Chapter 9

“So.”

The gaze that had been fixed on the rabbit outside the window finally turned toward Theodore.

“Is there anything you want to ask?”

Pallas waited for a moment, but Theodore remained silent.

“You taciturn fool. Even for a bear, your case is severe.”

After snorting as if it were nothing unusual, Pallas finally got to the point.

“You saw it too, didn’t you? The power of spring that rabbit carries.”

Only then did Theodore’s brow twitch.

Pallas was right.

He really had seen it.

Inside the tiny rabbit that had been threatened by the wolf was a warm light, gentle as sunlight.

“You can probably guess why. I tampered with your eyes a little. Do you know what’s most necessary when trying to find something?”

Pallas curled his lips into a smile.

“Desperation.”

Desperation.

As he spoke the word, his smile deepened.

“And you possessed it. The you I met that day and the you standing before me now.”

“……”

The golden light in Theodore’s eyes darkened.

His wife had returned covered in blood, carrying the body of their daughter, cold and lifeless.

Was it because he accepted it as reality?

Or because he could not?

Theodore had picked up his sword.

Never before had he felt such murderous intent toward another person.

He knew it was something the head of a noble house should never do.

That was why, in the depths of the night, he had gone alone to that castle.

He slaughtered retainers with his sword and tore knights apart with his claws.

The last one left was a man trembling in terror.

Theodore cut off the viscount’s head.

When he returned after completing his hollow revenge, the first person to appear before him was Pallas.

Pallas said nothing.

Wearing the same faint smile he always did, he approached Theodore and reached out a hand.

He wiped away the bloodstains beneath Theodore’s eyes and then vanished without a trace.

That was undoubtedly when he had placed the spell on Theodore’s eyes.

Pallas turned his gaze outside once more. Deep curiosity shone in his eyes.

Staring into the sage’s yellow eyes, Theodore finally spoke.

“I can’t see the light anymore.”

Not long ago, during mealtime, he had carefully observed the rabbit sitting on the table, but he had not seen even the slightest glimmer.

“Was it really true?”

“The spell I placed on you probably broke the moment you looked directly at that light. It’s a power that ordinary magic can neither perceive nor detect.”

“……”

“To be honest, even I wasn’t entirely sure. But now that I’ve seen it with my own eyes, I understand.”

Pallas kept his eyes on the rabbit running through the snowy garden.

“Eostre truly existed. To think such an enormous power resides within such a tiny body.”

Without taking his eyes off the rabbit, he continued.

“You did well bringing her here. If you had left her in the White Wolf’s hands, nobody would know where she would have ended up.”

Theodore’s brow furrowed deeply.

“You knew?”

“Yes. It seems the White Wolf has been gathering Eostre candidates and sending them away.”

Only then did Pallas finally look away from the window and turn toward Theodore.

“To the Central Region.”

“……”

Theodore’s expression darkened.

He knew Pallas well enough to understand what he meant.

He knew exactly what place the “Central Region” referred to.

“Why such a serious face? That’s hardly what you should be worrying about right now.”

Pallas laughed in disbelief.

“You actually let Eostre’s incarnation run around freely. Just how much of an idiot are you?”

Then he smiled.

“Shall I help you?”

The strange suggestion hung in the air.

“The White Wolves are incredible fools. They think devouring Eostre’s incarnation will allow them to absorb her power. The power of spring can only be used by Eostre’s incarnation herself.”

“……”

“But in her current state, she can’t use it. All she can do is wait until she awakens it herself or until the power goes out of control someday.”

Pallas spoke without hesitation.

“But that will be too late.”

He declared it flatly.

“Your wife will die.”

Silence fell.

Theodore offered no reply.

“You know better than anyone, don’t you? The only thing capable of destroying that is the power of spring.”

“……”

“Surely you didn’t bring that rabbit here out of nothing more than cheap sympathy?”

Theodore quietly met Pallas’s gaze.

As though he already knew exactly what the sage was about to say.

*

Held in Ferdi’s arms, Nabom stepped outside the inner castle’s main gate.

“First I left my room, then passed the dining hall…”

Tracing the route in the air with her front paw, Nabom retraced the path she had taken.

Then a dazzling light suddenly filled her vision.

Snow.

The snow covering the entire garden reflected the sunlight pouring down from the clear sky, sparkling like countless jewels.

“Hm. With weather like this, it probably won’t snow again until afternoon.”

“Then we can look around the garden too.”

Heinz examined the sky with his yellow eyes, and Ferdi nodded.

“Wow, looks like nobody’s stepped on it yet! Hehe, I’ll be first!”

Louis ran across the pristine white snowfield, leaving footprints behind.

Nabom could almost hear the soft crunch, crunch of snow beneath his feet.

Without realizing it, she stretched a paw toward it.

“Ah, wait, you’ll fall—”

Before Ferdi could stop her, the small white body sprang into the air.

Ferdi and Heinz reached out in alarm, but Nabom landed safely.

Her bandaged hind leg touched down firmly after her front paws.

Snow.

Ever since becoming an arctic rabbit, she had seen enough snow to last a lifetime.

Yet snow still felt new to her.

Most of her experience with snow had come through television, online videos, and the window of a hospital room.

Children holding their parents’ hands as they ran outside to play in the snow.

What did it feel like to step on thick snow piled across the ground?

