YDPTB Chapter 4

As the trader hesitated to show it with a worried voice, the cage’s movement stopped. That brief silence sounded like a bird’s voice chirping “What the heck, man?” to the trader’s ears. After a moment of stillness, the sound of gnawing on the metal bars began intensely again. Now it even seemed to have a consistent rhythm.

The duke spoke while looking at the cloth shaking vigorously.

“Didn’t you bring it to show me anyway?”

“Yes, that’s true, but… compared to the other animals, it’s much smaller and a bit… fierce too.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

The duke gestured to remove the cloth, indicating he wouldn’t listen any further. The trader reached out with a face unable to hide his nervousness and grasped the cloth covering the cage. This isn’t a place for you to throw a fit. Please stay still. Hoping his thoughts would reach this ill-tempered bird, he carefully lifted the cloth.

“Cheeep! Chirp!”

As the cloth was removed, a round bird smaller than a fist shook its body violently as if threatening. It seemed to have deflected all of the trader’s telepathy with that gesture.

The bird raised its eyes fiercely and glared at the duke as if it would kill him. It spread its wings wide upward, puffing up its small body, and stuck out its fluffy chest, showing its boldness. The bird was even more intensely angry today. Its face, as small as a finger, had “I’m angry” written all over it.

🐤

As the cloth covering the cage was removed, light quickly filled the dark space. When I peeked slightly through the gaps in the cloth earlier as the wind blew, I thought it was splendid, but the space revealed after the cloth was fully removed was beyond splendid, reaching a luxurious level.

Unable to adapt to the sudden light, I narrowly opened and closed my eyes for a moment. After doing that for a very short time, I spread both wings wide, puffing up my body. Then, to gain the upper hand, I raised my head high and screamed fiercely.

“Cheeep! Chirp!”

I threateningly flapped my wings to intimidate the bad guy, the duke, in front of me even more. My wings, as large as my body, would surely look sufficiently threatening. How’s that? Scary, right! I put strength into my short legs and strongly stomped on the floor. Clack! Clack! The sound of my claws and the cage colliding fiercely could be heard.

The duke’s appearance that filled my eyes had dark navy-blue hair and sharp, silver-gray eyes. At a glance, he gave off a bored impression, but perhaps due to his silver-gray eyes, his gaze felt indifferent and cold.

Is he looking down on me? Because I’m small? Thinking I shouldn’t appear easy, I flashed my eyes and vigorously flapped my wings. Flap, flap.

After facing each other, we exchanged gazes for quite a long time. The duke didn’t even blink once, as if his eyes weren’t stinging, and still looked down at me. Although it was inevitable due to our positions, I didn’t like the way he looked at me from above with a belittling attitude.

“Chirp!”

Look away! Look away!

As if understanding my voice, he briefly made a “hmm” sound and rubbed his chin with one hand. He seemed to be contemplating something. What is he thinking? Could it be that he’s trying to use the same tactic he used to scare the animal earlier on me? No way. I’m not an ordinary bird. Even though my body has shrunk, my brain remains the same! Go ahead and try. I looked up at him with a determined expression.

The duke continued to stare at me and then curled up one corner of his mouth.

“Cheep!”

Don’t smirk!

I stomped my feet loudly. However, the smirk hanging on the corner of his mouth didn’t disappear. His gaze was also different from when we first faced each other. If I say that at first, it felt like he was ignoring me, now it was strangely… interest. Yes, a glimpse of interest could be seen.

What? I tilted my head to the side. The duke looked down at me and said,

“I’ll take this bird.”

What do you like about me?

The trader was startled by the duke’s words and asked,

“Pardon? This bird?”

What? Why are you so surprised?

“Cheep.”

As I spoke while looking at him, he briefly cleared his throat, saying “ahem, ahem,” and spoke.

“This bird can be a bit… demanding. As you just saw, it’s always angry like this, and sometimes it even bites if it doesn’t like something.”

“Cheep! Chirp chirp!”

What the heck, man! Say that again!

Ah, no, wait. Is this being angry? But I guarantee that anyone in the same situation as me would have no choice but to get angry. Not only did I suddenly become a bird when I woke up, but I was also captured and confined in a small space, and even the food was tasteless. These three things alone were enough to make rage surge up. Moreover, perhaps because I became a bird, it wasn’t easy to control my emotions either. I lightly clicked my tongue and folded my wings.

The trader briefly looked down at me as I clicked my tongue and suggested to the duke in a worried tone.

“How about reconsidering it once more? Or, I’ll bring other better ones for you to see.”

The duke shook his head and raised his hand.

“I’ll go with this bird. You can take the other animals.”

The duke firmly said that he didn’t need to see any more. The trader opened his mouth as if he had something to say, hesitated, and then bowed his head.

“…Yes. Then I’ll send the necessary items for this bird separately as soon as possible.”

