Since rabbit’s feet have abundant fur that reduces noise, he was able to safely exit through the door. Perhaps because it was the fourth-floor corridor, fortunately he didn’t sense any presence of people nearby. Since Beni had secretly wandered around from the third floor down countless times, Beni escaped Orte Palace without major incident.
Beni, who had been running continuously, only caught his breath after arriving at his burrow in the bushes. The rabbit decided to rest for a while since his heart had been pounding since morning, and crawled into the burrow. Even though he’d worked hard to make the interior extremely cozy with his own fur, somehow it seemed to feel harder than usual.
No, was it cold? Just until yesterday, this burrow had been the coziest place with only a bit of cold wind coming in…
Soon after, a rabbit doll with only one eye came out attached to his front paw.
‘…That brooch would have been perfect.’
Having mismatched ones was better than having none at all. Beni hugged the precious doll he’d made into his embrace. Doing so seemed to somehow ease the emptiness he felt more than before.
When he was young, it wasn’t a crude thing like this, but a doll his mother had made for him. After his mother disappeared, that doll was the only thing that stayed by Beni’s side, but one day the Count raised his voice asking why he was keeping such a dirty and shabby doll. The Count was frightening, and young Beni should have thrown away that doll immediately, but in that moment alone, a strong spirit of rebellion surged up.
That was the only remaining trace of his mother left to Beni. For Beni who no longer had any family, that doll was like family itself. Beni ran away clutching the doll tightly, and the result was obvious.
The chase between a mere 6-year-old child and a towering man ended easily. Not only that. The captured Beni was truly beaten to near death. The Count was extremely enraged by a lowly creature rebelling—Beni learned this fact firsthand at such a young age. The doll was naturally torn to shreds before Beni’s eyes, and that still wasn’t enough as it was burned in fire. The moment he watched that scene while collapsed on the floor was still vivid before his eyes.
The rabbit hugged the one-eyed doll he’d made with his own hands even tighter. It was a memory he didn’t want to recall anymore. As he closed both eyes and tried to think of something else, the Demon King’s bedroom naturally came to mind.
‘But where on earth is the Demon King’s rabbit?’
Even if it was a small rabbit like himself, could it really be this invisible? Though he hadn’t looked around the entire bedroom, Beni had a developed sense of smell. Yet in the bedroom, there was only the Demon King’s body scent—the smell of another rabbit wasn’t there at all.
It was puzzling, but there was no way to confirm it now. Because Beni would absolutely never have occasion to go to the Demon King’s bedroom again.
* * *
“Did he leave?”
“Yes, he hopped out quite energetically. It was hard pretending not to notice.”
Ruan, who had been lying down with his eyes barely open, finally raised his upper body. How much strength had entered his body from holding back laughter? Ruan repeatedly clenched and opened his hand as if he could still vividly feel the soft fur that had wrapped around his palm.
Watching Ruan grinning foolishly, Marcel asked.
“Why are you smiling like that?”
Ruan shyly smiled while gently covering with his hand the cheek Beni had diligently licked. Marcel felt he’d asked for no reason, but he couldn’t take back words already spoken.
“Mm, Beni licked my face all over. He must really like me.”
Ruan conveniently left out the part about how he’d made him do it. Marcel raised only one corner of his mouth and said “Ah, yes,” not replying any further.
“More importantly, what the hell happened to the Demon King’s Castle security that a monster’s offspring got in? What if I hadn’t discovered it?”
“…That snake, aside from the magic power Your Majesty unleashed, its entire body was chewed up.”
When Marcel stared at Ruan with eyes that said ‘You did that? Like a mad dog?’, he sharply turned his gaze away. That rabbit looked adorable but seemed to have more spirit than he thought. Well, still, living in the Demon Realm, if it had been too docile it would’ve died long ago.
“Anyway. Block everything from getting in, whether it’s a snake or a little mouse.”
“…Do you have a conscience?”
The Demon King’s Castle already had a large barrier set up. However, the Demon King’s Castle grounds were vast, and these days, due to frequent infiltration attempts, even the Royal Guard was mobilized for night watch duty. There was no time to worry about mere monsters. Every day there were people disguised as merchants trying to pass through inspections, and bastards trying to dive into the lake and enter through the river by the farm.
