Since being able to move through the portal, Beni had been spending even longer in the Demon King’s bedroom.
Tap. The index finger that had been touching his cheek poked, poked the plump rabbit bottom weakly. The white rabbit that had been buried in the blanket was there with only its nose and mouth showing when—yaaawn—it opened its mouth wide in a yawn. It had fallen asleep on his bed while listening to the Demon King’s stories. Just the fact that it could return to the quarters in an instant made him relax, and he didn’t know how many times he’d spent the night like this already.
When the rabbit stretched its front paws forward and wriggled out from under the blanket, the Demon King’s eyes were half-closed, directed at him.
“Going back now?”
When Beni, still not fully awake, nodded his head, Ruan picked him up and got down from the bed. Only after arriving right in front of the portal behind the bookshelf did he put the rabbit down. Having been in the warm blanket and then coming out, it was a bit chilly, so Beni shivered and stood up on two feet. As if greeting the Demon King, he stood and looked up at him intently, then Beni hopped into the portal.
The moment his feet touched down, light flashed, and Beni now habitually squeezed his eyes shut. Then when the sensation disappeared, he opened his eyes.
Now he had to transform into a person and quickly return to his room.
‘Cold…’
However, in a space that had become much colder compared to the Demon King’s bedroom, Beni froze in place. If he became his true form like this, the warmth that had gathered thanks to his fur would definitely escape completely. Plus, he’d be naked, so it would be very cold. Beni, who had been pondering on the portal, came up with the very ingenious idea of getting into his shirt and transforming, and was pleased.
Beni, who had finally moved from his spot, hesitated as he tried to burrow into the clothes he’d neatly folded.
‘…Didn’t I put the pants on top?’
It seemed like in his memory he’d put the pants on top of the underwear, but the shirt was on top. He felt something was off, but it must be his imagination. There hadn’t been a single person coming to this place during the night for a week. It was the moment when the rabbit hurriedly entered the clothes and was transforming into his true form.
Click, creeeak—.
The sound of the door opening came.
Hup! Beni was flustered, but having already started the transformation, he couldn’t awkwardly stop. Who is it? At this hour? Is it Tallos-nim? In the end, unable to stop, Beni finished transforming with rabbit ears still left on his head.
And hurriedly pulling on his clothes, he looked forward, and there was someone holding a lamp, completely pale…
“…What the. You.”
It was Ren.
Both Beni and Ren froze simultaneously and stared at each other stupidly. Ren’s light purple eyes shook finely, then glanced at Beni’s legs, which were fully exposed with goosebumps raised.
“…Put on your clothes first.”
“Ah, y-yes…!”
Silence continued, and no matter how many times Ren looked again at the white ears sprouting from Beni’s head, they remained the same. His body had even been growing larger in the middle, right? Ren’s mind became hazy at the identity of his roommate that he’d suddenly learned. He didn’t think he was an ordinary demon. But still, surely not…
“You were a beastkin?”
He’d never dreamed he’d be a beastkin who couldn’t even live long in the Demon Realm. No wonder he was so skinny and didn’t eat well. When Ren let out a complicated sigh, Beni, who had finished putting on all his clothes in the meantime, couldn’t answer anything with a deathly pale face.
He hadn’t expected to be caught by Ren like this. Although Ren was a chimera, and he had a vague expectation that like Tallos, even knowing his identity, he wouldn’t be disgusted. But still, being revealed so suddenly without any mental preparation, he couldn’t predict at all what kind of reaction he’d show.
What should he answer? They’d just become close, and among the servants, he was his only friend and he’d been thinking of him like a younger brother…
Beni hung his head low and murmured quietly.
“I’m sorry… I didn’t intend to deceive you, so, um, I’m just sorry for everything…”
At the powerless voice, Ren was instead at a loss and grabbed his forearm and pulled.
“No need to apologize. Let’s go into the room first.”
Was he angry…? It didn’t seem like that though. Beni was pulled along in a daze.
