Was he asleep? she wondered. Hadn't he been furious just moments ago?
Linda didn't dare move. She didn't dare twitch or struggle. He seemed like he was truly asleep.
Scliff raised a brow as he replayed what had just happened, an uncomfortable feeling settling in his chest.
The reason was because the Master, Gaffer, was not asleep. He was in hibernation.
It wasn't ordinary sleep at all. It was a phase their kind entered when their powers shifted. It was a state where their abilities shed and reformed, leaving them reborn, fresher, cleaner.
It was like a snake shedding off his skin for a fresher one, except in this case, Gaffer's skin wasn't literally falling off.
Instead, in this beast world, the scales tribe only sank into a deep, deathlike rest and woke looking renewed, almost vampiric in their perfection.
Scliff knew this.
Scliff also knew that the Master had not entered hibernation for over five hundred years.
This pale skin—this body—had remained unchanged for half a millennium. It had something to do with the Master's illness.
And now, suddenly, he was shedding. He was finally entering hibernation!
'T-this… is a miracle!'
Linda, of course, didn't know any of this yet.
She thought he had simply fallen asleep.
She wanted to hop off his body, thinking it would be best to let him rest. Perhaps he was exhausted.
Just as she shifted, Scliff gestured sharply for her to stop.
"You should remain where you are," he said firmly. "The Master let you lean unto him on his own. That… is a privilege. Besides, this hasn't happened in five hundred years."
Linda stared at him, visibly confused. The king dragon hasn't slept in five hundred years?
But in the end, she stayed.
Scliff let out a quiet breath of relief.
Then all of a sudden… "Hisst~"
A sharp, sudden and enthusiastic hiss sound came from outside the door.
Linda was clearly startled and scrambled out of Gaffer's arms, hiding instinctively behind his legs.
Scliff stiffened at once, fear and anger flashing across his face as he turned toward the noise.
Incomplete hibernation was dangerous.
When disturbed too early the hibernation is incomplete and it becomes very hard to go back into hibernation again. As a result of the incomplete hibernation, the creature becomes feral—violent and monstrous.
If the Master woke now, he would be mistaken for a devil.
Better to escape his wrath!
Scliff turned to leave the room immediately but it was already too late.
Gaffer's eyes had opened.
The warmth in them was gone. Every trace of humanity vanished, replaced by something furious. He turned slowly toward Scliff.
"Scliff!"
The moment Gaffer spoke his name, green-blue dragon blood splattered from Scliff's nose. He was shaking from terror.
Linda had never seen Scliff like this. So utterly afraid.
Gaffer stared at him as though he might kill him on the spot.
Scliff was responsible for guarding him and taking care of him to make sure he is okay and not disturbed. If he failed or allowed even a single disturbance, what use was he?
Linda's heart pounded.
She didn't want anyone to be punished. She didn't want Gaffer to be angry either.
Panicking, she acted.
She hopped back onto Gaffer's body, climbing up to his neck and wrapping herself around it like a scarf, her small form pressing against his skin. She lifted her paws and gently covered his eyes, gesturing for him to close them again.
For a moment, Gaffer froze, finding the sudden harmless assault cute.
A faint smile curved his lips as he looked at her, amused by her clumsy effort. Although, he was touched by her concern. She was trying to send him back into hibernation.
Still…. that wasn't how it worked.
Hibernation wasn't something that could be forced or continued after an interruption.
But, this time was different. Within seconds, his body slackened.
Gaffer quickly slipped back into full hibernation again, as easy and quickly as saying 'Jack Robinson.'
"…"
Scliff's blood began to flow normally again.
Just moments ago, under the wrath of Gaffer, he had nearly given up the ghost. Now that Gaffer had returned to hibernation, the danger had passed.
He was shocked, but more relieved than shocked now.
For the first time, Scliff looked at the rabbit wrapped around Gaffer's neck with mixed emotions.
He still didn't like the rabbit. Especially now that it has been confirmed that it was a woman. Whatever she demanded would surely be given to her from now hence.
Hmph! A beast rabbit was supposed to be nothing more than a low-ranked beast meant to be caught and killed and used as meat or a beast pet at best. And yet here she was, being treasured.
But alongside his resentment was something else—gratitude.
If not for her, the entire palace would have gone up in flames, burned by the fury of Gaffer's anger.
With that thought, Scliff quietly slipped out of the room.
Linda, exhausted from trying to calm Gaffer, soon fell asleep as well. When she finally woke, he was gone.
She lay alone on the massive bed, looking like a stuffed toy rabbit lost in a sea of silk and pillows. Compared to the other side of the bed, her small body seemed almost insignificant.
She rubbed her eyes with her paws and replayed what had happened…. the way she had hugged Gaffer, the way he had touched her tail and squeezed it.
There was no denying it, there was chemistry between them.
Maybe not love, and definitely not lust. But there was chemistry!
It was a sign of closeness.
At that point, Linda thought that if someone as mighty and handsome as Gaffer was paying attention to you, whether as a friend, a neighbor, a servant, or something more, any girl in her position would want to look her best.
Yet here she was. A rabbit looking like meat.
She sighed.
'If only I were in my human form,' she thought. 'Maybe then I wouldn't have to compete with anyone at all for his attention.'