Of All Things, I Became a Crow

*Rainelle’s POV

...Elder brother? What about Karmeut being an elder brother? Ah---!! Come to think of it, I heard she has a sister, is that her?

I glanced over at the child again. ... There was something I felt after I did so. It seemed that Luwellin's twisted personality had something to do with it. Karmeut and that child were so good-looking.

Their appearance is superior, but Luwellin...

The more I thought about it, the more I felt sorry for him, so I shook my head.

I focused my gaze on the child who was still grumbling while stomping her feet.

---doesn't she look too young to understand Karmeut's circumstances...? And she’ll sulk if left alone like this...

I didn’t think long. I spread my wings and landed on the perch.

"Caww!!"

Surprised, the child jumped. I let out a soft cry as I looked at the fluttering golden hair and ribbons.

"A, a crow?"

Yeah, I’m a crow. What do you think? Aren't you curious? It’s cool, right? A crow with a necklace on?

Feeling somewhat proud, I puffed up my feathers.

Ahem! You can look at me and be surprised! I am the crow who helped him! Aren’t I special?

My eyes twinkled in anticipation of a surprised response.

Oh, I wish such a pretty and cute kid would come to me in wonder! I can turn into a human, but I don't want to do it because Karmeut isn't there. So be surprised! Rejoice!

...but my hopes were shattered.

"Why is there a bird of death in brother's room?! I hate you! Don't bring bad things to my brother! Go away, shush!"

My wings drooped in response to the child's reaction of raising her eyebrows and waving her hand.

---Oh yeah. I’m a crow...

When I realized again that I was a crow, I felt depressed.

I do not call death! How much did I help Karmeut?! I fond Crobanlock too! Although I played and ate after coming to the Imperial Palace, I did a lot of helpful things in my own way!! Woo!!

*drap, drap, drap*

- I was disturbed by the child's behavior as she ran and opened the window kindly. She came up to me again while waving her hand, so I cried out discontentedly.

No no! I’m a bird that lives with Karmeut!

I quickly avoided the child's hand and sat down on the bed. ---Then the child puffed her cheeks and screamed loudly.

"Woo! I opened the window over there for you! You can just fly, but why aren’t you going out?!"

I don’t want to! I live here too, so why am I leaving? This little kid! I know you’re Karmeut's sister, but I can't accept you trying to kick me out because you think I'm unlucky!

It looked like we went round and round for a long while. When the child chased me and waved her hand, I ran away to another place again and again. Flapping my wings while cawing, even giving the illusion that the dust was flying (Of course, it won't be the case since the servants cleaned the room every day).

How long had it been? The child, who was chasing after me vigorously, huffed and collapsed on a seat as if she had lost her strength. Then she started crying profusely.

"Ughh!! Huhuhu! I hate you!!"

"Caaw! (So ​​don't kick me out!)"

"...What's going on...?"

As I was gasping for breath, I heard a familiar voice.

"Caaw! (Karmeut!)"

*3^rd person POV

"Ueengg! Why are you only here now!!"

Karmeut tried to keep his composure to examine the situation in front of him. But his golden eyes were shaking wildly at the sight of Rainelle who flew to him while cawing continuously, and Sepia, who was sitting down while crying profusely.

Karmeut, who had been struggling to deal with his confusion, suddenly came to his senses. Then he patted Rainelle's back, who sat on his shoulder and still clacked her beak in complaints, to comfort her. Then the prince approached the princess and bent his knees to meet her eye level.

"Sepia."

"Ughhh... Elder brother..."

Karmeut gently wiped away the tears on Sepia’s cheeks She was still crying. Then, while trying to hold back her tears, the child hugged Karmeut.

"Elder brother, you're so mean! You said you'd meet me today!!"

"...I'm sorry, Sepia. I tried to make time, but it didn't work out as I planned. ...By the way, why is our cute little lady crying?"

