Even as a half-blood with demons, the instincts of a herbivore were engraved in Beni’s genes. On top of that, Beni had always been afraid of the smell of blood. Violence had followed him indiscriminately since childhood, and blood always came at the end of it.
At the fresh scent of blood, as if something had just died, Beni couldn’t even breathe properly.
Drip, drip.
Red liquid flowed down from the well-honed blade tip pointed toward the floor. When the suspicious figure holding the sword took one step closer, Beni had an intuition. That this was his end.
I’m going to die right after leaving the mansion. How worthless is my life—it must be punishment for setting foot in a place where only loved things can enter. Beni, who had learned to give up first since childhood, even now closed his eyes tightly to accept his death without any resistance. That was the moment.
〈My baby, my child. Don’t die, you must survive somehow. No matter what happens, even if people point fingers at you, you must live.〉
An earnest sentence ringing like tinnitus, a face covered in blood, a body gone cold. His heart pounded as if it would burst and cold sweat poured down, but Beni jerked his head up.
“P-please spare… hic!”
Then he immediately regretted it. The person before his eyes didn’t look sane at all. Blood had splattered on their hair so much it was clumped together, and their face was so bright red it was hard to make out their features.
What Beni could at least notice about the person was that they were very tall, had a larger build than the mansion’s guards, and their eyes were red as blood.
It was the form of a monster that might only appear in ancient legends. At the tremendous pressure emanating from them, Beni trembled, his lower jaw chattering as tears flowed. No voice came out, and his white ears had already drooped down, trying somehow to hide his body.
The man stared at Beni like that before reaching back to close the door. That wasn’t all. Click—he even locked it, then just stared at Beni for a long time. As the man stood still as if his soul had left him, Beni finally found the courage to cautiously open his mouth.
“…Um…”
“…”
The man didn’t answer. Could he not hear? Beni waved one hand slightly.
“Um, excuse me…”
What is this, did he not come to kill me? The man’s appearance was frightening, but he felt no killing intent directed at him.
“…Crazy, fucking bastard. I should tear him to even more pieces.”
Both of Beni’s ears perked up as his body flinched. No, this person had come to kill him after all. He even said he’d tear him to pieces.
When Beni trembled and tried to escape backward in a butt-scoot, the man took one step forward.
Hup—when Beni was horrified, the man stopped right there and repeated “No, I mean, that is…” before putting his hand on his waist and sighing.
“Look, don’t be too scared…”
Though he’d deliberately even put down his sword, Beni went “Eek!” and fell backward. When he approached to check, it seemed he’d finally fainted. The white ears drooping on his head twitched faintly.
Though he felt sorry for making the rabbit faint, separately from that, the man stared blankly down at Beni’s face. White, fluffy hair, a pale face, and the eyelashes of his closed eyes were long enough to cast shadows. And those yellow eyes that had trembled as they looked up at him in surprise.
The man grabbed his clothes near his heart tightly enough to wrinkle them. Of all times, why now.
Thud—the man struck his chest hard with his fist. His pounding heart finally seemed to get itself under control and calmed down a bit.
He wanted to take this young rabbit to a safe place, but he was in no state for that. Not daring to get dirty blood on the baby rabbit, the man sighed deeply and blamed himself. I should have at least wiped my face before coming in.
Just as he was doing that, the locked door rattled. In an instant, the pupils in his red eyes narrowed sharply.
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty, are you inside? It’s Marcel.”
Realizing the person outside was an ally, the man opened the door to find Marcel, a man with deep brown hair, standing outside.
“You said you’d come right away, why are you here?”
He’d said he would evacuate the Demon King’s concubine to another place, but when he didn’t come even after a long time, Marcel finally had to set out to find him on his own. Wondering if something had gone wrong, he looked inside the secret chamber and flinched.
“What is this?”
“He fainted after seeing me… I guess that makes sense, he looks so delicate just looking at him. They say first impressions are important, but I’m ruined.”
At the man’s somehow gloomy muttering, Marcel made a strange face. Did he go crazy from cutting off so many heads?
“I want to carry him myself, but I can’t get this dirty, disgusting blood on such a baby rabbit. Marcel, you safely move him to Niar Palace…”
Marcel moved toward Beni but hesitated.
“What rabbit?”
Being a rabbit—well, that’s clear since his ears are out in the open, but baby? Marcel looked at the collapsed Beni. He certainly looked young and had a small build, but it was a bit of a stretch to call him a baby.
Looking at him as young as possible, he seemed at least 16 or older. Does he have blood in his eyes so he can’t see well? Marcel tried his best to understand his lord but soon had to give up.
“Baby rabbit angel, move him carefully. What if he faints again and it strains his heart…”
He’s crazy. Completely crazy. Baby rabbit an… what? Words he didn’t even want to mutter in his mind—his lord collected only those and spat them out casually. Ah, this is infuriating.
His lord had clearly lost his mind over the great deed that had finally been accomplished.
Marcel didn’t ask any more and wrapped Beni’s body in a nearby blanket and picked him up. Then he felt somehow murderous eyes from the side, but pretended not to notice.
You told me to move him, so what are you going to do about it.
