The Symbiotic Relationship Between the Rabbit and the Black Panther

The red eyes right in front of me filled my view. For several seconds, there was a suffocating silence. 

Ahin turned sideways facing me and shook my chin, his half-opened eyes blinking. 

After staying still for a while, I came to my senses and hurriedly dug under my pillow to hide. 

“It’s going to be suffocating.”

Unfortunately, he lifted the pillow, revealing my entire body to the point where nothing was hidden. 

Ahin’s lips rose sharply while seeing me curled up.

“You’re crying again.” 

I didn’t cry. I bit my mouth in repulsion, I felt that my nose was gradually getting colder.

In fact, every time I recalled that day, I felt like someone was stabbing me in the chest. I choked up as if I had swallowed something wrong. 

It had been long since I wished for my family’s love, but the shock of being completely abandoned seemed to have been greater than I thought. 

He stared at me, and soon spoke in a low-pitched voice. 

“Are you afraid of being eaten?”

Isn’t that obvious? Hiding my startled emotions, I quickly nodded.

Ahin tilted his head slowly as I looked at him and begged for life. The silver hair in his ears  followed his movement and became disorganized.

“Then cry more.”

‘What?’

My mouth opened slightly, unable to hide my astonishment.

He has been showing an obsession with tears since earlier, but I didn’t think that was a fetish.

Sadly I had no other option, so I tried my best to shed tears. However, the problem was that the tears, which were usually well poured out, had stopped when I was forced to squeeze them out.

Even when I scratched my eyes with my front paws, my eyes felt cold, and when I snorted, all I could do was breathe. 

Ahin, who was staring at me with a sneaky glance, quickly clicked his tongue. 

“You lack grit. I’ll eat you the day after tomorrow, so try your best.” 

‘Does that work as an effort?’

A blunt complaint arose but my life span was extended by one day. As soon as I was relieved, Ahin pulled my hind legs and put me under the blanket.

After a while, a slightly hoarse voice flowed out.

“Stay as if you’re not here. Because you bother me.”

‘Yeah, sure. Whatever.’

Having rebelled inside, somewhat I closed my eyes. If I go against this black panther’s nerves again, I think I’ll be chewed by those fangs.

It was a long night where I couldn’t sleep in many ways. 

***

As soon as morning dawned, Ahin threw me to a maid and left. 

The maid called me Ms. Rabbit like Evelyn, and she introduced herself as Maimi. 

Her red short hair and large eyes gave her a refreshing feeling, but she was too reticent and I could hardly get any information.

Even when taking a bath or giving snacks, she only performed her work silently without saying a word. 

Moreover, there was a strange sense of distance between Maimi and me. Because I felt burdened by her. 

The beasts have a larger head than rabbit shapeshifters I have seen so far, and even the maid has sharp fangs that shine. It was self-evident that I would be dead if she ever bit my neck.

‘—what in the world are these black panthers?’

When I first left the bedroom with Maimi, I couldn’t close my mouth. 

The bedroom was luxurious, but the scale of the hallway was a sight that I had never seen even in my imagination. The expensive marble walls and ornaments, and the high ceiling were enough to make my eyes wide open.

Looking at Ahin who seemed to have a loose screw, I thought he would be a peculiar rich man, but wouldn’t this mansion be possible only if he was noble in the black panther’s territory? At first glance, it was obviously more valuable than Levian’s mansion.

Moreover, after Maimi’s remarks, “I have been serving Ms. Rabbit under the young master’s instruction,” Ahin was a young master of this mansion. 

In other words, he has control in the household. The more I found out, the more surprising it was. 

It would have been nice if Maimi chatted a little more, but unfortunately she didn’t open her mouth except when necessary. 

And now, while I was taking a walk in the garden, I was hesitant when I saw the main gate in the distance. 

It’s a cage that’s big enough for a baby rabbit to escape.

Two hypotheses collided in my mind: the desire to escape and the idea that it would be safer to be here. 

“Then cry more.”

“I’ll eat you the day after tomorrow, so try your best.”

When Ahin with a creepy smile came to mind, my face turned white. I looked at the main gate bars and knights alternately, then I slightly raised my head.

Just in time, Maimi was in the middle of a conversation with a knight who seemed to have a high position.

‘Would this good opportunity come again?’ 

It wouldn’t have been. The bedroom had no way out, and it was impossible to even leave the room without opening the door. It was even a challenge to jump out of the bed. 

“Then go ahead.” 

I got impatient and hurried to the main gate as soon as the conversation seemed to end. It wasn’t bad to try to escape rather than go up on the table doing nothing.

‘Get out, get out of my way!’

I quickly sprinted past the nearby employees. 

Suddenly, a dagger flew and crashed into the floor in front of me while I was running at a full speed.

‘Ouch!’ 

I slipped and rolled around the grass when I almost bumped into the sword

‘Sword … sword … where is it?’

The sharp blade of the sword glistened under the sun. 