Ren looked around and quietly entered the room. Then he sat Beni on the bed and placed the lamp on the table. He himself leaned against the window and stared intently at Beni. Still above Beni’s head, white, large ears were drooping down.
When Ren slightly stuck his head out to look at his rear side, something was slightly bulging—it seemed a tail was also out.
“You can hide the ears and tail, right?”
At those words, Beni belatedly realized he still had his ears and tail out and hurriedly pulled them in, then felt the top of his head with his palm to confirm they’d gone in completely.
It was when he was waiting for Ren’s rebuke.
“Rabbit beastkin?”
“Y-yeah, to be precise, I’m a half-breed with a demon…”
“Huh?”
Ren narrowed his brow as if he’d heard something strange.
“Half-breed? Half-breeds can’t fully transform into animals, can they? All the ones I saw were like that.”
Unexpectedly, Ren seemed to know about beastkin. Had there been many in the same situation as him where he’d stayed? From Ren talking about beastkin half-breeds, no disgust or displeasure could be glimpsed.
“That’s what they say normally, but I seem to be able to do it.”
“Then aren’t you just a beastkin? Do you have parents?”
Parents… The only parent Beni acknowledged was his mother alone. Beni had never once considered the Count his father. But even if he denied it, the fact that he was his father was true.
“…Yeah. My mom passed away when I was young, and my father’s side is demon.”
“Ah…”
If the father’s side was demon, naturally the mother’s side was beastkin. Moreover, with just the information that she’d already left this world, Ren could roughly infer what kind of environment Beni had grown up in. In the heavy atmosphere, Ren scratched his nape and changed the subject.
“But what were you doing there? You snuck out before too, didn’t you?”
Beni couldn’t easily speak. Because it seemed he shouldn’t say the fact that he’d been going back and forth to the Demon King’s bedroom as a rabbit, of all things. Ren, who had been staring at Beni, muttered white rabbit, white rabbit, and remembered a story he’d heard recently.
“There’s talk that the Demon King’s rabbit died. They say it hasn’t been seen at all these days.”
It wasn’t that someone had told him directly, but he’d happened to hear it while mopping when the servants around were chattering. Ren had never seen the Demon King’s rabbit. Not only did he have no interest, but the rabbit’s range of activity didn’t match his either. He only knew the information that it was a guy with very abundant fur and pure white.
White with abundant fur rabbit.
Beni’s fluffy hair. If he transformed into a rabbit, he’d obviously become a fluffy rabbit. It was a situation where he couldn’t help but notice.
That Beni was the Demon King’s rabbit.
Before Beni could speak first, Ren opened his mouth.
“You’re going to see the Demon King?”
Flinch. Beni’s shoulders twitched finely. His gaze, as if asking how he knew when he had thoughts of hiding it, was only innocent. With this reaction, it became certain that Beni was the Demon King’s rabbit. Even so, there was a lingering question.
“Why is the Demon King keeping you as a servant? Is it shameful for him to be playing around with a beastkin half-breed?”
He’d even heard secondhand that the Demon King cherished the rabbit quite a lot, but seeing Beni’s state now, he wondered if that wasn’t the case either. It was an extremely natural question for Ren, but Beni acted as if he didn’t understand his words at all.
“Huh? No! His Majesty the Demon King doesn’t know at all that I’m a beastkin half-breed. I was, um… originally I was living hidden in the Demon King’s Castle.”
Was it okay to say this much? Beni was anxious, but Ren was definitely his good friend. He knew that he was always subtly looking out for him. Beni fiddled with the blanket with his hands placed beside his thighs.
“Then when I briefly returned to my true form, I was caught and luckily was able to become a servant. His Majesty the Demon King originally had a rabbit he was raising, but that rabbit looked similar to when I transformed, so I just decided to go see His Majesty only until the rabbit returns. His Majesty doesn’t know at all that I’m the rabbit…!”
“What kind of nonsense is this?”
Ren, who had been listening quietly, frowned.
