Bunny lined up the items she had brought, arranging the daily necessities Roden had kindly provided right beside them: a towel, pajamas, a pillow, a toothbrush, and the like.
With her small hands, she meticulously organized every piece. She placed Toto—the Great Demon King teddy bear—and a plush elephant in a neat row at the head of the bed. Then, she let out a sharp “whew” and wiped away a bead of non-existent sweat with the back of her hand.
Knock, knock.
At the sound, Bunny jumped to her feet.
“Yeeees—!”
She stood on her tiptoes, stretched as high as she could to grab the doorknob, and swung the door open, dangling from the handle.
A woman with orange hair stood there in a maid’s uniform. She wore an expression as stoic as Roden Heiner’s, and she bowed her head in a crisp greeting.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Bunny. I am Jessie, the maid who will be assisting you starting today. I look forward to working with you.”
“Hello, Great Dem…”
Oops. If word got out that Bunny was the future Great Demon King, she’d be eaten! The Yudia Duchy was a place where even a pair of tongs could be a weapon.
“I am 4-year-old Bunny, who dreams of becoming a Great… Wizard!”
Jessie’s cheek twitched once at the booming ambition.
The maid hurriedly composed herself and gestured to the items in her arms. “I have brought the necessary materials. This paper is your schedule. You will begin in Class F, the easiest level. Depending on your grades, you may advance to Class A.”
Bunny blinked, overwhelmed by the rapid-fire explanation.
“Since you are not accustomed to this yet, I will guide you to your classroom for the first week.”
“Yeeees…….”
“This mansion is the Mansion Of Trials. You may think of it as a boarding school operated by the Yudia Duchy to identify talent and ensure a thorough basic education.”
“Yeeees…….”
Bunny nodded, her eyes losing focus.
Realizing the child hadn’t understood a word, Jessie knelt to meet her gaze. “What I mean is, you must attend class every day at the scheduled times. Do you know how to read?”
“Yup! Because Bunny is a genius!”
Bunny puffed out her chest and shrugged her shoulders. A faint smile tugged at the corners of Jessie’s lips as she watched the child beam.
“That is wonderful. If you can read, you will climb the rankings in no time. Also, there will be a summoning ritual soon. If you summon a strong familiar, your ranking will jump at once.”
“A familiar?”
“Yes. Everyone who carries the blood of the Duchy can summon divine beasts or artifacts. The Yudia Duchy flows with the blessings of the gods.”
*Clunk.*
Bunny’s head turned with a rigid, jerky motion.
*Bunny… doesn’t have the gods’ blessing……?!*
Luriel had told her that the power of demons and the power of gods were opposites. That if a weak demon were touched by strong divine power, their body would crumble into ash.
*I’m ruined…….*
Is Bunny’s future just a pile of ash?
“What if I don’t have a summon?”
“Pardon?”
“I mean, what if… nothing happens?”
“There has never been a case where nothing was summoned. Do not worry. If you carry the bloodline of the Duchy, something will definitely appear.”
*Rumble, crash!*
Thunder and lightning struck only around Bunny once again. She was in massive, catastrophic danger. This was the second time!
*Bunny… isn’t actually human, right……?*
Luriel had said demons and humans were fundamentally different.
As Bunny stood frozen like a statue, unable to move a muscle, Jessie tilted her head.
“I will come to fetch you for mealtime later. You must be tired, so please rest.”
“Yeeees…….”
*Thwack.*
As soon as the door closed, Bunny dashed to the bed and flopped onto it.
“Luri… Bunny is totally doomed…….”
Because that was the only phrase she knew to express such profound despair, she cried out about being “totally doomed” again today.
***
“As ordered, I have brought Lady Bunny from the orphanage, Your Grace.”
Roden Heiner bowed his head as he reported.
The elderly man, busy dealing with a mountain of documents, slowly looked up. He had sharp, upward-slanting eyes, a stoic expression, and a tightly pursed mouth. His silver hair had dulled with time, and his buttons were fastened all the way to his throat. His form, devoid of even a hint of disorder, seemed to mirror his stubbornness.
Though aged, he was vigorous for someone with three grown children.
“Has it not been revealed whose child she is yet?”
“No. We have not found out.”
“When my partner informed me that there was a descendant of the family at an unnamed orphanage, I wondered what was going on…….”
The Duke clicked his tongue, clearly displeased. He had no intention of letting whoever had birthed an abandoned child get away with it.
The Yudia Duchy was a sacred house that had carried the blood of the gods for generations. Because most members could summon divine creatures, they managed their bloodline with extreme strictness; they did not allow their influence to leak out into the world carelessly.
Nevertheless, as the generations passed, the family had ballooned. Many of those currently living on the estate were merely from collateral branches—they were even required to cut off the gods’ blessings through a ritual if they wished to leave.
The expansion had been a plan pushed by predecessors several generations ago: a vision to create an army composed solely of those connected by the Duchy’s bloodline—people who possessed familiars.
The current Duke, Ludbrid Yudia, had despised the plan since he was young, calling it the work of a madman. But when it became too bothersome, he had simply taken the title.
This child was already the second runaway.
One had birthed a child with a beastkin; another had abandoned an illegitimate child outside. Because the numbers were becoming impossible to manage, he was considering ending this “Mansion Of Trials” within his own generation.
If the children failed to meet the standard level by age twenty, he planned to force a ritual to strip their divine blessings, provide them a living stipend, and send them away.
“It seemed she grew up in an orphanage for a long time; what kind of child was she?”
“…….”
Roden Heiner briefly recalled Bunny: her plump cheeks, her wobbling gait while carrying a bag as big as her own body, her wide smile, and her adorable, sausage-like hands.
“She was a cute person.”
“…What?”
The Duke had asked about her character or temperament, not her appearance. He stared with an incredulous expression, but Roden Heiner did not correct himself.
***
“Yes, then please do your best in your first class, Lady Bunny.”
“Yup! Bunny will read! Genius Great Dem…!”
Great.
…is a secret!
Trailing off, Bunny performed a “fighting” pose. With her rabbit bag—its arms and legs dangling—strapped to her back, she marched into the classroom and sat in the very front.
She chose it because the desk and chair were smaller, better suited to her size.
*I’ll get a hundred on the test and become a lady of the Duchy!*
She took out her book and set it on the desk.
“Now, today’s lesson will begin on page 27. Would anyone like to read?”
*Hmph.*
Bunny scoffed, proudly raising her right hand high, her nose tilted toward the ceiling. This was simple!
“Oh! The student who arrived today… Lady Bunny, is it? Would you like to give it a try?”
“Yup!”
Bunny stood up and triumphantly opened the textbook.
“…….”
Silence descended.
The page was filled with squiggly, unfamiliar writing. Only then did Bunny realize a single, crushing fact.
“Miss Bunny?”
“…….”
Bunny didn’t know the human language.
“I… I don’t know…….”
She muttered softly, her face on the verge of tears. All she knew was the excellent Demon language she had diligently studied with Luriel since she was little.