The day after that incident, Casium came to see me and asked to meet briefly in the evening.
He gave some strange excuse about needing a hangover cure after drinking heavily.
“...What are you talking about? Who does a hangover cure in the evening? And with me, of all people?”
“Just come out, Lize. Anyway.”
And then, of course, he didn’t even show up at the meeting place!
It felt like he had made up that ridiculous excuse just to mess with me and drag me out.
And then—where the hell did he disappear to?!
“Casium! You bastard!!”
I suddenly shouted in anger. The rabbit flinched at my voice.
“Ppi, ppii……”
The rabbit trembled, staring at me with shocked eyes.
“Sorry, I wasn’t yelling at you.”
Looking at the rabbit, I gently picked it up.
‘It’s not running away!’
Holding its warm, soft, fur-covered body made me feel oddly calm.
“Ppii.”
The golden rabbit, which had been staring blankly for a moment, slowly pulled out its fluffy paw and placed it on the back of my hand.
Then it lightly patted me a couple of times with its jelly-padded paw.
“Are you comforting me?”
“Ppiii.”
“You’re a good rabbit.”
Well, protagonists in novels rarely have bad personalities. And besides, this one is destined to fall in love with my younger sibling.
I happened to pick up this rabbit on a day when my anger toward Casium was boiling over.
For some reason, it felt like this rabbit was a treasure that had come to find me.
Though it wasn’t exactly very friendly to me yet.
And technically… it wasn’t me it came for—it came for Bryce.
“Golden Rabbit.”
I hugged it closer and gently stroked its forehead.
This time, the rabbit didn’t avoid my hand. After glancing around, it slowly closed its eyes, its expression becoming peaceful.
“Shall we go see Bryce?”
“Ppik?”
The rabbit made a rather sharp sound.
“Bryce is my younger sibling. He’s just as cute as you.”
“Ppaeng.”
“What kind of sound is that?”
Holding the rabbit, I stood up.
“Anyway, let’s go to Bryce now. He’ll take care of you. You’ll get along with him much better than with me.”
The rabbit, looking displeased in my arms, suddenly jumped down.
“Golden Rabbit! No—be good! You can’t just go anywhere!”
I shouted in alarm.
Bryce and I only stayed in the annex. If the rabbit wandered off into the main building and met my uncle…
‘Why on earth is a creature like this in my estate?’
He’d probably say that—and deal with it immediately.
But the rabbit, unaware of my worries, leapt again.
It covered an incredible distance in a single jump.
I tried reaching out to grab it, but it wasn’t easy.
Like a true high-grade rabbit, it pushed open the slightly ajar door with its head and darted out into the hallway.
‘Why is it so fast?!’
I mean, sure, I’d heard from stories like The Tortoise and the Hare that rabbits have well-developed muscles—but still!
Those muscular legs are that powerful?!
“Stop right there!”
In the annex hallway, the race between me and the rabbit began.
“Have we still not found Captain Casium?”
“No, not yet.”
The ‘Black Panther’ division of the Erne Knights.
A man with brown hair repeatedly bumped his head against the wall, his face filled with worry.
The short-haired, ash-gray female knight nodding in front of him looked no different.
They were Hedell and Millia, adjutants to Division Captain Casium Valteir.
“Where on earth did he go? He was injured too.”
“If we knew, wouldn’t we have found him already?”
“I know, I know—it’s just frustrating. What if something really happened to him…”
At Hedell’s words, Millia shook her head firmly.
“That’s impossible. This is Captain Casium we’re talking about. Even if he was attacked by enemy forces, there’s no way he’d be kidnapped, tied up somewhere, or… cross the point of no return.”
“R-right. Millia. Calm down.”
“We’ll find him. He’s probably recovering somewhere and waiting for the right moment to return.”
“I think so too.”
The two reassured each other.
Casium, the captain of the Black Panther division of the Erne Knights—
had been ambushed a few days ago and disappeared.
Hedell and Millia suspected it was the work of enemy forces.
Casium had reclaimed territory that the enemy had unlawfully occupied, earning their resentment.
A few days earlier, the three had been returning from the forest carrying the heart of a Rank-1 monster, a Lagon.
But they were attacked along the way, and the heart was stolen.
In the chaos of battle, Casium vanished without a trace.
