The Symbiotic Relationship Between The Rabbit And The Black Panther [EN]: Chapter 68

The Symbiotic Relationship Between a Rabbit and a Black Panther 15

Evelyn had secretly snuck into Bellhelm Academy, even sacrificing his vacation, without Ahin’s knowledge.

He distracted Quinn, the guard, with strawberries laced with sleeping pills, and was even bitten trying to fend off Ash, who followed him like a shadow.

Barely reaching Lillian’s office, he caught his breath after relaying everything.

“Those rotten elders! They don’t recognize our rabbit’s true worth and are just making empty gestures.”

Lillian, standing by the window, crossed her arms disapprovingly. Evelyn, beside her, gazed out at the picturesque view of the academy campus.

Currently, Ahin was suffering from the elders’ constant objections.

Their demands to prove the rabbit’s existence and abilities were making Ahin’s smile increasingly menacing. It was a terrifying sign that he would soon tear the elders to shreds.

In reality, the uproar would subside if Bibi simply demonstrated her healing pheromones. But Ahin was strangely reluctant to let Bibi be subjected to the elders’ scrutiny.

“Ash, Ash must sense my troubled heart.” Evelyn crouched down, grabbing Ash’s paw.

Ash indifferently ignored him, sprawled out and waiting for Bibi to arrive.

“There must be a reason why my grandson is acting like this.”

Lillian clicked her tongue and put her hands behind her back.

“He’s probably afraid that if he rushes our unprepared rabbit, she’ll disappear again. Pathetic.”

“Lillian, you’re being excessive too, secretly whisking the rabbit away. Ahin has been suffering from nightmares every day while separated from her.”

“That’s the same for our rabbit!”

Evelyn stood up, glancing sideways at Lillian, who kept adding ‘our’ before ‘rabbit’.

“So, what brings you all the way here?”

“The conflict with the elders isn’t good for our rabbit in the long run. So, I came to discreetly seek her opinion.”

Tomorrow was the day of the official meeting with the elders. Evelyn planned to inflict a wound on himself there, and if Bibi immediately displayed her healing ability, the meeting would go smoothly.

“Those bastards…!”

Just then, Lillian, who was looking out the window, frowned.

“What’s wrong?”

Evelyn and Ash, puzzled, approached the window. Instantly, their faces hardened.

“It’s Alan Fredian again.”

“Is he someone bothering our rabbit?”

In the middle of a circle of students, Bibi was seen tightly gripping her backpack straps. It was clearly a scene of harassment.

“Of course, he’s a guy who’s eager to devour our rabbit. This is a big problem; she can’t fully reveal her healing pheromones right now. I’ll go stop him…,”

“Wait, even if you stop him, Lillian, it’s only a temporary fix.”

“So, you’re saying we should stand by and watch?”

“Who do you think I am?”

“I don’t want to know who you are!”

“This capable Evelyn has a plan.”

Evelyn threw open the window, his eyes sparkling.

“It would be good to give the opponent a sense of defeat and show them our rabbit’s spicy side at the same time.”

Evelyn calmly explained, cracking his knuckles.

Lillian, curious about the spicy side he mentioned, glanced outside. The headmaster’s office was high up in the building, making it difficult to discern the details.

“Do you know that my pheromone is a neutralizing pheromone?”

Evelyn slowly manipulated his pheromones, asking in an even tone.

“I’m not curious about you; just tell me the plan.”

“Of course, this plan also requires Lillian’s pheromones to shock the opponent.”

The time had come to prove his unrecognized competence. Evelyn leaned out the window, his jet-black hair disheveled.

“Our rabbit has always tried to threaten when cornered.”

“…So?”

“If the students use pheromones, I will neutralize them all. Lillian, you can shoot pheromones at the target our rabbit is threatening.”

“What are you up to?”

Lillian, while objecting, concentrated pheromones on her fingertips as if compelled.

Evelyn, confirming that, carefully watched below. The students surrounding Bibi were gradually closing in.

