Chapter 139
Chapter 139
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 139
Chapter Title: The Yoke of the White Rabbit
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Clunk.
The heavy door swung open, and Vice Dean Kaus pushed through the gap.
In his hand was a thick envelope stamped with the imperial crest.
“Dean, a letter has arrived from the palace—”
“Yeah.”
“…?”
Veronica’s reply came a beat too quick.
Before Kaus could even finish speaking, the answer popped out of Veronica’s mouth.
Swoosh.
Veronica lazily extended her hand, and the imperial letter in Kaus’s grip fluttered through the air like a breeze before landing precisely in her palm.
“Ah.”
“…Is something wrong?”
“Nope.”
“……?”
Something unnatural in Veronica’s voice.
Devoid of emotion more than usual.
“…Dean?”
“Yeah.”
The emotional lines of humans and dragons differ.
That’s why Veronica sometimes reacted in ways that didn’t align with human sentiments…
But today, her apathy crossed the line.
Rip—
The sound of the letter being torn open.
Even her movements were mechanical.
Precise angles, uniform speed… even nodding her head at regular intervals.
Less like a person, more like a finely crafted doll.
“Hey.”
“Yes, Dean.”
“Work.”
“?”
Kaus subtly rolled his eyes to check Veronica’s expression.
No change.
Even her breathing tempo was steady.
Movements impossible for a human…
Veronica was a dragon, beyond human limits, but the issue was her repeating only the word ‘work’.
“Work.”
“…….”
“What do you expect.”
After lavishly spitting ‘work’ at Kaus, now she spat out ‘what do you expect’.
At this point, it was certain.
This wasn’t Veronica.
Even an airheaded Veronica wouldn’t repeat bizarre antics in such an emotionless tone.
“What do you expect.”
“…Tch.”
Kaus finally clicked his tongue and raised his hand.
──Whirr.
Mana rippled, lines connecting above Veronica’s head to form a magic circle.
And soon.
Plop.
Something small dropped onto the desk.
“Dean… you really do all sorts of things.”
A stuffed doll on the desk.
A tiny doll that looked exactly like Veronica.
Its signature arrogant expression, eyes, even hair color perfectly replicated.
“Haa…….”
Kaus sighed and peeled off the paper stuck to the doll’s nape.
The paper bore intricate patterns and shapes, a complex magic circle inexplicable by human magic.
“I curse you.”
Whoosh—!!
The doll was instantly engulfed in flames.
But…
What burned wasn’t just the doll—it was Kaus’s patience.
Seconds, minutes.
Only smoke rose, while the anger blazing in his heart showed no sign of dying.
Moreover—
“…….”
The burning doll’s expression was smirking, utterly infuriating.
Could a doll’s face be this obnoxious?
A thick vein bulged on Kaus’s forehead.
That was when.
Pop!
Something burst from the burning doll’s hand.
A rolled-up piece of paper.
“……?”
Kaus snapped his fingers to extinguish the flames and picked up the paper.
Unrolling it—
[ ( ° ▽ ° ) Fighting✨ ]
“…….”
Kaus’s hand trembled.
The next moment, the paper crumpled in his fist.
Whoosh!
Kaus grabbed the body of the Veronica-like doll.
He slid open the dean’s office window, and a breeze brushed his face.
“Fuu….”
Looking down, a peaceful fountain lay below.
Kaus drew back his arm and…
“……!”
Threw it with all his might.
Whiiiir……
Splash.
The doll traced a perfect arc before plunging into the fountain.
Gentle ripples spread across the water.
“…Hm.”
Kaus quietly closed the window.
***
“Ahh… as a guide.”
“Yes, I’ve been invited as your guide.”
Inside the carriage.
It was sized for four per group like before, but this one had expansion magic throughout, making it as spacious as a parlor.
A sofa and small table, even an antique clock on the wall.
“So what’s your usual job?”
“My usual work… I just wander around playing stories.”
“Ooh….”
Seros’s eyes sparkled.
And…
Thud.
“?”
His shoulder dipped slightly under some weight.
Turning his head, Lev was leaning his head on his shoulder.
[Lev?]
Lev, nodding off in sleep.
Each subtle bob of his head sent Lev’s hair swaying, releasing a faint lavender scent.
“Playing stories means you’re a bard?”
“‘Are you a bard?’ No, I am a bard, you idiot.”
“Yeah. Got it, Third Place. So smart, yet only third place.”
Seros and Rafia bickered as always.
The spacious carriage quickly filled with chatter, and Kaden smiled watching them.
“…….”
I leaned back against the sofa’s armrest, tuning out the noise.
Lev’s body tilted further toward me.
Lavender scent drifting with his hair.
The moment it touched my nose, tension melted away.
‘…Lavender.’
I recalled something from a book.
Lavender was said to calm the mind and ease anxiety.
Maybe that’s why.
The carriage’s sway, Seros and Rafia’s squabbling—all felt strangely distant.
My back felt at ease, and Lev’s warmth against my shoulder was comforting as he slept.
***
“Carnel, look at that.”
Prod prod.
Violet elbowed Carnel beside her twice.
Carnel shifted his gaze at Violet’s whisper and saw…
Two people asleep, leaning on each other’s shoulders.
“They’re asleep.”
Adel and Lev, dozing peacefully with steady breaths.
Unconsciously, their heads rested against one another.
“…Hmph.”
For some reason deeply irritated, Carnel huffed and turned away.
In his new line of sight—
Was Kaden, who had introduced himself as the guide.
