The Symbiotic Relationship Between the Rabbit and the Black Panther

As the strange shapeshifter appeared before me, I hid behind Meimi. It wasn’t the attendant who often walked in and out of the bedroom.

Meimi embraced me gently and added an explanation.

“This is Mister Aulfes, the exclusive costume expert for the Grace family.”

“Say hello now, bunny-nim. He wanted to meet you.”

With an intention to greet, Aulfes politely stretched out his index finger. My trembling gaze moved from the index finger to Aulfes’s face.

With red eyes and scarlet hair that were half-tied, he left quite an impression. If I was looking for a problem in him, then it was hard to find.

‘This is too much.’

The black panthers in this mansion are all very individualistic and I, who continued to think about it, stuck out my paw in response. Then, Aulfes, who was very impressed, closed his mouth.

“Oohh–! Oh my god! I’ve heard the rumours that bunny-nim is brilliant, but it’s really amazing to see it myself. There’s really no way to stop myself from admiring you!”

For a while, nearly five minutes of meaningless praise continued. Meimi, who had been silently listening to the chattering, whispered next to me.

“Mister Aulfes is a person who enjoys engaging in conversations.”

I think it sounds more of a problem than enjoyment, and my ears are tingling. I wish he would just disappear, but instead, he comfortably settled himself down in Ahin’s bedroom.

‘But why is a costume expert here?’

Ahin had already left the bedroom earlier, wearing a black tailcoat suit. Looking at my eyes, Aulfes opened a suspicious looking box that he was holding in his hand.

“Today, Master Ahin’s banquet partner will be bunny-nim. I couldn’t prepare much because it was a short notice, but I have prepared a pair of accessories that are light enough to not strain your neck.”

The words were so weird that my mouth was wide open. Damn, so there are nobles out there willing to take in an ordinary little rabbit as their partner?

‘Does that even make sense?’

When I turned around and looked at her, Meimi nodded slightly and said yes. It seemed like she didn’t want to say it, almost as if she twisted her tongue.

“I was instructed this morning….he said it would be fun.”

Let’s be honest. Don’t you think that black panther is out of his mind? When I glanced at them, the two shapeshifters blatantly avoided my gaze.

“We are just following the master’s instructions.”

“Master Ahin….was surely just being considerate to allow bunny-nim to experience the ball in person. The-the ballroom in the Grace mansion is very grand and colourful!”

Meimi and Aulfes answered in turns as if they were trying to make excuses. Subordinates who can’t do anything against their masters have to suffer this kind of trouble. Somehow, these two people aroused some sort of sympathy in me.

“Sigh, bunny-nim, this doesn’t shine because of that bright rabbit fur.”

It’s been almost an hour since I’ve been trying on all these accessories on my head. Unsatisfied, Aulfes put the ribbon back in the box.

“Hmm….”

The experience of wearing all these accessories wasn’t that bad because it was my first time trying them on. It would be great if only the loud voice next to me could just disappear.

“This crown ornament would be nice. It’s the best one that makes a rabbit’s appearance stand out. Don’t you think so too, Miss Meimi?”

Meimi, who was waiting next to him, simply clapped her hands without saying anything. That might as well be the highest form of praise for such a blunt person.

Feeling embarrassed for no reason, I scratched my temple with my front feet.

“The Grace family holds a ball once in every six months. I am the one who always prepares Master Ahin’s tailcoat, but I feel sad because he didn’t show much interest.”

Unlike with Meimi, I was forced to take in a vast amount of information due to the talkative nature of Aulfes. He continued to explain as he wiped his body with a cloth which had a delicate flower scent.

“A lot of people are attending from the lion and bear clans as they are all close friends.”

Therefore, the scale of this evening’s ball is massive. It is said that not only the black panthers, but also the nobles of each territory attend it occasionally.

‘So it turns that that lion stayed at the mansion for the ball too.’

Invitations had also been sent to some herbivore shapeshifters, but most of them were absent. Even though they had the same status, they felt very uncomfortable with the wild beasts.

Thus, the herbivores and predators would usually avoid each other.

Thanks to being a herbivore, I got goosebumps when the I heard the words ‘lion’ and ‘bear’.

“Sometimes, even the nobles from the hyena clan tend to attend.”

‘I-I don’t think I like this.’

The more I listened to the explanation, the more I realised that the ball was not a good place for me to go to. Quickly freeing myself from Aulfes’s hands, I ran across the bed to escape.

Aulfes, who didn’t even know what to think, clapped his hands in satisfaction.

“You’re showing a happy gesture. Bunny-nim must be looking forward to attending the ball too!”

‘That’s not it!’

While looking for an escape route for a long time, the bedroom door opened with some talking voices outside. Recognising the familiar voice, I immediately stopped running and fell down, laying flat on the floor. There was a sound of reluctant footsteps.

“Humbled to be in your presence, Sir Evrin.”

“What about bunny-nim?”

“It was just running happily on the bed…b-bunny nim?!”

