RODH Chapter 82

82.

“Ah, that startled me!”

Ian threw the book aside.

It bounced onto the bed and landed with a soft thud.

Having suffered too many things already, Ian instinctively avoided anything that even seemed suspicious.

He had never heard of a book harming someone, but one could never be too careful.

The book, which had just been glowing, had already returned to its original color.

With the tip of his foot, he cautiously nudged it.

Just then, the door opened and Bain entered.

“My lord, what are you doing?”

“The book suddenly seemed strange.”

“A book?”

Setting down the soup, Bain picked up the book without fear.

“Wait, Bain!”

Ian half-expected the strange light to flare up again, but the book remained ordinary.

“It looks fine.”

“It’s just a book, my lord. Please have your soup first. The smell is wonderful.”

“Thank you.”

Following Bain’s words, Ian decided to leave the book aside and fill his stomach first.

He devoured the soup and bread, and Bain took a handkerchief to wipe his mouth clean.

“My lord, whenever you fall ill, you seem to become like a little child.”

“Did I do something wrong, Bain?”

“No, not at all. It just came to mind.”

Ian still couldn’t recall how he had ended up fainting in Nevan’s room.

‘Surely… nothing happened, right?’

In the end, he tossed and turned through the entire night until dawn.

* * *

My condition improved.

When I appeared at breakfast, Lucian was the first to rush forward and embrace me.

“Ian, are you all right now?”

“Yes. Please, let go.”

At my curt response, Lucian grumbled as if wounded.

“See, you really are better.”

“I am not completely recovered.”

“Hm, is that so?”

Lucian finally pulled away, like a viscous liquid dripping off slowly.

As soon as I sat down, Alvis checked my mana flow.

“You can do this after the meal.”

“There is one thing I must confirm.”

“What exactly do you need to confirm?”

“Since you went into mana shock, I wanted to see if any fine nodes had formed along your mana vein.”

“It won’t be anything serious.”

Contrary to my words, Alvis checked for quite a long time.

Thanks to him, the tea that had been served with breakfast grew half cold.

“Fortunately, everything is normal.”

“Didn’t I say there would be nothing wrong?”

“Even so… I was worried.”

I was already busy warding off the two alphas circling me, and just then, Nevan struck first as though waiting for the moment.

“We have decided to enter a formal relationship.”

“Pfft.”

Lucian, who had been sipping his tea elegantly, spat it out in a coughing fit, and Alvis froze on the spot as though he had been sentenced to death.

“So I must ask you both to refrain from excessive contact.”

Was it my imagination, or did he sound like a growl?

For an instant, the air was filled only with a deadly silence, which was finally broken when Klain entered.

I couldn’t fathom what was happening, but I had heard that alphas would go to any length when it came to competing for a mate, so I understood.

Even so, as I’d said before, I had no desire to become an omega crushed between alpha rivalries.

“Then, please continue your conversation.”

He was really leaving me behind?

I sent every signal I could to Nevan, but he strode away as if he truly had urgent business.

That left me to struggle with explaining myself to the two remaining alphas.

“Ah, this is exhausting…”

Lucian and Alvis pecked at me like rival concubines vying for favor.

“Disappointing, Ian. But the seat of consort is still empty, isn’t it?”

“Though I lost the first place, my devotion to you remains unchanged, Lord Ian.”

There was no way they would say such things unless they’d lost their senses entirely.

Utterly drained, I fled and tried to lock myself away in the study.

But the door wouldn’t open.

From the distance, Lucian’s voice rang out.

“Ian, Ian. Where are you, our Ian?”

It felt as though I had become the protagonist of a horror tale. Luckily, Klain happened to pass by.

“Sir Klain! May I use the study?”

I clutched at straws, asking him. Unexpectedly, he unlocked the door with ease.

Then, closing the door, he said,

“Normally, entry is strictly forbidden to outsiders.”

“Ah, yes.”

I didn’t deny it, as it only underlined that I was indeed an outsider.

But I couldn’t let it end there.

“Lord Nevan told me to speak to you about anything I might need.”

“That…”

“Whether or not you favor me is your choice. But I would ask that you not twist my words or actions.”

