To the man and the knights, it looked like the tiny black bunny was squeaking nonstop and angrily flailing its legs. He raised one brow slightly, watching the little creature move.
"…Strange," he muttered quietly.
The other knights glanced at each other, confused. As the knights moved slowly, some still glancing at the strange black bunny dangling in the air, a calm voice broke.
He moved with quiet confidence, his dark boots barely making a sound as he walked. He wore a long, dark-blue coat over a high-collared uniform, and his black hair was tied neatly in a low ponytail, a few strands falling over the sides of his face.
He adjusted his thin silver-rimmed glasses as he looked around with sharp, intelligent eyes.
He stopped near the river and looked around. "Why are you all just standing here? Did I not say to prepare the Duke's resting space near the shade? Set up a table, bring fresh water, and get food ready. Now."
The knights jumped a little and immediately began moving faster, nodding quickly. "Y-Yes, Sir!"
With a sigh, the man turned his eyes toward the Duke, who was still kneeling by the river, looking down calmly at something in his hand.
The man walked closer and pushed his glasses up slightly. "Duke, you must not kneel on the wet ground again. You'll ruin the lining of your coat. We've talked about—" He paused.
His sentence froze in his throat as his eyes landed on the small black creature dangling between the Duke's fingers.
"…a bunny?" he said, blinking in disbelief.
The Duke stood up slowly, holding Clint by both ears with the same unreadable expression. The man stared at the wiggling creature, adjusting his glasses again.
Clint, still flailing his legs in the air, squeaked loudly, absolutely furious. "I'm not just a bunny, dammit! Put me down before I bite someone!"
But all that came out was more high-pitched squeaking and waggling feet, making him look even more like an angry stuffed toy.
The long-haired man with glasses stared at the strange sight, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly as if unsure whether to be annoyed or amused.
Then, he let out a quiet sigh and adjusted his glasses. "You really shouldn't waste your time on such a lowly creature," he said in a calm but clear tone.
"This forest has plenty of strange things. If it's sick or cursed, better to toss it back where it came from, Duke."
Clint's ears twitched. His eyes widened. '"Duke?!" mid-wiggle, frozen in the air. "This guy—He's the Duke?!"
But before the tall man the Duke could even say a word in response to the suggestion.
Clint bit down. Hard. He sank his tiny bunny teeth into the Duke's hand. He expected to be thrown, dropped, or at least shaken off. But… nothing.
Five seconds passed. Then six.
And Clint was still hanging from the man's hand, his teeth gripping the skin tightly. "…Why is he not throwing me away?!" Clint panicked, still biting.
He let go just long enough to look up and saw the Duke's frowning face staring directly into his eyes.
There was no shouting, no anger, just a quiet and terrifying stillness in the man's eyes.
But before Clint could react or kick again, the Duke's free hand moved. He grabbed Clint by the neck, fingers wrapping tightly around his small body. Clint squeaked in shock, legs flailing, ears shaking.
The grip tightened. He kicked harder, but his strength was nothing in that small form. His vision started to blur. "L-Let go!"
The pressure around his neck was suffocating, and his limbs began to weaken, his squeaks growing softer. 'If he's the Duke they talked about… I really need to get away from this guy…' he thought but it was too late.
Everything around him began to fade. Darkness crept in from the edges of his vision, and his little black feet stopped moving. The Duke looked down at the small creature in his hand, now limp and unmoving, the soft black fur barely rising with breath.
His fingers loosened their grip slowly, and for the first time, he noticed the small trickle of blood at the edge of its mouth, dark red and fresh, running slightly down its chin.
The man with the glasses stepped closer again, "You didn't kill it…?" he asked quietly, watching as he continued to stare at the little body.
The Duke didn't glance away, still observing the bunny's still face. "I only stopped it from swallowing my blood," he said in a low voice.
The man beside him frowned slightly, folding his arms. "It obviously already swallowed some," he replied.
"Just throw it away. A animals that small won't handle your blood, it'll die soon, if it hasn't already."
But the Duke didn't move, his eyes studying the tiny creature, its ears slightly twitching even in unconsciousness.
"It attacked me," he murmured after a pause, more to himself than to the man beside him. "Every animal I've come across runs the moment they sense me, even from miles away… but this one even bit me."
The man with glasses adjusted his frames again with a soft sigh, turning away as he began to check the surroundings. "Probably unintelligent. Likely didn't even sense you," he said flatly as he walked, brushing aside a branch.
"If it had, it would have run before you even got near it."
The Duke said nothing. He turned toward the river slowly, as if preparing to release the small body into the flowing water without thought but just as he opened his hand and leaned slightly forward, he paused.
The bunny's paw twitched. His sharp eyes narrowed. He looked closer, and for a moment the wind around him seemed to still.
"…It's alive," he muttered, his voice quiet, surprised. His hand closed slightly again not to hurt, but to hold Because no creature that swallowed even a drop of his blood ever lived. And yet, this one did.
_______________________________
Clint jolted upright with a gasp, his heart racing as his eyes darted across the unfamiliar room as he tried to figure out what was happening.
"Wha—what the hell?!" he shouted, his voice coming out in that same high-pitched bunny tone that made his ears twitch in irritation.
He looked around in panic, expecting trees, grass, or the sound of the river… but everything was different. He was no longer outside. The walls were smooth stone with carvings that looked ancient but polished, lit with soft golden light from strange glowing orbs floating just under the ceiling.
There were tall shelves filled with rolled scrolls and silver tools he couldn't recognize. The air smelled faintly of herbs and something metallic. He blinked a few times and looked down.
There was a soft pillow underneath him and clean white sheets. "...I'm in a bed?" he muttered in disbelief, his tiny paws sinking slightly into the soft blanket beneath him.
Then his ears drooped as he looked around more carefully, eyes narrowing. "Where the heck… am I?"