<Epside 21>

At that moment, Sien slowly blinked his eyes and whispered to me.

“Wow, how fascinating. The monster is crying, Ria.”

…Well, wouldn’t it cry? If it got stomped on by you three, I’d cry too.

It was a strange situation where, despite the rabbit’s obvious wrongdoing, Sien appeared to be the aggressor.

The rabbit looked around at the male leads before its eyes met mine directly.

With its ears perked up, the rabbit hopped over to me, scratching at my calves and demanding to be held.

‘What can I do?’

I picked up the rabbit.

Sien’s eyes widened in surprise.

“You’re hugging a monster that threatened Ria?”

“What can I do? It’s crying like this.”

It was kind of cute, to be honest.

“…Then should I cry too?”

“Pardon?”

Sien tapped the tip of his weapon against his chin, rolling his eyes before smiling brightly when our gazes met.

“Nothing.”

It’s not nothing; I heard you!

Just as I was about to brush it off…

I put on a stern expression.

“…Tower Master, let’s agree not to use firearms recklessly. If you hit a comrade, it could lead to serious injuries.”

Sien frowned.

“But that rabbit was rude to Ria first.”

That was true.

As I nodded, Sien beamed with a smile.

“I did well, didn’t I, Ria?”

“Not really.”

This time, he blinked innocently with bright eyes.

“Pretending to be cute won’t work on me.”

He pouted this time.

“Put your lips away.”

“…Fine. I’ll apologize to the rabbit too.”

There was no need to go that far, but it was true that the rabbit had attacked first.

Without missing a beat, Sien approached with his hands behind his back, bowing his head slightly.

Then, he gently whispered to the rabbit, which was nestled in my arms.

“Sorry, little rabbit. I’ll apologize.”

The rabbit, which had been trembling, opened its eyes wide, seemingly surprised that an apology was coming. Taking a deep breath, its chubby belly rounded out.

As Sien smiled with his purple eyes narrowing, it seemed like the rabbit’s cheeks flushed slightly.

“But if you act rudely toward Ria again, I’ll stick a knife in your throat, got it?”

…You’re loud enough for me to hear, you brazen gentleman.

‘So that’s why he said he would apologize.’

When I looked at him with wide eyes, Sien brushed it off with a laugh.

He relaxed his posture and spoke casually.

“By the way, what are you going to do with this monster, Ria?”

“I’ll leave it behind.”

The Crown Prince, who had been leaning against a tree with his arms crossed, stood up, having judged that the rabbit was no longer a threat.

“It’s useless.”

Jaeger, who had been polishing his sword, agreed.

“Hmm….”

I looked down at the rabbit.

It was trembling in my arms, giving me a pitiful look like a boot-wearing cat.

Well, what’s the point?

“Waa… Waa…”

I really didn’t like animals.

“Waa…”

I really don’t like small animals like this.

“Eee…”

I said I don’t like them.

* * *

On the way to the boundary of the Dawn Forest.

The three men’s gazes on the back of my head felt somewhat burdensome.

“Lady.”

“What?”

“Shouldn’t you put it down now?”

“Put down what?”

“That rabbit.”

The Crown Prince gestured toward the rabbit monster, which was nestled in my arms, sleeping soundly with its belly up.

I instinctively petted the rabbit as I replied.

“How could I do that while it’s sleeping?”

The Crown Prince looked at me in surprise as he rubbed his chin.

“Huh, it seems you can’t pass by a creature in need of a gentle touch.”

Me? No way.

I stroked the plump belly of the rabbit and replied.

“Why do you think that? I’m the one who hits the heads of servants.”

I referred to what the Crown Prince had said to me in the eastern cabin.

“Ha.”

The Crown Prince’s lips parted in disbelief. He laughed, claiming he hadn’t thought that of me.

Jaeger remained silent, keeping his guard up as he walked.

At that moment, Sien approached me.

“Ria, by the way, you don’t seem surprised by the monster? An aristocratic lady usually sees something like this for the first time.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised. I’m a lady who enjoys hunting monsters.”

The Crown Prince scoffed, clearly mocking me, and I shot him a glance.

“I was surprised quite a bit.”

That was true. I had only seen monsters in books, never in person.

‘And…’

I tilted my head and glanced at the rabbit monster, which seemed to be waking up, its eyes slowly fluttering open.

‘Why was it in the Sacred Forest?’