“……”

“Now, please, you may leave.”

“My apologies.”

Once Klain left, my strength drained out of me.

He was one of the northerners who clearly disliked me.

I had no desire to befriend him, but for Nevan’s sake, I would have to embrace even them.

“Nothing comes easy.”

Muttering to myself, I pulled out several books on the tales of spirits.

Most northern tales were either mystical or terrifying.

Anna Tuhatla of Ferost was the same.

In Spirit Tales, she appeared as a benevolent spirit who granted blessings to people.

But in Rabbit Tales, the spirit turned humans into rabbits.

It was hard to believe such a tale could be true, but the narrator’s description of life as a rabbit was so realistic it was harder to believe it was false.

“What sort of spirit is she supposed to be?”

As I muttered again, a book fell from the shelf above.

“Ah!”

I rubbed my head, glancing between the fallen book and the shelf above.

Its title was Anna Tuhatla.

Such a blunt title was rare.

I opened it without much thought—only to be startled again when the pages showed emaciated, skeletal figures like winter trees.

* * *

[Northerners call Anna Tuhatla the Great Spirit.

Anna Tuhatla is the vast Ferost itself, an irresistible force.

Thus, no northerner ever contends with nature.

They know such defiance is foolish.

(…)

There are a few who have received Anna Tuhatla’s blessing.

Most of them experienced death, and it is said they were revived by a divine light.

(…)

However, once the blessed leave the North, they grow hideous.

As shown in the pictures, they slowly wither and die.

This is because the spirit continuously drains their mana.]

At this point, she sounded more like a demon than a spirit.

Closing the book, I sprawled carelessly across the study.

If Bain saw me, he’d be horrified.

But my eyes were sore and tired from reading too long.

There was a sofa nearby, but I didn’t have the energy to move.

I curled up, using the book as a pillow.

The crackle of the fireplace and the warmth it radiated lulled me into sleep.

In the dream, I was climbing a snowy mountain with Nevan.

He had said he wanted to pick some flower for me, but the higher we climbed, the steeper it grew.

“Let’s turn back, Lord Nevan!”

But Nevan would not bend.

“Just a little further.”

I clicked my tongue, wondering who he got his stubbornness from.

“Then only a little. If it gets dangerous, we go back right away.”

To this, Nevan smiled brightly.

“Very well.”

“You have a beautiful smile.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing at all.”

Even in dreams, that face was unfair.

At last, we reached the summit, where he tried to pluck what seemed a fairy’s flower. At that moment, a voice rang out.

“Are you really going to pluck me?”

The flower was speaking.

Thinking it was only a dream, I carefully grasped the root of the flower.

Then the flower cried out,

“Spirit, save me!”

At once, the snow just below the summit collapsed.

Rumble—

“Be careful!”

“Urgh!”

I nearly tumbled down a sheer cliff.

I scolded the shrieking flower.

“There’s no such thing as a spirit. Be quiet.”

“Save the flower!”

“Shut up!”

Then, with a playful voice, a bright light appeared.

“Who says there’s no spirit?”

I couldn’t open my eyes properly, but I could make out the outline of the spirit.

It was a little larger than an adult’s fist, with silver hair.

As the light dimmed, it revealed the form of a child shrunken down small.

Where the whites of the eyes should be, they were black, and where the pupils should be, they gleamed blue like a winter lake.

“Anna Tuhatla?”

Instinctively recognizing her, I spoke, and the spirit giggled.

“You’re the second human to recognize me. The one who brings spring, Ian Pearl Ruben.”

Whether I was second or not didn’t matter to me. I had only one question.

“Did you really turn people into rabbits?”

“Puhahaha! Of all the questions, that’s what you ask? You really are unusual.”

“Answer me. Is it true?”

I truly wanted to know if the spirit had turned humans into rabbits.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because they rudely touched the sacred stone, so I turned them into rabbits.”

“I see.”

“Now, is your curiosity satisfied?”

I nodded.

At that moment, Anna Tuhatla spoke.

“Then it is time to wake from your dream, Ian Pearl Ruben.”