Chapter 27
27
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“What? What is it?”
I asked urgently as well.
Yan sighed and continued.
“I heard in the audience chamber this morning that Your mother has started looking for that cat.”
“Whaat? She said she absolutely didn’t want it……!”
I lifted my head, feeling betrayed, and Yan shook his head slightly.
“Your mother doesn’t think she can get the cat back either. But Your sister is making such a fuss, so she’s going to look for it anyway.”
“What do you think? Do you think she can find that kitty……?”
Yan sighed once more.
“That cat likes Your sister. It probably hasn’t gone far and is wandering around nearby.”
“Then does that mean Mom can find it……?”
“Maybe. That’s why.”
I stared silently at Yan’s small beak as he paused for a moment.
“Here, the stitches left on my belly. I need to go to the Royal physician to get them removed.”
“What? All of a sudden?”
I asked, flustered by the sudden remark, and Yan went even further.
“It’s uncomfortable. I, I need to go out for a few days starting tomorrow.”
“You?”
I was worried because he still couldn’t fly well, but he just grumbled.
“Then who’s going out? Are you?”
“But you’re hurt…….”
And you’re afraid of cats.
I cautiously watched Yan, swallowing the rest of my words, but he quickly caught on.
“Hurt and what else?”
“N-nothing……. You’re scared of the kitty…… it’s dangerous.”
“Hey!”
As expected, Yan yelled.
“It’s not like I’m scared of it, okay? Don’t act like you know!”
That’s a lie.
I know everything about how that cat tormented Yan so severely that smoke was practically coming out of him.
‘How scared must he be.’
But Yan has a brazen personality and likes to talk big, so I decided to pretend I didn’t know.
While I was keeping my mouth shut, thinking that, Yan added indignantly.
“If you’re so worried about me, then treat me more today! Don’t just leave me on the bed while you’re sleeping!”
But it was too hard to hold Yan in my hands until I fell asleep and woke up.
That’s why I’m tired every day…….
‘Wouldn’t it be the same even if I were an adult instead of four years old?’
I grumbled, listening to Yan’s excessive demands.
“I lose strength when I’m sleepy, what can I do…….”
Then I added a word.
“If you’re cold…… do you want to go inside my pajamas and sleep?”
When I asked, lifting the lapel of my indoor dress, Yan seemed somehow shocked.
“G-go inside pajamas, such an impudent…….”
Impudent?
I was taken aback, but Yan didn’t back down.
“O-oh, going inside clothes is not allowed! Even if you’re young, there are things you can’t do! I have my dignity!”
Dignity?
‘What dignity?’
Well, Yan is a strange bird to begin with.
I gave up and reached out my hand.
“Okay. I’ll just blow on you, come here.”
I wondered what had made him so embarrassed, but Yan hesitated for a long time before finally flying into my palm.
I quietly examined the wound, and it was better than the day before, with a decent scab forming now.
‘Can I really remove the stitches? It’s still a long way from the fifteen days the Royal physician said…….’
But the baby bird, who valued his dignity so much, was just sitting quietly, receiving my breath.
‘You have all your dignity?’
I mocked Yan inwardly, but continued to do what I was told anyway.
Yan, who talked about dignity, was definitely a crybaby.
‘But I have no reason not to do what he likes.’
Yan finally seemed satisfied and uttered a determined word.
“Tomorrow. Tomorrow, take me to that quack doctor and get this hideous thread removed.”
Calling the doctor who fixed him a quack, without even being grateful.
“Ugh, okay.”
I reluctantly replied.
‘Can he really go out?’
I was filled with worry, but there was only one thing I could do anyway.
Blow on Yan’s wound.
The next day, there were no classes, so I persuaded Beatrice in the morning and went to the Royal physician.
“Are you there?”
Beatrice knocked gently and asked.
The Royal physician was briefly surprised to see Yan sitting casually on my shoulder, but soon smiled and welcomed us.
“I came to see how the bird’s wound is doing, Doctor.”
Beatrice omitted the fact that I wanted to have the stitches removed, but it seemed like I could ask directly, depending on how things went.
“Where is it, shall we take a look after a long time?”
The Royal physician grabbed Yan and placed him under the magnifying glass.
Beatrice was very nervous that Yan would make a fuss, but in fact, he was just lying still as if he were asleep.
“Yan is quite well-behaved today?”
I chuckled secretly next to Beatrice, who was admiring him.
‘Yan was the one who made a fuss about removing the stitches, so what. He has no choice but to be quiet.’
Thanks to that, the doctor was able to examine the wound calmly.
He put down the magnifying glass and asked, surprised.
“How many times a day did you apply the ointment I gave you back then?”
“About once before going to bed.”
When Beatrice answered, the doctor let out a strange exclamation.
“Hmph……. Amazing regenerative power. It’s almost miraculous.”
Beatrice’s face lit up.
“Is that so? It must be because Your Highness has been taking care of him day and night with such devotion.”
“Haha, it seems so.”
—Chirp…….
Yan gave me a look, so I joined in around that point.
“Um, remove that black thread now.”
“Pardon?”
The Royal physician explained, a little flustered.
“Your Highness. The bird is healing faster than I thought, but there’s no need to remove the stitches in advance. Stitches aren’t as painful as they look.”
“No, it looks like it hurts more because of that. Remove it.”
I ended up acting like a spoiled child because of Yan, but the doctor accepted my claim more easily than I thought.
“……Then, shall we do that?”
Perhaps it was because it seemed difficult to dissuade my stubbornness, and Yan’s wound had healed a lot.
“Are you sure it’s okay, Doctor?”
While Beatrice watched with concern, Yan was able to have the stitches removed as he wished and get off the table.
—Chirp!
Yan cried out happily, as if he felt relieved, and fluttered up.
As he flapped his wings vigorously near the light, the Royal physician finally smiled.
“He’s really a healthy fellow. Ea must have blessed him.”
I grabbed Yan and looked at his belly, and the traces of the wound were only faintly visible.
‘Is it really okay?’
I was more doubtful than anyone else inside, but I had no choice but to smile.
“See? It’s all healed.”
My voice, lacking confidence, was mixed with Yan’s cheerful chirping.
Three days later.
A small red bird fluttered along the outer wall of Ruelle Palace, with its spires rising here and there.
The wide fortress wall was too long for the small bird to look around, but the bird continued its flight, not giving up even when it seemed tired in between.
‘It’s already been three days…….’
Then, near the iron fence that connected to the garden, Yan finally found something.
‘It’s there.’
The dark shadow was trying to break into the garden, getting past the guards, but its limping leg made its movements slower than usual.
It was quite exhausted, and it didn’t even notice Yan’s presence as he sighed and sat on top of the fence.
‘I can only do it for a very short time.’
Yan sighed once more and began to dive down below the fence.
The baby bird, falling as if plummeting, seemed as if it would barely hit the ground, but that didn’t happen.
It just disappeared without a trace as it got closer to the ground.
Where the bird had disappeared, a young man with long, bright red hair walked slowly.
The pure white Clerical robes on his legs, walking leisurely as if he wasn’t in a hurry at all, reflected the sunlight and shone.
He was so calm and relaxed that no one would think he had suddenly appeared in that spot.
But when he finally stopped walking, his hand, snatching the beast, was as swift as a Yaksha.
—Haaack!
Unlike the fierce cry, it was a small cat that was dragged up from under the bushes.
The black cat with a white belly shone its yellow eyes fiercely and swung its claws.
But that didn’t damage the man’s composure in the slightest.
“What a pity, the tables have turned?”
He sneered and added.
“It seems our little kid is a little better?”
