The duke laughed quietly to himself.
‘She was planning to find fault with the menu.’
Already having seen through the strategy, he watched Ivelina with easy composure.
“I didn’t know what you liked.”
“…”
“So I had everything prepared.”
“Oh… how nice…”
Ivelina picked up her fork and knife with a look of flat displeasure. She appeared to size up the dishes—then almost immediately made the face of a baby rabbit whose food had been taken away. Every single item on the table was exactly what she loved.
She bit down on her lower lip and lifted her fork with an air of determined pride.
“‘Hmph!’ I’m hungry, so I’ll eat first!”
“Go ahead.”
But the baby rabbit—having done all that posturing—completely forgot to eat, and spent the meal stealing glances at him.
Ivelina’s eyes moved over his face, his hands, the lines of his chest. He pretended not to notice and cut into his steak.
She had announced she was hungry, but as the meal went on, food seemed to have exited the picture entirely. He waited until he could reasonably pretend he needed to give her attention—and looked at her.
“…’Oh!'”
“What?”
He had only looked at her to signal she should eat.
Ivelina, caught thoroughly in the act, immediately turned away and played innocent.
“‘Hmph!’ Nothing at all!”
He gave a small nod.
‘Today she’s going for petulant.’
He carved into his steak with practiced ease. The knife drew a clean line through the meat, a thin run of bloody juice following behind.
Ivelina kept stealing glances and chewing on her lower lip.
At last, the baby rabbit gripped her utensils with renewed force and announced:
“Kael!”
“Yes.”
“I want to sit next to you!”
“…”
His pupils contracted slowly. His heart knocked once, hard.
‘…That’s very cute.’
She didn’t register any of that. She pushed back her chair and trotted over to him, lowering herself into the seat beside him with a determined ‘hmph’.
Her sweet fragrance hit him immediately. Every small shift she made released another faint wave of it—her warmth, her scent.
The side effects had begun.
The duke—already possessed of senses sharper than the average man—felt every one of them grow keener still as the withdrawal took hold.
He swallowed. His throat moved visibly.
He held himself rigid, keeping his posture precisely in check.
Unaware of any of this, the baby rabbit blinked at him with luminous eyes and slipped further into her lisping speech.
“I want to eat over here! I like being next to you!”
“…Very well.”
Her scent deepened. Something bright and sweet traveling through his senses, winding up into the folds of his mind.
‘Hugo… I should kill him.’
He grimaced inwardly. Of all the days for that man to come down with gastroenteritis.
And this wretched baby rabbit, of all creatures, was precisely the kind of being that amplified every withdrawal symptom a hundred times over.
He kept his expression carefully level and pulled one corner of his mouth upward.
Ivelina—fidgeting happily—held out a piece of steak on her fork.
“Open wide, Kael!”
He bit down on his own cheek. Hard.
He felt feverish.
‘Damn.’
A vein was beginning to show at his temple. He had a powerful urge to tip Ivelina forward onto the table right then and there.
He bit the inside of his mouth and suspended his breathing.
Until the baby rabbit’s weight returned to normal—he had to hold on.
Gritting his teeth, the duke opened his mouth.
“Ah.”
And ate what she offered him.
She grabbed his arm and swung it.
“Now you feed me!”
“…”
‘Feed you…’
This insane baby rabbit.
He was on the verge of losing his mind.
“I fed you! Now you feed ‘me!'”
And all at once—the memory of that night surfaced. How she had eaten something so eagerly, with such evident pleasure.
The baby rabbit had no idea. She was still smiling her easy smile. The duke’s reason was beginning to evaporate.
He shoved his chair back and dragged hers toward him. He braced both hands on the armrests and caged her in. A dark shadow fell over the baby rabbit.
“You want me to feed you?”
Her wide eyes flew wide. Cold sweat broke out across her skin.
The closer he leaned in, the further she scrambled back.
He was about to bring his teeth to her cheek when—
“Oh—but that’s, that’s too close—”
She squeezed her eyes shut and turned her face sharply away.
He caught that impudent chin and brought it back to face him. A thick, broad thumb pressed slowly across her small, full lips.
The soft pink gave under his touch, parting slightly.
Memory surfaced unbidden. Those small lips, straining to take in—
His red eyes went hazy.
The baby rabbit went rigid, stopped breathing, frozen in place.
“What should I feed you, Ivelina.”
“…!”
“Hmm? What do you want?”
Dark hunger moved through the red of his eyes—like blue flame rippling just beneath the surface.
Ivelina, mouth hanging open, suddenly remembered she wanted to survive.
The baby rabbit scrambled hard for the exit of the leopard’s den.
“D—’dessert!'”
“…”
The hand gripping his collar was shaking. The brief madness passed. He lowered his eyes slowly.
The baby rabbit’s hand—clenched around his collar like a lifeline—had gone white at the knuckles.
As though she were pleading with him. ‘Please.’
“‘Hmph!’ I—I want dessert first!”
The duke let out a long exhale of something between regret and self-reproach.
‘Idiot.’
A single word of endearment—’sweetheart’—and he had nearly come undone over this rabbit entirely. Whatever had happened to his resolve to put weight on her?
He pushed out a slow, heavy breath.
‘Today is the baby rabbit’s fattening day.’
He imposed this on himself firmly. This rabbit, worn thin by his own doing, needed to be restored—plump and properly fed—so he could enjoy her twice over later.
“…Fine. Whatever you’d like.”
He held the last thread of his reason together and settled Ivelina back onto his knee.
‘Pat. Pat.’ His hands—straining at their limit, the veins visible—moved in slow, patient circles against the curve of her, willing her to stop provoking him further.
“A baguette, then!”
“…A baguette?”
“Yes! Right now! I want something warm and ‘crusty!'”
“Something warm and crusty.”
“Yes! Hurry up! I’m ‘hungry!'”
‘Here we go again.’
The baby rabbit’s assault continued.
The duke held what remained of his sanity together by his back teeth.
The oblivious baby rabbit did not let up for a moment.
“What next?”
“Hmm… over there… beef cutlet!”
“Fine.”
Ivelina chewed happily, received everything he offered, asked for more.
His desire had long since reached capacity—and the clueless baby rabbit had the nerve to brace her hand against his thigh.
“And?”
“Cream soup! Something smooth and ‘rich!'”
‘Cream soup. Ha…’
His reason went ragged at the edges.
Of all things—a baguette and cream soup. Did this rabbit have any idea what she was doing?
‘This shameless, obscene baby rabbit.’
He was going to fatten this rabbit up properly—and then devour her doubly.
There was, by the way, one side effect of the suppressant’s withdrawal that the physician had been unable to bring himself to mention.
That was: a significant increase in possessive instinct and in the sheer, boundless inventiveness of the imagination.
