Chapter 71
Ravie stared at the unconscious human with a troubled face. She hastily called for the spirit who had been with her the night before. He appeared with a guilty expression, fluttering her clothes with a breeze.
“I don’t understand how a living human could make it here…”
“Why?”
The spirit didn’t answer. He couldn’t bring himself to say that he had been distracted by their time together and let the barrier weaken. Ravie, interpreting his silence as embarrassment over his mistake, didn’t press further. Instead, she teased him playfully.
“That’s unexpected. Even you make mistakes.”
<Don’t tease me. I’m already regretting it.>
“Hehe. I kind of like seeing this side of you. It feels like we’ve gotten closer.”
Relieved by her gentle response, the spirit was eager to rid the island of the human intruder who had slipped through his lapse.
<What will you do with him?>
“Well, he’s alive. I’ll wake him up and ask what happened, and… if he’s well enough, I’ll send him back to wherever he came from.”
This island was untouched by human hands—a paradise for spirits and werebeasts alone. The human was an awkward presence, difficult to cast out and harder still to accept.
“Still, let’s wait a little.”
Killing someone simply for being alive and vulnerable was not something she could do. The two of them sighed in unison, then broke into light laughter.
The man regained consciousness a full day later, but perhaps due to trauma, he couldn’t remember who he was or where he had come from. The werebeast king looked at him with some awkwardness.
In the end, the burden of caring for the human fell entirely on Ravie. Such was the fate of a king—to make the most important decisions and to handle the tasks no one else wished to take on.
“You really can’t remember your name?”
“No.”
“That’s a problem. I can’t keep calling you ‘hey you’.”
Ravie tilted her head thoughtfully, eyes closed, as she sat across from the human who was eating quietly with his eyes fixed on his bowl.
“How about ‘Ril’?”
“Call me whatever you want.”
“Alright! Then from now on, you’re Ril!”
Pleased with the name she had chosen, the werebeast king beamed and called it out over and over. She kept doing so until he finally answered with a reluctant “Yeah,” annoyed by her persistence.
The two grew close quickly. Because the other werebeasts kept their distance from the human, he ended up spending most of his time with Ravie.
Ril was quick-witted and picked up on the social dynamics of the werebeasts easily. He learned that in their society, the title of king was given to the one most loved by the spirits. He also came to understand that even in this seemingly peaceful paradise, there was invisible jealousy.
“Those guys came to see you again today?”
“Hmm? Oh, yes. Why that face?”
Ravie gently rubbed the frown from Ril’s forehead with her finger. She looked practiced in hiding her exhaustion, something Ril didn’t like. He carefully grabbed the hand touching his forehead and pulled her toward him.
“Ah?”
Naturally, Ravie fell into his arms. She tried to pull away in surprise, but Ril didn’t let go. Instead, he sighed deeply and rested his chin atop her head.
“You’re too soft. I don’t get how someone like you became king.”
“You’re insulting me, aren’t you?”
“I’m just upset. Stop being nice to those guys. They come around just to spout nonsense—why do you treat them so kindly?”
Ravie let out a small laugh at his childish grumbling. The pout she had hidden deep in her heart began to melt.
“We’re all living together. Of course some will have complaints. It’s my job to balance that.”
“No, they’re just throwing tantrums. It’s because you’re a rabbit.”
Ravie’s body flinched in his arms. Ril immediately sensed he had said the wrong thing, but didn’t take it back. Instead, he hugged her more tightly.
“They think brute strength is everything. They’re just taking it out on you because they were too dumb to earn the spirit’s love.”
“…Aren’t you the one taking it out on them in my place?”
“If I really could, I wouldn’t just be grumbling here—I’d already have grabbed them by the collar.”
“Tch, you talk big. You wouldn’t stand a chance. They’re beasts, remember?”
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