ITBFL | Chapter 17

Episode 17

“You crazy bastard.”

“What did you just say? Shut…”

“Shut up.”

“What I was going to say was…”

Mars’s collar was clenched in my hand, crumpled without mercy.

The strength in my grip felt like it could crush his collarbone.

“What did you do?”

“I poisoned it.”

“…”

I threw Mars aside. Then, after landing a punch on him, I immediately started running toward the annex.

‘No, Golden Bunny…!’

When did he poison it?

No, I shouldn’t have left Golden Bunny alone and come to the main house.

‘No…’

The word “no” echoed in my head over and over again.

Could such a small Bunny survive poison? What if it’s already dead?

I burst into the annex.

“Malon!”

“Yes, Lady Lize.”

Malon, who had been opening a window in the main living room, quickly came to me when I called.

“Did you see the bunny? It must’ve come to the main house alone earlier, my rabbit…”

“My lady, please calm down. Are you speaking of Golden Bunny?”

“Yes. What other bunny would I be talking about?”

“If it’s Golden Bunny, it’s in your room.”

The moment I heard Malon’s answer, I sprinted upstairs to my room.

‘Golden Bunny, Golden Bunny…!’

And as soon as the door opened…

In the middle of the sofa in my room, I saw a fluffy black rabbit curled up in a ball.

“No, Golden Bunny…”

My legs gave out, and I collapsed to the floor.

The rabbit was lying there with its eyes closed, not moving an inch.

“Golden Bunny, no. I haven’t even told you the story you were curious about yet.”

If I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have postponed it.

“The story I wanted to tell you earlier was that Cassium received a new secret mission from the Emperor and has been carrying it out… That’s why he was missing for so many days…”

I mumbled, not even aware of what I was saying, as I stared at the unmoving Golden Bunny.

“To me, it’s an upsetting and envious story, but to you, it’s nothing special… Why didn’t I just tell you this earlier?”

The things I didn’t do for Golden Bunny, the things I postponed, filled me with regret.

Having remembered my previous life, I valued this one, knowing it was the only chance I’d have.

And yet, I’d done something so regretful, something I could never undo.

“Golden Bunny… I’m sorry.”

At that moment.

“Beep…?”

The black bunny lifted its head.

“Beep!”

The bunny called out to me with its usual expression.

There wasn’t even the slightest trace of illness; it looked as healthy as ever.

I froze in place, barely able to breathe.

“Beep?”

“Golden Bunny…”

As I sat motionless, the bunny trotted over to me.

“Beep.”

The bunny tapped my foot and looked up at me, as if asking if I was okay.

“…!”

I immediately scooped up Golden Bunny into my arms.

“Are you okay?”

“Beep?”

“Mars didn’t feed you anything weird, did he? He didn’t give you anything poisoned, right?”

“Beep, beep-beep, sss…”

As soon as I mentioned Mars, it sounded like the bunny was cursing.

“Beep! Beep-beep-beep—!”

“Golden Bunny, curse as much as you want. But I’m just so glad you’re okay. If something had really happened to you…”

Tears began to well up.

I don’t cry easily, but just thinking about how close Golden Bunny had come to dying made tears spill from my eyes.

“Because of that bastard Mars…”

I tilted my head back to stop the tears from falling, but a single drop rolled down anyway.

“Beep.”

Golden Bunny reached out. The tear landed with a soft plop on the bunny’s paw.

The rabbit blinked, seemingly flustered at the sight of my tears.

“Beep.”

Golden Bunnys expression wasn’t the same as usual.

What should I call it…?

‘It looks angry.’

Then, suddenly, Golden Bunny leapt out of my arms and dashed off somewhere before I could stop it.

Mars was rubbing a cold egg against his cheek.

The cheek that had swollen red after Lize’s punch was finally starting to calm down.

“Ha.”

The sight of Lize running off pale as a ghost…

Even though laughing made his swollen cheek hurt more, Mars couldn’t stop.

It was funny to see Lize reacting like that over some insignificant creature, and it felt satisfying to have really hit her where it hurt.

‘See? That’s what happens when you mess with me.’

Mars snorted and chuckled again.

As he laughed, his father’s words suddenly flashed through his mind.

‘You won’t disappoint me, will you, Mars?’

Ah, but he’d failed the intermediate knight exam. What to do now?

He had been planning to bribe the knight commander, but someone had ruined it by putting dirt in his water bottle.

‘Who could’ve done that?’

Mars stopped rolling the egg in his hand.

