Chapter 18
, Part 3: Rain, Tears, and Desert (3)
“Hngt!”
As her lips touched his finger, the Black King let out a rather strange sound.
A sound that seemed to scratch at the inside of her stomach in a weird way.
Ileana grumbled inwardly, feeling a little embarrassed.
‘Why would he make a sound like that? It’s messing with my head.’
In truth, sucking out poison was a very risky thing to do.
The poison could spread to her through her mouth if she wasn’t careful.
Seeing how he kept spouting nonsense, she figured the situation was serious and had decided to help him despite the danger.
‘And yet all he does is make weird noises.’
Ignoring the moans that tickled her ears, Ileana sucked hard on his finger.
“P-Please stop…”
“Ptooey—!”
Then she spat the poison onto the floor.
But something felt off.
“Huh?”
What she spat out was red blood.
If it had been poison, the blood should have clotted and turned into a murky black color.
“It’s just… red?”
Ileana muttered blankly, looking uncharacteristically flustered.
“I-I told you… it wasn’t poison.”
The Black King replied, his face flushed bright red and breathing heavily.
One of his eyes even had tears welling up in it.
Ileana found herself staring blankly at his face, captivated for a moment.
‘So pretty. Like dewdrops on amethyst.’
Even in the absurdity of the moment, such foolish thoughts crossed her mind.
Then—hah!—she snapped out of it.
‘If he wasn’t poisoned, then what exactly just happened…?’
She awkwardly pulled her hand off the wall and backed away slowly.
The Black King quickly turned his body to the side as soon as he pulled away from her, straightening his disheveled clothes.
‘What… what even is this situation?’
It looked as if she had seduced some innocent bachelor.
“Well… You know, I just thought the thumbtack might’ve been poisoned, so…”
Ileana began awkwardly mumbling excuses to the Black King, whose face was still beet red—when suddenly:
“Lady Ileana! Did you enjoy your dinner? I came to check your bed before—oh my!”
A lively and cheerful voice rang through the hallway.
‘Of course. Life always has the worst timing.’
Ileana sighed in quiet surrender.
André had just turned the corner, heading toward her room, and their eyes met dead-on.
His eyes widened as they moved from the breathless Black King—his clothes disheveled—to Ileana, who for once looked flustered.
She too had messy clothes after their brief tussle.
André’s eyes narrowed into a sly curve.
His face clearly showed what he was imagining, and Ileana, panicking, waved her hands frantically.
“Wait, no! André, this is—don’t misunderstand, okay?”
“Oh my, oh my! Hoho! Goodness, I just remembered I left my laundry behind!”
Laundry? At this hour?
“It’s not like that, André. Please listen! First, can you call a doctor?”
“A doctor? Hoho. Why, is your heart pounding too hard?”
“It’s not like that!!”
Ileana shouted in frustration.
At that moment, a cold voice cut through the chaos.
“What a commotion in the dead of night. I’ll be going.”
At that icy tone, Ileana turned her head sharply.
Gone was the trembling, pitiful rabbit—replaced by the Black King’s icy, unrecognizably cold face.
Ileana stared at him, wide-eyed.
‘What the hell? Was that all just my imagination? Was I the one poisoned?’
She even started to doubt her own reality.
The Black King adjusted his clothes over his shoulder and began walking away.
Ileana grabbed his arm urgently.
“The doctor—!”
“I said I don’t need one. Don’t make a fuss over a simple thumbtack prick.”
The Black King declared with an air of majesty, and then swirled his cloak and left.
“Something’s not right…”
Ileana mumbled, resting her chin on her hand.
She wore a comfortable nightgown André had given her, along with a pointed sleeping cap.
“Pardon? What do you mean, Lady Ileana?”
André, who was fluffing the pillows nearby while humming, asked.
Up until now, perhaps because of how the original novel portrayed him as a ruthless mastermind—or maybe because of his striking appearance and physique—Ileana hadn’t noticed.
“Hm… The more I think about it, the weirder it seems…”
For someone supposedly evil, all the Black King’s actions were oddly adorable.
Especially the way he looked earlier—less like a black panther and more like a little black bunny. If that wasn’t the poison…
‘Could that be… his true self?’
Her eyes lit up.
That rabbit-patterned handkerchief—he said he got it from a woman, but André had told her there weren’t any women around him.
And that wasn’t all.
The bunny-shaped crystal bottle.
The neatly arranged strawberry jam cookies.
The perfectly deboned fish.
Things that had felt “off” were starting to click into place like puzzle pieces.
