“What shall we do?”
“We must find them. We have to root out the demons from this land.”
“Understood. I will organize a team. Now then, Lady Bunny, the young master’s adjutant is waiting for you outside.”
“Ye-yes….”
*Bunny, if you get caught, you’re dead.*
Suppressing a tremor, Bunny hopped off the sofa, putting on a brave face.
Stepping outside, she found a man standing with an unreadable expression. After a brief nod to Pel, he approached her. His red hair and blue eyes were striking, but his mouth was pressed into a thin, straight line. His face was so utterly blank—so devoid of any spark of feeling—that even to Bunny, he looked less like a person and more like a statue.
“Greetings, Lady Bunny. I am Levon, adjutant to Young Master Kyriel. It is the first time I have introduced myself to you directly.”
“El-hello. Bunny is 4 years old. I am the young master’s baby.”
Levon watched her bow with a stony expression. When Bunny tilted her head in confusion, he reached into his inner jacket pocket.
“I see. If you don’t mind….”
Levon trailed off, taking two steps back. “Could you please stand there in that pose for just a moment?”
“O-okay….”
*What is this?*
Just as she tilted her head again, it happened.
*Click, click.*
The sound from the small marble Levon held made Bunny jump.
*Clap, clap, clap.* She jerked her head left and right, blinking as she scanned the air for the source of the noise.
*Click. Click. Click.*
Levon did not miss his window.
“Wh-what is it…?”
“Nothing. There was some dust in the air; I’ve cleared it with the latest machinery. Young Master Kyriel is waiting for you. Will you be alright coming with me?”
As Levon rattled off the long, fast-paced explanation, Bunny’s eyes began to glaze over. Her body swayed, and Levon reached out, cautiously scooping her into his arms.
“I shall escort you.”
“Ye-yes….”
Blinking her heavy eyelids, Bunny’s head began to loll.
“My, it seems you were tired.”
Levon walked slowly, his movements careful as he supported her head to keep it steady. By the time they reached the room, Bunny was sound asleep.
***
*Hoo-hoo—*
Hearing the rhythmic breathing in the silent room, Kyriel Yudia turned his head.
His gaze settled on the two children claiming his bed: Bunny, whom Levon had brought back, and Alan, who had curled up right beside her after finding her asleep.
He had never thought about raising children. He had never felt the desire to be responsible for anyone. *To live as if he weren’t there at all*—that was Kyriel Yudia’s life philosophy.
The world was structured to exploit those of great talent, deeming such theft a natural order. It condemned those who possessed power if they did not share it, and those who possessed ability if they did not exhaust it for the sake of the masses.
His older brother, hailed as a ‘hero’ by that very world, had crumbled and vanished. He had died in the war against the demons before his thirtieth year. His whereabouts were unknown, his death a misery; no one even recovered his body. The truth of his final moments remained a mystery—until he, Kyriel, stormed the Demon Castle and confronted the Demon King.
“Hero? Are you talking about your hero? If you mean that man who wept and begged for his life at my feet, he was a pathetic creature. He shouted until his throat went dry, saying he would change the demons. Even when he was drenched in blood and his limbs were being severed one by one.”
“A corpse? A corpse, you say… well. Where did I put it? Did I feed it to the dogs, or to the monsters…. Being a ‘hero’ is a trivial thing indeed. It was so amusing to see him trembling and unable to retreat even as he was on the verge of being crushed by the pathetic expectations of you humans….”
When Kyriel had arrived at the Demon Castle, covered in the gore of countless demons, the Demon King who recounted his brother’s death was beautiful.
She was beautiful, and she was crueler than anyone else.
With every word, malice surged and spilled over, and he realized this was the true incarnation of the evil the demons worshipped. Her black wings spread to envelop the vast hall, her large, sturdy horns protruding from her head, her fangs sharp, the pitch-black mana surging violently around her.
“Stubborn, skilled, and utterly unlovable, just as I heard…. You poor human… does the world say the next hero is to be you? He will surely weep again….”
The words left behind like a curse, spoken just before he drove his sword into the Demon King’s heart, still clouded his mind.
*“You poor human… does the world say the next hero is to be you….”*
The proud eldest son of the Yudia family had been soft-hearted, but he was a hero in name and deed who had summoned the blade meant to annihilate the demons. Because he was a hero, his brother had been forced to the front lines, destined for a miserable end.
That was his future, too.
So, after the war, Kyriel Yudia let go of his sword. He refused to summon his divine beast. He went nowhere, retreating to his room—mockingly referred to as the temple’s prayer chamber—rotting away and sleeping indefinitely. He helped no one. He spoke no kind words. Instead of setting an example, he chose to look the other way. He let go of everything, giving up on all of it.
He lived like a vagabond, eating, playing, and wallowing in lethargy.
Years passed. Though Kyriel Yudia was still called the hero of the Holy-Demon War, no one expected anything of him anymore. To live unnoticed and be slowly forgotten—that was all Kyriel Yudia desired.
Yet, despite that, the reason he had announced he would adopt Bunny and Alan—the current hot topic—was…
Perhaps it was the demonic energy he sensed. The fact that only he could feel it meant it was faint, but Kyriel Yudia was born with a unique constitution that made him exceptionally sensitive to such things.
“I was good, pat-pat! Bunny and King-Snake have no Mommy and Daddy. So together….”
“Ha?! I don’t need anything like that. A brat way younger than me like you, go away! You ugly thing!”
“Bunny is not ugly…. It is Bunny’s turn….”
Or perhaps, it was because the bravery of the child who patted her own head reminded him of his brother, who had never surrendered.
“Bunny, big….”
Kyriel patted the head of the child muttering in her sleep, then laid his body down in the empty space on the bed. As the two children instinctively wriggled into his arms, seeking warmth, Kyriel rolled his eyes slowly before closing them.
Before he knew it, his arm was draped over them.
***
Bunny was in deep trouble.
Because….
“Hey, that’s that bastard, right? The one who was adopted after begging.”
“Yeah, she looks really unlucky.”
“It’s annoying how she scurries around everywhere.”
The crisis Luriel had warned her about had arrived.
*‘Bunny, bullying…!’*
This was something every protagonist of the ‘28 Selected Romantic Fantasy Stories For Young Demons’ had gone through; it was an essential obstacle to becoming a true protagonist.
*‘If I get bullied, Bunny is also a real protagonist.’*
*Hmph.*
Bunny let out a scoff, shrugging as she looked at the boys gathered around her. She wasn’t afraid. She had imagined this scenario so many times that she felt immunized against it.
*‘Bunny is the super big, super amazing, perfect invincibility.’*
Since she had played this out in her head a thousand times, she wouldn’t be hurt by the words of these young children.
*Hmph.*
Bunny scoffed again and thrust her chest out.
“Hey, ugly! Stop acting up! You’re ugly on top of it!”
She wouldn’t be hurt by words like this. Bunny was a splendid adult.
“You’re the size of a bean. Do you think you’re cute just because you carry that rabbit bag? It makes you look even uglier?!”
…She wouldn’t be hurt by that, either. Her chest, which she had thrust out, slid slightly backward.
“Yeah, yeah, who in the world would wear such an animal-shaped bag? Do you have no awareness of being a noble?”
*Bunny is a splendid adult….*
“Ahahaha.”
“Do you really think someone like her would have anything like that? No wonder I thought it smelled foul whenever she got near.”
“Smell? What smell?”
*An adult….*
“The smell of a commoner~!”
“Hahaha!”
With the burst of laughter and the violent shove against her shoulder, Bunny’s patience snapped.