Chapter 27: 27

*3rd person POV

Karmeut jumped out of his seat when he heard those words.

"She was nowhere to be seen? You must be saying that she was hiding in the closet."

"Tha, that... I waited outside the door after leaving the food as you instructed, then I opened the door slightly to see if the crow is eating..."

Karmeut knew the rest even before the servant continued her words. The chair fell over loudly, but Karmeut didn't have any spare thought to care about the chair.

Almost running, Karmeut headed to his room, opened the door, and shouted.

"Rainelle!"

...the violet-colored gaze that had been wary him of and only peeked from the top of the closet had disappeared.

Unable to believe that, Karmeut shouted as he frantically searched through the room.

"Rainelle, Rainelle! I'm not asking you to come to my call, so just stick your head out! Please! Where are you? Rainelle!"

However, the black bird was nowhere to be found.

Karmeut clenched his fist and slammed the wall as if he was taking it out on a certain person as he saw black feathers scattered on the floor.

"Luwellin------!"

While yelling out the name of his brother, who he fought against for the throne, his golden eyes flashed fiercely.

It was a gaze full of aggravation that seemed as if it can tear Luwellin apart if he was in front of him.

***

*Rainelle's POV

Throb, throb

I slowly opened my eyes. I felt pain as if I had been beaten hard all over my body.

"---!"

It hurts---!!

I only moved slightly, but I opened my beak and groaned in the intense pain that flashed in my body. I blinked hard to clear my blurred vision and looked over at my body carefully.

...my body was in a bad state. No joke. The pretty and evenly arranged feathers were messy, and my left wing was bent in a strange direction.

When I look at it with my eyes, I feel that my left wing was hurting so much that my eyes were tearing up.

Oh, it hurts---

I struggled to move, but when I moved my legs even slightly, my wings shook and it hurts so much that my tears fell, so I gave up moving and shrank my neck.

Why, why did this happen?

I just woke up, so I shook my head a few times to clear my hazy mind. Even with that small shaking, my wings whined and complained from the pain.

I desperately thought of why this happened as I closed my beak and endured the pain.

...after Karmeut left, a servant came into the room. Since I started avoiding Karmeut, the food has been delivered by a servant, not by Karmeut.

...because I didn't touch any of the food until Karmeut left, wouldn't he have thought it would be better for him to go out than to sit still and watch me while being distressed?

After checking that the servant had left the room after leaving food... I sat down to eat.

Then, there were suddenly strange people in the room. The palace had far more unknown faces than those that I knew, but I swear it was the first time I heard that they were going to capture me. Even Karmeut didn't force me to be here.

Whether it was my nature from when I was human or it was the crow's instinct, I knew that it was not good to be caught!

I was struggling to get out of the room because I had such a strong feeling.

I had wanted to escape through a window or a gap in the door, but these intruders, who had expected that, closed them tightly. I frantically flew around to avoid thrown shiny objects that seemed to have been imbued with magic.

And, and... I don't know what I bumped into at that time, but there was a flash in front of my eyes, and then a hand that took my breath away for a moment. That was the last thing that I remembered.

I felt my blood become cold when I thought of it...

When I realized that I had been caught by someone other than Karmeut, I curled until my beak was close to my chest.

Why, why? I'm just a crow? Is it Luwellin? Did those people kidnap me under Luwellin's order? What the hell? Why? Did he think that I'm Karmeut's weak point? Or is it because I scratched his nose?

...it'll hurt his pride, but that's not enough reason to hold me like this!

 I looked at my left wing, holding back my desire to scream. The wing that was turned in the wrong direction and the feathers that got messed up were so painful that tears were about to come out again.

No, no. I shouldn't cry. Crying doesn't change the situation.

After holding back my tears by blinking my eyes hard, I carefully raised my head and examined my surrounding.

Is it because I was caught while I'm in my crow form? I'm inside a cage.

There was even a perch in the gleaming golden cage, but I was not in a condition to be able to sit balanced on a perch.

