Flowing Nosebleed
A Bloody Nose
[New Content: Illustration Remake]
{After receiving feedback that the fur caused sneezing, beastfolk now only show animal physical traits when using their abilities.}
{At this point, you'll raise their Affection, right?}
[Perk: Churu Physique]
A perk suddenly popping up meant one thing.
It was confirmation that she really was Taira, wasn't it?
I was screwed.
Taira, the human killer known as the Tiger Menace, being by a human's side could only mean one thing, couldn't it?
That I was her target.
The past Leoport had acted like a hunter, and that fact was widely known among the beastfolk.
Which meant she, who held a grudge against hunters, had a perfectly rational reason to kill me.
'Fuck, and of all people, the one I least wanted to run into was Taira.'
A world setting crawling with hunters.
And fitting for a game about treating beastfolk who had been hurt by those hunters.
Taira wasn't the only beastfolk who hated humans.
But Taira was the only one whose hatred of humans didn't disappear even after maxing out her Affection.
No matter how many flowers you picked for her, no matter how many potions you made her, no matter how much you tempted her with sweet words.
She would only say, "You're different from other humans," and her killing intent toward humans never went away.
At most, she showed the consideration of not killing in front of the young protagonist.
On top of being a hunter.
I wasn't young enough to remind her of her dead little sister, either.
And this Leoport had run wild at all hours.
What chance did this Leoport have of surviving Taira?
Maybe my terminal condition wasn't the Petrification Disease, but Taira herself.
'Damn. Worrying about dying from illness wasn't the priority.'
The one consolation was.
That this wasn't too far off from the main story's timeline.
If Taira was here, the other beastfolk would be too, and the strategies in my memory were still valid.
Just seeing their faces would let me roughly plan a route.
Just seeing... their faces?
[New Content: Illustration Remake]
{After receiving feedback that the fur caused sneezing, beastfolk now only show animal physical traits when using their abilities.}
{At this point, you'll raise their Affection, right?}
[Perk: Churu Physique]
I looked at the content window I still hadn't closed.
And beyond the window, I saw Taira's face.
I was already confused from seeing 2D pixel art as 4D live-action, and now an illustration remake? That was just too much!
And the note that beastfolk traits only appeared when using their abilities meant.
That normally, they looked no different from ordinary people.
'Then how am I supposed to find the beastfolk! If an elf had small ears and was ugly, would that still be an elf? Beastfolk should be different from humans.'
You could tell just by looking at Taira right now.
In what way was that a tiger beastfolk?
She was just a cold maid.
"Will you stop staring? Was this why you said you wanted to shower?"
A killing intent that made the fine hairs stand on end.
Correction.
A maid disguised as an assassin.
I should have noticed from the moment she scooped me up in a princess carry.
No wonder her footsteps were so quiet.
If I kept drinking her in with my eyes, my life would be cut short, so I turned my head toward the bath.
The original goal had been a shower anyway.
Even soaking my body in the heated water didn't loosen the knot in my chest.
An old flash game about assassinating a king came to mind.
So this was how uncomfortable it felt to live with an assassin at your back.
But this, too, was part of the price of living the diamond-spoon life of a prince.
He who would bite the diamond spoon must bear its weight.
For a peaceful prince life, I first had to raise Taira's Affection.
Not necessarily to MAX, but at least out of the negatives.
Although I had no potion for raising Affection.
Instead, I had a medicine called "words."
The kind that, as the saying went, could repay even a debt of a thousand nyang.
"I apologize for saying your scars were disgusting last time."
"I won't undress no matter what you say."
"I didn't know there was a story behind them. No, even if there wasn't, I shouldn't have said that. It's late, but I'm sorry."
"You must be desperate enough to reach out to me now."
Well, I hadn't expected to turn her heart around in one go.
Medicine only works if you take it consistently.
"I'm not saying this to do anything to you. It's just, if I don't apologize now, I feel like I'll never get the chance."
For the first time, agitation flickered across Taira's face, which had only ever shown contempt or indifference.
Her eyes widened, as if she couldn't hide her emotions.
For a moment, her pupils wavered, as if countless thoughts were racing through her mind.
Her lips parted several times, but no voice came out.
'Did that land halfway?'
'If I don't apologize now, I feel like I'll never get the chance.'
What I'd just said came from the day the hunters attacked.
They were words Taira's little sister had said to her while Taira tried to protect her.
And the last words she ever spoke before being killed by a hunter.
Was it coincidence, or had I said it knowing something?
She would be confused.
I hoped that suspicion would linger at least until the moment she pointed a blade at my back.
***
After dropping that question that sent ripples through the air, I decided not to pay any more attention to Taira.
I focused every nerve on washing my body.
It wasn't as if I could stop her anyway when she approached without a sound.
"Let's go back now."
The bath I had all to myself, as if I'd rented the whole place, was nice enough to make me want to stay longer, but this much leisure was enough.
If I survived, I could enjoy all of it anyway.
I stood up, tying the towel around my waist.
Neither I nor Taira wanted the towel slipping down.
The moment I stepped onto the bathroom tile.
Maybe because I still hadn't fully recovered.
My foot slipped, and my body pitched forward.
