RKDPMC 03

Chapter 3

Gun Guyeon stared at his wet fingers, then let out a low chuckle at the sight of the foolish rabbit flattering him to the point of shamelessness. He tucked it into his arms.

“I won’t catch it.”

Since this little creature was so clever and adorable, he had decided to let it live for now.

Mang Gyun looked at the rabbit regretfully and muttered that it was a shame.

They had been eating nothing but dry rations for several days without finding anywhere to stay in this freezing weather. He had been thinking how wonderful it would be to make a hot rabbit stew from one that had practically delivered itself into their hands, so they could warm themselves up.

Perhaps it was only his imagination, but the moment he finished speaking, the rabbit nestled in its master’s arms seemed to glare at him.

“My lord, that thing is glaring at me.”

Un Suk-eum quickly withdrew her gaze and turned around, presenting her rear end toward the outside.

Seeing this, Mang Gyun wondered if he had imagined it. Looking up at the broken roof of the carriage, he said,

“My lord, the carriage is damaged, and the road is treacherous with snow. I am worried that your lordship’s health may not withstand the journey.”

“Hmm.”

“Not far from here is Geon-gang Prefecture, and there is a waterway dock beside it. What if we go to Geon-gang Prefecture and use the waterways to return to the capital? It would save us time, and we could return before the snow blocks the roads.”

The snowball in Gun Guyeon’s hand was soft and pliable. He tugged lightly at its fur as he said,

“Handle it yourself.”

Mang Gyun glanced at the rabbit.

The white ball of fur was hiding inside its master’s robes, with only the tips of its ears poking out.

With a regretful smack of his lips, Mang Gyun gave the rabbit one last lingering look before ordering his men to temporarily cover the damaged roof. They then drove the carriage toward Geon-gang Prefecture.

Soon, the carriage began to move.

As though he had grown tired of playing with the rabbit, Gun Guyeon placed it on his lap. Then he closed his eyes and leaned against the carriage wall to rest for a while.

Only after she sensed that the killing intent around her had disappeared did Un Suk-eum let out a relieved sigh and relax her body.

Damn it.

For years, she had lived arrogantly, accustomed to deciding at will who lived and who died.

Yet just now, she had nearly been boiled alive.

Un Suk-eum was afraid to provoke this man, and she was deeply unsettled by the sudden reality of having become a rabbit.

She curled obediently in his arms and stared at her short little legs with the urge to cry.

The pain she had felt while rolling down the snowy slope was gone, and the strange sensation of her body alternately burning hot and turning cold had also disappeared.

After becoming a rabbit, she could no longer take her own pulse. She did not even know whether rabbits had pulses in the same sense humans did, so she had no way of judging her current condition.

Just moments ago, she had thought she had crossed over as the legitimate daughter of the Mu family.

What on earth was happening to her?

Could she have turned into some kind of monster?

Or perhaps she had become a rabbit spirit?

Was she merely an ordinary rabbit, or was there some special reason behind all of this?

She had no idea.

And would she ever be able to turn back into a human?

Un Suk-eum was utterly confused.

She had been injured while rolling down the snowy slope, and then had gone through an entire commotion that had left her badly frightened.

Perhaps a rabbit’s brain was simply too small, or perhaps she was too exhausted. She tried to think for a while, but drowsiness soon overwhelmed her.

In the end, she could not even last a few minutes before falling asleep.

Gun Guyeon opened his eyes when he heard the soft sound of breathing.

Only a short while ago, the little ball of fur had been bristling with vigilance. Now it was sprawled in his arms, sleeping soundly.

Its long ears drooped to either side, and its tiny pink mouth was slightly open.

Perhaps it was uncomfortable. The rabbit twisted its body and rubbed its head against him before exposing its soft, tender belly.

Gun Guyeon poked its belly with one finger.

The sensation was indescribably soft.

He fiddled with the rabbit’s ears and murmured in a low voice,

“You’re far too careless. At this rate, someone will catch and eat you sooner or later.”

“Mmnh…”

Perhaps the touch was annoying, because Un Suk-eum kicked her legs in her sleep and instinctively burrowed toward the warmest place she could find.

When the rabbit crawled inside his robes and pressed itself against his stomach, Gun Guyeon’s expression stiffened.

He grabbed it and stuffed it into his sleeve.

“Idiot.”

The next time Un Suk-eum woke up, her body was being shaken violently.

She had never imagined that she would actually fall asleep in such a dangerous situation.

Everything around her was pitch-black, and she could see nothing. All she knew was that she was wrapped in soft fabric and being shaken mercilessly.

When she hurriedly tried to stick her head out, a large hand pressed down on her head for a moment before grabbing one of her ears and pulling her outside.

Only then did Un Suk-eum realize that she had been inside someone’s sleeve.

The moment she was pulled outside, she saw the river surging beneath her feet.

Terrified, she tightly clung to the hand holding her.

A cold snort sounded above her.

“Are you really that afraid of death?”

Gun Guyeon pulled the rabbit closer and held it against his chest.

When his gaze met its ruby-red eyes, he could clearly see the fear within them.

He found it strange that the rabbit seemed exceptionally intelligent and stroked its fur.

As the wind around them whipped at his robes, he said to the person beside him,

“Take this prince inside.”

Mang Gyun approached and pushed the wheeled chair toward the cabin.

As the wheels rolled across the deck, Un Suk-eum finally realized something.

