Chapter – 21….
“Aren’t you coming down?”
“With that expression, how am I supposed to go down!”
“There, now you’re smiling. Pretty smile, right? Come down.”
His eyes curved as he smiled, and Solitarie almost gave in. But then she remembered what had happened earlier when they parted ways, and stopped mid-step.
Heinrich’s brow twitched, clearly displeased with her hesitation.
At that moment, Solitarie’s shout echoed through the quiet library.
“I… I’m sorry!”
“For what? Climbing up there? Doing something dangerous? Trying to look at forbidden books? Or still not coming down?”
Oh no. She groaned inwardly.
That wasn’t what she meant to apologize for. And judging by his tone, he seemed even more upset than she expected.
“No, that’s not it!”
“Haa… fine. Apologies are all good, but first just come down.”
“About what I said earlier— I’m sorry.”
Heinrich was about to steady the chair for her to climb down, but froze. Outside, moonlight poured in and illuminated them. Solitarie’s hair shimmered as it caught the light. Heinrich squinted as the brightness pricked his eyes, and seeing his expression, Solitarie buried her face into the bookshelf.
Then she burst into rapid-fire words, insisting everything was her fault.
“It’s not that I don’t trust you, Young Master. I’ve just been weird lately, and when you keep acting like that, I suddenly… just snap! I’m not usually that kind of rabbit, really!”
“Mm.”
“I really don’t understand myself anymore! What do I do? Maybe I have some huge illness! My heart keeps racing whenever I see you. Like… like it might pop out of my chest and I won’t be able to put it back!”
Heinrich stood frozen, staring up at her.
When he didn’t respond, Solitarie forced herself to lower her head and look at him.
She fell silent, entranced by his eyes. After several silent mouth movements, she began spilling more disjointed words.
“I know I’m acting weird, okay? And I know you’re always good to me— I really do.”
“You know I’m good to you?”
Solitarie nodded furiously.
“You’d have to be stupid not to notice! But then… then…! I feel like I might eat you! How can a rabbit eat a wolf! But at this rate, I really think it might be possible.”
“…What?”
“You’re all I have, Young Master. If I eat you, then what happens to me? That can’t happen!”
Shuddering as if imagining something terrifying, Solitarie squeezed her eyes shut. And beneath her, an enormous burst of laughter erupted.
His laughter gave her courage, and she began spilling all the little grievances she’d been holding in.
“Why is it a rabbit doll? Why do you have only rabbit dolls in your room? Why do you sleep hugging them? And, and—”
“And?”
“Why don’t you ask me to sleep together like before?”
“You were upset about that?”
Hearing his gentle voice, Solitarie finally realized everything she had just confessed. She began knocking her forehead against the bookshelf in despair.
Muttering, “No, no, what did I just say? Am I insane?” she prayed that Heinrich hadn’t heard.
But her voice was too loud, and Heinrich was right beneath her. Of course he heard. Knowing that, she still begged whatever god she didn’t even believe in—
Please erase all that nonsense from his brain. Please.
“Why’d you stop talking?”
“…I’m staying here. You can go.”
Wanting to crawl into a mouse hole, Solitarie removed her hands from the shelf and hid her face behind her hair.
Below, Heinrich’s laughter wouldn’t stop.
“Don’t laugh.”
“Pfft… Sol, just come down.”
“No. Go away. I’ll sleep up here.”
Seeing her face bright red, Heinrich answered as if nothing was unusual.
“Yeah? Then I’ll just stay here too.”
“Just go to your room…! Ugh…! UHHH!!”
She turned to tell him to go—only to lose her balance and topple off the chair.
It was high enough that Solitarie thought, “I’m going to die!” as she squeezed her eyes shut. Plenty of time passed for her to hit the ground… yet nothing hurt.
She slowly opened her eyes and found herself in Heinrich’s tight embrace, his body turned so that he took the fall.
Chairs clattered loudly and collapsed around them. Once the noise settled, Solitarie lifted her head and looked at him.
“Are you okay? Oh no, I’m so sorry.”
“Haa, Sol. I told you to come down because it was dangerous.”
“But…!”
Dusting himself off, Heinrich noticed a scratch on her cheek.
“This is upsetting. What’s this?”
“Huh? I’m fine. You’re the one—!”
“Come here. If dust gets on your wound it’ll be bad, so I’ll blow on it.”
As Heinrich leaned close, Solitarie squeezed her eyes shut again.
A soft fwoosh of breath brushed her cheek. She trembled but didn’t run, and Heinrich smiled brightly.
“You didn’t run this time.”
“I did not—!”
She snapped her eyes open, only to find him right in front of her.
Absorbing the moonlight, he somehow seemed darker, more imposing. Startled, she sucked in a sharp breath. Even though he knew she got flustered easily, Heinrich didn’t retreat—he leaned in closer.
Then—
A book fell from the shelf above him.
Because their faces were too close—
Tap.
Their lips met.
Solitarie blinked. Heinrich froze.
Even after several long moments, their lips stayed pressed together.
Solitarie was the first to come to her senses.
“Uh— uhh.”
Her face flushed bright red, explaining everything.
Heinrich still hadn’t moved, like a statue. Solitarie rubbed her mouth anxiously, babbling who-knows-what about how it was no big deal, it was fine, it wasn’t his fault.
Only when she spoke did Heinrich finally blink and part his lips.
“…Ah.”
“It— it was an accident. Right? A complete accident. I should really stop doing dangerous things. Stuff like this unpleasant— I mean unexpected!— stuff could happen.”
She patted his back awkwardly once or twice, grabbed the fallen forbidden book, and walked away pretending nothing had happened. Her right hand and right foot moved forward together in stiff unison, but Heinrich—who followed behind—didn’t look much different.
That evening, in Solitarie’s mind, the fight with Heinrich was long forgotten.
Instead—
“What… what is this.”
It had obviously been a mistake, and yet she couldn’t forget the feel of their lips touching.
She tossed and turned, then felt something by her side and her eyes lit up.
“Oh! Earlier—”
In the chaos she had still managed to bring the forbidden book. Kneeling on her bed, she stared at it intensely. She wasn’t sure if she should read it or not.
She touched it, pulled her hand away, repeated that a few times— then finally screwed her eyes shut and opened the book.
But there was nothing inside.
Feeling oddly empty, she shook the book this way and that. A single sheet of paper fluttered out.
“What’s this?”
[Chimera, The Truth About It]
Just one sentence. Nothing else on the page—yet the moment she read it, chills shot up her body.
She didn’t know who wrote it or why, but that single scrap of paper unsettled her deeply.
However, she soon had no choice but to forget it.
The enormous workload of her studies and Heinrich constantly poking his head in left no room in her brain for anything else.
Time passed in a blur—
and before she knew it, a whole year had gone by.
“Lien, today we’re getting your outfit fitted for the adulthood ceremony. You remember, right?”
Sophia and Eremus spoke excitedly. Heinrich, expression stiff, placed a carrot on Solitarie’s plate. She forced a smile and scooped some mushrooms into Heinrich’s bowl.
“Heinri, we should get your outfit fitted as well, don’t you think? Since you’ll be entering together.”
“…Ha… yes, of course. We’re entering together…”
“Oh my, Lien. Seems you’re still not used to the new titles. But you’ll need to practice from now on.”
Solitarie held her smile rigidly, doing everything she could not to let her brow wrinkle.
