ESMLT 45

Chapter 45

After enjoying such a good spectacle, I headed into the pantry and brought back bacon, eggs, grain bread, and vegetables.

Placing the ingredients on the cutting board, I braced both arms against the sink and looked around.

After we all did a thorough cleaning, each of us took on the tasks that had been assigned by mutual agreement.

Danh was chopping firewood and sitting by the stump, engraving people’s belongings with their names using a carving knife.

The crown prince and Jaeger had gone out to gather mushrooms and were now sorting them in the living room.

Sien was tidying the bedrooms and doing the laundry, while Jenta, the viscount, and I took charge of cooking lunch and cleaning the kitchen.

‘The ones with the easiest time right now are that kid and the rabbit.’

I dragged a chair from the dining table to the opposite side of the kitchen and glanced at Yande, who sat there watching us, cuddling the rabbit that was asleep in his arms.

When I pulled out onions and lettuce for the sandwiches, his eyes sparkled.

“Jenta hyung! You’re good at cooking too! Show noona your da-da-da-da skills!”

Da-da-da-da?

I tilted my head, and Yande mimed chopping with a knife.

‘Ah, I see.’

Naming things with sound effects—it was very childlike and cute.

“Yande, you should be quiet when your brother’s working.”

Normally, a younger brother boasting about his older brother would be adorable, but Jenta coldly dismissed it while stacking plates. His stern glance silenced Yande.

“And it’s dangerous, so turn around.”

“Pfft.”

Yande turned properly but stuck out his lower lip and hugged the rabbit tightly.

His round little head practically had the words ‘I’m sulking’ written across it.

As I peeled and rinsed the onion skins, I observed Jenta.

‘It doesn’t seem like he’s embarrassed… maybe he’s being strict with his brother because he’s still wary of me?’

Well, let’s see what kind of person he really is.

I set the onion on the cutting board and turned toward Jenta.

“Is it okay if I just call you Jenta?”

By status and by age, I was his senior, but I didn’t want to casually speak down to him without showing respect.

He looked a little surprised, then gave a faint smile.

“Please, feel free to speak comfortably.”

“Then I’ll take you up on that.”

I stepped away from the cutting board and gestured.

“Would you slice this onion for me? I can’t handle spicy things very well.”

Jenta hesitated, then wiped his hands on his shirt and stepped forward.

Standing in front of the cutting board, he awkwardly picked up the knife, cut the onion in half, and began slicing…

‘Huh? He’s actually terrible at this?’

Instead of the crisp thok-thok-thok of clean chopping, it was more of a clumsy thunk-thunk.

My surprised look made his face flush. He quickly set the knife down and stepped back.

“Sorry… my brother said something he shouldn’t have.”

“It’s fine. If you’re done with the plates, could you help the Tower Master with the laundry?”

“Alright.”

Since he had just put away the last dish, I tossed an apron draped over the island counter toward him as he turned.

“Oh, and take this with you.”

Whoosh—

He turned and caught the flying apron smoothly. After a brief bow, he headed out the back door.

Yande, either sulking at his brother or finally accustomed to this new environment, didn’t seem uneasy even while left alone.

‘Maybe it’s because I lied to him, saying the male leads and I are just court nobles or their children.’

It had been a close call when the viscount kept calling me Your Highness, but I brushed it off as part of a role-play game. Yande then insisted on playing the prince, and the look on Danh’s face was priceless.

I chuckled at the memory, but then felt a pair of eyes staring holes into me.

“Noona, what’s the rabbit’s name?”

Yande asked, his big eyes sparkling.

I looked at the rabbit in his arms, which was just stirring awake and twisting its body.

‘Come to think of it, it doesn’t have a name.’

When had I started naturally keeping company with this monster rabbit? It hadn’t been that long, yet it already felt distant, as if we’d always been together—proof I had grown attached to it.

I let out a self-mocking laugh.

‘This is why both animals and people are troublesome… I get attached too easily.’

What was even more ridiculous was that, despite thinking that, I was already wondering how I could bring this monster back to the capital with me—and whether owning a monster personally was legal or not.

‘I think I’ve heard of some nobles raising monster rabbits as a status symbol…’

Thump!

