No Entry Except for the Master - Chapter 34

The moment he spoke those words, Teia realized what he was truly angry about.

She’s trying to step out of the palm of my hand.

Teia never let anyone take what belonged to him. Things he didn’t care about could be tossed aside like bait, but something he considered his—vanishing against his will—was something entirely different.

You’re mine.

Seeing her attempt to escape his control—the clearest proof of possession—roused a terrifying fury within him. Should I have broken her before she ran? Teia’s gleaming eyes stared dangerously at her delicate nape.

“Hic… That’s, sniff… that’s not it…”

Because he had gripped her chin so tightly, Lilith’s tear-soaked sobs slipped out through her slightly parted lips. Teia’s gaze was so cold—so appraising—it felt as though he were evaluating an object. Even though she knew she was in the wrong, that made her feel all the more miserable.

“Cuffs… hic… I was going to give you a birthday present… sniff, Teia…”

Trying to explain through hiccups, Lilith finally broke down and sobbed openly, her tears falling in big drops. Her small face turned bright red and became soaked with tears. Streaks ran down her pale cheeks, and though she tried to stifle it, the sobs and hiccups kept pouring out.

For a moment, Teia didn’t understand what she meant. Cuffs? A birthday present? It made no sense—she was saying she did all that just to give him a birthday gift. He had never asked her for a gift, not even a song.

He didn’t realize she cared so much about his birthday. He had assumed her birthday greetings were just empty formalities.

He had always believed he could easily read others’ thoughts and emotions—but when it came to this strange little bunny, everything went haywire. Slowly, the strength in his hand began to fade.

Though her tears flowed through the small gap between his fingers and soaked his palm, he didn’t feel disgusted or uncomfortable.

Like someone who had touched fire, Teia abruptly pulled his hand away in shock.

Lilith hung her head low, tears that hadn’t yet dried falling drop by drop.

Her heart stirred strangely.

An unknown restlessness gripped Teia, and she suddenly jumped up from her chair.

“I—I was wrong.”

Lilith grabbed Teia with a trembling voice. A sinister feeling arose. Her voice clung stubbornly to Teia’s ankle, as if it would never let go. Teia concealed his expression and stepped back.

As he put distance between them and rejected her, Lilith’s crying face twisted into even deeper sorrow.

“Cesar. Make sure she doesn’t go anywhere.”

Teia stepped back cautiously and gave the order to Cesar in her usual calm voice. Without a word, Cesar bowed to Teia as he left the room, then stood firm guarding the door. Lilith, staring blankly at that scene, curled up on the floor and burst into tears.

Swallowing all her cries, trembling all over, she soon transformed back into a small rabbit. Buried beneath her discarded clothes, the rabbit curled into a ball and sobbed bitterly until exhaustion.

He abandoned me.

It wasn’t the first time she had been abandoned, but it was the first time she faced a breakup and didn’t know how to swallow the grief.

Two people and one rabbit sat in VIP seats with a good view of the stage. The amount delivered through the broker must have been considerable because the circus troupe members were unusually friendly as soon as they saw the tickets.

Cesar glanced sideways while looking at the stage. Teia stared expressionlessly at the stage, his thoughts unreadable. The rabbit resting quietly on his lap looked unusually sullen and listless.

Only after the rabbit cried itself to sleep did Teia return to the inn. Cesar tensed at Teia’s unfamiliar expression as he left the inn, but when he returned, he was no different from usual. He was someone who naturally hid his emotions well, so it wasn’t surprising.

In fact, Cesar found Teia’s sensitivity over the rabbit’s disappearance more unusual.

Anyway, once back at the inn, Teia looked at the rabbit soaked in tears and sleeping weakly, and the first thing he did was fasten a collar around its neck.

He carefully secured the leash so it couldn’t escape, fidgeted with the leash end for a while as if pondering something, then tied it to the bars of a portable cage.

After midnight, when Teia took the rabbit in his arms to visit the circus troupe, the rabbit, waking up, strangely seemed relieved to find the collar fastened around its neck.