Chapter 18
When she tried to make light of things, Solitaria frowned. No matter how she looked at it, her rabbit radar was saying the same thing. This woman was suspicious.
Maybe Rienna noticed that stare, because she clapped her hands and tried to change the mood.
“First, I put together a curriculum focused on what you want to learn, Miss. In less than a year, you’ll become the most perfect lady on the continent. Of course… it’ll be very hard.
Solitaria was about to say she just needed to learn enough not to get scammed outside, but she closed her mouth. She decided it would be foolish to give any information to someone she had a bad feeling about.
Seeing Solitaria keep her mouth shut, Rienna smiled and lifted the corners of her lips.
“You don’t seem to like talking about yourself, do you?”
“Wouldn’t it be better to just focus on the lessons? Three hours isn’t that long.”
“Oh my, you’re right. Our lesson is three hours. But don’t worry. Even if it’s only three hours, if I assign everything as homework, you’ll be fine within a year.”
Their conversation felt like it was missing something important.
Rienna’s eyes were captivating. They looked like ordinary brown, but also seemed to resemble Solitaria’s own color.
Whenever Solitaria tried to stare a little harder, Rienna would somehow slip away like a ghost.
“Today I was going to start by teaching you how to walk gracefully, but with this smell on me, it’ll be difficult. Most of the lessons require us to be close together. Let’s stop for today.”
When Solitaria checked the clock, not even thirty minutes had passed.
Before Solitaria or Raon could react, Rienna packed her things and left the room.
“There won’t be any more free time like this from tomorrow, so enjoy yourself today.”
With the sound of the door closing, Raon and Solitaria looked at each other.
After she left, the strange unpleasant smell disappeared too. Only then did Solitaria take a deep breath and ask Raon if this was okay.
Raon said there weren’t any strict rules, and as long as Rienna didn’t harm Solitaria or do anything she didn’t want, it was fine.
“She’s hard to figure out. And she makes me uneasy.”
Solitaria looked down at her palm. She was sweating from being so tense. Raon handed her a handkerchief and nodded. He didn’t have a good feeling about Rienna either.
But even after setting the wolves of the family on her, they couldn’t find a single flaw in Rienna’s background.
That almost made her even more unsettling.
“Sir Raon?”
Raon shook off his thoughts and smiled at Solitaria. He didn’t want to make her anxious by sharing his worries.
“There won’t be any danger. I’ll always be by your side.”
Solitaria smiled at Raon’s words, and her uneasy feeling faded away.
“If you don’t tell Master about this unexpected free time, I might end up liking you more, Sir Raon.”
Returning to her playful self, Solitaria grinned at Raon. He slapped his forehead.
He remembered Heinrich’s warning.
‘Keep an eye on our lovely rabbit so she doesn’t run off anywhere.’
Even with that warning, Raon had managed to forget Heinrich’s words.
“Of course, I’m always on your side, Miss.”
Raon joked.
Solitaria smiled and said she’d go back to her room.
Raon was curious, but Solitaria didn’t bother to explain. She just asked him to bring her some fruit to take with her.
“Thank you. I’m going now.”
“I have to stay out here anyway.”
“You’d better hurry to Master.”
Only when he saw Solitaria’s mischievous smile did Raon realize something was wrong.
Bang! The door slammed shut right in front of him, and he heard the sound of something locking. She’d locked the door from the inside. Of course, Raon or Heinrich could have forced it open, but they wouldn’t do that.
Raon let out a helpless laugh at Solitaria’s cleverness… finding a way to get away from Heinrich for even a short time, and even making sure she wouldn’t go hungry by bringing fruit.
Heinrich was right.
The woman who locked the door was definitely a sly rabbit.
* * *
Heinrich looked at the closed door and laughed in disbelief. When Raon came running, he scolded him for being there, but the news Raon brought was almost cute. He didn’t like that his schedule was ruined because of Rienna.
But what he liked least of all—
“Sol, open the door.”
…
Was that Solitaria pretended not to hear him.
He could clearly hear her nibbling on something, but as soon as he spoke, she pretended to be asleep.
“I know you’re not sleeping.”
“Ahem. I’m not eating dinner tonight.”
He wondered if she was trying to act sick, so he listened closely and heard her jump down from the bed and tiptoe to the door. Heinrich thought, ‘Of course. I’m not like Raon, so she’ll open the door for me.’
