TSROTRATBP Chapter 26

Having finished a meeting with Valens, Ahin, and House Grace's inner circle, Rune strolled through the garden. No matter how he thought it over, the rabbit beastman he'd run into three days ago was suspicious beyond belief.

Hair trailing past her knees like it had never once seen a comb—and that wasn't even the half of it—caught bare-bodied in an empty room with nothing but a scrap of cloth thrown over her.

Set on interrogating her himself, Rune circled around to the back of the estate and stopped beneath the window of what looked like the library. Security around the rabbit turned out to be tighter than he'd expected, leaving him no route in but this one.

Checking for anyone nearby, he took a few light steps and hoisted himself up onto the third-floor windowsill.

...Am I tired? Seeing things.

Perched on the open windowsill, Rune rubbed at his eyes. The scene refused to change, and his golden eyes went through something like an earthquake.

What is that.

One more strange thing had been added to the pile. The suspicious rabbit beastman who claimed not to be a beastman at all—Vivi—was there in rabbit form, reading a book larger than her own body.

As if that weren't enough, a fully grown black panther sat in a chair beside her, its head bent over the same book.

A dream, maybe?

The only thing about the scene that still looked like reality was Meimi, the only one who'd noticed Rune's presence and was quietly working her fingers beneath her apron.

Her red eyes carried an unwelcoming light—apparently she still considered him a would-be rabbit-napper.

His usually composed golden eyes kept trembling. Staring blankly at a sight he could hardly believe even with his own eyes, Rune twisted his body back toward the outside.

It seemed better to wait until he'd adjusted to this strange household before he tried again.

Toweling off his damp hair, Ahin's brow furrowed.

"Vivi, why is your scent so strong."

My pheromone?

Dodging Ash, who kept trying to press against me, I went rigid. It must have been the fallout from days of pheromone practice.

I'd thought I'd gathered it back up properly, but of course, there was no slipping past Ahin's nose. He caught me at once and set me up on his palm.

"Hold still, I'll cover it up."

No—no, absolutely not!

Startled, I shoved a hind leg against his approaching face. This was certainly heading toward the same thing as last time—biting my neck to mark me with his scent again.

Absolutely not!

Breathing in that pheromone might turn me human again, even if only briefly.

Not yet, not now. He must have had other ways of marking me with his scent up until now—use one of those instead.

That desperate hope didn't seem to reach him, though, and Ahin's smile turned dangerous.

"I said it yesterday. Do your best not to let anyone else find out you're a beastman."

He seemed to want to keep others from learning I was a beastman. Being careful myself couldn't hurt, but letting him bite my neck right now was absolutely out of the question. I kept resisting, and Ahin's smile went cold.

"Ash."

Dread rising fast, I hadn't even finished the thought before he snapped his fingers, calling for her. The creature lying beneath the bed rose and padded lazily over.

"Choose, Vivi. Into Ash's mouth, or under my teeth?"

This beast!

The hell it is! Dangling from his fingers, my eyes turned fierce. Ahin, in contrast, curved his red eyes into a satisfied, sleepy arc.

"It's thrilling, watching you glare like that."

This—this—!

Before I could even finish the vile things I wanted to say inside my own head, my vision swam.

Sensing what was coming, I hurried to hold my breath.

Sure enough, before long, fangs closed lightly around my nape again, the way they had last time. With how close we were now, drops of water from his damp hair fell onto me—drip. drip.

His teeth kept worrying at my throat, gnawing and teasing, and it crawled over my skin so bad I nearly blacked out. Holding my breath for dear life, that hellish stretch of time finally ended as Ahin's lips lifted away.

It... didn't hurt?

Bewildered, I cracked open my tightly shut eyes. No breathlessness, no nausea, none of the sickness from before—which meant not drinking the pheromone directly must have been the right call after all.

Having confirmed one question mark, my gaze brightened.

Strangely, I felt as though my breath were being squeezed shut. And not from something inside me, either—this was external.

…Ngh.

It felt exactly like something was pressing hard against my throat. I groaned through the discomfort, and when I opened my eyes, Ahin's lips were right there in front of me.

I froze for a moment before I finally understood why I couldn't breathe. No wonder—that arm weighed a ton. I was pinned beneath Ahin, deep in sleep, his solid arm wound around my neck—and I'd brought my paw up to it,

Wait, that's not a paw?

Five fingers were draped over the silver robe wrapped around him. And more than that, white hair had come undone across the pillow, filling my vision.

The instant I registered it, I stopped breathing and swallowed back a shriek. I was certain I hadn't inhaled any pheromone—so when had I turned human?

Don't tell me this counts as some kind of immunity building up?

If I was transforming just from proximity to his pheromone now, that would be nothing short of a nightmare.