The moment Bibi, hesitating, stomped her foot and tried to threaten, “Lillian, now!” Evelyn’s instruction rang out.

* * *

Meanwhile, Bibi, once again caught up in Alan’s petty quarrel, furrowed her brow.

“Why did you shout ‘black panther’ in the classroom?”

Why else, because Ash came.

She had to get to the headmaster’s office quickly for Ash, who didn’t want to be with Evelyn for even a moment. But it wasn’t easy to escape because Alan had brought several beasts with him.

“You’re hiding your backpack again.”

Alan’s sharp gaze landed on Bibi’s hand, clutching the backpack straps.

‘Why is he so obsessed with the backpack?’

Bibi felt endlessly wronged and bit her lip.

If she turned into a rabbit, it would be easy to escape, but she would lose the backpack that Valence had given her as a gift.

‘…In an emergency, I’ll have to use healing pheromones.’

Bibi, agonizing, noticed the hyena beastman slowly approaching.

‘Oh, I won’t let you get away with it.’

Bibi twitched her nose and vigorously stomped her right foot as a warning.

In that instant, the hyena beastman, who was secretly approaching, turned pale and collapsed to the floor with a thud.

“……?”

Bibi and Alan, surprised by the sudden event, exchanged glances.

Alan quickly bent down and confirmed that the hyena beastman had fainted. Red eyes filled with suspicion turned to Bibi.

“You!”

“N-No, I didn’t….”

Bibi waved her hands in denial, sensing a dangerous presence from behind. It was the tiger beastman who had approached in the meantime.

‘Mommy,’ Bibi, startled, reached out her hand without realizing it. At the same time, the tiger beastman also collapsed like a piece of paper.

‘What…?’

Unable to contain her embarrassment, she looked at her hands alternately.

She hadn’t used pheromones at all, so why were the beastmen collapsing?

The purple eyes, filled with questions, stopped at the cheetah beastman who was about to use pheromones.

In fact, the cheetah beastman had been trying to manipulate pheromones, but they were being neutralized as if evaporating, so he was flustered. It felt like someone was intentionally blocking the use of pheromones.

‘Maybe.’

Bibi kicked backwards into the air as a test. Then, the cheetah beastman also fainted like the previous beastmen.

Alan, whose entire group had fainted in an instant, barely supported his legs, which were about to give way.

“What is all this…!”

The students who came with him were as skilled as him. It seemed that taking the top spot as soon as he entered the school wasn’t just luck.

Moreover, he hadn’t even felt the rabbit using pheromones. The aiming skill of not leaking pheromones to the outside was beyond his reach.

“How dare you!”

Alan, desperately trying to raise his pheromones, paused.

Growl-

A black panther, who seemed to have appeared from nowhere, guarded the rabbit as if protecting her.

It was a black panther with a figure that would be revered as a divine creature even in the black panther’s territory.

Alan’s red eyes, blurred and dazed, reached the rabbit. As the rabbit showed her fist, Alan unknowingly flinched and shrugged.

The rabbit was looking at Alan with an aloof face, as if revealing a hidden ability. The spirit emanating from her small clenched fist was extraordinary.

Alan, facing the dreamlike scene of the rabbit summoning the black panther, slumped to the floor.

Shame and defeat swept over him for the arrogance of looking down on and slandering her as a herbivore beastman, and he sobbed.

“Damn it….”

At Alan’s action, as if admitting defeat, Bibi, who had been acting as if she had defeated everyone, secretly sighed in relief.

‘I-It wasn’t me….’

Bibi looked at her trembling hands alternately.

She hadn’t used pheromones at all. But surely, every time she threw a punch, the beastmen had collapsed.

“You were hiding your skills.”

Alan, who had given up, said in a cracked voice.

‘Me…?’

Bibi’s purple eyes, filled with confusion, trembled slightly.

‘Just with spirit…!’

Evelyn’s words from long ago, that the rabbit had the spirit of a general, echoed in her head.

* * *

Night fog enveloped Grace Manor.

Ahin, left alone in his office, checked the blade for tomorrow.