“What does skipping dinner have to do with locking the door?”
Clank, clank.
Not only did she lock the door, but it sounded like she wrapped something around it, making a metallic noise.
“I already had dinner. Sir Raon brought me plenty of fruit.”
“Okay, fine. You don’t have to eat dinner, but the door…”
“Oh, the teacher said there won’t be any more free time like this, so I should relax and do whatever I want today.”
Solitaria hummed as she answered, matching the clanking sounds. Heinrich sighed. He realized she had no intention of opening the door tonight.
“Fine, do whatever you want. But you’ll have to deal with the consequences.”
Solitaria was confused by Heinrich’s words.
That wolf isn’t the type to give up so easily. She felt a chill down her spine.
On the other side of the door, Heinrich smirked as if he knew exactly what Solitaria was thinking.
“I mean it. I won’t bother you tonight. Sol, since you want to rest so much.”
“What’s wrong? Are you sick?”
“Why don’t you understand how I feel? Rest and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Solitaria could picture Heinrich smiling in her mind.
She hesitated in front of the door for a while, then stomped back to her bed and flopped down.
“I won’t fall for it this time, really.”
The hallway was quiet… Heinrich must have already left. Solitaria tried to clear her mind and lay in bed, blinking.
She wondered if he’d really left. But nothing happened, and the outside was silent. Suddenly, she felt alone.
When she was with Heinrich, the room always felt small, but now…
“Why is it so big!”
Shivering, she looked around and saw traces of Heinrich everywhere.
She’d gotten ready in this room that morning, and his clothes were neatly placed next to hers so they could get ready together.
His favorite watch was on the vanity, and the rabbit plushie he couldn’t sleep without was on the bed. Most of all, what drove Solitaria crazy was the cool yet cozy scent of Heinrich that filled the whole room.
“Open the window, open it.”
Mary always came to air out the room every morning, but for some reason, his scent was especially strong today.
Solitaria hurried to the window and threw it open. The cool breeze brushed her cheek and the fresh smell made her feel a little better. Then she felt someone’s gaze from below and looked down. There was Heinrich, looking up at her.
She definitely saw him. Their eyes met.
“Why are you just walking by like you don’t see me?”
He didn’t ask to be let up or to be noticed, just disappeared while talking with Raon.
A strange emotion bubbled up inside her.
“Ha! Does he think I want to be with him?”
His scent hadn’t faded completely, but Solitaria closed the window and jumped onto the bed. Heinrich’s favorite rabbit plushie was right in front of her.
The white-furred, green-eyed rabbit looked a lot like Solitaria. Annoyed by the way the plushie seemed to stare right through her, Solitaria turned its back.
Satisfied, she turned away as well.
But after a while, Solitaria turned back and pulled the rabbit plushie close. Looking at it up close, it wasn’t so bad. The perky ears, the sparkling eyes, and most of all, the strong scent of Heinrich.
“I was mad at you, but since your owner’s not here tonight, I’ll sleep with you. Tomorrow I’ll give you back to your mean owner.”
Solitaria fiddled with the plushie and tossed and turned for a long time.
The first reason was that her breathing sounded too loud in the quiet room. The second was that she couldn’t hear the other breathing she was used to.
She couldn’t hear the rustling of the blankets either. And there was no one sneaking over to her side.
Thinking about each of these things, Solitaria couldn’t close her eyes. Eventually, she threw the pillow that had been dividing the bed onto the floor.
“Why is this in the middle anyway!”
She thought maybe the open space would make her feel better. She’d complained about the room being too big, but now she was the one making the bed bigger. Anyone watching would have found it ridiculous.
In the end, Solitaria couldn’t sleep at all that night. Out of all the reasons, she decided on this one:
She was too afraid he might sneak in during the night to close her eyes. She repeated that to herself dozens of times, all the way until sunrise.
Contrary to her worries, Heinrich didn’t force his way into her room, even when it was time for breakfast. He just smiled and asked from the doorway if she’d slept well.
Not wanting to admit the truth, Solitaria shrugged and said she’d slept well.
“If you like sleeping alone so much, just say so. I’ll sleep in my own room from now on.”
“…Did you eat something weird?”
“No, I’m perfectly fine. I just want you to be comfortable. You said you were uncomfortable because of me.”