As the prince asked a question while gently patting her on the back, the princess looked up. Then she exclaimed while puffing up her cheeks and pointing one of her small-sized fingers to the prince's shoulder,

"That, that bird! There's a crow here! There's a bird symbolizing death in Elder brother's room! So I tried to kick it out, but it won’t go out and leave! I hate that! I didn’t want Brother to die like Father, so I was trying to kick it out, but...!! Ughuhu!!"

She spoke until there and the princess began to cry over her anger. Krameut comforted the child as he looked at his shoulder awkwardly.

...and again, he could see what was going on from watching the crow puffed up feathers and gleaming purple eyes.

Of course, it wasn’t that Karmeut didn’t understand Sepia’s mind. Even he, when he first met Rainelle, thought that she was an unlucky bird and had thought to chase her away.

...He understood, but that doesn't mean he would side with Sepia. So Karmeut took Sepia out of his arms.

"Uh...?"

It was the first time Karmeut had acted like this, so the princess was so shocked that she stopped crying. The prince opened his mouth to speak to Sepia, who was hiccupping,

"It's not like that, Sepia. This bird, at least for me, is not a bird of death."

"But it’s a crow!"

"Sepia."

The princess bit her lower lip at the prince’s behavior of calling her name in a low but strong voice.

No matter how young she was, Sepia was also from the Imperial Family. If nothing else, she was adept at reading the atmosphere. So, when she realized that her brother was rarely serious, she tried to calm down.

"Without this bird, I might have died in the forest. This bird found me herbs, found food, and alerted me about the surroundings. ---Besides, it helped me awaken. It’s a bird that I cherished very much. Come on, look. Isn’t she wearing a necklace around her neck?"

As Karmeut said that, he lifted Rainelle's necklace with his finger. The tear-soaked eyes of the child headed towards the crow's neck where the sparkling sapphire gold necklace was. She had not seen it before because of her frenzy in chasing out the crow.

"Eughhh...!!"

Sepia felt somewhat wronged and struggled to hold back her tears.

Sepia: I did it for you too! But Brother only cares about the bird! You gave her a necklace too! You only gave me dolls and clothes!

A cold sweat ran down Karmeut's back as Sepia, who looked like she had gotten calmer, began to cry again.

Karmeut: You seem to have quieted down before, but why are you crying again?

There was no sign of distress on the outside, but his golden eyes were trembling slightly. Seeing him like that, the crow sighed deeply and headed to the nearby perch.

"Ung...?"

The child turned her head reflexively at the breeze that caressed her cheek. Then she opened her eyes wide as looked at the spirit flying in front of her.

The wind spirit flying around the child while laughing seemed innocent. The child's face quickly brightened when the grayish, winged spirit flew around her face.

"Pretty...!!"

The spirit playfully spun around in the air. Then it flew to the crow sitting on the perch and sat on her head.

"Huh?"

"Ah, that spirit is a spirit that made a contract with the crow."

"Spirit? With a crow? But crows are the birds of death? Why is it with a spirit? Why did the spirit sign the contract? Why? Why?"

The sulky energy had disappeared from the child's face, who asked questions with shining eyes. Seeing her like that, Karmeut let out a sigh of relief in secret and answered,

"Um, because this crow is special. If it is a bird of death, the spirit wouldn't have contracted it, would it?"

"Yes, yes."

The green eyes of the child who had been nodding her head continuously were shining brightly. She then approached the crow in admiration and murmured with her hands clasped,

"You're special---!! Is that why Elder brother is raising her?"

"Um... well, yes."

Karmeut said to Sepia while slightly awkwardly avoiding Rainelle's gaze.

"But Sepia, you know that you should apologize properly, right? If a stranger suddenly comes in, opens the window, and tries to kick you out, even if you’re an animal, you would feel upset, right?"

At that, the princess nodded her head with a sullen face.

It was because she remembered that earlier she had opened the window and tried so hard to chase her away, but the crow only avoided her without intending to go out. The child's shoulders drooped when she thought of the bird that was desperately running away from her in the room while crying sharply.

"Yeah... I'll feel upset."

"Her name is Rainelle. Rainelle likes cookies, so will you apologize while giving her cookies?"

"Yeah! I will!"

