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21. King of Birds (2)
“The King of Birds?”
“Father of all birds…? Aren’t all birds babies?”
While the humans looked at the two birds in bewilderment, a small bird jumped out of Lasilia’s palm. The Shryden was the largest of the parrots, and the little bird was no more than two fingers tall. Compared to the Duke of Shryden, the little bird looked more like a bug than a bird. As the little bird came down to the floor, the Duke of Shryden lay flat on the floor to lower his eyes.
“Pippi. Beep.”
The little bird muttered something and put his forehead on Shryden’s forehead. It was difficult to pinpoint, but a very mysterious feeling touched her skin.
“Oh my god… It’s more like a fairy tale than a real fairy tale, Her Majesty.”
Yvette whispered as she tugged on Lasilia’s clothes. It was absurd, but it seemed that she didn’t even know what she was doing because she was so distracted by what was unfolding in front of her eyes.
“I know.”
After a while, the little bird removed its forehead. Then, it flapped its small wings towards Lasilia and cried out. She was told to pick him up again and put him in her hands. The Duke of Shryden shook his head angrily and fell flat.
“Oh, I’ll take you there!”
The people were surprised by those words. Although Shryden was a parrot, and a very good copyist, he was still a bird. It felt like imitating human speech, but she didn’t think he would be able to talk like a human. But now he really spoke. If you covered your eyes, you would have thought it was a person, not a bird.
“It seems a bit different.”
As Lasilia spoke her words, Shryden let out a terribly human cough, ahem.
“Yes. The father of all birds gave me the power to speak human words. So, from now on, I am taking the place of his father’s mouth.”
“What…? Birds have that kind of power?”
“Is that all there is to it? He is still young and he is not able to use all his strength.”
“It’s amazing.”
“And… I know, right. It’s really amazing. No, it is mysterious.”
As the humans showed their admiration, the little bird swayed her hips and puffed up.
“You are no ordinary bird.”
“I mean. What should I do? I don’t think it should be treated like a bird. I guess I should just use honorifics…”
Lasilia stopped her fingertips from trying to pet the bird. Somehow it didn’t seem like that.
“Then what should I call you? Won’t you tell me?”
“Beep.”
The little bird lowered his head with a somewhat shy face. As Lasilia did not understand him, the Duke of Shrydon slid in.
“It seems that the King wants Her Majesty to give him a new name.”
“I? It’s the king of birds, is that okay?”
“He hopes so.”
“Um…”
After thinking for a while, Lasilia nodded her head. She said that she was only temporary taking care of this bird herself. He was said to be the king of birds, so it seemed like he wouldn’t even need to be taken care of, but he was given a little time to be with her. She won’t need to know her real name. The owner of the bird thought different.
“Then I’ll call you Pippi.”
“Pippi?”
The bird wriggled his body as if in shock.
“Why? Don’t you like it?”
“Beep!”
This time, Shrydon came out.
“Isn’t that a one-dimensional name? How would you like to be reminded that you are the noblest and strongest of the beasts of the earth?”
“Ah… Then I’ll have to think about it. Right now I don’t know of a nice name for the noblest and strongest bird.”
“Beep! Fit!… beep?”
The bird, which had been about to lose its temper when Lasilia didn’t like what he was saying, suddenly stopped moving.
“Ah… this. It looks like a guest has come to my estate.”
It was the moment the Duke of Shryden said so.
Tak, tok, tok!
The sound of hurried footsteps was also heard in the human ears.
“Someone is coming.”
Lasilia hurriedly placed the little bird on the back of the Duke of Shrydon. The feathers on its back stood out so nicely that the figure of the little bird was obscured.
“Please take care of Pippi. Keep Pippi out of sight, be quiet about him too.”
“Beep!”
“Oh, he told me to hide his father’s noble figure. Such a sad thing…”
Even though it was a noble and strong bird, it was now just a baby bird with no more than two fingers.
Bang!
The visit of the Duke of Shrydon was held with a hair’s breadth. In fact, it should be said that it was torn rather than opened. It was the distorted Emperor who pushed through the door, which had just been broken and whose handle rattled.
* * *
“Hwang, Hwang, Emperor’s lungs… oops!”
Yvette was startled and started to hiccup.
The Emperor was the Emperor. However, half of him seemed to have undergone a mutation. His eyes glowed golden, and his left arm was covered in black scales, revealing red nails. There was a reason the door was torn.
‘He recovered in the morning… Again?’
As Lasilia stared at the Emperor with her hard face, he swung forward. The pace was too fast. It reminded her of the scene last night when the Shadow Knights ran away without knowing what was going on.
“Your majesty!”
Unknowingly, Lasilia stood in front of Yvette and the Duke of Shryden. She thought and did not act. Her body just moved. As if to protect those behind her, Lasilia gripped the Emperor’s arm tightly.
“Have you lost Izzy again?”
“…no.”
It was fortunate. The Emperor was alert enough to speak.
“Then why all of a sudden?”