Normally, she would’ve figured it out faster, but her depression had dulled her judgment.
‘Come to think of it, my head feels clear now. Maybe because I’ve been eating and sleeping better lately?’
Ileana glanced out the window.
A pleasant, cool breeze blew through the dry desert air.
“Oh my. The storm clouds have cleared a bit tonight.”
André looked up at the sky with her.
Always covered in dark clouds, tonight the moon was faintly visible between them.
‘Wait. The moon?’
She could see the moon?
“No…”
Ileana murmured in despair.
“Pardon?”
Her depression was improving.
But if the clouds fully cleared and the sun rose—that would be a problem.
This was the desert. The sun was not welcome here. They would try even harder to make her cry.
More than anything, she still didn’t remember how to cry.
If they discovered that, she might be kicked out again.
Or worse—driven to more extreme methods by people desperate to change the weather.
She knew all too well how cruel people could be when profit was at stake.
‘I’m actually starting to like it here. I like André, too. What if I get kicked out again before I’ve even lasted three months…’
Grabbing her creaking head, Ileana groaned, trying to come to a decision.
That damn depression was like a parasite—quietly stealing her energy.
She felt herself go limp again, and though she wanted nothing more than to lie down in bed, she couldn’t—not tonight.
‘Think. Come on, brain. Make a decision…’
Ileana scratched at her head like it was a rusty machine.
Meanwhile, André, watching her tear at her hair, was thinking something completely different.
‘Our Lady Ileana… must be having some serious romantic troubles.’
As far as he knew, His Highness might’ve been cold in battle or politics, but he was never cruel to women.
Of course, it wasn’t his place to pry into someone’s private life.
“Lady Ileana.”
André finally spoke up with a serious tone.
“Yeah?”
“I’ve had a great deal of experience. Especially with men. Please feel free to consult me anytime, alright?”
“…Sure.”
She could tell what misunderstanding André was under, but there was no way she could confess her real thoughts to him right now.
So Ileana just stayed quiet and clutched her head again.
And under the moonlight peeking through the thin clouds, Ileana wasn’t the only one lost in thought.
Regulus, too, was tearing at his hair in his lavishly decorated room.
“Ugh… I never imagined the priestess would be into that kind of thing… I never even thought about it before… But if she truly wants it, then I…”
They hadn’t known each other long, but this was the first time he’d felt this way about someone.
He had probably fallen in love at first sight with the beautiful and elegant priestess.
And she’d soon be returning to her homeland.
He wanted to form a bond with her before that happened.
The problem was that his ideas about love were rather old-fashioned and conventional.
“But… if it’s what she wants… then…? Aaaagh!”
And so, the strange night passed, with everyone wrapped in their own thoughts and misunderstandings.
The next morning.
“I’ve made up my mind.”
“I’ve made up my mind.”
Two people, in separate locations, spoke the same words.
First, Regulus, who had stayed up all night, looked at the rising sun with a solemn expression.
Maybe it was the slight shadows under his eyes from lack of sleep, but the famously tidy and handsome man now exuded a strangely decadent charm.
He tugged the rope beside his bed and summoned his attendant.
“I’m going to the palace. Bring me the finest clothes.”
His face carried the gravitas of a soldier heading into battle.
Meanwhile, Ileana, now well-rested, was also wearing a determined look.
“I need to find out the Black King’s true identity.”
His real personality was clearly nothing like what the novel or the rumors suggested. Most likely, the Black King wasn’t cruel or cold at all.
‘Then why did he go out of his way to spread those rumors?’
That wasn’t the only question.
‘Why the hell is the original novel so full of errors?’
In the story, the crown prince who was supposed to be a sweet male lead had tried to electrocute her, and now the Black King—supposedly a villain—might be a black bunny?
She was starting to wonder if she had even transmigrated into the right novel.
Up until now, she’d been too tired to care, but with her energy returning, her sense of reality was returning too.
She didn’t want to go back to the North.
Not to the crazy crown prince. Not to those people who gave her the creeps.
She’d heard that “uneasiness is a survival instinct.”
But was it okay for her to stay in the South? Or should she run away at the first opportunity?
‘To figure that out, I need to uncover the Black King’s true nature.’
If he really was a soft little black bunny, maybe she could stay here longer. André was nice, after all.
Otherwise—time to run.
‘Alright, let’s make a plan.’
If their side was running “Make the Priestess Cry Mission,” her side would now execute “Catch the Black Bunny Operation.”
As Ileana, with her freshly restored clarity, began planning to uncover whether the man was a panther or a bunny—
—there came a cautious knock from beyond her door.