‘Could it have been that kid Bryce?’

He shook his head and resumed rolling the egg.

‘No way. There’s no way that kid could mess with my stuff.’

Then who could it have been?

‘The rabbit’s dead.’

No, there’s no way a rabbit could’ve done such a thing in the first place.

At that moment.

Whoosh.

The lamp lighting Mars’s room went out with the wind.

“What the…”

The room was plunged into darkness in an instant.

“Byrne! Byrne! Turn the light back on!”

Mars called for his attendant, Byrne, but there was no response.

“Was it the wind?”

Mars muttered to himself in the stillness, standing up and heading toward where the lamp was.

Whoosh.

A gust of wind whistled right by his ear.

Before he could figure out what it was…

“Ugh!”

Mars was swept off his feet and collapsed to the ground with a thud.

‘What… This feeling… It’s familiar…!’

He had a sense he’d been struck down like this before.

Who was it that had kicked him back then?

“Wait…!”

Mars stood up but was immediately struck in the back of his knees and forced to kneel again.

“Ugh, this feeling…! That rabbit!”

Although he shouted, confusion overtook him, and he couldn’t say another word.

Hadn’t he fed poison to that rabbit himself?

The plants had been laced with poison so potent that no rabbit could have survived after consuming it.

‘But why does the kick that hit my knees feel so much like that rabbit?’

As the thought crossed his mind—

“Beep.”

A strange sound came from behind him.

The wind whispered through the slightly parted curtains.

And then…

“…!”

When he turned around, a figure appeared against the darkness, backlit by the moonlight.

The shadow of an enormous rabbit loomed over Mars’s face.

“Beep.”

A voice, low and brimming with suppressed rage, echoed with overwhelming intensity.

‘A ghost…’

That was his last thought before Mars lost consciousness.

Morning.

Standing in front of the mirror, I tidied my outfit one last time. Then, I turned to look at Golden Bunny reflected in the mirror.

Golden Bunny was lying on the sofa, its ears tightly covering its eyes.

‘It always does this whenever I’m changing clothes.’

Smiling at Golden Bunny’s antics, I adjusted my attire.

The crisp white jacket of my knight’s uniform, adorned with golden embroidery, shimmered under the soft morning sunlight.

The silver emblem of Erne, symbolizing my rank as division leader, gleamed brightly in its place.

It was a beautiful uniform, always worth the effort I’d put into earning it.

“Golden Bunny, I’m done dressing!”

Golden Bunny finally moved its ears away from its eyes and looked up at me.

Seeing that, I turned and smiled.

The sunlight streaming in through the windows brightened the cheerful atmosphere. Feeling uplifted, I decided not to tie my hair fully as usual, leaving it half-loose instead.

“…Beep.”

Golden Bunny stared at me, almost dazed.

“Golden Bunny?”

“…”

“What’s wrong? Have you fallen for me?”

“…?!”

Golden Bunny blinked its eyes rapidly—ten times in just a second.

Then, folding its ears back, it shook its head furiously and hopped straight into its designated bag.

“Haha, I was just joking.”

“…”

Even though it must’ve known I was joking, Golden Bunny’s dramatic reaction was irresistibly adorable.

‘As if Golden Bunny would ever fall for me!’

Leaving the mansion, I climbed into the carriage bound for the knights’ headquarters.

“So, where did you go last night?”

“Beep?”

“You suddenly dashed off somewhere in the middle of the night.”

“Oh, beep.”

Golden Bunny shook its head dismissively, as if telling me not to worry.

I didn’t know what it had been up to, but its carefree attitude made me chuckle.

I asked a few more times out of curiosity, but Golden Buuny only kept shaking its head, so I decided to drop the subject.

“By the way, I have something to tell you, Golden Bunny.”

After a brief pause, I continued.

“We were supposed to go out for a stroll together this afternoon, but I don’t think we can anymore.”

“Beep?”

“A very important guest is coming today.”

Truthfully, I’d never thought much about marriage, let alone an arranged one, so I didn’t know much about the process.

All I knew was that the process involved a proposal, the exchange of formal marriage letters, and mutual agreement from both sides before the marriage proceeded.

Golden Bunny peeked out of the bag and stared at me, seemingly waiting for me to say more.

“Oh, it’s not that big of a deal. They’re just here for some formal discussions, that’s all.”

Brushing off the topic with Golden Bunny, I murmured almost to myself,

“I wonder if I’ll get to see Cassium today…”