Nabom used to press her weak foot into the bedsheets and imagine it.

During winter, she was never allowed outside.

The dry hospital air.

The mist from the humidifier above her head.

That was all the winter she knew.

She had been so careful every winter.

Yet the cold that nearly killed her had come during summer.

A summer cold became pneumonia.

Because her respiratory muscles were weak, she quickly fell into a coma.

And the last thing she saw was her mother’s face—

“Snowflake!”

A loud voice rang out.

Nabom snapped back to reality and looked up.

Standing in the middle of the snow-covered garden, Louis waved both arms wildly at her.

“Over here! I saved some untouched snow for you to step on!”

Whatever she had been thinking about vanished instantly.

With Louis enthusiastically beckoning her over, Nabom stepped onto the snow.

Crunch.

Crunch.

Crrrunch.

Slowly savoring the sensation, she walked forward on all fours.

Soon she arrived before a pristine path Louis had carefully marked out with his arms.

Under his expectant gaze, she lifted one tiny paw and pressed it down into the snow.

Crunch.

Crrrk.

“…!”

A shiver ran from the pads of her feet all the way to the tips of her ears.

Snow really is the best, no matter how many times you step on it!

Her black eyes widened.

Unable to contain herself any longer, she threw herself forward.

Leaping into a shrub covered in snow, Nabom rolled around happily, rubbing herself against the powder.

White snow clung to her small white body.

“I want to try too!”

Louis shouted excitedly and threw himself down beside her.

Hearing the boy’s cheerful laughter, Ferdi hurried over.

“Louis! Snowflake!”

He looked down at the rabbit and boy rolling around in the snow with a stern expression.

“What are you doing? You’re getting dirty all over—”

Before he could finish scolding them, Nabom suddenly sprang upright.

Poof!

Her tiny body vanished into a snowdrift beneath a tree.

The mound collapsed with a rustle.

Two small ears popped out first.

Then Nabom’s face emerged from the snow.

Her white fur was covered in white powder.

“……”

Neither Louis nor Ferdi could look away.

The excitement in Louis’s eyes melted.

The stern line of Ferdi’s lips softened.

“Snowflake really loves snow.”

“She really is Snowflake.”

Only after noticing them staring at her did Nabom suddenly come back to her senses.

Wait! This isn’t what I’m supposed to be doing! I’m supposed to be finding an escape route!

She quickly stood up and looked around the garden.

Then she froze.

A different predator’s scent had reached her nose.

Turning toward the gate, she saw a man walking behind Anna, waving his hand.

A bearded middle-aged man.

The same man who had somehow been delighted when she shoved his arm away with her paw.

Whenever he saw her, his icy expression melted in the strangest way.

Because of that, Nabom had given him a nickname.

The Weird Mister.

When they first met in the dining hall, he had been terrifying.

But his funny face and constant supply of delicious hay had greatly improved her opinion of him.

He was definitely a predator too, though.

“Lady Snowflake, Sir Nuke will be guarding you today.”

The Weird Mister—Sir Nuke—immediately bent at the waist toward Nabom with his usual melted expression.

“This is our first proper greeting! I am Nuke Greenland, commander of the Sled Dog Knights under the Grizzly House, assigned to your protection!”

At his confident introduction, Heinz, who had been standing silently nearby, shook his head.

He definitely volunteered for this.

Everyone else relaxed beneath the rare winter sunshine.

Only Nabom froze solid.

…No way.

How had she forgotten?

The knight order that had sworn eternal loyalty to the count.

The knight order famed for its inexhaustible stamina.

The knight order under House Grizzly.

Its name was—

The Sled Dog Knights.

Sled dogs.

What animal could possibly match the description of endless stamina better?

Dogs were already loyal to their masters by nature.

And these had sworn lifelong devotion!

No, putting that aside—

Sled dogs.

Dogs.

Nabom had never heard of a dog hibernating.

Which meant that escaping this mansion required avoiding the watchful eyes of not one predator—

but two.

A hibernating grizzly bear.

And a sled dog that never hibernated.

…I need to change my plan.

In a situation where she was surrounded by predators, there was only one possible strategy.

Join forces with an animal that wasn’t a predator.

Determination filled her face as she turned her head.

“Lady Snowflake?”

I’m going to win Anna over!

There was no way someone this pretty and kind could be a predator!

Maybe she was a bird beastkin.

Or perhaps an arctic fox.

Well, arctic foxes were still predators from Nabom’s perspective, but they were better than wolves—or dogs!

Looking up at Anna with hopeful eyes, Nabom watched as Anna smiled brightly.

“Did you recognize it? I used to be a member of the Sled Dog Knights too. After I was injured and retired, the family head took me in. That’s how I became Lady Snowflake’s personal maid!”

“Indeed. The family head would never abandon a knight who had sworn lifelong loyalty, Anna Samoyed.”

When the commander called her name, Anna immediately snapped into a perfect salute.

Despair flooded Nabom’s face.

A moment later she collapsed onto the ground.

“Lady Snowflake?”

“What’s wrong? Did you tire yourself out playing?”

“Does your leg hurt?”

Anna and the brothers gathered around her with worried expressions.

At that moment, a small shadow peeked out from behind the knight commander.

“…?”

Hearing approaching footsteps, Nabom looked up.

Something wet suddenly swept across her face.

What is that?!