WBRS 39

Chapter 39

When the Black Rabbit Picks Up the White Snake

“…Hmm.”

I suddenly opened my eyes, feeling as though I had just seen something nostalgic. I had been dreaming, but I couldn’t remember what it was about at all.

After waking up, I instinctively glanced toward the window. Letty must have stopped by early in the morning—the curtains were neatly drawn open, but the window itself was tightly shut.

On days with no particular schedule, like today when I slept in, Letty usually didn’t bother waking me.

Since there was nothing to interrupt me, I leisurely pulled out the book from under my pillow. I planned to continue reading where I had left off.

More than anything, if I spent time reading this, Dean might come by…

He always showed up when the afternoon sunlight began to stretch lazily.

“Though lately I haven’t been home, so maybe he won’t come.”

It wouldn’t be strange if he didn’t, considering I hadn’t been around whenever he visited.

Still, just in case, I decided to stay in my room today and read.

Thanks to perceptive Letty leaving milk and cookies, I didn’t even need to go downstairs for breakfast.

I popped a cookie into my mouth and ambitiously opened the book.

The book mainly covered the habits of snakes and how vicious their symbolism was in Rubidium.

Most of it was information I already knew—things I’d heard countless times since childhood—so it wasn’t particularly interesting.

Still, I read carefully, thinking I might come across something unexpected.

Before long, I finished the entire book and closed it without gaining anything significant. At that moment, a thought occurred to me.

“Now that I think about it, there are quite a lot of books about snakes in the underground library. I thought there’d only be one or two.”

I hadn’t counted properly, but there seemed to be over a dozen. And they weren’t new—someone had clearly read them thoroughly.

I picked up another book and absentmindedly read, expecting more of the same, when one sentence caught my eye:

White snakes are sly and cunning, while black snakes are mean and despicable.

“…What’s the difference? They’re both bad anyway.”

I didn’t understand the distinction, but one thing was clear—they were both bad.

“Come to think of it, I’ve never even seen a picture of a black snake. Should I just assume it’s the opposite of Killis, the white snake?”

Tilting my head, I briefly imagined Mangdeok in black, then quickly stopped.

I had poor night vision and disliked darkness, so I didn’t want to encounter a black snake.

At least with a white snake, you could see its silhouette at night—but a black one would be completely invisible.

And personally, nothing was more frightening than something you couldn’t see.

Despite expecting it to be boring, the detailed descriptions of snakes were surprisingly entertaining. Maybe it was because the book was forbidden—it felt twice as interesting.

While I was absorbed in reading, a familiar presence crept up my back.

It was faint but unmistakable—a bold pheromone no one else could imitate.

I immediately got up and walked to the window.

And there it was—hair as red as ever, filling my view. He stood with the sun behind him, just like always.

“Dean!”

“Hello, miss. You’re here today?”

As I opened the window, Dean casually stepped inside.

Half-sitting on the windowsill, he greeted me with his usual playful expression.

“‘Today’? Did you come yesterday too?”

“No, I came every day.”

Dean shook his head lightly, his face full of mischief as usual.

“E-every day?!”

“Yeah. I missed you.”

Seeing my shock, he chuckled and gently reached out to touch my cheek.

“Judging by your reaction, it feels like I’m the only one who missed you.”

“Ah, well… I’ve been a bit busy. I went to the temple, visited the palace—there’s been a lot going on.”

Flustered, I quickly explained. Dean shrugged and withdrew his hand.

“No one’s blaming you. I just said how I felt.”

“…I was just stating facts too. Anyway, how have you been?”

“Same as always.”

Suddenly, I realized I knew almost nothing about how Dean spent his days or what he did.

From what he occasionally mentioned, it seemed like he hunted or led wolves, but…

“What do you mean, ‘same’?”

Curious, I pressed him. His sharp eyes narrowed slightly.

“You’ve got a lot of questions today. Why—are you finally curious about me? Or just pretending?”

“What?”

“You don’t care about me at all. You looked pretty happy with the crown prince.”

There was a sharp edge in his voice, making my heart drop.

I hadn’t done anything wrong, but just knowing he’d seen Killis startled me.

“…Wait, don’t tell me—”

“There you go again, imagining nonsense. I’m not some stalker following you around. I’m pretty busy, you know. I just happened to see you while I was out.”

When I glared at him suspiciously, he tapped my forehead with his finger.

“‘My friend is a stalker!’—I almost reacted like someone in a newspaper interview. Glad that’s not the case.”

“I see… I thought…”

Realizing my misunderstanding, I smiled awkwardly. Dean returned a faint smile and brushed my hair.

“He looked more normal than I expected.”

“Mm, yeah.”

“Not a monster either.”

“Mm-hmm.”

I nodded along with all his observations about Killis—they were all true.

I didn’t know when or how long he had watched, but Dean had clearly observed Killis closely.

“So? Do you like him?”

“Mm… wait, what?”

I almost agreed without thinking, then snapped back to reality in shock. Dean’s ruby-like eyes glinted coldly.

“Why so startled? You didn’t want to marry the crown prince. That’s why I’m asking.”

“Ah… well. Yeah, I didn’t.”

I couldn’t say much, so my responses were hollow.

Then Dean asked something meaningful:

“You still don’t want to, right? Just because he looks decent doesn’t mean you’d want to marry someone you have no feelings for.”

It was an incredibly difficult question.

I already had feelings—for him, ever since he was Mangdeok. But I couldn’t exactly say that Killis had imprinted on me as Mangdeok…

And it would be strange to suddenly claim I liked him after only a few meetings. Officially, I’d only met Killis less than three times.

In reality, I’d met him far more often… and spent several nights with him.

If Dean ever found out, he’d probably storm the palace and burn it down.

So I kept quiet.

“I’m not sure yet. I’m still getting to know him.”

“What’s there to ‘get to know’? You said it yourself—you wanted to marry someone you love, not through an arranged marriage.”

That was true.

Back when I thought I’d be marrying a rumored monster I’d never even seen, it made sense.

But now… I didn’t dislike Killis. Maybe because I’d met him first as Mangdeok, I didn’t feel any strong rejection even after learning the truth.

And, to add a trivial detail… I liked him with long hair.

“I’ll help you break off the engagement.”

“You’ll help me? Why would you…?”

I looked at him in confusion. Then he added quietly:

“You know why. The imperial family killed my innocent father and wiped out my entire house. Losing my family was enough. I won’t lose you too, Lusellin.”

You’re all I have left.

His low voice filled my confused thoughts.

At that moment, I couldn’t deny it anymore—

Dean’s obsession had now completely centered on me.