Didn't that mean I risked turning human at any random moment, with no warning at all?

Worse, I hadn't gone through the beastman fever that led to true humanization, so I swallowed back a pang of regret at the theory forming in my head—that I might revert to a rabbit again at any time.

Can't breathe.

Unable to make a sound, I decided the first order of business was to get free of Ahin's arm.

He always slept with the blanket pulled up to his chin as if he were cold, so it seemed like, in his sleep, he'd gone hunting for warmth and wound up wrapping himself around my neck.

At this rate I'm actually going to suffocate to death.

Th—thi—first thing's first….

I tried shifting my body carefully, then went stone-still at an odd sensation. The feel of the robe against bare skin, the solid body beneath it—it set off an instinctive tension. My ears went hot enough to burn.

…How do I get out of this.

The problem started right there with the neat line of his lips, inches away. If I so much as blinked wrong, my eyelashes might brush against him—that was how close this was.

I shut my eyes deliberately, cutting off the sight, and called to mind a temple prayer. O Beast God, punish me for letting my gaze keep drifting to his lips.

Once I'd finally calmed my racing heart, I began to move, carefully, quietly. Cautious. Deliberate.

There!

After several minutes of struggle, I finally managed to turn myself around. I let out a breath of relief—and immediately locked eyes with Ash, visible beneath the lamplight.

The beast's eyes, caught in the dim glow, looked strangely murky. My whole body froze at the thought that Ash might see me—now human—as a threat.

What if she made a loud noise. Unable to even look away, I found the longer I sat there facing her, the stranger it felt. Somehow, Ash's eyes seemed hazy, unfocused.

"Ash…?"

I called her name in a voice barely bigger than an ant, but she didn't so much as twitch. She looked almost drunk, swaying gently as if drugged.

Was she… asleep?

Were there beasts that slept soundly sitting up with their eyes open? My mind a tangle of complications, I went rigid all at once as a breath brushed the back of my neck.

Just when I thought I'd finally slipped free of the arm around my neck, I felt Ahin's hot breath as he shifted behind me. Between watching Ash across from me and staying alert to the presence at my back, my mind was on the verge of scattering completely.

Then, when Ahin nuzzled his hair against my nape and I nearly leapt out of my skin, a plausible suspicion took root.

Wasn't he actually awake?

How many times had I already been caught out like this? The very first day I arrived, he'd abruptly opened his eyes and ordered me to cry. The second time, he'd feigned sleep right up until I stuck my paw in his mouth.

Given Ahin's skill in the first place, there was no way he wouldn't notice me making this much noise.

Don't tell me he's planning to tease me again. Irritated, I started to sit up—only to give a timid little wriggle and burrow back under the blanket instead. I hadn't a single stitch of clothing on right now.

What do I do…

The moment I entertained the hypothesis that Ahin might be awake, my heart pounded, thump, thump, hard against my ribs.

Wasn't he even surprised that I'd turned human? Or had he perhaps caught a glimpse of the change back at the ball?

Unable to land on any answer, I turned my body around again, with my back to Ash. Immediately, Ahin's fine face came into view, lying at a slant.

It was a face that always used to fill my whole field of vision, but now that I was human, I could see the tousled silver hair and the line of his neck below his ear as well. Even just sleeping, there was something faintly indecent about it.

They said maiden-clan beastmen tended toward small, delicate features, while predator-clan beastmen carried a kind of luminous beauty all their own. Come to think of it, Iverin was handsome too, so long as he kept his mouth shut, and I'd heard the staff here whispering that Rune was handsome as well.

My lips parted, and after a long hesitation, I let out a small voice.

"…Ahin."

I'd called Ahin's name with my own mouth. A fresh wave of embarrassment brought heat to the tips of my ears.

But as if he were truly deep asleep, his breathing stayed even, and no response came back at all.

I frowned and studied him, then mustered a little more courage to try again.

"Ahin?"

Minutes passed rather than seconds, and still, no answer.

At this point it's actually suspicious. Eyeing him doubtfully, I reached out a hand.

My palm cut through the air and landed against something soft. The unfamiliar sensation made me flinch my hand back from his face, and I bit my lip.

Then—thwap—I gave his cheek a light slap, but he showed no sign of stirring.

Still not waking up?

Puzzled, I slapped him again, thwap—still no reaction. It wasn't much force, but knowing his usual temperament, an action like that should've had him up in an instant.

Is he… really asleep?

Blankly watching him breathe softly, I turned to look at Ash behind me again. This time she sat upright, her head lolling like a drunk at a tavern.

Something about this was off. Bewildered, I suddenly noticed the pheromone inside my body stirring, moving of its own accord. I had no idea since when, but it seemed I'd been diffusing it without meaning to.

…No way.