“Because you disappeared.”
The Emperor grabbed Lasilia by the waist with his untransformed right hand.
“I had to find you.”
Lescal’s words that he had to find her contained more context than Lasilia could hear. He washed up in his frantic haste, changed his clothes, and ran to the Empress’ palace, where the Empress was gone again. The guards who guarded the Empress’ palace said they never saw the Empress leave her room. The idea of finding her went white in his head. When he came to his senses, he saw that a mutation was taking place.
Senses more sensitive than humans followed the scent of the Empress, and his feet, faster than humans, moved toward the northern tower. Sharper-than-human claws ripped open the door that hid the Empress. This mutation was the first for Lescal. Until now, he had summoned his demonic blood, which had been just an innate pain and burden. Because he had to find the Empress.
The sound of crumpling the rustling fabric spread as Lescal tightened his arm around her waist.
“That is… I apologize for leaving without a word, Your Majesty.”
Lasilia made her apologies with a confused expression. It was her fault. She should not forget that it was still the period when the blue moon was floating. To make his way to the Empress, whom he did not normally like, meant that the Emperor was desperate for it.
Lasilia was sorry that she couldn’t understand his feelings, and her heart was broken that he had suffered the mutation again.
“I don’t think I can take my eyes off you even for a second.”
The Emperor murmured and pressed his body closer together. At some point, his left hand was holding her back. The Emperor’s breath touched the nape of her neck as he murmured softly. His hand clasped her back, gently groping her skin.
Lasilia’s cheeks turned slightly red.
‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry… It’s kind of weird.’
When the Emperor’s lips gently brushed her cheek, she couldn’t help but think of the kiss they had shared on her bed. Lasilia clearly remembered how a light kiss on her cheek turned into a tangled, bad kiss. At that moment, her patience was over.
“Your majesty. I think you can stop now.”
Lescal flinched.
“…why?”
“I think your body has fully recovered.”
“No.”
“Couldn’t be.”
Lasilia twisted her shoulder and looked at the Emperor’s left arm. She wondered when it was covered with scales, but now it was a normal human figure. Lescal shut his mouth for a moment, then he replied.
“…My body may have improved, but I am still shocked that you disappeared.”
“Since the body is back, won’t the mind also regain stability soon?”
“Maybe someday. Not yet.”
Maybe it’s because his heart was so weak. Even if it’s a blue moon. Lasilia swallowed a small sigh.
“Then what do you mean?”
“Stay like this. Until I find peace of mind.”
“When will that be?”
“I do not know either. All I know is that I was very shocked that you disappeared without a word again. Not once, but twice already.”
“…”
“Okay. Twice.”
Those words began to dilute the feelings of guilt that had arisen from the two absences.
‘This person doesn’t know how much.’
It was like a dog in the front yard of the temple. If you drew a line saying that you could come this far, you pretended not to see the line.
‘That’s why there were so many difficult times.’
The high priest would have done the same. He wanted to drive it out, but since it is a temple, he couldn’t drive out the life that entered on its own. If it was possible, he would not have tried to mix poison with rice.
Anyway, that’s why Lasilia had a principle for handling dogs. It was that once she drew the line, she had to keep it somehow. Otherwise, it became more and more difficult to deal with.
“Then punish me. For frightening Your Majesty.”
At Lasilia’s words, Lescal raised his head.
“You want me to punish you?”
“Yes. Since I was away without a word, it seems reasonable to be put on probation. I will be on my guard in my bedroom.”
The gold eye rolled slowly.
“I didn’t mean to punish… It’s not bad if you’re sober with me,”
“No. I am the one who committed the wrong, but there is no reason for Your Majesty to be punished together. I will be on my own.”
Lasilia’s principles were clear. Unfortunately, Lescal was not a dog.
“You’re trying to keep me away on the pretext of being punished.”
“Did you hear that? It seemed to me that His Majesty was trying to break a promise through my fault.”
“You misunderstood. I had no intention of breaking the promise.”
“Is it? Your lips touched my cheek.”
“You-”
Lescal looked at Lasilia and slightly twitched his lips.
“Also me…”
It was then.
“Your Majesty!”
Cudang-tang-tang.
Unlike usual, the shadow knights jumped up the tower with rough footsteps.
* * *
“Aha. You finally found it.”
“Whoa, that’s good, that’s it.”
Ryan and Serben were both covered in sweat. Ryan took a deep breath while Serben pulled down his sleeve and wiped away his sweat.
“And the body has been restored.”
“Ah…? I know.”
After wiping the sweat, Serben was relieved.
“I’ll say it again, it’s really fortunate, Your Majesty. When you suddenly undergo a mutation earlier, it’s really frightening… uh, what about it?”
Serben cut off his words and furrowed his eyes.
“There was a problem. There are people who are not allowed.”
He pointed the tip of his sword at Lasilia’s back.
“Oh! Uh, are you referring to me?”
Yvette, who had been holding her breath since Lescal appeared, opened her mouth in surprise.