Though he himself was also a demon, he didn’t know why demons were so bellicose and impatient.
Even knowing this, Ruan squinted one eye at Marcel’s rebuttal. Marcel, who had watched Ruan since childhood, knew well what that expression meant.
So what?
That was exactly the meaning. Marcel openly let out a deep sigh. Because Ruan was now the Demon King, all Marcel could do was sigh.
“I’m the one who worked and worked you all in Serpen to bring you here for this.”
Serpen. It was Ruan’s hometown.
The previous Demon King deliberately sent the demon who was pregnant with his child to a harsh place to live. If they couldn’t endure it, they were weak. To select the seed.
It was a desolate, cold, cruel land. Even the moisture in the air contained mana and froze sharply. Wind blowing meant glass shards scraping at skin. Enduring a day meant survival itself. Ruan survived in that land. He built his strength and gathered allies.
Thanks to that, there were guys who couldn’t sleep two nights in a row now, but Ruan’s words weren’t wrong. The Royal Guard exists for the Demon King.
“Yes, I’ll pay more attention to the Demon King’s Castle security.”
The faces of those who would turn pale flashed through Marcel’s mind. To not even let monsters in. He’d have to convey this to the regular soldiers too.
The problem was those bastards. Ruan was a Demon King who ascended suddenly. Most of the soldiers were ones who had worked since the previous generation. They’d driven out the openly hostile ones, but those who remained weren’t loyal either.
He didn’t know if they’d do it properly. But it was time to establish discipline. How should he fuck them over? Marcel was mulling over that thought.
“We’ll be recruiting new soldiers soon, so pick out the ones who listen well separately.”
It was welcome news. Marcel began sorting out which ones to keep in the castle.
As Ruan got down from the bed, he was about to throw his gown onto the bed but hesitated. Because white fur was stuck all over the black gown. Ruan ultimately put the gown back on, and Marcel could only let out an empty laugh.
He originally didn’t wear any top when sleeping. The Demon King race had bodies that were excessively hot due to their overflowing mana for generations.
However, Ruan felt it wouldn’t do to expose his chest in front of the baby rabbit, so he specially put on the gown.
Because of that, heat couldn’t be properly released and it was already stuffy and hot all the way to his throat, but Ruan didn’t want to take off the gown full of Beni’s traces yet.
“…You’ve become more childish than when you were actually a child.”
“Originally, when you fall in love, you become a child.”
“Ah, yes.”
If only he couldn’t speak. Marcel lightly shook his head and opened the window. When the cold air of early morning whooshed into the bedroom, Ruan’s face looked much better.
The stronger the power, the stronger the heat dominating the body became. This was a chronic problem of the Demon King race. To resolve this overflowing mana, other Demon Kings generally resolved it by starting wars, or released it by injecting their mana into their partner’s body through sexual intercourse.
Since blood and slaughter, lust and pleasure accompanied the solution for survival, there was a reason why Demon Kings naturally became warmongers and sex maniacs. Though the previous Demon King was somewhat excessive.
Ruan was also of the Demon King race so he had to resolve his overflowing mana, but the resolution method he chose was completely different from previous Demon Kings.
The gown fluttered in the strongly blowing wind. Then, revealed in the very center of Ruan’s chest was a deeply carved scar. In Marcel’s eyes looking at that hideous scar was pity along with deep respect.
“Then I’ll be going to the armory now, Marcel.”
“…Yes, Your Majesty.”
* * *
“The wait is tremendous today too.”
In one corner of the Demon King’s Castle’s second floor, two servants were looking down holding something in their respective hands. They were papers with numbers written on them—43 and 44 respectively.
“But this time it’s in the 40s. The other day, just because I went in the evening, my waiting number was 107.”
“107…”
Though there were many servants and attendants at the Demon King’s Castle, it wasn’t common for such numbers to gather in one day. The one who muttered “107” was that farmer James who always pulled weeds for Beni at Acre Farm.
“That… many?”
And these waiting tickets were none other than for waiting to sell traces of the Demon King’s rabbit to the Demon King.