Someone hugged me who had fallen on the floor and froze with a careful touch. The owner of the hand was none other than Maimi. 

“Ms. Rabbit, it’s dangerous outside the mansion.”

Whilst alternately looked at her and a dagger on the floor, I keep fumbling my mouth. 

No, it’s dangerous. What’s with that dagger? Why the hell does the maid have such swordsmanship skills? 

I was stunned, and carried to the mansion in Maimi’s arms. It’s weird, it’s really weird here. 

* * * 

When the night fell, Maimi took me to Ahin’s bedroom.

I sat on a cushion near the sofa, I was quite exhausted today but I couldn’t relieve my tension. In a little while, a black panther will enter through that door.

Contrary to expectations that he would come soon, the wait was getting longer.

The door opened a long time later, Ahin appeared with a tired face.

I pulled my head out and stiffened when a fishy smell stimulated my nose. 

‘Blood’s smell.’

I looked closely and saw that Ahin’s black uniform was covered in blood.

‘What … ’

Unlike me who was frozen, he took off his blood-stained jacket. Bloodstains were also smeared over the soon-exposed black shirt.

After a while, Evelyn and a shapeshifter in white gown entered the bedroom.

Seeing the medicine container in his hand, the shapeshifter who came with Evelyn looked like a doctor.

“The cut is not deep, but I need to suture it.” 

The doctor tore Ahin’s shirt with skillful hand movements after sought permission. My whole body hardened, I was forced to watch the process.

It was an unfamiliar sight to see such wounds and treatment for the first time.

Ahin, the doctor, and even Evelyn, acted as if they were familiar with the wounds.

“Please be careful not to press on the wound. I’ll see you again in the morning.”

After dressing Ahin’s wound, the doctor left the bedroom in silence.

“Was this done by a wolf shapeshifter?”

Asked Evelyn, who picked up the bloodstained garments on the floor.

“Those bastards used a scent to paralyze me.”

Ahin, who gave a cold smile, said quite harshly. I belatedly found out, but his silver hair had turned red because of blood.

“I will dispose of the body and deliver the head to the wolf clan’s leader.”

“Send thirty of our men too. It’s fine to slit their throat, it doesn’t matter if they are high-ranking officials.”

“I understand.”

Ahin sat on the sofa and kneaded his shoulders, then his eyes landed on me. 

“Oh, there were ashes.”

My body trembled automatically as the red eyes looked even more brutal today. Still looking at me, Ahin crossed his legs slowly.

“You’ve been here the whole time. Lord Ahin was clever to bring you.”

“Is that how you do it?”

“Yes, sir.”

Ahin tilted his head, puzzled by Evelyn’s nonsense. Soon after, he rose from the sofa, he approached me with a leisurely step and sat down.

“Come here.”

When his big hand reached out, I hesitated for a moment and then climbed onto his palm, I had no courage to rebel.

“As expected, you’re too clever to be a normal rabbit. You understand what I’m saying.” 

“But there were many things that couldn’t be explained if she were a shapeshifter.” 

“What about those you’ve dealt with? The ones in the forest where I found this rabbit.” 

“I ordered for their bodies to be recovered today, but the black panthers in the forest had already torn them apart.”

Ahin clicked his tongue, I was frozen with my head upright under his gaze. He looked like he was thinking about something.

While avoiding his piercing gaze, I quickly gathered my front feet and lay flat. Please save me, it’s not that difficult to let me live.

As if satisfied with my servile posture, Ahin pressed my head.

“She’s also quick-witted.”

So please put me down. I bit my lip and secretly looked at him.

***

As expected, Ahin’s family seemed to be a high ranking noble in the black panther’s territory.

I remembered the maids said the black panther clan frequently had friction with the wolf clan, and there was a conflict going on between them.

As the night fell, I carefully stood up and looked at Ahin who was sleeping on his back.

Perhaps because of the wound, today he didn’t wear a gown and showed his bare skin. 

Maybe he was attacked by several wolves. My eyes looked at the blood-stained bandage. 

‘It must be hurt.’

Ahin acted as if he were used to it, but he was hurt and sutured, there was no way he wouldn’t get sick. 

Except for the new wounds, his body was full of small scars.

“Was this done by a wolf shapeshifter?”

“Those bastards used a scent to paralyze me.”

The afterimages kept floating in my head.

As I stared at the blood-stained bandages, my vision suddenly began to shake.

‘Wha—what?’

That was because Ahin turned around and suddenly pulled my body near his nose. I was surprised when I could feel his hot breath on my back. 

It wasn’t right if you were going to eat me without warning! I swung my hind legs in a frenzy, but Ahin’s grip showed no signs of loosening. He had been putting his nose on my neck for a while, then I heard his low voice. 

“From your neck—”

When I turned my head, Ahin’s red eyes were just around the corner. The drowsy, blurred red eyes grew thicker over time. 

“I could smell pheromones.”