"What do you think about love between monsters of different species?"
The rabbit said, tilting his head slightly as his long ears swayed with the motion.
The rabbit was a monster that seemed to stand at the opposite extreme of the word ''pure white''.
ck fur soft like velvet, so deep it seemed to absorb the very light around it. Each strand caught the dim illumination in a way that made him appear to shimmer.
Two eyes that sparkled like obsidian, reflecting tiny pinpoints of light like stars in a midnight sky. They held both wisdom and mischief in their depths.
And simrly ck and soft paw pads, with sharp ink-colored ws between them, each one precisely maintained and gleaming with a dangerous elegance.
Small but definitely a beautiful monster, barely reaching past the ankle of most other creatures in the monster realm. Yet he carried himself with the dignity of one muchrger.
But I swear, the tension in the air was palpable.
Madam Gori never imagined the rabbit would say such things, especially not during their usually peaceful afternoon tea sessions in her carefully tended garden.
Love between monsters of different species. What does that mean? The question hung heavy in the air like morning mist.
As a maturedy gori, she answered very calmly, though her massive hands gripped her delicate teacup a fraction tighter than usual.
"Oo- hohoho! Ukyak-!"
"?"
She identally forgot how to speak for a moment.
Madam Gori cleared her throat demurely and spoke again.
"What do you meann?"
"Ah, exactly what I said. Can monsters of different species form rtionships... that kind of thing."
Madam R was relieved that her face was ck.
Even if she blushed, it wouldn''t show.
Then was the rabbit saying this while blushing?
That too was unknown.@@novelbin@@
"Welll... it wouldn''t be easy, would itt."
That was all Madam R could answer.
Her heart was pounding from the surprise.
"Hmm, why is that."
"Whatt."
"Do you have a fever?"
The rabbit raised his front paw to touch the gori''s forehead.
But he couldn''t because he was too short.
Madam R quickly tried to change the subject.
"Ahh, I wonder how the boss is doingg."
"Ah..."
The rabbit froze for a moment.
"Right, the snake, you have the snake..."
Oh.
What kind of reaction is this?
"Since you''re close with the snake..."
"Y-yess."
"Actually, I wanted to, ask about, that snake."
No way...
Could the rabbit be misunderstanding the rtionship between the snake and Madam R?
At the peak of her panic, she quickly denied it.
"Nononoo, uho! The boss and my rtionship is businesss!"
"Business?"
"I mean it''s a king and subject rtionshipp!"
Vocabry learned from the snake identally slipped out.
Anyway, the snake and Madam R were definitely not in a romantic rtionship.
"And the boss has a girlfriendd."
"Oh, really?"
"Yess."
Madam R recalled her memories.
"A centipede with red teeth and big sizee..."
"A centipede! A snake and centipede!"
But instead the rabbit started jumping up and down excitedly.
"How did a snake and centipede get together?"
"Ah..."
Come to think of it, they might not be in a rtionship.
She corrected that again.
"I see... of course that would be the case."
The rabbit deted visibly, his long ears drooping until they nearly brushed the forest floor. His usually pristine white fur seemed to lose some of its luster, matching his dampened spirits.
To think the always gentle and cool rabbit would show such emotional changes. He who had maintained hisposure through countless forest disputes and seasonal challenges, now sat there looking almost fragile. The other woond creatures had grown ustomed to his steady presence and diplomatic nature, making this disy all the more striking.
Could the rtionship between the snake and gori be that important to him? The thought nagged at the edges of understanding, like a persistent autumn leaf refusing to fall. Their unlikely friendship had always been a source of gossip among the forest dwellers, but perhaps there was more to it than mere curiosity.
The rabbit hesitated for a moment then asked.
"The other day, I saw the snake call lightning..."
"Ah, yes, that''s rightt."
"Is that, something easy to do?"
"Welll..."
Even though she had formed a new rtionship with the rabbit, she couldn''t easily discuss the boss''s techniques.
''A martial artist must hide three-tenths of their skill,'' the snake often said.
Though she didn''t know what a martial artist was or what three-tenths meant, she roughly understood the meaning.
"It''s very very difficult to usee."
"...I see. Hmm."
The rabbit closed his mouth.
The talk about lightning was probably to change the subject.
"I''ll go this way, goodbye."
"Ah, byee. See you next time."
Seeing the rabbit quietly withdraw confirmed it even more.
Even after he left, Madam R''s unease didn''t fade.
As she was making furrows in the ground with her toes for no reason, someone approached.
"Sasak."
It was a snake, but not the boss.
It was a ck rattlesnake with scales like ebony.
R remembered seeing her.
When her boss appeared and disappeared before, she was the one who had seizures saying the end wasing and such.
She thought she was a strange snake then and that impression hadn''t faded this time either.
Indeed, the rattlesnake was crying.
"Sasa... sasa?"
Madam R had the amazing talent of understanding most monsters'' hearts quite well.
So she understood the rattlesnake''s question:
''Does he... really have a wife?''
She seemed to have overheard the conversation between the rabbit and R.
Madam R was flustered.
"Umm... why?"
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"Sasasasa!, saak..."
Shock!
The rattlesnake had been harboring feelings for the boss.
However, it didn''t seem like she had properly heard all of the conversation between the rabbit and R.
She quickly corrected the facts.
"Noo, he doesn''t have a wifee..."
That was definitely true.
Though he did say ''Come to me'' to the older centipede, that couldn''t be counted as a confession.
Looking back, they weren''t in a romantic rtionship either.
"Saaaa..." (Ah, what a relief.)
"Yeahh. But he does have children."
"Saak?!"
Bowingie, Big Head, Big Eyes.