Whack, whack, whack, whack—even while drunk, the rabbit nimbly threw front paw punches.
“…Cute.”
A rabbit mercilessly hitting him with adorable front paws—it was a reward. Ruan wanted to get hit a bit more, but if he did that, those short front paws would be strained, so he stepped back.
The rabbit entered the Demon King’s bedroom naturally with a swaying gait. Then plopped down on the rug laid near the bed and immediately fell asleep.
Before long, purring breathing sounds came, so Ruan carefully approached the rabbit. Fur fluffier than the rug was disheveled, and the small body rose and fell regularly.
Ruan looked down quietly and noticed that among the blood-stained fur, the left hind leg in particular was trembling.
When he gently parted the fur, blood was flowing from two small holes. Realizing they were snake bite marks, Ruan’s eyes coldly glanced toward the door.
The snake still moved slightly as if alive. As the tenacious thing moved trying to escape, the Demon King flicked his finger toward the snake.
Then a dark red, sharp form flew rapidly and pierced the snake. The snake’s movement stopped right there and drooped down. Since it contained the Demon King’s magic power directly, a mere monster couldn’t possibly withstand it.
Ruan carefully picked up the soundly sleeping rabbit and placed it on his bed. Though blood got on the white bedspread, that wasn’t much to worry about. Ruan muttered quietly toward the communication magic tool while taking out clean cloth from the dresser inside the bedroom. The recipient was Marcel.
“Bring a healing potion and antidote potion to the bedroom. Top grade, and come alone quietly.”
The communication magic tool that cut off with a click was made exclusively for the Demon King and was one-way only.
Marcel, who had been sleeping, had no choice but to snap his eyes open at the voice suddenly buzzing beside his head. Because the Demon King’s communication magic tool was only used in dangerous situations.
Ruan filled a brass bowl with water and set it down on the nightstand beside the bed.
The Demon King wetted the cloth with water and gently wiped the white fur stained with blood so the rabbit wouldn’t wake. Perhaps because of the Drunk Juice poison, the rabbit’s body was burning hot. Soon the bedroom door flung open and Marcel appeared gasping, hugging potions in his arms.
“Your Majesty, what’s the matter—mmph!”
When the white ears fluttered, Ruan frowned and blocked Marcel’s mouth with magic. Marcel, suddenly in the middle of the night, had frantically swept the warehouse clean when the Demon King told him to bring not just healing potions but even antidote potions.
Having seen how strong Ruan was from the side, he’d come wearing armor and even holding a sword, thinking what degree of danger must have arrived if he was injured enough, but the bedroom was only peaceful.
‘Then why did he suddenly tell me to bring potions…’
Marcel’s eyes saw the small ball of fur Ruan was carefully wiping by hand with cloth. It was a rabbit. Beni, the rabbit beastkin Ruan kept released in the Demon King’s Castle. The moment he saw blood on his exterior, Marcel’s anger surged to the top of his head.
As if the Demon King expected Marcel to throw a fit, he still didn’t release the silence spell. Marcel cursed internally with all kinds of profanity as he walked to the bed.
With each step, the hastily worn armor clanked and rattled. The demon second strongest after the Demon King was definitely Marcel, so he didn’t usually wear armor even on battlefields.
“Why is the Captain of the Royal Guard moving around so sloppily? Noisy.”
Ruan cast a transparent barrier around Marcel, as if the sound of armor clashing grated on him irritably. Marcel fumed and poured potions all over the bed, then shouted.
“You crazy bastard! If it’s something like this, you could have gone yourself!”
Because of the barrier anyway, from the outside it just looked like Marcel was shouting something, but no sound was heard. However, what Marcel overlooked was—
‘I can hear everything.’
That the Demon King, the owner of the magic, could hear sounds from inside the barrier. When Ruan mouthed “shut up if I tell you to shut up,” Marcel pressed his lips tightly shut, but his eyes were full of resentment. Since becoming Demon King, he’s abusing his power.
He nodded at Ruan and left the bedroom with his hands clasped behind his back. Ruan knew only the middle finger was extended on the hand visible behind his back, but didn’t bother picking a fight. Because treating Beni came first.
Instead, he told Marcel who was closing the door.
“Clean up that snake bastard in front of the room before you go.”
Marcel, who was leaving, hesitated.
