“Mommyyy! I missed you!”
The children who had run forward scrambled to throw themselves into waiting arms, dropping their masks of composure to act spoiled.
“Oh my, son. It’s dangerous to run like that, isn’t it? You’ll fall and get hurt.”
“Hehe.”
Bunny blinked at the scene unfolding before her.
“Waaaaah, Daddy… I didn’t summon anything cool… Waaaaah.”
“Oh, my poor daughter. Why are you crying? To Daddy, what you summoned is the best! It’s a wonderful bracelet that suits our little princess perfectly. Let’s find out what powers the sacred object has with Mommy and Daddy later.”
“Sniff… but stiiiill.”
“Stop crying. Shall we go buy a dress with Daddy tomorrow? Since you finished the summoning ritual so admirably.”
“Really? Then! I want the blue fairy Ella dress sold at the Rodeli Boutique!”
Amidst the voices erupting from all directions, Bunny cast a tentative look around.
Every child seemed busy chatting away, tucked securely against their parents. The adults’ faces radiated endless pride and doting affection. The only ones standing still were Bunny and Alan, a boy with golden eyes who had summoned a snake nearby.
“Mommy!! Did you see? I summoned something so cool!!”
“I saw it well. I even recorded it with a high-end video orb that captures sound, too. Daddy was too busy to come, but I’ll make sure to show it to him.”
“Okay!”
“Anyway, I’m so proud of you, my son. Since you finished the summoning ritual wonderfully without crying or whining, the Family Head must have surely taken note of you.”
Bunny hugged Magomi a little tighter to her chest, then paused when she felt a gaze from above.
*Zing!*
The sharp prickle of being watched.
When she snapped her head up, she made eye contact with the man who remained in the seat of honor. The candidate Bunny had mentally marked.
‘Bunny’s Daddy… or rather, guardian candidate!’
Bunny beamed and bowed her head. She bowed so deeply it looked as though she intended to touch the floor with her forehead again.
The man watched, momentarily stunned, as Bunny flapped her arms to regain her balance from the deep bow, then he rose from his seat very slowly.
Oblivious to his reaction, Bunny finished her grandiose greeting, swiveled, and scurried off.
A man chosen by Bunny without even knowing it.
The miracle of the Yudia family.
A once-in-a-generation genius.
An apostle of God born by mistake.
A monster cursed by the devil.
Kyriel Yudia, who had been burdened with all sorts of epithets from birth, took in the sight of the small, rabbit-like child who had offered such a polite bow before vanishing.
Rare, water-colored hair and sparkling pink eyes.
She was a child who had stood out from the moment she entered the room because she carried a teddy bear on her back.
To be honest, she didn’t possess a grain of the etiquette expected of an aristocrat, but he felt the corner of his lips twitch as he recalled the 180-degree bow that had grabbed everyone’s attention.
‘To think she even managed to drive Father away.’
Others might think he had left in a rage, but Kyriel Yudia knew his father had fled because he couldn’t hide his trembling lips at the girl’s outburst of sorrow and that ridiculous, never-before-heard word: “mega-fail.”
In truth, the children entering the Mansion Of Trials were those who had received at least a minimum of aristocratic training. They were old enough to understand money, power, and honor—they had the greed to succeed.
In other words, there were no cute children.
But what about the child named Bunny?
She sat down *plop* on the floor and waddled with her tiny body. It would be hard to find a child as pure as her.
Since he and his siblings hadn’t been cute as children, it was only natural his father couldn’t suppress his reaction.
‘He unexpectedly likes cute things.’
Of course, aside from him, almost no one knew that fact.
Anyway, the child named Bunny was one of the two hot potatoes of the Yudia Duchy.
‘The child found by Father’s divine beast.’
Since a divine beast found her, she clearly carried the blood of the Duchy, but she was a heterodox, illegitimate child of unknown parentage.
Kyriel narrowed his eyes.
‘I feel a strange energy.’
Kyriel Yudia had sharper senses than anyone when it came to demons. And he felt a very subtle energy from the child. An energy that deeply bothered him, as someone who loathed demons.
The child had run toward the other hot potato, Alan.
She was tugging at the sleeve of Alan, who had been standing with a stiff expression, ready to leave like a proud wolf. They seemed to be exchanging words, though it was hard to hear from a distance.
However, Alan, even while furrowing his brow, leaned his upper body down to meet the child’s eye level. Despite his clear displeasure, he was being remarkably submissive.
The half-human, half-beast, Alan.
A child born between a member of the beast tribe and a branch-family woman of the Yudia house. A boy who couldn’t become a beast-kin, called a disgrace to the clan, yet not quite purely human either.
His intense golden eyes were characteristic of the beast tribe.
Furthermore, Alan had been abandoned in front of the Yudia Duchy on a cold winter day with nothing but a letter. Taken in by the Duchy, he had grown up in the Mansion Of Trials since he was an infant. His parents had run away in the dead of night, leaving his origin a mystery.
‘Not that I have much interest…’
Still, the snake Alan summoned looked like a fairly high-grade divine beast. His father would likely explain it when they had their interview.
“……”
Just as Kyriel was about to turn away, he opened his eyes slightly.
The little girl was patting the head of the boy who had sat down to match her height.
“You did gweat! Thanks for your hawd work being a cool king snake. You’re such a good boy! You’re amazing!”
“……”
Alan’s eyes grew as wide as saucers at Bunny’s behavior. She clumsily patted his head with a small hand—no bigger than a fern—unable to tell if she was hitting or stroking him.
“…W, w, what are you doing?!”
Startled as if burned, Alan jumped to his feet, twisting his face into a scowl.
‘Why does she approach me so casually?’
Everyone else shunned him, calling him a monster. Overwhelmed by confusion, Alan instinctively shoved away the reaching hand, as if it were a contagion.
Bunny blinked.
“You did gweat, pat-pat! Bunny and King Snake don’t have a mommy or daddy. So, together…”
At Bunny’s words, Alan’s face flushed red. Being pitied by such a young child was humiliating.
“Ha?! I don’t need anything like that. Besides, you’re just a brat way younger than me, so get lost! You ugly thing!”
Growling, Alan strode out of the Chamber of Blessings.
*Rumble. CRACK! FLASH!*
Even today, storm clouds gathered around Bunny, and thunder struck. Bunny pouted.
“Bunny isn’t ugly…”
Luriel always told Bunny she was cute.
“It was Bunny’s turn…”
She had intended to suggest they stroke each other’s heads.
Sigh.
Bunny let out her disappointment with a heavy breath.
“Social life is hawd.”
Bunny, when do I become an adult?
One has to go through countless trials and something called “social life” to become an adult, and only then can one become a great Demon King.
Bunny cast a glance around the room, which had grown quieter. A few remained, hugging their children and stroking their hair incessantly.
Watching that scene blankly, Bunny tucked Magomi under her arm, lifted one hand, and patted her own head a couple of times.
‘Bunny’s egg is also a good girl.’
Perhaps this… a baby dragon could hatch from such a small egg!
Bunny chuckled, imagining a dragon emerging from an egg the size of a quail egg.
“Bunny will raise you. Black Dragon.”
Lifting her short arms to pat her head repeatedly, Bunny seemed satisfied. She dropped her hands with a thud and turned around.
“…….”
A gaze had been watching her for a long time.
As soon as Bunny left the Chamber of Blessings, the owner of that gaze also departed shortly after.