#2.

Before I knew it, the street had become extremely narrow. The lion joyfully shook its head and even lit up its eyes.

Its majestic presence made my legs tremble.

Could this be the end of my life as a ferret?

It’s disheartening to be reincarnated as an animal, but to think that the culmination of my life is becoming lion food is just too much!

Most people, when they are reincarnated, become the protagonist or at least an extra in a well-known novel.

I, on the other hand, was just a lowly ferret. Not only that, I had been reborn in some unknown place and was on the brink of starving to death!

Up until now, my surroundings consisted of abandoned or ordinary animals.

Apart from Bianco, I had barely interacted with any animals, and it had already been a year since I arrived here.

The first thing I saw upon opening my eyes in this world was a vast field, and I was a subpar humanoid at best.

It was evident that I was not of noble birth, considering I didn’t even know who my parents were. If I were of noble birth, I wouldn’t have to endure such a harsh life!

Whether it was my past life or my current one, I was thrown into a harsh world either way. Here, the only being I could trust was myself.

In the end, I had to go hunting to survive and hide from the threats of natural enemies, just like everyone else. It had been a year of struggling and suffering to the point of death.

I can’t die so pointlessly like this…

I began to shed tears, overwhelmed by sorrow. Whether it was human life or the life of a ferret, how could they all be so miserable?

‘Why am I always alone…!’

I want to go back!

At the moment when I half-blinded my vision with tears while shouting an impossible hope, my thick shadow was cast. When I looked up in surprise, I had already been caught by the lion’s front paws.

“Chuuu!”

Save me!

I rolled around. Fortunately, the soles of this guy’s front paws were quite cozy, and it didn’t hurt much.

Instead, I rolling around without a care in the world. Rolling and rolling.

Even in the midst of this, the lion held me tightly to prevent me from escaping.

Is this how a mouse feels inside a venomous snake?

I began to anticipate the impending death and started crying loudly.

“Chuuuu!”

Why is living so difficult! I hate it! I hate everything!

I cried sorrowfully, shedding tears like crystals. Then, suddenly, I glared at the lion in indignation.

The lion didn’t try to eat me, but instead, it just stared at me intently. Its golden eyes gleamed like the sun.

Although my fur bristled with a creepy feeling, the following wave of sorrow was even stronger.

‘Do you think I’ll just die without a fight?’

I don’t need any of that. If I’m going to die like this, then let me die. A wild ferret gains courage to face a lion after a year.(Korean idiom)

So, I decided that if I’m going to die, I might as well taste the lion’s fur before I go, and with determination, I bit down hard on the lion’s front paw.

“Chu, Chuuu! Chomp!”

Look at me, I’m a carnivore too!

The lion may not have tasted me, but I’ll at least bite its claws!

I eagerly chewed on the lion’s front paw, but it wasn’t easy to pierce the tough skin with my teeth.

Moreover, I was weak due to the harsh winter I had experienced as a defenseless ferret.

The lion’s skin was unbelievably tough, unlike the rabbits or other animals I had encountered. It felt like biting into a rock.

Finally, I collapsed in exhaustion. Just when I thought the lion’s body was softening, it transformed into the appearance of a young boy and mumbled to himself.

“Fascinating.”

As if he had never seen a ferret like me before.

I stared at him in silence, trying not to provoke him. As a humanoid now, he could potentially cause harm, but I didn’t want to risk being devoured.

I looked at him as if asking when I had ever troubled him. The boldness I had earlier had faded away like smoke against the boy’s rock-like skin.

So, I started thinking about an alternative plan. Perhaps if this guy was vulnerable to cuteness, he might be swayed by my irresistible charm and let me go.

After all, ferrets do have a cute appearance.

However, that hope was in vain. Without warning, he released pheromones that entranced me. I groaned at my first encounter with such a powerful pheromone attack and collapsed on his palm. It was as if I had been injected with anesthesia, and my whole body felt sluggish.

“Chuu?”

This was the first time I fell victim to a pheromone attack, and I grumbled as I slumped on his palm. The pheromone was so potent that it made my entire body feel lethargic, as if I had been drugged.

‘Darn it, using cheat codes so recklessly…’

I cursed the boy beyond my blurred vision, who I had carelessly bitten.

* * *

When Zerakiel arrived at the castle, Ivah, who had been conversing with the warehouse keeper, noticed him and approached. Judging by Ivah’s serious expression, something had happened at the castle while Zerakiel was away.

Ivah spoke seriously, “Lord Zerakiel, there has been a thief in the food storage.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, it seems they used a crude method, and it doesn’t seem like the work of hyenas. It appears to be the mischief of some small animal, perhaps a ferret or a squirrel.”

“Hmm.”

Zerakiel absentmindedly reached into his pocket and petted a small white ferret at the mention of a ferret. It seemed like they had caught the culprit.

At that moment, the small ferret, despite its fluffy appearance, suddenly bit Zerakiel’s finger and chirped. It seemed to consider Zerakiel as nothing more than a piece of meat. This tiny creature had been chewing on him fearlessly for a while.

Zerakiel recalled the recent events and burst into laughter, saying, “Haha.”

Ivah, perplexed, asked, “Lord Zerakiel? Where exactly is the humor in my story?”

Ivah tilted his head, wondering why Zerakiel was laughing. When Zerakiel laughed like this, something unusual was bound to happen, and Ivah became anxious.

He narrowed his eyes and asked in a rough voice, “Have you caused some trouble again? If that’s the case, don’t beat around the bush, just tell me. I’m already swamped with Lord Zerakiel’s cleanup duties.”

“The trouble is not mine, but this one’s.”

Zerakiel said as he took the white ferret out of his pocket, maintaining a composed demeanor. Ivah’s gaze suddenly shifted to the ferret.

“Is this… a ferret?”

Ivah exclaimed, and it was quite understandable because the cheeky ferret was biting Zerakiel’s hand without any fear, even dribbling saliva in the process.

* * *

Inside Zerakiel’s bedroom.

‘How did this little ferret catch Zerakiel’s eye…’

Ivah gazed at the white ferret before him as if looking at a pitiful creature. The white ferret was asleep, completely unaware of the dark future that lay ahead, while playfully biting and emitting a deadly cuteness.

“Unbelievable…”

Ivah shivered as he watched the ferret’s sleeping habits. Having seen only large lions all the time, encountering such a tiny ferret felt quite strange.

It was evident that it was a humanoid, probably due to the faintly sensed pheromones. However, it seemed incapable of transforming into a human. Perhaps it had difficulty with human transformation because it lacked innate pheromones.

Typically, humanoids succeeded in transformation within half a year of being born. Occasionally, some humanoids experienced late transformations or were unable to transform at all. In such cases, like the ferret in front of them, they were abandoned and left to live like ordinary animals in the wild.

There was no place as strictly governed by the law of survival of the fittest as in the world of humanoids.

It was clear that this ferret had been abandoned by its parents.

Ivah briefly recalled his conversation with Zerakiel.

“Could this be the thief from the storage?”

“We might need to ask this fluffy one for that.”

“What do you intend to do?”

Are you going to kill it?

Ivah refrained from asking that directly, and Zerakiel responded with a bright smile, “I’ll just wait and see.”

“Just wait and see?”

“I think I’ll keep it.”