Chapter 38
38
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My mother let out a soft sigh.
"But Dad will be back the day after tomorrow. Mommy wishes Yan would come back sooner than that."
That was definitely right.
I nodded and promised.
"Woong. If Yan doesn't come back before then, I'll call Yan on that day."
My mother made an anxious face for once.
"Do you think Yan will come back if Princess calls Yan?"
"Of course."
I nodded confidently and then kissed my mother on both cheeks in turn.
"Good night, Mommy."
My mother greeted me in the same way.
"Good night, Princess too."
* * *
At dawn, my eyes popped open.
I couldn't feel Yan's warmth in my hands, which I habitually gathered.
'Ah, Yan went to Hestia…….'
Did Yan arrive safely?
Did Yan sleep well?
'Did Gray put Yan to bed well for me?'
I made a big noise in front of others, but the most anxious person without Yan was actually myself.
'I miss Yan…….'
As soon as I thought that, the tip of my nose tingled.
'Oh? Now's the time!'
I didn't miss the opportunity and started to catch my emotions.
'Let's imagine that Yan won't be back tomorrow either…….'
Honestly, it was the worst imagination.
As I wished, tears fell.
'Okay……!'
I quickly collected the tears in a medicine bottle before they dried, and waited for Gabriella.
Soon she appeared with Rosa.
"Cough, cough."
Gabriella was still coughing, but Rosa was sleeping soundly.
'That meanie……!'
As I glared at Rosa, Gabriella approached me.
Then she found my hands were empty.
'Where's Yan?'
She couldn't make a sound and only moved her lips to ask, so I nodded to mean it was okay.
As soon as Gabriella arrived at Sei Palace with me, she made a sound.
"Where did Yan go from dawn, Your Highness... Cough, cough!"
Before I could say anything, Icarus explained.
"The bird went to Marquis Hestia's house with Your Highness's friends, Nanny. His Majesty told me to tell you."
"Marquis Hestia's house……?"
I looked proudly at the pink flower on Icarus's chest and then intervened, pretending to be calm.
"Woong, Yan wanted to go."
"Yes?"
Gabriella widened her eyes as if she was surprised for a moment, but she tried to calm down and changed her expression.
"When…… are you going to bring Yan back?"
"Um, I don't know……."
I was going to send someone to bring Yan back in the morning, but I pretended not to know.
Worry crossed Gabriella's face again.
"Don't you miss Yan, Your Highness?"
No, I miss Yan so much…….
"Yan will be back soon, it's okay."
Even as I answered like that, the tip of my nose tingled, so it seemed like today would be a good day to collect tears.
* * *
At the same time, Marquis Hestia's house.
The red bird, who had just woken up, rolled his black, seed-like eyes.
'Damn it, the window is closed.'
Lilin would send someone to pick me up the next day, so I wanted to check on the cat without the children knowing.
'The servants downstairs must have already started preparing breakfast…….'
Fortunately, the top floor where the Marquis Hestia and his family stayed was still quiet.
Gray was also fast asleep on the large bed with his eyelids tightly closed.
'I have no choice.'
Yan slipped to the door and squeezed his head through the slightly open crack.
He passed through the long hallway and spiraled down the spiral staircase as splendid as the Royal Palace.
He was momentarily embarrassed because the entrance door was closed, but fortunately, he soon heard a sound.
"Oops."
A sturdy servant put the delivered ingredients in a large bucket and pushed the door open with his shoulder.
Yan quickly slipped out through the crack in the door that opened as a result.
The servant saw Yan and rubbed his eyes with his rough hands.
As he watched with a dazed look, Yan flew straight to the highest tree in the garden.
'I have to find that guy.'
If the cat the children were talking about was that Yev, I shouldn't be detected by him first.
As soon as I arrived in Ruelle, I was bitten by him without luck and almost ruined my mission.
'Is it just the mission?'
If I had lost my precious life and turned to ashes, I wouldn't even have been able to return, overcoming the disgrace and humiliation.
Yan carefully watched his feet even when landing on the tree.
'Where is he……?'
