Chapter 49

*Karmeut’s POV

Karmeut remembered again what had happened a while ago. Rainelle’s bright smile, her slender arms that wrapped around his neck comfortably. Karmeut’s ears turned red as he recalled Rainelle’s laugh when he licked her cheek with a bit of greed, saying that she was tickled rather than being shy.

Seriously, I’m in trouble if you’re this lovely.

The prince, who cleared his heart by painstakingly pounding his chest and coughed, spoke to the lovely black bird,

“Rainelle, come here. You don’t have to change into a human form.”

A black beak popped out from above her closet. The crow, who had looked around with her purple eyes, flew to his knees as if she had no choice.

The prince smiled at the sight of the crow, who, although made a fuss as she was embarrassed, still came quickly when called and sat in his arms as if it was natural. As he reached out and stroked her feathers, she lowered her head and puffed her feathers slightly.

The act of gently stroking her head while also gently stroking her chin was familiar to the crow. Then, as Rainelle gently bit his finger in a playful manner, Karmeut chuckled a little, savoring the smooth feathers and the warmth. Then he thought to himself:

In the future, if I want to see Rainelle’s innocent smile, I’ll have to take on the wolf form often.

If the previous emperor Narwelin was still alive, he would have been shocked that Karmeut would take on a wolf form for such a thing.

“Oh, right. Rainelle?”

“Caw?”

He met the gaze of the crow who was looking back at him while cawing. With his golden eyes twinkling, Karmeut opened his mouth,

“I’m going to reveal about you at the coronation ceremony, is that okay?”

At those words, the crow’s body stiffened. Rainelle, who had met Karmeut’s eyes, then threw her gaze around. She flew up and changed into a human form.

“Why?”

The prince, feeling a bit dismayed at her question, closed his mouth. But he thought he could still try, so he organized his words in his head.

He knew that she was a crow and not a human, but because she asked this as she used her human form, he was quite saddened by her question.

“Because then you can confidently go back and forth between human form and crow form in front of others. Wouldn’t that be more convenient?”

However, at least she’s asking a question instead of refusing it blindly.

And so, Karmeut brought out those words.

In fact, I’m the one who wanted to show her to others… but that’s something I planned to tell her a little later. First of all… she hadn’t felt the same as me yet, so I will approach carefully, without making a mistake.

When the target is set, it’s natural to wait patiently for success with persistence.

Rainelle seemed troubled. As her purple eyes which were more beautiful than violets moved around, he looked at her in anticipation while wondering what she was thinking about. Then, he saw her nodding her head.

“…Okay. So, I can change into human form?”

Karmeut smiled in response to Rainelle’s questioning behavior while nodding her head without hesitating anymore.

“Yes, you can sit on my shoulder and then change into a human.”

“Okay. I was worried about turning into a crow in a hurry when I thought there were people.”

The prince smiled awkwardly at the sight of her answering with a bright smile as if that part was quite inconvenient. Well, that was understandable.

Even when she was alone with him, she was always on her nerves because she didn’t know when someone would come in, so he felt sorry for her.

If I think of how she’s always using her crow form when I’m not around…

Before he knew it, Rainelle returned to her original form. The crow, which had spread her black wings and flew up, landed on his shoulder. He could feel the familiar weight and the smooth feathers touching his ear.

Her actions of making a low cry and rubbing her beak against his cheek forced a low laugh out of Karmeut’s mouth.

There were times when he felt sad or regretful, but then his heart would become relaxed as soon as Rainelle showed him her cute side like this.

I wish she could do this in her human form.

It was a shame, but he was still very happy.

—But one day, I hope that you will be able to hug me without hesitation even in human form. No, I will try to make that happen.

Even though it is said that the first person who falls in love first loses… there’s nothing I can do about that.

Karmeut raised a hand and caressed Rainelle’s cheek. There was no sign that the smile on the prince’s lips would disappear as the crow rubbed her face on his cheek while making a small purring sound.

Because you’re so lovely, I have no choice but to lose.

Even today, the prince stroked her smooth feathers as he felt his heart melted by Rainelle’s actions.

*Rainelle’s POV

After seeing Karmeut off, I sat motionless on the perch until the sound of his footsteps faded away.

Gone? He’s gone, right? Haahhh…

I lost all strength in my body. Was it because I was doing my best, desperately, as usual? Karmeut behaved as usual and left. —thank God. He has been busy with the coronation ceremony lately…

I was still quite embarrassed for saying that he was cool, but it wasn’t the problem now. Stupidly, I only remembered again now.

Why did I only now realize that the fact that Karmeut becomes the emperor according to the original storyline means that the heroine of the original story will appear soon?

I was worried and afraid. I remember that the female protagonist of this female-oriented game, that is, the playable character, was set in the body of a noble girl.

What was her name? Oh yeah! It was Adriana!

I wanted to compliment myself for remembering the name of the heroine, but the situation was serious!

There were male characters who had not appeared yet, although except for the hidden characters, there is only one target left… and the story progresses differently depending on who the playable character is targeting…

The problem is, in some routes, there are some where other male characters die except for the target character!

Ahhh! Why can’t my head remember the whole story?! No, it’s been a while since I’ve played the game, so the content and character names in the game are vague! Of course, it’s a million times better than the zombie apocalypse open-world game I played before, but this isn’t the problem now!!