Surprised at my numb state, Aulfes shrieked. Then, as if understanding the situation down, Evrin’s calm voice was heard.

“Whenever I appear in front of it these days, it always pretends to be dead. Bunny-nim, this Evrin is very sad. I even volunteered to be your escort.”

As soon as I listened to him, the contradictory words that I had expected pierced my ear.

What escort. Stretching out on all fours with my face down, I hurriedly prayed for Evrin to just go away.

Unlike my wish, there was a sign of someone approaching me from the side. Soon, a terrible voice rang in my ears.

“Bunny-nim, if you don’t get up, I’ll have to find my own methods to escort you personally. Come on, look at my mouth.”

“Aah–“

As Evrin opened his mouth, the sharp fangs flashed right in front of me. A scene so terrible that my face turned blue.

‘Thi-this…!’

I couldn’t stand it, so I jumped up and slapped him on the cheek with my hind leg. He sat down on the bed in the aftermath of the shock and pretended to be surprised.

“How can you use such cruel violence?”

He looked very innocent as he touched his cheek with his hand while wearing a tailcoat. However, running away without any mercy, I soon bit into Evrin’s cuff and backed away.

“This speed and grip. As expected, it’s the skill of a rabbit fighter!”

‘Shut up!’

It made me mad when he acted like that while having a straight face the entire time. There is no difference between this guy and Ahin.

As expected, I hate black panthers.

Frustrated, I stuck my head out of Ahin’s pocket. Now I’m getting used to being carried like this in a pocket.

While looking up at the back, I shot a glare at Evrin. Still, the anger from a while ago did not go away.

“Master Ahin, bunny-nim is staring at me wide eyes.”

“Bibi, glare at me.”

It would be nice if this annoying duo could just shut their mouths. Anxious, I turned my eyes to the front. I took a deep breath and turned my gaze forward and that’s when the foreground came into sight.

‘There’s a separate ballroom.’

I thought I had looked around at a familiar place while walking in the garden, but the path we were currently walking on was another strange place.

Although the current situation was absurd, I was curious about the ball because it was my first time I was attending one in my life.

‘If Ahin is coming with me, then who is Miss Valence’s partner?’

Lost in thought, I suddenly wondered about Miss Valence. She doesn’t really need a partner because she’s the overlord.

Come to think of it, I’ve never seen Ahin’s father ever since I came here. I touched Ahin’s coat with a sad face, as I came up with different conclusions.

“Bibi?”

The territory of the beasts is a place where it is not strange when anyone dies.

Naturally, Ahin’s head tilted to the side as he couldn’t understand my gestures.

“What’s wrong?”

“Maybe you’re rushing with your steps.”

Evrin, you should be quiet. When I scolded him by gesturing with my front foot, he touched his chin in wonder.

“You’ve already learned how to give commands. It feels new.”

Ah. If I have to deal with more than this, I feel like my entire body will turn sore because of all the stress. As I put my front foot back, I calmed down and Evrin, who had been glancing at me, stopped speaking.

“Master Ahin, may I ask why you chose bunny-nim to be your partner?”

For some reason, that seems like a very normal question coming out from that mouth of his. I was curious about the reason and perked my ears up to listen.

Amongst all the humanized shapeshifters, he picked a little transformed rabbit as his partner. It seemed to be difficult to understand even for Evrin.

“If I have it as a partner, it doesn’t matter if I don’t dance.”

It was a clear answer, but in the end, it was no different than saying that he would be using me as an excuse.

Evrin and I, who listened to him at the same time, looked at him with a questionable gaze. It was almost the first time that our thoughts aligned.

Before long, the place I arrived at in front of the iron gate was so magnificent that it was hard to describe. It was hard to think whether the door covered with velvet could even be opened by the power of a shapeshifter.

Unlike the rabbit territory, which had a land rich in crops, the black panther territory was a place full of wealth and this fact hit me as soon as I saw that door.

“Humbled to be in the presence of the next overlord.”

The knights, who confirmed Ahin’s identity, immediately opened the door without going through an identification process.

At the same time as the interior was revealed, there was a gorgeous chandelier and an immeasurable number of guests.

As I watched the scene from afar, my body stiffened as a faint scent brushed my nose.

[ Hey, you know what? The young master of the Gletta family made eye contact with our fourth lady today. ]

[ What? Where? ]

[ Where else. At the banquet of the overlord that was held last month. ]

Judging from the constant conversations between the maids that used to occur after the ball in the rabbit territory, this place was also probably no different from a social gathering where people intended to find a mate.

Therefore, it wasn’t just the splendid decoration that I could see but I could also smell a lot of pheromones. Because pheromones are a kind of sexual fascination too.

Therefore, the place was filled with the smell of pheromones. As soon as I realized this, the area around my heart began to hurt like last time.

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Translator’s Corner

It’s times like these where MTL doesn’t cooperate. I honestly don’t know Aulfes’s gender since it’s kinda a gender neutral name and the Korean language has gender neutral pronouns so it’s hard to figure out. So, let’s just go with him being a guy.