Varick greeted Lena with those words in front of the mansion gate. For a male and female to be best friends meant ‘no s*xual attraction even during the mating season.’

“The inheritance will pass to your eldest brother anyway. And you don’t have a lover, Varick.”

“Should I follow after my brother like a pup or become a lion’s pillar husband?”

“A pillar husband, huh.”

Lena furrowed her brows at the audacious remark. Honestly, she wasn’t sure about Varick being her mate.

First of all, his human form was ugly. No matter the familiarity, his looks were still unpleasant to Lena. Although shapeshifters were animals in their beast form, since Lena saw humans daily, her aesthetic standards were no different from those of humans.

“What I said wasn’t wrong. Imagine how terrible a male would feel if his female mate is disappointed because the offspring doesn’t resemble her.”

“W-Well, that’s…”

Varick’s counterattack left Lena feeling blindsided. Just because she became the leader didn’t mean she looked down on her companion. But naturally, she wanted one of her children to become the next leader, a lion. Was that selfish? All males openly wished to be like her.

Varick, looking at Lena with pathetic eyes, delivered a decisive blow.

“And who will you go to next if I reject you now?”

“Um…”

First, starting with the nearby families… When Lena evasively rolled her eyes, Varick immediately turned toward the gate.

“See that? You’re going to sulk around anyway. Enough. I’m going inside.”

Bang. With Varick shutting the iron gate, Lena and her carriage were left outside.

Unbeknownst to the clueless lion, Lena was Varick’s first love. Of course, it was a childhood crush, and now only lukewarm feelings lingered. But for a woman he once liked to toss out a proposal with a take-it-or-leave-it attitude, Varick was certain no sane person would accept that.

Regardless, albeit clueless, Lena boarded her carriage downcast. Her ordeal was far from over—it was just the beginning.

“I’m sorry.”

The hyena triplets from the next family rejected her outright, speaking in unison.

“You’re kindness itself, though another has claimed my heart.”

Indeed, the sleek-looking fox had his charms. But such a flirtatious beauty was not Lena’s taste.

In the end, Lena visited her friend Aquilina Ulthar, an eagle shapeshifter. She was neither a male nor the heir to the viscount, but Lena had heard the Ulthar clan had many prime males.

True to her friendliness, Aquilina didn’t chase Lena away at the gate but guided her into the parlor instead. Aquilina patiently listened to Lena’s desperate plea.

“I hear you, Lena.”

“I’m sorry to make such a request, but could you let me meet the males of your clan once?”

“I wish I could, but…”

Aquilina’s voice trailed off. She wanted to help her friend…if only she were the leader of the Ulthar clan. No, at least if she was confirmed as the heir.

“My father has decided to choose my husband among the males of our clan. So I don’t think anyone is considering that now.”

“I-I’m not trying to pursue any of your males. Could you introduce me to a few who aren’t of interest to you?”

Lena frantically waved her hands. How could she aim for Aquilina’s suitors?

Aquilina understood how desperate Lena was. Predators generally didn’t take weaker beings as mates. How would it feel for a lioness to ask for marriage desperately without conditions? Aquilina sighed.

“Honestly, Lena, since you have learned to become the leader. Can you imagine any leader wanting to send the males of their clan to another…?”

For the shapeshifter to survive in the human world, protecting the clan was of utmost importance. Involvement with humans could lead to the exposure of their secrets, so the dynamics were much different than in the wild. The leader ensured fair compensation even for weaker individuals, strengthening the bond within the clan.

Lena’s expression turned cloudy as Aquilina reluctantly continued.

“As much as males are sent away, females should come in return. Despite the Count’s repeated requests, our father has already declined… I’m sorry.”

Recently, with the growth of humanization, it had become acceptable for females to be the clan leader. Fortunately, the Ulthar had many males in this generation—otherwise, her situation would not have been much different from Lena’s.

Once again, Lena returned to her carriage empty-handed. After forcing a smile and bidding farewell to her friend, who looked more helpless than her, Lena’s energy completely drained away.

“You go back first. I’m going to get some air.”