The two searched for hours but couldn’t find him at all.
If news of the captain’s disappearance spread, it could boost enemy morale and weaken their own.
Worse still, they hadn’t even captured the enemy who stole the Lagon’s heart.
So until they dealt with that enemy, they decided to keep Casium’s disappearance a secret.
Outside the window, the cold winter forest stretched under a biting wind.
The knights clenched their fists and set out once more to search for him.
“Huff… huff…”
This is harder than knight training…
After running around for quite a while, the rabbit eventually ended up back in my room.
At least it hadn’t been spotted by my uncle.
But since it refused to go far from my room, this was quite troublesome for me.
‘If it stays here, it won’t get close to Bryce!’
Wait—wasn’t it supposed to be curious in the original story? Going from room to room, liking new places?
Then why is it sticking only to my room now?
But since the rabbit stubbornly refused to leave, there was only one option left.
Bring Bryce to my room.
“Sis, what is it—whoa! That rabbit, it woke up?”
“Bryce, come here.”
“Why did you call me?”
“Feed the rabbit.”
“Why me?!”
I gestured again at my younger brother, who raised his voice.
Grumbling, Bryce slowly walked over.
“Bryce, you like rabbits.”
“I do not!”
No, I’ve always believed you do…
That was basically a premise of the original story—you picked it up and took care of it. Wasn’t that because you liked rabbits?
“Anyway, just feed it.”
“Where’s the food?”
“Here.”
I held out a bowl filled with grass.
“Seriously, sis… honestly. Sigh.”
With a deep sigh, Bryce grabbed some grass and held it out half-heartedly.
“Eat.”
Not exactly a kind gesture.
The golden rabbit snorted.
“Sis? This rabbit just laughed!”
“It’s nice when a rabbit laughs, Bryce.”
“No, that’s not it! It mocked me!”
“So what if a rabbit mocks you? Is your life going to fall apart?”
“…Well, no, but…”
Bryce tried again, this time with a bit more sincerity.
‘In the original, it definitely said…’
It was from a later flashback.
[When Bryce first offered the grass, he felt as though he was sharing not just food, but his heart. He only understood that feeling much later.]
Yes, share your heart!
“Sis, it’s not eating.”
“What?”
“The rabbit won’t eat the grass.”
“Really?”
Sure enough, the golden rabbit had turned its head away from Bryce and was refusing to eat.
“Golden Rabbit, ah—open up.”
I coaxed it, but it ignored me.
Instead, when Bryce pushed the grass closer, it tried to nibble on his clothes.
“Sis! Does this rabbit even eat grass?!”
“It should?!”
“No, I don’t think it does. Look at those muscles. You’re telling me that comes from just grass?”
“Hmm.”
I took the grass from Bryce and held it out myself.
“Golden Rabbit.”
The rabbit glanced at me.
It frowned deeply, as if reluctant, and looked back and forth between me and the grass.
“See? It’s not eating,” Bryce said.
“No, come on, you must be hungry.”
It definitely ate well in the original… Is it just unfamiliar? Or does it not like eating alone?
I crouched down to meet its eyes and put a few blades of grass into my mouth.
“See? It’s tasty.”
“Ppi?”
The rabbit made a confused sound.
Bryce stared at me in shock, so I waved my hand.
“It’s edible for humans too. It was in the side dishes you had this morning.”
Well, technically this rabbit is human too…
As I explained—
I suddenly felt something tug at the grass in my hand.
“…!”
Turning quickly, I saw the rabbit chewing on it indifferently.
“See! It’s eating!”
“It doesn’t look like it wants to.”
“But it’s eating!”
My face brightened.
Bryce hesitated, then offered grass again.
“Here, eat.”
He tried to hide it, but there was a hint of expectation in his eyes.
“Pff.”
The rabbit snorted and turned away.
“Y-you… rabbit!”
“Bryce, why are you getting mad?”
“It only refuses my grass!”
“Try offering it more sincerely.”
“How am I supposed to do that?!”
“Like this.”
I smiled gently and held out the grass again.
The rabbit glanced between me and the grass—and then quickly snatched it with its front teeth.
Bryce looked at it with clear displeasure.
After hesitating again, he held out another handful.
“Rabbit… eat.”
With an awkward attempt at a smile tugging at his lips.