Taira, too, was lost in thought and couldn't react right away,
and the hand that should have braced against the floor was clutching the towel tied at my waist.
-BANG!
As a result, my first kiss in this other world was stolen by the bathroom floor.
"Your Highness! Are you all right?"
"Ugh, ow...."
With Taira's help as she rushed over, I pulled myself up.
I felt something thick running down my upper lip.
When I checked with my finger, it was a nosebleed.
"Could you bring me something to wipe the nosebleed?"
No answer, no movement.
Why wasn't she running off?
When I turned my head, Taira was staring fixedly at my face.
Like a heroine who had fallen in love.
"...Ira?"
Her pupils grew larger.
Her upper body leaned forward.
And with it, her face drew closer.
-Sniff sniff
The steam from the hot bath filled the bathroom.
Just as warm, her breath brushed my cheek again and again.
Ira approached, her tongue slipping just past her lips as if she were about to kiss me.
Her beauty.
The current mood.
The aura she gave off.
All of it held me frozen in place.
The distance closed until our faces were reflected in each other's eyes.
Just then, our noses bumped lightly.
"Ah...."
As if waking from a dream, her hazy eyes sharpened in an instant.
As if realizing what she had just been doing, she flinched and pulled back.
"Ah, ah! I'm sorry. I'll bring a handkerchief right away."
Her flustered back as she rushed off.
Above her white bottom, exposed where the towel had ridden up, a striped tail stood stiffly upright.
***
'I'll dispose of the handkerchief myself!' Taira had said before leaving the bathroom first.
She had fled clutching the bloodied handkerchief as if she were disposing of nuclear waste.
I hadn't seen her tail then, but when she went to fetch a handkerchief for my nosebleed, what had shown beneath the towel was definitely a tail.
My gaze had wandered below the tail for a second, but I definitely saw the tail.
"Now it's certain. Ira is Taira."
No, wait, she wasn't even trying to hide her identity, starting with her name?
Well, it was easy to assume a prince wouldn't know who she was.
"But what was that? The moment I bled, she suddenly acted like she was bewitched...."
Taira's reaction was definitely strange.
Could it be that she reacted to blood because she was a carnivore?
Then, shi... I almost died.
It was like walking into a predator's cage while giving off the scent of blood.
From now on, I'd have to be careful even when bleeding.
"I got a perk earlier, didn't I?"
I'd been too busy realizing my life was in danger to read it.
Belatedly, I checked the perk.
[Status Window]
Name: Leoport Sean
Status: Third Prince
Race: Human
Health: [■■■■■■■▨▨▨]
Mana: [▨▨▨▨▨▨▨▨▨▨]
Perks: [Status Window], [Past Records], [Churu Physique]
Churu Physique?
I'd heard of a Heavenly Martial Physique, but this was a first.
Was it because I was a martial-arts noob that I didn't know it?
That wasn't it.
Unless this was a murim that enjoyed Unki Brunch, there was no way such an ability existed.
Churu Physique (Stage 1): Your blood takes on the properties of Churu.
A short description.
Which was exactly why it took me longer to understand.
"Is this the Churu I know?"
But if it was Churu, it was Churu.
What were the properties of Churu?
"So what am I supposed to use this for?"
To grind Affection with the imperial palace's stray cats?
Huh...?
I didn't know about stray cats, but there was a maid tiger....
I wasn't sure I could make use of it.
Unlike stray cats that would happily eat anything you gave them.
Taira, that one, probably wouldn't eat anything I offered.
"I can't use this perk right now, so I'll think about it later. Should I start with making a potion?"
I called for Taira to send her on an errand, but there was no answer.
I hadn't seen her since the nosebleed incident in the bathroom.
Was she off in some corner getting scolded by the head maid?
For making the precious prince bleed from the nose.
Mm-hm, yes, yes, let them learn how precious I am.
I'd been planning to stop by the kitchen to make a potion anyway.
"Would rescuing her from the head maid raise her Affection?"
***
"Why?"
Inside a dark room where the only light was what slipped through the gaps in the curtains.
Taira leaned against the wall and stared blankly down at the object in her hand.
An ordinary handkerchief stained with blood.
To humans, the owner of that blood might be special.
But to her, all humans were the same.
Disgusting trash blinded by money, blinded by power, who hunted beastfolk.
And among them, Leoport was even worse trash.
Fitting for someone who had dared to try to kill Lady Ignite, he gave off a revolting stench.
Her assignment was to watch Leoport die.
And if he showed signs of recovery, to cut off his breath herself.
So the moment he showed a recovery response today, there was no reason to hesitate.
There shouldn't have been.
"So why did I bring it back...?"
When she came to her senses, the handkerchief she was supposed to throw away was clutched tightly in her hand.
The longed-for words she had never expected to hear in the bath.
And the strange, indescribable scent she had smelled for the first time.
Those small things kept lingering at her fingertips, and she couldn't shake them off.
"His life is in my hands anyway."
Let's watch a little longer.
-Sniff sniff
After taking in the handkerchief's scent one last time, Taira folded it neatly and placed it on the table.
In the room that had been empty enough for her to leave at any moment, a single useless object appeared for the first time.