Looking up at the straight blade, he scanned the messenger bird that had flown to the window frame with a flutter. It was Lillian’s old pigeon.

The message it carried began with, [You bastard, why aren’t you sending a reply to our rabbit?] and was full of threats to punish him if he didn’t reply to Bibi immediately.

Ahin, dumbfounded, crumpled the message and threw it behind him. It seemed Bibi had run to Lillian and complained because he hadn’t replied to her letter.

Clang, he put the sword into its scabbard and glanced askance at Lillian’s pigeon.

Bibi, who had even managed to gain the favor of the old fogey.

Lillian, who had a somewhat blind spot, was the kind of person who would hide Bibi if she said she didn’t like being by Ahin’s side.

Thinking it was quite a troublesome combination, Ahin took out stationery from the drawer and unfolded it. It was Bibi’s letter, written in her own meticulous handwriting.

It mainly contained content about her daily life at the academy, and the last part added a small wish that Ahin would be there too.

“There’s no need to reply to this kind of thing.”

Ahin showed the letter to the pigeon and smiled loosely.

“It’s telling me to come to the academy right away, isn’t it? Isn’t it?”

He, who had made an interpretation that Bibi would be horrified to hear, recalled tomorrow’s schedule.

After taking care of the elders, he would go to Bellhelm Academy.

Satisfied, he repeated it to himself silently, and the pigeon’s eyes narrowed. Crazy. The pigeon flew high, thinking that it was suffering at the end of its life as a messenger bird.

With that flapping, Ahin, who belatedly realized that Quinn had not been seen all day, approached the window.

“Quinn, my handsome hair, wait a minute. Don’t peck me.”

Evelyn, who had just returned to his family home for a vacation, came into Ahin’s view.

Quinn, for some reason, was pecking at him with a sharp beak. And next to him, Ash was seen strolling around with a bulging backpack.

Ahin’s eyes, looking down at them as if they had gone out together, turned cold.

‘Suspicious.’

Ash, who was always busy slandering Evelyn, had gone out with him.

Recently, Evelyn had been dreaming of betraying Ahin, abandoning his nearly twenty years of loyalty. For example, colluding with Ash, Bibi’s henchman, to do things against Ahin’s will.

Ahin, with his arms crossed, leaned against the window.

‘…-Is it too much of a leap?’

In fact, it wasn’t like Evelyn and Ash had only spent a day or two together, and they could have gone out together enough.

In the first place, Ahin’s common sense disappeared when it came to Bibi, so he didn’t know exactly where the line of suspicion was.

Was it because he had been extremely nervous for the past year and a half?

Ahin, watching Bara running out barefoot and taking Ash’s backpack in her mouth, closed the curtains.

* * *

Late at night, Evelyn, who had received the backpack from Bara, secretly headed to Valence’s office. Clack, he carefully opened the backpack and placed it on the floor after entering the office completely.

“Rabbit, you can come out now.”

I, who had finally come out, tidied up my disheveled fur.

Evelyn bowed politely to Valence, who was sitting at her desk.

“Head of the family [Valence is the head of the Grace family], please take good care of the rabbit until tomorrow, as I told you.”

‘Please take good care of me.’

I, who couldn’t just stand there blankly, prostrated myself flat on the floor.

“Don’t worry.”

Valence, who seemed to be in a good mood for some reason, responded with a graceful smile. She had her silver hair braided to one side and was wearing a comfortable outfit with a long shawl.

Evelyn, who had finished his greetings, opened the door and stepped into the hallway.

“…….”

He and I exchanged deep glances with the open door between us.

Several hours ago, Evelyn, who had suddenly come to the academy, had told me about the conflict with the elders.

An official meeting about me would be held tomorrow, and Ahin was reluctant to let the word ‘marriage’ enter my ears.

I even felt a chill all over my body when I heard the explanation that Ahin seemed to be planning to sweep away the elders who interfered in everything.