It seemed like he had something to say, but he eventually closed his mouth. Judging from his lack of spirit, he was far from becoming great. Just capture animals and that’s it! Then, as if the situation was all over, the attendant standing near the door opened it, and other attendants waiting outside rushed in. They hurriedly covered the animals’ cages with cloths and started moving them one by one.

Huh? Wait.

“Chirp.”

What about me? What’s with this situation where everyone is being moved except me? Am I sold? Was I sold to this duke? I was just trying to scare him a little…!

I hurriedly hopped up and down, grabbing the metal bars with my small feet. Although it seemed like I might lose my grip on the bars due to my trembling feet, I held onto them tightly as if they were my lifeline and called out to the trader.

“Cheep!”

Boss!

As if hearing my call, the trader briefly stopped packing and looked at me. But that was it. He scratched his head and resumed packing. What? He’s going to leave me like this? Although the food was tasteless… and I lived in confinement, it was pretty good if I thought of it as a life of being unemployed! Don’t leave me in this noble family that doesn’t even seem to treat animals as living beings! I looked at him with a pitiful gaze and cried out.

“Cheeep…!”

Despite my pathetic voice, he quickly finished packing and shouldered his luggage. Then, without even looking back at me, he passed through the door and left. I hurriedly turned my head to look around, and the rest of the animals were being carried away too. I made eye contact with the animals before they were covered with cloths, and they looked at me with pity.

“Chirp…”

Engulfed in despair, my voice lost its strength. I released the grip on the metal bars with my feet and lay down on the cage floor. Looking up at the high ceiling, I saw a sparkling, splendid chandelier.

I was adopted into a noble family that seemed to have neither blood nor tears.

🐤

The duke furrowed his eyebrows and looked at the bird lying in the cage. It was a truly unusual bird. Its head was so stiffly raised, and its chirping and barking were so amusing that he sharply manipulated mana and released it to test the bird, but it didn’t even blink. Instead, it glared at the duke with fierce eyes.

The reason he had carefully examined the animals until now was not only to find one that would protect his younger sibling well but also to purchase an impressive beast worthy of showing off. However, the moment he saw this bird, his gaze couldn’t help but be fixed on it. It looked infinitely small and fragile, but it was different from ordinary animals.

If his sibling saw this bird, they would surely be furious and ignore it. Or they might say it’s fine and secretly dispose of it somewhere else. There was no need to even bother disposing of it. Given the bird’s personality, it seemed like it would immediately fly away if the cage door was opened. Even knowing that, he ended up choosing this bird as if under a spell.

Perhaps he made this choice out of curiosity because the bird didn’t even flinch despite him releasing a sharp aura.

“Hmm…”

As the duke stared at the bird without saying a word, the butler next to him asked out of concern.

“Your Grace, shall we send the bird back?”

“No. It’s fine. I like this bird. Arthur might not like it, though.”

With those words, he lifted the cage. He had to keep it by his side and check if it was safe before handing it over to his sibling. Judging from its appearance, it didn’t seem like it would pose a significant threat, but since it was an unusual animal, a safety check was essential.

“Claude, bring my meal to my study.”

“Yes. Understood.”

The attendant immediately bowed his head and left. The duke also rose from his seat. The bird was so light that he hardly felt any weight. The bird visible through the gaps in the cage was lying on its back with a relieved expression, as if it were human. How interesting. Do birds usually lie down like this?

He lightly carried the cage with one hand and headed to the study. As he walked, the cage swayed back and forth, and the round bird rolled around, which was quite adorable.

The desk in the study he arrived at was piled high with documents. Work never seemed to diminish no matter how much he did. He placed the cage on the table and sat in the study chair. He reached out to pick up a pen and documents.

It was a report stating that the tax list and regional management entrusted to a bureaucrat were severely lacking in the necessary taxes. He clearly remembered raising taxes last year for this reason, but the same document had come up again. He had thought that the person who had been entrusted with the region for a long time wouldn’t possibly slack off, but suspicion crept into his mind. Human beings were creatures that could change at any time.

He postponed the approval and examined other documents. Time passed, and someone knocked on the door.

Knock knock-

“Come in.”

Creak, the person who opened the door and entered was the butler, Claude. He approached while pushing a gold-adorned cart. On the cart, a plate covered with a silver lid was placed. As he lifted the lid, a delicious aroma and hot steam wafted up.

The duke rose from his seat, still holding the documents, and sat at the table. In front of him, a thick, glistening piece of meat was placed along with a thin, subtly colored soup. Finally, after the silver tableware was set, the cart withdrew. A savory aroma filled the room.

“Claude, pull out and bring me the list of regions where taxes were raised last year.”

“Yes. Understood.”

Claude neatly unfolded a white cloth and handed it to the duke. He draped the cloth around his neck and picked up the utensil at the very edge, moistening his throat with the soup. As he savored the food one by one like that, he felt a persistent gaze from the side.

“Cheep.”

The bird placed at the edge of the table was looking at him. With eyes that said it wanted to eat.