He sat quietly on a high branch and scanned the wide garden thoroughly.
Then he found a basket in a sunny place in one side of the garden.
'Ha…….'
There, a familiar cat was sleeping with a bandage on his leg.
'How did he crawl all the way here?'
His will to live was commendable in its own way, but it would end here as well.
Yan spread both wings and closed his eyes.
He tried to estimate how much energy he had left and how far he could fly.
'I can't fail this time.'
According to the children, the Marquis Hestia's butler took care of the cat and even healed his injured leg.
He shouldn't recover his health and meet the First Princess again.
'Before that, I must, must get rid of him.'
The moment he opened his closed eyes, his small wings instantly grew larger.
His short tail also lengthened as if by a lie, and the bright red tail feathers flowed down under the branches.
The red and large bird like a burning flame was himself after a long time.
"……Please, let's end it in one go."
In a flash, the bird glided across the garden.
―Haaack!
The black beast belatedly grasped the situation and jumped out of the basket, but it was useless.
The red bird caught the beast as if snatching it and disappeared in an instant.
* * *
A little later, Gray's room.
Gray tossed and turned on the wide bed.
The Princess readily told him to take the bird the day before, but his father's surprised expression when he arrived at the mansion was truly amazing.
"I heard that Grand Duke cherishes this bird very much……. You should have declined if Your Highness made a rash decision, how could you make such a rash decision?"
Gray was actually a little happy even in front of his father, who was so embarrassed.
'Is it really a secret that the bird might be a Magical creature? Your Highness told me only.'
He remembered when he first visited the Royal Palace to become the Princess's playmate a while ago.
"You! How dare, how dare you talk back to me?"
The Princess, who was so scary to Victory, who couldn't even speak well, was so kind these days.
"Woong, because we are friends."
Was the Princess he saw that day really the same person? It was amazing.
'Friends…… You said friends, not vassals, right?'
Gray stretched with a good feeling of pride filling his chest.
He decided not to take classes today to play with Yan.
'You willingly sent such a precious bird to Hestia.'
Gray wanted to repay the Princess's heart.
"Yan?"
He finally raised his body and called, but Yan was nowhere to be seen.
'I told them to close the window in case Yan went outside……?'
Gray searched every corner of the room, thinking that the small Yan might be hiding somewhere.
He lifted the curtains and looked under the bed.
"Yan……?"
While he was making a fuss, a maid came into the room.
"Young master, you're awake……."
"Have you seen the bird?"
"Yes?"
Gray asked again, frustrated.
"I'm talking about the bird, the bird from the Royal Family. You saw it yesterday, right?"
"Ah, the bird……."
The maid also looked around the room with a flustered look.
"Yesterday, after you fell asleep, I came into the room to close the window, and the bird was near the window at that time……."
"What about in the morning? Didn't you come into my room?"
"No, I'm the first one now……."
Gray ran out of the room.
"Is there anyone who came into my room this morning?"
A commotion broke out in the wide Marquis Hestia's house.
In the midst of the commotion, even the head of the family's room was opened, but the small red bird had disappeared without a trace.
* * *
Artificial lake near Ruelle Square, Ea's Spring.
Suspicious bubbles rose in the middle of the lake, but no one paid attention because it was early.
―Chwaaak.
The same was true when the red bird soared out of it, creating a splash of water.
The large bird landed lightly like a feather on a tall tree by the lake.
Being conscious of the eyes watching was only up to that point.
'……It's over.'
It took quite a while to wage an unexpected war of attrition.
His chest heaved from the rough fight, and his feet holding the branch trembled.
He barely shook off the feathers with water droplets on them to dry them.
'There must have been a commotion in the Marquis Hestia's house.'
I had to go back quickly, but it was a problem because I had overdone it with a body that was still far from enough.
Yan barely endured so that his heavy eyelids would not fall.
'If only I could go back to the kid…….'
He hesitated for a moment, but the Ruelle Palace was too far to go with this body.
'Just a little…… just a little rest.'
His black eyes finally hid under his eyelids.
Sleep quickly covered him.