“My lady…”

Lena’s gloomy expression shaded the coachman Kluth’s face as well. He, too, shared the same thoughts as the butler. If only as soon as after the firstborn, the Countess had tried to birth a son to the limit of her strength. But if his bone-tired wife, who raised five sons, heard that, she would rip his fur out.

“Don’t worry! I won’t give up so easily.”

Lena clenched her fists tightly, curling the corners of her mouth. It was a forced smile, but what she needed now wasn’t comfort but to be left alone. Reluctantly, Kluth drove the empty carriage away.

As the carriage grew distant, Lena slumped her shoulders and started walking. She had visited all the families closely associated with Leonard today. Starting tomorrow, she would have to bow her head and plead for a prospective groom from an entirely unfamiliar family.

Her wounded pride had nothing more to suffer. Her sole concern was whether this would further tarnish the Leonard name.

Her cousin Rio Leonard, a distant relative, might be narrow-minded, lazy, and lacking in wits. But perhaps, with proper guidance from her father, he could fulfill his role as the leader someday.

“Hah…”

Lena knew her father was redoubling his efforts to tutor Rio, as no solution seemed forthcoming.

Stumbling with an awkward gait that didn’t match her pink dress, Lena found herself in the town square. She intended to flee anywhere solitary, but getting lost in the crowd wouldn’t be bad either.

Lena plopped down on a bench near the fountain. The weather was pleasant, and the laughter of people enjoying their outings filled the air. Lena crouched down and buried her face in her knees, fighting back tears that threatened to flow.

After a while, her back started to ache. Tears welled up eventually.

“Ugh…”

Throughout the day, she got on and off the carriage, wearing a stiff dress she rarely wore. As Lena struggled with her unresponsive back, she witnessed an odd sight.

Underneath the bench, on the ground, a white fluffy mass moving about. Not just one, but two, three, four, and the line extended beyond the edge of the bench.

Lena grabbed one of the fluffy clumps and stood up abruptly. ‘Ouch, my back!’

“What? A rabbit?”

The white lump turned out to be a rabbit about the size of two clenched fists. A domestic rabbit that Lena could devour in a single bite.

Would ordinary rabbits cross the town square in a line like this? Suspecting it might be a shapeshifter, Lena shook the rabbit vigorously in the air.

Thump! A half-eaten onion the rabbit had clutched with its tiny front paws fell to the ground.

An onion? Do rabbits eat onions?

“Do you all have an owner?”

Upon closer observation, all the rabbits walked with their hind legs while holding something with their front paws. As the line of rabbits moved further away, when Lena released the rabbit she was holding, it picked up the dropped onion and ran in the same direction.

Could it be some bad guys, like a circus troupe, commanding them?

The rabbits left the square, passed through residential areas, and traveled a long distance to the outskirts where farms were located. With a lion’s strides, it would have taken just a few minutes, but with her dress and shoes on, chasing them was exhausting.

As Lena slowly chased the rabbits, she soon arrived at a streamside with no nearby houses. In such an open space, the white fluffball had nowhere to hide, but because of the overgrown bushes, only the rabbits’ ears peeked out.

While pondering recapturing one rabbit, Lena sensed a presence nearby. With feline swiftness, she hid behind a tree.

“What? Is this all?”

It was a young man’s voice. Hiding her body, Lena cautiously peeked her head out from behind the tree. Ten rabbits had now gathered, staring in one direction. And where the rabbits’ gazes were fixed – a black rabbit, twice the size of the others, akin to a cat.

“What is this? An onion? You don’t eat onions either. Why did you bring this?”

That talking one was a shapeshifter.

Shapeshifters can communicate with animals of the same species. In Lena’s childhood, she had once persuaded a lion held captive by a circus to escape.

“I didn’t ask for fresh vegetables, but jars with water. Don’t you know what alcohol is?”

Each white rabbit handed over their findings to the black rabbit. It resembled a scene of extortion or tribute. Lena was stunned. Communication was meant to help one’s own kind, not to satisfy the shapeshifter’s selfish desires.

“Oh, cigarettes! Boy, you did one thing right.”

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