Originally, Beni had planned to look around only as a rabbit, but there were circumstances for returning to his true form. Beni comfortably looked around the interior and headed to his bedroom that had been on the third floor. Since the palace interior was fine with just dust accumulated, he quickly went up, and following his memory, safely arrived at the bedroom where he’d stayed.
The problem here was…
Thud, thud, thud! No matter how much the rabbit body-slammed, the door wouldn’t open. He tried scratching hard with his nails and kicking with his hind legs, but the door didn’t budge. The rabbit’s eyes grew fierce with anger at the door that wouldn’t open no matter what he did.
‘Grrr…’
The rabbit who had been grinding his teeth gnash, gnash ultimately kicked the door with both hind legs with a bang, but he was still just a rabbit. If it was a door that would open like that, it would have opened long ago. Actually, at this point it would’ve been fine to just give up, but Beni was in a state where his desire to enter his room once and his anger at the unopening door had accumulated.
Moreover, the safety of there truly being no one nearby also played a part.
When Beni, who had been looking around, concentrated, something like mist began to spew from his body and his build started growing. When the mist completely cleared, there was no longer a fluffy white rabbit like cotton candy.
Instead, there was Beni in his true form, stepping on the floor with two slender legs. Perhaps because he’d returned after three months, a strange sense of incongruity filled his entire body.
Beni wiggled his fingers and toes, then stretched his whole body once. Perhaps because he was naked without a single hair covering him, goosebumps rose in the cold air.
Somehow it seemed to feel colder to the bone than before.
‘It’s cold… Let me get clothes first.’
If there were so few people to this extent, it seemed he could occasionally return to his true form. Because if he stayed as a rabbit for too long a period, he’d almost forget how to walk on two legs. Even now, his tail and rabbit ears remained without disappearing at all.
‘Ngh…’
Beni tried to exert force to make his ears and tail disappear, but his whole body just trembled, with no sign of them vanishing.
He ultimately gave up trying to retract them and grasped the doorknob with somehow awkward hand movements. Being able to freely move five fingers felt even more uncomfortable instead.
Click—fortunately, the door wasn’t locked. Beni caught his breath once for a moment, then flung the door wide open.
The bedroom he was seeing after three months, reflected in his yellow eyes, was—
‘It’s clean…’
Very tidy. As if someone had even been managing it. The fluffy bed that had been touching when he first saw it, the vast lake visible through the large window—everything was exactly the same as three months ago. Though he’d properly stayed in this room for barely two days, perhaps because it was the first room given to him, it felt special.
With an excited heart, Beni looked around here and there without noticing his feet were cold, then discovered a red blanket hanging on the bed headboard. When he approached and swept it down with his fingertips, it was still soft like back then. The scent had mostly faded and it smelled the same as inside this room.
After pondering, Beni first wrapped the blanket around his body and walked to the wardrobe. He opened the drawer first and tilted his head.
There were clothes. But… why were only Trellou’s clothes left? The underwear and indoor wear were mostly what Beni had worn at the estate. According to his memory, the servant had definitely organized them in the same drawer…
Was he remembering wrong? It was while Beni was diligently rummaging and examining other places.
“Oh no…!”
Hic—at the sound from the door, Beni jumped greatly and whipped around to the side. Upon confirming who was standing in front of the door, Beni could only be shocked.
Because the demon holding the lantern was none other than the servant who had guided him to the bedroom and told him various things when Beni first came to the Demon King’s Castle.
Between them who knew each other’s faces far too clearly, Beni froze, then belatedly pulled the blanket over himself and curled up his body. Even knowing this wouldn’t hide him, this was all Beni could do right now. Because the servant was blocking the exit door squarely, so he couldn’t even flee.
While Beni played this futile game of hide-and-seek, the servant Tallos was bewildered by all this reality.
Tallos had just… come after receiving contact that the rabbit the Demon King was raising had entered Niar Palace and wasn’t coming out, but instead of a rabbit, there was the Ravencoat spirit who had disappeared three months ago. And with rabbit ears on his head at that.
The best inference that could explain the current situation was this.
That the Ravencoat spirit was precisely the rabbit the Demon King had been raising.
Though Tallos found it absurd even as he thought it himself, he had a strong intuition that this was the truth. Come to think of it, it was also two and a half months ago that the Demon King suddenly said a rabbit would be wandering around the castle.
At that time, the Ravencoat spirit had also suddenly disappeared without a trace. Above all, the rabbit ears on his head were far too decisive.
Tallos watched the red blanket trembling for a moment, then carefully asked.
“I apologize, but who are you?”
That he should pretend not to know right now—the tact Tallos had cultivated so far insisted as such. When Tallos pretended not to know, Beni who had been covered with the blanket poked his face out slightly.
‘What? Does he not remember me?’
Looking at the servant with wary eyes, he truly seemed to not recognize him. Thinking about it, the time this servant and himself had spent together was merely two days. He didn’t have outstanding looks either.
Tallos looked at Beni who gave no answer with a troubled expression. Because if the spirit fled and got hurt at this rate, it seemed a great punishment would come down on him. What should he say to make the spirit feel at ease and answer?
After briefly pondering, Tallos asked with a smile.
“Your face is unfamiliar—are you a servant who newly entered this time?”
Even using informal speech to appeal that he truly didn’t know. Then, as if Tallos’s tactic truly worked, Beni’s shadowed expression brightened noticeably. He nodded his head vigorously.
“You seem to have gotten lost. This is currently an empty palace with no one in it. I’ll guide you to the way, so follow me.”
Currently, other areas within Niar Palace were under construction, so if he happened to go there, he could fall into great danger. So if he pretended not to recognize the spirit and guided him outside, he’d flee well on his own. It was a perfect plan even by his own judgment.
When Tallos made the most harmless smile he could produce, Beni who had only been watching for cues got up. The blanket that had been disheveled on the floor rose along with him, revealing Beni’s bare feet.
Tallos looked at that with wavering eyes for a moment, then took off his shoes. Since he’d only wear them until the building entrance anyway.
“Haven’t you properly received necessities yet? At least wear these for now.”
Beni looked at the shoes Tallos had taken off, then approached and carefully put his feet in. Though the shoes were loose because of the large size, they had warmth.
Fortunately, Beni followed along without resistance, and Tallos was also relieved. Once this spirit escaped… should he tell His Majesty the Demon King about this? Did His Majesty the Demon King even know that rabbit was a beastkin in the first place? Even the fact that he was the previous Demon King’s concubine whom he himself had all driven out?
Tallos became increasingly confused, but getting this spirit out came first. Let’s think about what comes after once the spirit has fled. At least it seems he’s a rabbit.
Thinking so, Tallos exited Niar Palace, and Beni followed out as well. However, the problem didn’t end there.
Tallos glanced back with embarrassment. Because Beni showed no signs of intending to flee at all. Wrapped in the blanket with just his face peeking out slightly, he was rather looking at Tallos with sparkling eyes.
‘Can I… truly become a servant of the Demon King’s Castle?’
With such expectations. Not knowing Beni’s such expectations, Tallos was perplexed as to why this spirit wasn’t fleeing.
He was deliberately not paying attention to the back and only walking forward looking ahead. Since he’d handed over his shoes to the spirit, grass stains were already forming on the soles of his feet.