Beyond the cage is...

It seemed like I was in a room, but it was absolutely not Karmeut's room.

I was making such a fuss about Karmeut's room being luxurious, but I realized that his room wasn't even that extravagant.

The bedposts in this room were made of gold, ivory, and precious stones, so they were very shiny, while the quilt on the bed looked luxurious and fluffy, although I don't know if it was silk or something else.

As for the furniture, ornaments, and ceramics, they would hurt my mouth to say them. This room was luxurious and gorgeous. I can explain it in those words, but... how should I say this? This room feels rather frivolous because all the fancy things are gathered in one place?

The most accurate words may be that the owner of this room was saying, "I have a lot of money! I want to brag about it!!" with a strong feeling...

Looking at the setting of this room, I was convinced that I had been captured by Luwellin.

...who else could use such a fancy room in the Imperial Palace except for the Imperial Family? Of course the current emperor, who had no connection with me, won’t hold me captive like this.

There was no one around, so I shrank my neck and trembled slightly. I leaned my head against the cage because I felt exhausted just by looking around. I kept getting sleepy and my eyes then closed.

It was when I just closed my eyes as I felt heat rising slowly from the injury of my broken wing to the rest of my body.

There was the sound of footsteps. My body trembled slightly at the presence of people approaching, but I did not open my eyes.

...what kind of thing will they do to me if they found out that I'm awake? And I don't even have the energy to move anyway.

"Tsk,"

I can hear a soft tongue clicking, and then there was a dull sound of a slap.

"You stupid bastards! I told you to be careful when catching it!!"

"I, I'm sorry."

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"Healer! What are you doing? Why are you not treating it right away?!"

"As you ordered, Your Highness, Prince Luwellin."

...As expected, it's Lewellin. But why? Did he see something through the video crystal ball after all?

My heart was pounding like it was going to explode from the tension, but not a single of my feathers was moving.

The cage door opened and I felt a hand lifting me, but my body had no strength and just drooped.

Even though I may appear like a chick, I was a keeper of tigers that are at the top of the food chain. Do you think I'm the kind of girl who only knows how to make a fuss? As soon as the healer treated my wings, I'll take the opportunity to run away.

However, I soon realized that my thoughts were an underestimation of Luwellin. Suddenly, there was pressure on my injured wing, so I opened my eyes and screamed.

"Kkaaakk! (Hurts! It hurts!!)"

When I opened my eyes to see the bastard who grabbed my wings, the damn bastard opened his mouth with a mean curve of his eyes.

"Your new owner is here. Shouldn't you at least give a greeting?"

--What's this madman talking about? If I had been a human, I would slap him on the cheek for saying something ridiculous.

 Taking a closer look at the person who said that nonsense, I quickly realized that this bastard was Luwellin himself.

I tried to move my head in a frenzied manner to rip off the flesh of his hand, but the bastard was faster.

He quickly grabbed my head and pressed it to the floor. A banging sound can immediately be heard.

"What are you doing? Hurry up and cure it."

"...yes, yes."

A feeling of warmth spread through my injured wing. There was the faint sound of the wing returning to its original shape. I was grinding my beak and flinched while waiting for the moment when I can escape somehow, but the bastard's voice can be heard again.

"Stop."

"Yes? But if it's going to be healed, there's still..."

"When I think about it----- it's obvious that it'll fly away when it has been healed, right? So, that's enough for now."

...this crazy bastard? Hey, you punk! How can you break my wing and only heal it halfway?! What if it doesn't get healed right?!

Luwellin's action naturally brought out swear words from me, but the only thing that came out from me was the sound of cawing. As soon as the warmth faded away, I was grabbed on the neck and lifted.

As I flapped my wings and grasped Luwellin's hem with my claws at the choking sensation, I could see that Luwellin's yellowish-brown eyes were gleaming strangely.

"I honestly wanted to twist its neck and bury it for scratching my nose..."

