TSROTRATBP Chapter 3

A faint medicinal scent brushed past my nose. Swimming through the dim edges of consciousness, I felt someone turn my body over with a careful, cautious touch.

They pried my mouth open, then handled my forepaws. As my mind gradually sharpened, an unfamiliar voice rang past my ear.

"Hm. She merely lost consciousness from the shock. Her pulse is entirely normal as well."

Ah. Good—this careful touch was just checking my condition, then. The gentleness and care of it were enough that my tensed muscles began to loosen.

Relieved, I kept my eyelids shut—heavy as they were—and continued the pretense of sleep.

"Lord Iverin, there's nothing wrong with her health. There's no need for concern."

"That's a relief. It would be no small trouble if Lord Ahin fell ill from a sick rabbit."

Who the hell are you calling sick. As I turned over the rudeness in my mind, I could tell at once whose voice it belonged to.

It had to be the black-haired man who'd babbled on about emergency rations and driven me to faint.

I wanted to shoot up and land a furious paw-punch right then, but the coward cells in my body wouldn't let me—so I just kept playing dead, meek as anything.

"Any other problems? Say—a rabbit beastman briefly reverted to true form, for instance. Watching earlier, she seemed rather clever—as though she understood what was being said."

The man's voice, once again addressed as Iverin, rang out.

"That's… hard to say. At present I detect no beastman pheromones whatsoever, and it's already been half a day since Lord Ahin brought her here. A beastman cannot remain in true form for more than half a day after achieving humanization. If she were a beastman, more than enough time has passed for her to have returned to human form."

"And the possibility she's a young beastman who hasn't yet undergone humanization?"

"That's also impossible. Humanization is nearly complete within three years of birth, so a beastman that young couldn't display the kind of lively behavior that rabbit just showed."

Oh no. Eavesdropping without meaning to, I only then caught my own mistake—I'd reacted way too readily, plain as day that I understood.

At the Raebien estate, that had simply been natural, so earlier I'd reacted to Iverin's voice without a second thought, out of pure habit.

If I let it be known I was a beastman, would they release me from this place?

But…

The more I turned it over, another unease crept in.

I'd heard black panther territory had a great many scholars. If they discovered I'd failed humanization despite having gone through the coming-of-age ceremony, they might well hand me over as a research subject.

Pale with dread, I chose silence for the time being.

"For now, she appears to be an ordinary baby rabbit."

The physician, giving me one final careful look as I steadfastly kept up my sleeping act, asked cautiously.

"Um… does Lord Ahin genuinely intend to eat this rabbit, after having brought her here?"

"No. It's merely my own conclusion."

On what grounds could he possibly be so certain. I couldn't tell how much of what this Iverin fellow said was jest and how much was earnest.

His voice simply had no variation in pitch to begin with.

The more I thought about it, the less sense it made—that the owner of such a lavish bedchamber would have brought me here as some kind of snack.

The physician must have thought the same, for he replied, somewhat awkwardly.

"Ah. Yes…. Lord Iverin, I've concluded the examination, so I'll take my leave now."

Wait—don't leave me alone with that strange man! My desperate plea went unheeded, and the sound of the physician exiting the bedchamber rang out.

Keeping up the sleeping act was starting to get difficult. But I could sense Iverin drawing nearer to me with my eyes shut, so getting up now felt ill-advised too.

"Miss Rabbit."

A low murmur, along with his breath, reached the side of my face.

"Your closed eyelids are twitching. If you don't wake up, you might end up on the table as an appetizer. Would a stew suit you better, or a roast?"

I shot up and glared daggers. This absolute monster of a predator. From today on, I was certain—of every beastman clan, I'd hate black panthers most.