#35

“Why you’re with that guy, I don’t know, but never trust Jabisi. I’m telling you this for your own good. You may not know because you’ve been in the wild, but Jabisi caused the Great Chaos…!”

“Enough.”

I cut Bianco off, yanking my hand away. His grip had weakened, and I took advantage of it.

“Whitey…?”

Bianco looked at me with a shocked expression. His sudden pretense of concern was nauseating.

‘Why does everyone keep warning me about Jabisi? As if I can’t handle myself.’

No one knew better than I did how dangerous the Jabisi family was. I had already seen the future through the original story.

Despite this, I chose to stay. Bianco’s advice was unnecessary meddling and an annoying intrusion.

“I’ll handle it myself.”

“…”

“And let’s get things straight. The one who put me in danger wasn’t Zerakiel; it was you, Bianco.”

“Ah…”

Bianco sighed deeply, lowering his gaze. Perhaps he realized how ridiculous his advice sounded.

“At least he’s not two-faced like you.”

He’s just consistently crazy, which is better.

At least with Zerakiel, there were no surprises. He was predictably insane, so there was no false trust to shatter.

I gave Bianco a cold stare and turned away. He didn’t try to stop me, seemingly resigned.

Just as I thought it was over, a familiar face appeared around the corner.

* * *

“Did she fall into the toilet?”

Ivan munched on grapes while waiting for Chichi to return. Zerakiel remarked.

“If you’re so worried, why don’t you go check?”

“She’ll come back on her own. If I go, she might not be able to finish her business.”

“Then I’ll go.”

Zerakiel got up, bored without Chichi around.

“If you cling to her too much, she might run away.”

“If she runs, I’ll just bring her back.”

Ivan’s jaw dropped at Zerakiel’s nonchalant expression.

And then what?

Ivan swallowed nervously, noticing the cold gleam in Zerakiel’s eyes at the mention of running away. He was already aware of Zerakiel’s obsessive attachment to Chichi.

It was said that young black lions found it more difficult to control their emotions. Their feelings were primal and instinctual.

Once a black lion became attached to someone, they would obsess over them until death. There was speculation that Jacari’s refusal to remarry was due to an inability to forget his first wife, rooted in this very instinct.

This was why black lions were trained from a young age to suppress their emotions. Acting on pure instinct often resulted in uncontrollable madness.

Zerakiel was known to be the strongest black lion in history, possessing unmatched power and an exceptional ability to suppress his emotions.

He was often referred to as a merciless black lion devoid of emotion. That was until Chichi appeared.

‘He used to be just a crazy black lion. Nowadays, he’s more like a crazy black lion with a few screws loose.’

The additional descriptor was merely a more extreme version of “madman,” which made Ivan somewhat concerned.

Well, somehow, it would work out.

Worrying about the future of someone you couldn’t control was a tiring affair. Expecting anything normal in matters involving a black lion was foolish. For now, he just observed as a chamberlain.

“So, you won’t be gone long?”

Zerakiel smirked at Ivan’s cheeky farewell. Ivan, despite being his chamberlain, just waved him off, telling him to have a good time.

Though Ivan was often lazy, it was convenient in times like these. Having him tag along would have been bothersome.

Zerakiel followed the trace of the imprint as he walked.

“So, you’re here to apologize now?”

Chichi’s voice, cold and unfamiliar, lacked any apparent emotion. It wasn’t anger; it was more akin to resignation. At least, that’s how it seemed, but it wasn’t quite right.

“Who left whom behind?”

Her voice trembled slightly at those words. However, it was only for a moment before the emotion receded.

Zerakiel hid his presence and watched silently.

He recognized the behavior. Zerakiel was also accustomed to suppressing his emotions, so he understood what Chichi’s actions meant.

Pretending to be fine when she clearly wasn’t. Eventually, after repeated attempts, she might start to believe it herself. And then it becomes a part of her.

Zerakiel was puzzled by how familiar Chichi seemed with this emotion. It was as if she had experienced it more than once.

‘So it’s him.’

Zerakiel’s gaze shifted to the man standing before Chichi. Bianco, was it?

In truth, sparing him had been intentional. There was something suspicious about him.

The food stolen from the warehouse that day was minimal. At the time, it seemed like the act of a hungry beast, since they had caught Chichi.

But if Bianco, a priest from Hevel, was the accomplice? That changed everything.

Perhaps the warehouse theft was a cover for something else.

That’s why he had kept him alive—to see who he would meet. And as expected, Bianco had headed towards Page.

Whether Page and Hevel were conspiring together or if he was a spy for Page was still unclear. But it seemed certain that he had raided the warehouse under Page’s orders.

‘What was he looking for, using a ferret who couldn’t even transform as a decoy to buy time?’

The only thing missing back then was food. Which meant he hadn’t found what he was looking for and had fled.

Page, who constantly tried to undermine Jabisi, often attempted to infiltrate the Jabisi Castle.

However, since most of the servants in the castle were lion shapeshifters, infiltration was nearly impossible. Even if they managed to sneak in, the sharp-nosed Jabisi family members would sniff them out and handle it.

So, they had chosen ferrets with barely any pheromones.

Bianco, too, had insignificant pheromones. Given that he met Chichi in the wild, he must have been an abandoned shapeshifter.

Bianco must have known about Chichi’s weak pheromones and used her. And if caught, Jabisi would kill her without hesitation, so cleanup would be easy.

‘Should I kill him?’

Zerakiel unconsciously clenched his fist. If he was expected to play dead, why had he appeared before Chichi again?

It might have been better to kill him cleanly back then if he suspected he was a spy for Page.

As Chichi was about to turn away from the man, Bianco grabbed her and started spouting nonsense.

“Whatever reason you’re with that guy, don’t trust Jabisi. I’m telling you this for your own good. You might not know because you’ve been in the wild, but Jabisi caused the Great Chaos…!”

Zerakiel was about to step in when Chichi surprisingly intervened herself.

“I’ll handle it myself.”

“…”

“And get your facts straight. The one who put me in danger wasn’t Zerakiel; it was you, Bianco.”

Not just a naive ferret, it seemed. Chichi was aware that Bianco had used her.

Knowing this, she had let him go, considering past favors. Such leniency was incomprehensible to Jabisi.

“At least he isn’t two-faced like you.”

Zerakiel stood still, mulling over Chichi’s surprisingly positive assessment of him.

Did she not always find him annoying?

A subtle smile played on Zerakiel’s lips.

“Chichi hates two-faced people.”

I see.