“Shall I play a story for you, then?”
“Ooh…! Yes!”
Seros replied with shining eyes.
Kaden then pulled a harp from thin air.
“Do you know the tale of ‘The Yoke of the White Rabbit’?”
“White Rabbit… the white bunny?”
“Yes, the rabbit said to embody holiness in its pure whiteness.”
“Don’t know it!”
“Proud of that.”
Seros raised his hand triumphantly, as if ignorance were a badge of honor.
Rafia stared at him in disgust from the side.
“Then let’s begin… the tale of a rabbit that’s long if long, short if short.”
The harp’s first note scattered into the air…
And the carriage interior shimmered faintly with light.
“An era when the world couldn’t yet clearly divide light from darkness.”
Kaden’s fingers brushed the strings again.
Ting-a-ling…
This time, wind blew.
Not the wind inside the carriage, but from another era.
Amid that wind… a white silhouette appeared.
“There was a rabbit.”
The hazy form sharpened.
Fur white as fresh snow.
And in stark contrast… ominously crimson eyes.
“This rabbit came to be called the ‘White Rabbit’.”
The White Rabbit’s foot touched the ground.
The form remained, but light surged up from beneath its paws.
“Where the White Rabbit stepped, light bloomed. Where it touched life, broken breaths revived.”
Buds sprouted on dry branches, wilted petals bloomed anew.
A small miracle… but a miracle nonetheless.
“People lifted the rabbit high.”
Hazy human forms appeared.
They cradled the White Rabbit carefully in their hands.
“People worshipped that White Rabbit as a god.”
With those words, the White Rabbit’s form brightened.
Nearly blindingly so.
People called it a god… or a god’s blessing.
“The White Rabbit met their expectations.”
Ting…
Kaden plucked a string, and small miracles burst around the White Rabbit in succession.
“It wrought miracles.”
Radiant light.
Reversal of death.
“And it never once turned its back on them….”
Ting—
The harp’s melody warped.
A dissonance utterly unlike the prior heavenly tones.
“But the world… turned its back on the White Rabbit.”
“Gasp….”
“…Gasp.”
Rafia furrowed her brow.
Seros flinched, a chill running down his spine.
“The White Rabbit sacrificed for the world. But the world couldn’t endure without the White Rabbit.”
Light and darkness intertwined.
Faint shadows draped over the rabbit’s form.
“Those addicted to miracles… found a way to reclaim them.”
With those words, hazy human forms encircled the White Rabbit’s small body, wrapping it in cords of mingled light and darkness.
“They offered its corpse as sacrifice, bound its soul, and forcibly dragged its brilliance back to the living world.”
The white form twisted.
A lifeless body jerked unnaturally.
“Resurrection succeeded. But… it didn’t end with once.”
A plague-ridden village.
A war followed, ending in ruin.
Moments needing miracles came endlessly.
“People killed her, revived her, killed her again, revived her again.”
“……Her?”
“Whoops. Slip of the tongue.”
He said that, but…
Kaden’s expression didn’t seem like a mistake.
He swept the strings again and continued.
“Dozens, hundreds of times.”
The form slowly split wide.
One light, one darkness.
“In the end, the White Rabbit’s soul tore in two.”
A bead floated up.
Radiant… yet seeming on the verge of shattering.
“One, an incomplete soul praying for the world.”
Swoosh.
A contradictory bead of radiant darkness arose.
“One, a complete soul envious of the world.”
“Whoa….”
“The light repeated its cycle, the darkness held eternity.”
The radiant light died, vanished, returned.
The darkness endured undying, devouring the radiant light.
“The light that wrought brilliance and faded. And… the unfading radiant darkness.”
The balance of those two souls…
Never existed to begin with.
“Wow… for real?”
“Who knows.”
Seros and Rafia, faces etched with shock.
But they too were deeply immersed in the tale.
Kaden smirked at their reactions and strummed the harp.
“Who knows? It’s a forgotten history, full of contradictions and truths.”
“So! So! What’s the ending!”
Seros leaned forward, yelling impatiently.
Whoooosh—
Wind blew again at his shout.
“The radiant light wished to live—while the radiant darkness wished all to vanish.”
“…….”
“That’s why people named this tale thus.”
“Ah… that’s it.”
“‘The Yoke of the White Rabbit.’”
Alive, yet not free.
Dead, yet unending.
“The White Rabbit denied true death.”
“…….”
“The world that craved miracles and prayed.”
Darkness gathered slowly, light dimmed.
“The yoke never broke. Because…….”
Kaden’s gaze briefly flicked toward the sleeping Adel and Lev.
As if savoring his own tale.
“More people desired the White Rabbit’s miracles than its death.”
Twang—
The final note from the string.
Light flashed once and scattered, ending the performance.
“Wow… felt so short yet long.”
“Yeah, like reading a comic and novel at once.”
Klaus added his thoughts to Seros’s words.
Klaus seemed deeply drawn in too.
“What happened to that rabbit.”
“Who knows, maybe it’s right beside us?”
“That makes sense!”
Seros nodded as if he’d grasped it perfectly.
‘Yeah, could be,’ he muttered, scratching his chin with a V-sign.
“No rabbits in the Great Forest?”
Still lost in the story, Seros tossed out a random question, and Rafia shot back in disgust.
“Probably one that looks like you.”
“Your face, sea anemone.”
“Yeah. Your face, faucet.”
Their argument devolved into their usual bizarre wordplay as always.
Klaus shook his head with a sigh, while Violet bit her lip to stifle laughter.