Just then, the rabbit hopped out of Yande’s arms and onto the sink.

It smacked its lips at me, clearly asking for food.

I looked at its little pink mouth twitching and said,

“How about calling it Rapo?”

“Rapo? I like it!”

Yande scooted his chair closer and stroked the rabbit.

“Noona says your name is Rapo.”

As if happy to be named, Rapo’s cheeks flushed, and it stood on two legs, craning its neck.

“Rapo—!”

And then it howled like a wolf, as though boasting about its new name.

It was definitely showing off, glancing smugly at Yande and the men in the living room.

“Rapo—!”

When Yande clapped for it, the rabbit puffed up with pride and howled again.

Speechless, I tossed it some lettuce as if to say, That’s enough.

“Here, eat this.”

Snap!

Rapo leapt and caught the lettuce midair, chewing it happily.

As I watched, a realization struck me.

I had nearly overlooked it simply because I’d gotten used to it.

‘Wait… how does Rapo understand its own name and respond?

The monster encyclopedia never said rabbit monsters were intelligent enough for that. What kind of throat and mouth structure does it even have?’*

‘And another mystery—’

Rapo never attacked humans indiscriminately. During our first meeting, it had been hostile only toward me.

‘I thought it was because I seemed weak…’

But then why didn’t it attack Jenta or Yande, the new survivors?

‘Does it hate women? Or is there something about me specifically that triggers its hostility?’

“Meep…”

Now it was eyeing the bacon. I picked it up and held Rapo in my arms.

“Rapo.”

Its long ears twitched.

Bringing my face close, I whispered,

“What exactly are you?”

Yes. Rapo was no ordinary monster rabbit.

Late that night.

I was sitting by the iron mesh, checking the security measures before bed, when someone approached from behind.

I heard footsteps crunching weeds closer—

Whoosh!

A dagger pressed under my chin.

I lowered my eyes to the blade glinting coldly in the moonlight—no, to the messy reflection of its wielder on the steel.

“…Hand over the warp scroll.”

The voice was mixed with ragged breaths.

“Warp scroll?”

At my words, the assailant flinched and pressed the dagger tighter against my neck.

When I suddenly stood up, the dagger wavered and began trembling. Both his hands clutched at the weapon, and I turned to face him.

And there he was—Viscount Lafran, glaring at me.

A sting came belatedly where the blade had grazed my skin.

When I wiped it, a faint smear of blood came away on my fingers.

I raised my bloody hand awkwardly and stared at him expressionlessly.

‘Is this man an idiot? Did he really think that threatening me with a dagger would make me meekly say “yes, of course” and hand it over? The fact that I’ve survived in the zombie zones proves my combat and survival skills already… But well, since he’s treating me like a helpless woman, I guess his brain doesn’t think much further than that.’

Maybe he mistook my silent stare for shock, because he sneered.

“What, surprised I know about the warp scroll? I heard everything—your little whispers in the back garden!”

‘No, I wanted you to hear it.’

I had deliberately emphasized the last part loudly enough.

The only way to dig into Lafran’s secrets was to bait him into approaching me himself.

With people like him, who are hyper-defensive, it was better to throw out bait and wait rather than approach directly. Since I had already planned to prioritize getting him out with the scroll, leaking that information was a risk I could afford.

‘I just didn’t expect him to approach in such a stupid way.’

I thought he’d at most try to flatter or appease me, not point a blade at me.

‘But even so, isn’t he afraid of consequences, waving a dagger around like this…?’

My eyes widened as a thought struck me.

“Hand it over! I’ll use the scroll to escape with the others and call for rescue!”

As expected.

Ever since the first day, his disdain had faded but his hostility had grown—because he believed I was manipulating the male leads with the warp scroll.

So, he concocted this plan to steal it and return as a hero. That way, he wouldn’t be held legally responsible, and so he could dare point a blade at me without hesitation.

‘But that’s strange. If he really overheard our talk in the garden, he should have noticed the men siding with me.’

The confusion lasted only a moment before I figured it out.

Ah. He must think they were only humoring me in hopes of escaping with the scroll.

Whether it was a misunderstanding or not, the fact remained—Lafran had been gravely disrespectful to me and the male leads.