So, after getting permission from my grandfather, I hurriedly came to Grace Manor…. Evelyn said that there was no need to attend the meeting and show my abilities, so I could think carefully tonight and refuse.

Therefore, for now, I had been guided to Valence to spend the night.

‘More than that….’

Feeling a little worried, I pointed at Evelyn’s shoe with my front paw.

He hadn’t told Ahin that he had brought me to Grace Manor or that he had told me about the elders.

I knew he wanted to give me a peaceful time until I made a decision, but Evelyn’s independent actions might be dangerous in the future.

“I know that the word ‘marriage’ is a heavy word for the rabbit.”

Evelyn crouched down and placed his hand on his knee, meeting my gaze.

“That’s why Ahin didn’t tell the rabbit about the elders. But in my opinion… if you overturn the meeting, the elders will back down for now, but they will probably raise objections again soon.”

Evelyn, who opened and closed his mouth for a moment, continued slowly.

“The more that is repeated, the deeper the elders’ antipathy towards Ahin and the rabbit will become. Then they won’t be cooperative when discussing other matters.”

I, whose head was complicated by half surprise at Evelyn’s deep thoughts and half worry about the elders, slumped down.

I knew what he was trying to say.

The more antipathy the elders had, the more opposition there would be when I tried to have a marriage later. Whether it was a problem with race or status.

In that case, it would be better to prove my healing pheromones this time and buy goodwill for my abilities instead of antipathy.

But that was almost the same as making the marriage with Ahin a reality.

“Although it’s a method for both of you, I’m sorry for burdening you in the end. Of course, you can refuse to prove your abilities, and even if you do prove them-….”

Hmm, Evelyn, looking at the air as if agonizing, looked down at me again.

“You can just dump Ahin later if you don’t like him. In addition, it’s a secret that I said this. Of course, so are both of you.”

Evelyn’s persistent gaze was directed at the security guards guarding the sides. They, under unspoken pressure, avoided looking at him as if they hadn’t heard.

“I believe the head of the family will also keep it a secret.”

“I’ll think about it.”

Valence’s answer, who had been listening to the conversation from inside the office, was heard.

How is Evelyn still alive after doing this?

“I’m telling you too late,”

As I was sighing deeply, his index finger covered my front paw.

“Bibi, thank you for coming back safely.”

I thought it was strange to hear the title ‘Bibi’ from Evelyn, but I realized that he had called my name properly for the first time.

My heart was touched, and I gently held Evelyn’s index finger with my front paw.

Are you going to throw away that strange title of rabbit now?

“But… you should have written at least one letter.”

However, Evelyn, who immediately changed his attitude, flicked his index finger at my front paw.

“You needed me so much while staying at Grace Manor; how could you not have any news?”

‘That’s…!’

I couldn’t even write a letter because my hands were shaking just thinking about Songotni. Moreover, I never needed you so much.

I, who had a lot to say, stood up on two feet. Tok, but I stumbled and fell because Evelyn had lifted my back foot with his index finger.

“Honestly, I’m disappointed; you grind your teeth every time you see my face.”

‘Really!’

“I’ll tell Ahin everything. Even that you whispered love with the pig beastman during class.”

I had only whispered to Hendry. His slander was still top-notch.

I, glaring with dagger eyes, stared at my cotton-like front paw.

If the beastmen collapsing in the afternoon wasn’t a coincidence. While hesitating whether to test it on Evelyn, I looked up at his neat face, and the day we first met flashed by like a panorama.

‘Probably special…! It seems to be emergency food.’

If it weren’t for that calm psycho, my position wouldn’t have fallen from a picked-up rabbit to emergency food.

Please, if there is a hidden ability, come out now. I, whose anger was surging, shouted and threw my front paw into the air.

Evelyn, who had been blankly watching the sudden strange behavior, soon collapsed to the floor, clutching his stomach.

‘E-Evelyn!’

I hurriedly ran to Evelyn and lifted his eyelids, but there was no movement.

I didn’t think it would really work. I, who had stepped back trembling, turned my front paw back and forth. It seems like there is a hidden power.

* * *