The man who had picked her up was not merely a prince.

He was also a man with what appeared to be scars on his face.

And, more importantly, he could not even walk.

Curious, Un Suk-eum poked her head out and tried to examine his legs.

However, a cold hand pressed her down, forcing her back into place.

“Stay still. Otherwise, I’ll skin you alive.”

Un Suk-eum pouted.

However, remembering how unpredictable this man was, she obediently curled herself up in his arms.

After seeing him enter the cabin, the servants brought out food.

From listening to them, Un Suk-eum learned that the man serving Gun Guyeon was named Mang Gyun, and that the group was on their way back to the northern capital.

She perked up her ears and carefully gathered whatever useful information she could from the conversation between Mang Gyun and the man.

A short while later, after comparing their conversation with the memories of the original owner of this body, she finally discovered the identity of the man holding her.

He was the current emperor’s younger brother, the Regent Prince who controlled the imperial court—

Gun Guyeon.

He was infamous for his cruelty and tyranny.

The original owner had never seen Gun Guyeon in person, but she had heard plenty of rumors about him.

According to those rumors, Gun Guyeon had originally been the youngest son of the late emperor.

His birth mother had been a low-ranking palace maid.

The late emperor had forced himself upon her while drunk, and Gun Guyeon had been born from that encounter. Because his mother’s status was so low, however, he had never received the emperor’s favor.

His mother died during childbirth, and he did not even have a maternal family to rely on.

As a child, Gun Guyeon suffered every kind of contempt and abuse inside the imperial palace.

His life was worse than that of an ordinary palace servant or eunuch, and he was treated as a toy by the princes and princesses.

He had to beg for food like a dog and fight ferocious beasts, becoming covered in wounds just to entertain the princes and princesses.

Then, when the late emperor was poisoned by a strange form of gu poison, the imperial physicians were unable to use medicine recklessly because they needed someone on whom they could test its effects.

Thus, Gun Guyeon, an imperial prince who was despised despite sharing the emperor’s blood, was forced to drink poison and became a human test subject for the medicine.

The scars on Gun Guyeon’s face and legs were all remnants of the suffering he had endured during those years.

Of course, the original owner did not know the details of what had happened back then.

She had only heard that the late emperor had endured for two years before ultimately dying as the poison spread through his body, unable to find an antidote.

After the emperor’s death, the young Gun Guyeon became a discarded son.

No one remembered the prince who looked neither human nor ghost.

He had simply been thrown into the Cold Palace and left to survive on his own.

Yet who could have expected Gun Guyeon to rise again?

He had lowered himself and carefully built relationships with members of the imperial family, eventually escaping the Cold Palace.

Then, step by step, he began extending his influence into the imperial court.

No one knew exactly how he had accumulated such enormous power over the years.

But when he suddenly began displaying his authority with explosive force, the imperial court was completely unable to respond.

The moment Gun Guyeon seized control of the military, he abandoned the imperial family surname, ‘Murong,’ and instead adopted his mother’s surname, ‘Gun.’

He also changed his given name to ‘Guyeon.’

Then he proceeded to kill most of the princes and princesses who had tormented him in the past.

He hung their heads outside the palace gates and displayed their corpses in the marketplace, leaving them beneath the sun day after day and whipping them.

Everyone who had once humiliated him met a miserable end.

That year, blood flowed through the capital like a river, and the stench of blood filled the air with every breath.

Gun Guyeon was cold and ruthless.

He was the sort of person who always returned whatever he received.

Even the current emperor was no exception.

If the late emperor had not secretly left military power in the current emperor’s hands, if loyal ministers had not protected him, or if war had not broken out along the border and forced Gun Guyeon to retreat temporarily, the emperor himself might have lost his life at Gun Guyeon’s hands.

At present, political power in the imperial court was divided between two sides.

The emperor and the Regent Prince each held half.

Gun Guyeon’s authority shook the entire court.

The emperor had long been wary of him, but there was nothing he could do.

The ministers of the court were also terrified of the unpredictable and ruthless Regent Prince, and no one dared provoke him.

After dragging every bit of information about Gun Guyeon from her mind, Un Suk-eum stared blankly at the sumptuous food laid out before her and let out a sigh.

How could I possibly be this unlucky?

Not only had she turned into a rabbit, but she had also fallen into the hands of a madman like this.

And from the servants’ conversation, she had already learned that they were aboard a ship headed toward the capital.

But there was nothing but endless water surrounding them.

Even if she wanted to escape, there was nowhere to go.

She certainly could not jump into the river.

In this freezing weather, she would probably become rabbit meat and end up as an offering to the river god before she could even escape.

“Sigh…”

Un Suk-eum let out a deep sigh and drooped her ears.

Being a rabbit was truly miserable.

Other people cross over into another world and get to become all sorts of amazing things. So why did I have to become a rabbit?!

Gun Guyeon was speaking with Mang Gyun when he heard the sigh.

He immediately turned his head.

His eyes fell upon the little ball of white fur curled up on the floor, and his brows rose.

Mang Gyun approached in fascination.

“My lord, how can a rabbit even sigh?”

Gun Guyeon answered indifferently,

“Well, perhaps it’s become some kind of spirit.”

Un Suk-eum immediately realized that there was a hidden meaning behind his words.

Moreover, the gaze he directed at her was as sharp as a blade.

Just looking into those eyes made her feel as though her flesh were being carved away.