The barrier of the Sacred Forest should still be intact, so monsters shouldn’t be able to enter the zombie zone.

“Could there be a problem with the barrier of the Sacred Forest?”

The Crown Prince, brushing aside the bushes with his spear, replied.

“Perhaps. With these bizarre creatures running rampant, it wouldn’t be surprising if anything could happen.”

It was possible that a fissure in the barrier had formed due to an earthquake in the split ground.

This small and harmless lower-grade rabbit monster could have intruded because of that.

As I concluded this situation was the result of a butterfly effect, I didn’t have to think for long before—

“Waa!”

The rabbit suddenly opened its eyes wide, kicked my arm with its hind legs, and bounced away.

‘Goodbye.’

I dusted off my empty hands and turned away without any regrets, causing the Crown Prince to look at me in surprise.

“What’s wrong?”

“Aren’t you going to chase after it?”

“I’m a bit disappointed, but I’m not attached enough to be swayed by a monster rabbit.”

It wasn’t a dangerous monster that warranted chasing after, after all.

“Then let’s continue on our way.”

Just as we were about to turn back—

The rabbit ducked into the bushes and wiggled its behind.

It looked like it had found something, and the male leads and I exchanged curious glances.

The moment we pushed through the bushes and peeked in, we saw the rabbit had placed its paw on a trap beyond.

The moment we caught sight of the glimmering trap, a chill ran down our spines.

A trap from the Sacred Forest.

An alternate space that perfectly replicated the wonders of the world.

It swallowed all living beings within one meter that got caught in the trap.

It had been set up all over the Sacred Forest to protect families from wild beasts, but instead, the number of families getting sucked into the traps had steadily increased, leading to a complete recovery of all traps a few years ago.

‘But why is it here…?’

I focused all my attention on the rabbit’s paw, swallowing hard.

In that moment, the rabbit, with an innocent expression, touched the trap.

‘No, you little rabbit!’

Whoosh—!

Just as I reached out to grab the rabbit, a whirlwind spun around, and the rabbit was sucked in.

“Ahhh!”

I felt my body lift, and I hastily grabbed whatever I could reach.

“Lady!”

Unfortunately, what I grabbed was the Crown Prince’s hair, and as I was pulled in, he held onto Jaeger’s ankle, while Jaeger grabbed Sien by the nape of his neck.

In this manner, we were all pulled in like a line of sausages, watching the forest scenery fade away as we fell into a bright white light.

* * *

I opened my eyes wide in response to the scorching heat of the sun that felt like it was piercing my skin.

‘Where am I…?’

Once I regained my senses and looked around, I found myself in the middle of a desert surrounded by endless sand dunes.

Sighing, I tried to lift my upper body, but the hand I used for support sank into the sand.

I grasped the sand and then released it. The soft texture was vivid.

‘I didn’t expect it to be so perfectly realistic.’

For a moment, I was amazed, but then I felt uneasy and brushed the sand off my hands as I stood up.

‘If that’s the case, this could be really dangerous.’

I looked around once more.

Fortunately, the male leads were sprawled nearby.

“Damn it. What the hell…?”

One by one, they began to rise, led by the Crown Prince.

I took out a water bottle from my pouch, quenched my own thirst, and shared it with the others.

One by one, they took their sips. Finally, the Crown Prince rinsed his head with water and shook his wet hair while surveying the area.

“Where the hell is that damn rabbit?”

“It seems like it ran off on its own.”

The Crown Prince’s gaze turned cold as he stared ahead, his eyes clearly indicating that he would punish it if caught.

I sighed as I brushed the sand off my shirt.

“First, we need to find the exit of this alternate space trap.”

It’s common knowledge that there’s an exit for the alternate space trap in the Sacred Forest.

“It seems there’s an exit point about 1 km away, following this sign.”

At that moment, the Crown Prince, shielding his eyes with his hand as he scanned the surroundings, pointed to something.

It was a signpost. A series of signs were magically protected, guiding the way to the exit.

“Let’s go.”

The Crown Prince slung his spear over his shoulder and walked ahead. Jaeger followed behind, adjusting his backpack full of food.

Sien shook off the sand from the blanket and came up behind me, creating a shade.

Thanks to him, I was relieved from the scorching sun beating down on my scalp.

As we walked a few steps, I suddenly felt a chill and scanned the surroundings with sharp eyes.

Seeing my reaction, Sien looked at me with a puzzled expression.