I nervously pecked at the perch, feeling the urge to rip my hair, or even my feathers, out.

Ah, so this is why parrots under so much stress pluck their feathers and harm themselves!!

…I don’t want to know how they feel! Aaaaaaargh!!!

***

*3rd person POV

“Oh crow~ Oh Rainelle~”

*drap, drap, drap, drap–*

Sepia, who wore a cute pink dress, ran towards the crow sitting on the perch. In response to the child’s action, the crow greeted her by spreading one of her wings, waving it slightly, and letting out a cry.

Seeing the bird do that, Sepia covered her mouth and giggled, then she pulled something out of her pocket.

“I brought you cookies, cookies! Here!!”

Hearing her saying “here!”, Rainelle flew and landed on the table. Seeing the crow quietly waiting for Sepia, the princess smiled and sat on the sofa and then offered the cookies.

Sepia chattered as she stroked the crow’s wings that received her cookies and ate them happily,

“Tomorrow is my elder brother’s coronation ceremony! Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. Won’t you be lonely if you’re alone all day?”

Sepia smiled and stroked the crow’s wings when Rainelle of nodded her head while cawing. Perhaps she liked her brother’s crow who acted as if she understood her, so Sepia did not want to leave that place.

“Princess Sepia, the time has come.”

“Uhhhhh–!! I wanted to have more fun!”

In the end, Sepia was forced to leave the room by being half-dragged by her maid while pouting her mouth.

“I’ll come to play again!”

The crow just stared at the closed door after the child barely left those words and left the room.

*Rainelle’s POV

Oh, it’s tomorrow! It’s already tomorrow!! The coronation ceremony is already tomorrow!!

Thanks to the Sepia’s departure, I was able to fuss about to my heart’s content in the form of a crow. I puffed up my feathers to the fullest and rolled on the bed while cawing.

Tomorrow Karmeut will be emperor. And the original storyline begins. Technically, now is the counting down until we enter the original storyline…

The reason I did not refuse Karmeut’s idea to introduce me in public…

If I was introduced like this, wouldn’t the original storyline twist a little more? In doing so, maybe things wouldn’t go the way it was originally written.

However, above all, I don’t think I can sit still and watch Karmeut being targeted by the original female protagonist.

I don’t know what the original heroine looks like – she’s most probably pretty- but if Karmeut’s targeted by other girls, spend time with others, and even smile…

It’s possible that he would leave me (or simply treat me as a pet) and marry the original heroine… If he does that—!!

I clashed my beak hard with the feeling of crying from within.

…Woo, just thinking about it makes me cry. In a nutshell, there is going to be a woman who is trying to seduce him in front of me, right? Whoa…

Even if you don’t like the person, you’ll get annoyed when you witness a fox acting flirty right in front of you, right? Should I just watch it? And when the person the fox is flirting with is Karmeut?

Just imagining it made my stomach churn.

I hate that! I absolutely hate that!! I can’t see that with my eyes open!!

I cawed loudly and scratched the sheet with my feet. Still, I couldn’t calm the boiling inside my stomach, so I cried out and jumped on the spot again and again.

Woo! No!! So, even if I feel embarrassed to change into a human form in front of other people, I’d rather do that!!

When I thought about changing in front of the public, my feathers flattened and stuck close to my body.

Uh-huh… that, well, if you change in front of the people, they’re bound to talk about me…

What to do? What to do? Of course, even if I look at my human form, I thought a goddess has descended here -but!! Still, crow is my main body! Here, crows symbolize death! Even Sepia reacted like that… And, and…

If the heroine of the original story targeted Karmeut and considers me a thorn in her eyes, wouldn’t I be the target of very fantastic means? Maybe she will secretly make me eat poison, humiliates me in front of several ladies, and may even get rid of me at night?

Heumm… is it silly to reveal myself? …No, I will reveal myself anyway! Even if I die, I don’t want to watch a fox doing tricks in front of me!!

A certain scene popped into my mind. The image of Karmeut holding arms with an unknown beauty while smiling with a soft and wonderful smile.

‘I’m sorry, Rainelle. I have someone I love.’

…imagining him waving his hand as he said so and walking away from me, my anger swelled.

My, how did I raise a Karmeut(?)!! I fed him (find him fruit), put him to bed (find him a place to rest), and even treated him (because I found some herbs), but then he abandoned me and stuck with the original heroine?! What the hell?!

“…Rainelle?”

Graaahhh! You jerk!! How can you leave me alone because the original heroine appeared?!!

Unable to overcome my anger, I flung the jewels I had been playing with before. …but how hard can a bird strike a piece of stone with its beak? Contrary to what I had imagined, I was even angrier at the sight of the jewel that flew in the air without power and just fell on the bed near me.

“Woah, what’s going on, Rainelle?”

“Kiekkk!!”

I hate Karmeut! How can you leave me behind and go to the original heroine?!! Am I only amount that much?!

I even seemed to have heard him asking me what was going after he does that, which sounded so abominable in my ears that I screamed. Golden eyes shook as I puffed up my feathers and jumped in place in anger.

“…I’m sorry, Rainelle.”

…Huh?!! Is that the real Karmeut?! Hwagh?!!