Sepia sprinted to the cookie plate lying on the table. She then picked up the biggest cookie and came back to the perch, then she held out the cookie.

"I'm sorry. Eat this and get rid of your anger!"

The crow bowed her head and looked at the cookie. The crow then took the cookie from her child's hand while swinging her tail.

A bright smile began to spread across Sepia's face at the crow's actions.

"Elder brother, Elder brother! The crow, Rainelle accepted the cookie!"

"Good for you, Sepia."

He smiled softly and stroked the princess's head while looking at Rainelle. Karmeut reached out with a wry smile at the crow who was staring at the large cookie in her beak.

"Rainelle."

At his call, the crow, who was still biting the large cookie, landed on his arm. And as she dropped the cookie into his palm, Karmeut couldn't help but laugh.

The prince opened his mouth with a gentle voice to the child who was looking at him with sparkling eyes,

"Sepia. I appreciate that you choose a large cookie and give it to Rainelle, but... this makes it uncomfortable for Rainelle to eat."

"Uh, is that so?"

"Yes. It's too big for her to swallow, isn’t it? So..."

Karmeut broke the cookie into pieces by hand. As the large cookie broke into smaller pieces, Rainelle moved closer, picked up one with her beak, and swallowed it. Seeing that, Sepia said while jumping on her feet,

"I wanted to give it to her!"

"It was too big, so, can you give me it to her like this, Sepia?"

"Yes!!"

Sepia put her hands together, then Karmeut placed the pieces of cookies on top of it. Upon receiving it, the princess held out her palms to the crow with still twinkling eyes.

"Here! Eat this!! Can you eat it like this?"

Rainelle carefully examined the cookies from Karmeut's arm. The black bird tilted her head and cawed. She came closer by walking down Karmeut’s arm, grabbing a cookie with her beak, and then she swallowed it.

Sepia's cheeks flushed and a smile began to spread across her lips.

"Ooh, she ate---"

The princess looked at her brother, her eyes were shining excessively.

"Elder brother! She ate, she ate the cookies!"

"Yeah, she ate it. That’s a relief, isn't it?"

"Yes!"

With a twinkle in her eyes, the child waited patiently for the crow to finish eating the cookies. The child was able to discover that the feathers of the large black bird were more beautiful than she expected and that the color of her eyes was purple, resembling violets.

When the bird had eaten all but the crumbs it could not pick up, the child brushed her hands against one another. Then she grabbed Karmeut's hem and shook it slightly,

"Elder brother, Elder brother! Can I touch her?"

"You mean Rainelle?"

"Yeah! I want to talk to pat her!"

"Well... Rainelle, what do you think?"

The crow moved her purple eyes. Rainelle glanced alternately at the child's green eyes and Karmeut's golden ones, then she shrugged her wings slightly while still sitting down on Karmeut’s arm as if to say: “Do whatever you want”.

Smiling quietly at the crow's behavior, Karmeut called for Sepia.

"Sepia, come this way."

"Yes!!"

The princess followed the prince to the sofa. She then looked at the crow that was quietly sitting on Karmeut's lap with twinkling eyes.

"When petting her, you have to stroke her in the direction where the feather grows. She doesn't like it when the stroke is backward. Sepia also made your hair look pretty and wouldn't like it when someone roughed it up, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. That’s why I always hated Little Elder brother."

"Put your hand like this... Stroke her gently as you put your hand on the feathers slightly. Yeah, like that."

The child petted the bird as instructed. The princess' cheeks glowed red as she felt the smooth feeling under her palm.

"It's smooth!"

"Are you happy?"

"Yeah! I think the nanny lied! It's so smooth and feels nice, I don't know why people said it is the death-calling bird! Her eyes are pretty! Like a violet!"

A smile also appeared on Karmeut's lips as he saw the child stroking the crow while smiling continuously.

---I'm glad that their relationship seems to have progressed better somehow.

Thinking so, he gently stroked Rainelle's beak.

Seeing her closing her eyes and enjoying the touches, Karmeut swallowed a laugh inwardly and began to enjoy the precious time of rest.

***