Marcel quickly left the room first, and the man watched the departing back with envious eyes for a while before moving.
Because I still have things to do.
First, he had to go cut off the Demon King’s—that is, his father’s—cock and balls. Though it was regrettable he couldn’t feel pain since his head was already cut off.
* * *
“Hup!”
Beni’s eyes flew open. The blood-soaked man he’d seen yesterday was still vivid in his head, making his heart pound. Beni placed his hand on his head, fumbling as he looked around. Fortunately, his ears were retracted and only hair brushed between his fingers.
“Why…”
Where Beni was lying was not the secret chamber, not the middle of some road, and not the underworld. It was his ordinary room.
He had no memory of returning, but had he returned unconsciously after receiving a shock? When Beni sat up, the red blanket that had been clumsily wrapped around his body slid down. Beni touched the blanket. It was soft and cozy.
Knock knock knock.
At the sudden knocking sound, Beni’s body jumped. For a moment, he thought the door would break.
“Lord Ravencoat, are you inside?”
However, when he realized the voice beyond was that of the servant he’d met yesterday, Beni was visibly relieved. Phew—he exhaled and got down from the bed, wrapping the blanket around himself. Then he opened the door himself and greeted the servant.
“Yes, I was inside. What’s the matter?”
The servant was surprised, but that wasn’t the problem right now. He examined Beni with a worried look.
“Did something happen yesterday? You weren’t in the secret chamber either, so I thought something terrible had happened. You’re not hurt anywhere, are you? Did you come to your room alone?”
At the barrage of worry pouring on him without pause, Beni was overwhelmed, but somehow felt good.
“Yesterday some scary person came to find me instead of the Demon King. I fainted along the way so I don’t remember. I’m not hurt anywhere. I don’t really know how I got to my room either.”
When he answered one by one, the servant made a shocked face for some reason.
“…A scary person?”
“Yes, they were covered in blood all over so I couldn’t see their face clearly, but they were very tall and a man with red eyes.”
The servant froze as if turned to stone, then muttered “I’m glad you’re alive, really, glad…” before coming to his senses with a start.
“Ah, right, this isn’t the time for this. You must hurry to Orte Palace.”
Orte Palace—the servants had explained it when he rode the boat yesterday. It was the Demon King’s main palace and the largest place in the castle, where most events were held. But Beni had definitely met someone who had killed someone yesterday.
“Before that, shouldn’t I report that there’s a murderer in the castle? Someone else might be in danger.”
The servant looked at Beni once and said quietly.
“Last night, His Majesty the Demon King was murdered.”
His yellow eyes widened. He’d expected someone had died, but for it to be… the Demon King… Then the person he saw yesterday was?
“They say he was completely mutilated by the Third Prince and died. It’s terrible.”
Still, to kill his own father like that. The servant muttered as if devastated. Demons had a culture that particularly valued familial love compared to other races. This originated from instinct for species preservation—their basic temperament was so cruel that without even familial love, they would obviously kill each other to extinction, so it was a lifestyle that had taken root.
The servant clicked his tongue and Beni couldn’t say anything in shock.
* * *
“I hereby proclaim that Ruan Astra de Bel Carnean has become the 32nd Demon King.”
It really was that man. At Orte Palace where Beni arrived following the servant, the coronation ceremony for the new Demon King had already begun. And the one receiving everyone’s gazes and wearing the golden crown before the throne was really that man from yesterday.
Without being covered in blood he was clean—no, extremely handsome, so Beni didn’t recognize him at first, but the bright red eyes, large height, and oppressive atmosphere emanating from him were definitely that man from yesterday.
‘This can’t be…’
Yesterday his appearance had looked like a crazy psycho killer to anyone, but seeing his clean—no, tall and handsome appearance now, Beni absolutely couldn’t believe it. How… could he kill his own father? The Demon King race really was… cold-blooded and cruel.
Beni was far away from him, but bowed his head deeply in case their eyes even met. But if the Demon King died, what would happen to him? Would he be kicked out of the castle?
He could find out the answer right away.
From the conversation of other concubines whispering beside Beni.
“So do we serve him now?”
“Of course, we’re the Demon King’s property. Ah… I only heard about it, but his appearance really is excellent. I can’t believe he’s the former Demon King’s blood.”
“I know, Niar Palace is going to be chaotic for a while.”
…So I become the next Demon King’s concubine…! Beni felt relieved that he didn’t have to leave the castle, but at the same time fear washed over him. Though he was handsome, he knew his true nature, and more than anything… there was the problem that he too had noticed Beni was a beastkin half-blood.
Will the Demon King leave me alone… with my lowly bloodline like a beast?
But if he was going to kill him, he would have yesterday. Just as Beni overcame his fear and looked up at Ruan, the current Demon King, their eyes met and Ruan opened his mouth.
“I already have someone I’ve decided on as my mate.”
So empty out all of Niar Palace.
Ruan smiled wickedly, and Beni paled.
That… evil smile was a warning. A warning that if he didn’t leave, he would easily kill someone like him with beast blood. It looked so full of malice there was no way to misunderstand it. Beni felt dizzy.