“If you close the door hard, you’re dead. I’ll let you into the underground storage tomorrow, so clean it up neatly.”
Through the gap in the half-closed door, a hand suddenly popped out. Two fingers were extended.
“I’ll give you 3.”
When he added one more and called out, only then did the door close very quietly. Marcel would probably polish the corridor very sparklingly. Marcel, who had a hobby of collecting rare weapons, always coveted the Demon King’s underground storage.
The blood that had been stuck was mostly wiped away, revealing the white, fine-textured fur in its entirety. Ruan applied healing potion to his finger and gently spread it on Beni’s hind leg. Then the wound healed quickly. Now what remained was the antidote potion…
If he poured it into the sleeping rabbit’s mouth and it went into the airway, it would be a big problem. But if he woke him, he was obviously so drunk on Drunk Juice Snake poison that he wouldn’t wake easily. If it were a regular demon, the poison would detoxify on its own, but since Beni was a half-blood with beastkin, it would obviously strain his body.
It was when Ruan was worrying about how to feed it. Smack smack—the sleeping rabbit licked his lips.
“Ah.”
Ruan had a good idea. After applying antidote potion to his index finger tip and smoothly spreading it on the pink nose, a pink tongue immediately popped out and licked his own nose.
Adorable nose, soft and tiny tongue—the Demon King grabbed his chest tightly enough to tear it.
Ruan had never felt anything was particularly cute in his life. So he’d thought he couldn’t think of any existence as cute or view it lovingly, but that wasn’t true. He just happened to only see non-cute things around him throughout his life.
Swoosh—
Lick lick.
Swoosh—
Lick lick.
Perhaps because the antidote potion had a sweet taste, the rabbit didn’t wake and licked well whatever was applied to his nose. Thanks to being top grade, the boiling heat subsided instantly and the panting breathing became calm. Thinking this was enough, Ruan carefully set down the empty potion bottle on the floor and lay down beside the rabbit.
How long had he waited for this moment.
On that day when Beni first disappeared, Ruan suffered tremendous heartbreak from Beni running away before he could even propose, along with tremendous loss. He couldn’t sleep and couldn’t eat properly for two weeks.
When Marcel came and made the foolish remark that it was fortunate he left before falling deeper, Ruan couldn’t stand it and threw him in the underground dungeon. The crime was being-fucking-oblivious. During those days when he was immersed in sadness day by day, Beni’s traces were discovered in the Demon King’s Castle for the first time.
A ball of white fur had rolled through the palace corridor like a tumbleweed. Realizing the rabbit was hiding in the Demon King’s Castle, Ruan hoped Beni would become more attached to this castle rather than catching him. Just the fact that he had no intention of leaving the castle was enough.
It was disappointing that he didn’t come near his bedroom at all and ran away in a flash whenever he was nearby, but for now, that was enough.
Because Ruan had plenty of time to lure this small intruder.
Red eyes containing the soundly sleeping white rabbit rippled with desire. Ruan quietly looked at Beni, then wrapped unused cloth around the rabbit’s hind leg that had already healed. First, he needed to lower his guard.
How should I seduce Beni—Ruan thought various thoughts while looking at the rabbit and let out a low breath.
“Haa…”
Looking at his sleeping form, he really did look like a baby rabbit angel. Even thinking about it now, Ruan praised himself for choosing the right day to kill the former Demon King.
If that crazy dickhead who should have his head smashed had violated such a pure, innocent child, he might have destroyed this Demon Realm entirely. Such a world shouldn’t exist.
How could they even think of sending such a child as that pervert bastard’s concubine in the first place? Count Ravencoat’s head was clearly completely empty. Though it was fortunate that Beni happened to come as a concubine and could meet him, separately from that, rage boiled toward the Count who sent him as a concubine calling him a bastard, far from treasuring him preciously at home.
* * *
The rabbit’s drooping ears twitched. His closed eyes opened slowly, revealing golden pupils. Yawn—in the mouth opened wide while yawning, sharp but sesame-seed-like teeth were briefly visible. Smack smack—feeling like he’d slept deeply for the first time in a while, Beni rubbed one eye with his front paw like washing his face, then hesitated.
Why… is it so fluffy and warm with not a breath of wind and smelling so good?
The rabbit held his breath and looked to the side with trembling gaze.
Right next to him, the Demon King was lying down for some reason.
