. Oddly sensitive to cold for a predator—bundled up tonight too, swaddled snug in white bedding.

Slowly, my eyes drifted over his tousled silver hair, long lashes, neat features. Unlike his temper when he's awake—which has flat-out gone rancid—his sleeping face alone was gentler, more composed than any herbivore beastman's.

Honestly.

If only he'd stay just like this awake too. Pity—the Beast God granted Ahin his face, but never bothered granting him a temperament to match it. Or maybe black panthers, the lot of them, just had a screw loose.

Not an unreasonable guess. Iverin alone proved the theory well enough. Toting a cookbook on Preparing and Cooking Wild Herbivores around in front of a rabbit. Truly rotten.

But Meimi, and Lady Valens…

Meimi's hands were gentle as anything, except when blocking an escape attempt. And Lady Valens was a fine black panther, save for stuffing her with snacks right to the point of bursting. Thinking of them cooled the flare of anger Iverin had stirred up.

At least be half as decent as them.

Useless, flighty beasts, the lot of them. Having cursed Ahin and Iverin out thoroughly in my head, the headache slowly started to fade.

Once the pain that had been tormenting my body finally settled, sleep came rushing in at last. Through my steadily blurring vision, Ahin's face wavered into view once more.

'Vivi.'

The voice that had spoken my name wouldn't leave my ears. Somehow, coming out of Ahin's mouth, even an ordinary name had felt like something special.