The two rabbits met each other’s eyes.
“Pii?”
“Pii? Bii?”
Bryce stood watching the scene, holding the rabbit nail clippers he had received from Rize.
The rabbit with soft platinum-blond fur was one he had picked up from a grassy field a while ago.
Normally, he would have just walked past a rabbit curled up like that.
‘Bryce, you have to take that rabbit. What are you doing?!’
But at that moment, his older sister’s scolding voice came back to him.
Like Pavlov’s dog, Bryce had reflexively walked over to the rabbit.
“Pii……”
A small rabbit curled up, avoiding the early spring cold.
Its eyes had been tightly shut, but its eyelids twitched—and the moment their blue, round eyes met—
Bryce somehow felt he couldn’t ignore this rabbit.
So he brought it home, and while raising it, he began to think this rabbit was not ordinary.
It was either a magical beast or a spirit beast.
For one thing, it seemed to understand human speech far too well.
And just watching it made his muddled heart feel strangely clear.
Even when he was exhausted from knight training, studies, or his uncle’s shouting—
When he made eye contact with the rabbit and heard its bright voice,
When the rabbit clung to his shoulder with its soft paws as if comforting him,
All his worries seemed to melt away.
So it definitely wasn’t an ordinary rabbit.
At first, he hadn’t intended to grow so attached.
But his affection kept growing, to the point where he even had the absurd thought that he wished the rabbit could turn into a person and talk with him.
‘And now Pipi and Kim Togi are talking.’
Pipi was the name Bryce had given the rabbit.
As for “Kim Togi,” he wasn’t sure if it was named by his sister or by the knights from the unit.
Anyway, the moment he saw Pipi and Kim Togi communicating in “rabbit language”…
‘Why are they having a conversation I don’t understand?’
For some reason, Bryce felt a slight pang of jealousy.
Jealous of a rabbit? Even he thought it was strange.
But the feeling was real.
“Pipi, come here.”
Bryce called Pipi over, but the rabbit glanced at him with round eyes, then looked back at Kim Togi and hesitated.
“Pipi!”
Bryce walked over and tried to separate Kim Togi from the sofa to break up their conversation.
But Kim Togi’s grip was surprisingly strong—it clung to the sofa and wouldn’t come off.
“Hoo… hoo…”
Bryce ended up doing a full workout for nothing thanks to Kim Togi and panted heavily.
“Pii.”
Kim Togi said something while looking at Bryce.
He couldn’t understand rabbit language, but it sounded like a request.
“Ping.”
Kim Togi pointed at Pipi.
Pipi also folded its ears and nodded as if pleading.
It seemed like they were asking for a little time to talk.
“You came here to get your nails trimmed, so just get your nails trimmed…”
Bryce muttered, but eventually stepped back and released Kim Togi.
If only Kim Togi had asked, he might not have complied—but Pipi’s pleading eyes were impossible to ignore.
Bryce pressed his lips together and sat on the bed with a book.
Meanwhile, Pipi and Kim Togi began their conversation.
“Another rabbit…?”
When someone’s voice came from behind the sofa, Cassium immediately looked over.
To the ears, it sounded like a rabbit’s “pii,” but in his mind, it turned into human speech.
“…What the.”
“A rabbit? Is it… a person?”
At the moment he was speaking with a platinum-furred rabbit, Cassium realized this rabbit was in the same situation as him.
After barely convincing Bryce to stop interrupting them, Cassium jumped down from the sofa.
“Wow, you’re really a person? This is amazing. So this is what it feels like to see a person turned into a rabbit.”
The platinum rabbit, seemingly quite talkative, kept firing off questions.
“What’s your name? Where are you from? Where are you staying? Do you live in this house?”
“Ask one thing at a time.”
Overwhelmed by the nonstop questions, Cassium finally managed to speak.
“When did you become a rabbit?”
“It’s been just under a month. You?”
“About two or three weeks… Wait, so you’ve been like this for a whole month? Good grief. Or maybe that’s better, actually.”
“What do you mean better?”
“Living as a rabbit isn’t so bad. It’s actually kind of fun.”
“How boring was your human life?”
“But if you have to go back to normal and return home, then maybe this is better than that?”
Cassium looked at the platinum rabbit.
‘We might be in the same situation, at least.’
But he wasn’t sure how much useful information he could get.
From the tone, the rabbit sounded younger than him—and it was even questionable whether it wanted to return to being human at all.
Still, it was better than nothing. There was no harm in talking more.
“Oh, we haven’t introduced ourselves yet. I’m Riri Selberdin.”
So she’s the daughter of House Selberdin, the baron family.
Cassium recalled that Rize had recently visited the Selberdin household.
He didn’t particularly like Baron Selberdin.
The man was unable to hide his jealousy.
There had been an incident where, due to the ducal family’s business, Selberdin’s business fell behind, and afterward he spread false rumors defaming the ducal house.
Anyway, the young lady of such a family had turned into a rabbit.
“And you? Who are you?”
“It’s a secret.”
“What? I told you mine!”
“I never asked you to tell me.”
Riri stared at him with wide eyes, as if stunned.
As she fumed, Bryce glanced over toward them.
“Stop getting angry. Your owner will stop us from talking again.”
“Then at least tell me something else. Hmm… do you know Bryce’s sister? What kind of person is she?”
“If I answer, will you answer mine too?”
“That’s how it works! I told you something first, so you tell me too. Seriously.”
“The information you gave isn’t what I want. If you want what you want, you have to tell me what I want too.”
“…Ugh, fine. What do you want to know?”
“Do you know who turned you into a rabbit?”
It was honestly a question asked without much expectation.
But then—
“I know.”
“You do?”
“Yes.”
Riri answered as if it were obvious.
Cassium’s golden eyes wavered for a moment. He asked again in a calm voice.
“Who is it?”
“Answer my question first. What kind of person is Bryce’s sister?”
“Why are you so curious about Rize?”
“She’s going to be my future sister-in-law, so of course I’m curious.”
The moment he heard that bold statement, Cassium choked.
“Sister-in-law?”
“Yes. I’m going to marry Bryce when I turn back into a human.”
“……”
“Just answer already.”
“She’s a knight. A very capable imperial knight. No—more than that.”
“Is she kind?”
“……”
“Not kind?”
“She is kind.”
Riri looked at him suspiciously.
Cassium cleared his throat again.
“She cares a lot about my younger brother.”
He recalled what Rize had once said when they were trapped in a cave after suppressing Luxca.
‘Bryce is very dear to me. Sometimes he acts like a troublesome fourteen-year-old, but I still want him to always be happy.’
“Anyone who loves their sibling would care about others just as much.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“Now are you satisfied? Who turned you into a rabbit?”
“That would be…”
The moment Riri answered—
Cassium perked his ears even more sharply.
What did she just say?