Luwellin slowly bit his lower lip. Seeing that, my feathers rose as I felt chills.

"If you turn into a human and stay by my side, I'll make it a no-go. No, I'll give you my favor. You'll be favored by the next emperor. It's an honor that another unlucky bird can't enjoy."

...that's a hell of thinking, man. You're looking at me with the gaze of 'If you turn into a human, I will do this and that', but will I ever turn into a human for you?

I snorted and shut my eyes tight.

"You------!"

*thwack!*

I heard the sound first. It was the rattling of the metal cage. Only then did I realize that I had been thrown into the cage and that my back felt painful. Even with my eyes closed, I could only see white as I groaned.

Agh, you son of a--! Birds' bones break easily because their bones are hollow---!! What if I break another bone by your throwing, you brainless bastard!!

"Are you defying me, you crow?! Your master is that defective bastard Karmeut, huh?! If you don't turn into a human, I'll tear him apart in front of you! So you'd better change your mind!"

I barely opened my eyes while enduring the pain. Luwellin, who was yelling, seemed pathetic and insignificant, so I snorted.

...so you saw me take a human form through the crystal ball. But hearing you saying that Karmeut is defective, I don't think you've seen Karmeut turn into a wolf. Then I guess you installed the video crystal balls just recently.

This made sure of it. Luwellin was still unaware of the important fact that Karmeut had awakened, and this motherfucker's concern was my human form.

Maybe it was a pretty good thing, but those yellowish-brown eyes were shining very disgustingly, like a crawling insect.

Wow, look at that greasy gaze. Should I turn into a human and get rid of those eyes?

I thought he won't kill me until I turned into a human. At some point, he'll turn around and try to kill me, but until then, I'll be safe.

...then I'll hold on. How can I just be obedient to him?

To be honest, being obedient was the best way to save oneself. It was better than dying.

--But when I looked into that bastard's eyes, I could feel that he thought of me as just a toy, so I thought I wanted to play a game with him. Whether this bastard win or I win.

Wow, it's been a while since I felt this way. - yeah, you bastard. Are you trying to pick a fight with me? Try it if you can!! Let's see whether you win or I win, you bastard!

As I shook my head and turned to him, I could hear Luwellin's loud voice, but something bothered me.

 ...suddenly, Karmeut came to my mind.

Is it because my body hurts so bad that I can't help but think of his gentle touch and soft voice?

I knew that affection and trust were clearly different, but in this situation, I slowly began to want Karmeut to come.

...what a shameless thought. I've been avoiding him because I can't trust him.

Putting that in mind, I worked my brain the hardest ever since I became a crow.

...I need to get out of here. No matter what--!

I'm trying to hold back the pain by clenching my beak.

I pondered on how to get out of the hands of that crazy bastard. I know that my wing hasn't healed completely and that it was hard to escape with bird's feet, but...

They said that even if the sky falls on you, there is a hole from which you can escape (there is a way out of every bad situation)! So I'm going to get out of here alive, for sure...!

However, I was at a loss no matter how much I thought about it. One of my wings was broken, my body hurts so much that I feel like I'm going to scream every time I move, and the most frustrating thing was that ferocious little dog... no, it was that one who could transform into a wolf.

No matter how hard I tried to run at the fastest speed I could with my feet, I was not sure that I would be able to run away from a wolf's... no, human's steps.

I staggered and barely got myself up. I didn't like the situation. As I thought about how to escape, that bastard Luwellin came up to me while grinding his teeth, so I puffed up my feathers.

---I'm sure that bastard will kick me. Ugh, that would really hurt. If I'm kicked, I think at least one of my bones will break or I'll get a bone disease.

It was when I was seriously thinking about whether I should transform into a human to save my life or not,

*boom!*

--- I'm not lying, I honestly thought that there was a real bomb explosion.

 Startled, I turned my head towards where the sound came from. Luwellin must have been the same as me, being surprised at the sudden sound, because he also turned his head in that same direction.

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