YDPTB Chapter 65

“I lost a bet… and gave it to a friend.”

“A bet?”

Karhan’s eyebrows furrowed fiercely. He narrowed his eyes, creating deep wrinkles between his brows. His shadowed eyes beneath his eyelashes took in Arthur’s appearance.

Right now, I felt like a friend who, while visiting another friend’s house, discovered that friend being scolded by their mother, and ended up standing beside them with my head bowed despite having done nothing wrong. Actually, I wanted to be the father standing next to the mother and adding to the scolding, but Karhan was so intimidating that I felt a bit reluctant to join in the anger.

I couldn’t move between the two of them and just rolled my eyes around, observing the atmosphere.

Karhan stared at Arthur without smoothing his crumpled expression. He had already put down his pen and had his hands clasped together. A heavy silence hung in the air.

“You made a bet using an animal?”

“…It was just once, and I promise I’ll never do it again.”

“I’ve heard enough. You may leave.”

“Brother! This time, I really—”

“Claude.”

Karhan, seemingly having no intention of listening to Arthur further, called for Claude. Claude, who had been waiting outside, opened the door and entered as soon as he heard Karhan’s voice. Arthur desperately looked back and forth between the wide-open door behind him and Claude’s face. His desperate expression turned towards Karhan once more as he opened his mouth again.

“Please, brother. All my friends are saying…”

He trailed off mid-sentence, looking at me beside him and closing his mouth. He clenched his fist and bit his lip hard, unlike before, as if he couldn’t say what he wanted to because I was there. What did he want to say that made him so conscious of my presence? I blinked at Arthur, but he ultimately left without opening his mouth again.

As he walked out with slumped shoulders and looking dejected, I felt a bit sorry for him. What words were swirling in his mouth that he couldn’t bring himself to say? Perhaps I should have left the room.

After Arthur left and the room became quiet, Karhan clicked his tongue softly. He looked thoroughly displeased.

Even though he was a bad kid who made bets using animals… this seemed a bit pitiful. I don’t have an older brother, but if I had only one brother who scolded me like that, I think I’d feel really upset. Although I wasn’t particularly close to Arthur, I felt like I should take his side, so I said in a small voice:

“I’m okay with meeting his friends for a bit if it’s just for a moment.”

“No.”

“Why? Even though your little brother is begging like that…”

Karhan shook his head with furrowed brows.

“They’re the kind of kids who would bet using a life. Nothing good will come from going there.”

“That’s true, but…”

It was certainly Arthur’s fault for betting with an animal. Teenagers full of bravado might do such things, but judging from Arthur’s attitude just now, he didn’t seem to realize what he had done wrong. He didn’t even seem to think it was wrong.

The fact that he came all the way to Karhan, who was working, to ask to borrow the bird suggested that he had probably promised his friends he would bring the famous me. I felt a slight bitterness in my mouth. Since Karhan refused, he would have to go back on his word to his friends. Retracting a confidently made statement at that age must be incredibly difficult.

It was a bit sad, but it couldn’t be helped. I couldn’t forgive the mistreatment of animals either. As I slowly nodded and reached for the picture book I had left face-down beside the sofa, Karhan suddenly spoke up.

“Isn’t it time for your exercise?”

“Exercise? Ah.”

A grimace automatically appeared on my face at Karhan’s sudden words. After our relationship had softened and all the hard feelings had cleared up, I started exercising again. Karhan had offered to help with my exercise, but thinking I shouldn’t take up his busy time, I declined. For a moment, disappointment seemed to flicker across Karhan’s face, but with nothing else to say, I was receiving PT from the exercise instructor I had been introduced to then.

“It’s too hard.”

As I whined with a death-like expression, Karhan let out a small laugh. It seemed like a laugh that meant ‘You’re exaggerating,’ so I pouted my lips.

“It’s true. These days, after exercising, I always turn back into a bird.”

When my stamina was pushed to the limit, I unconsciously transformed back into a bird. I discovered this on the first day of exercise, when after being thoroughly rolled around by the instructor, I collapsed on the floor in my room without even washing up.

I had definitely closed my eyes on the floor in human form, but I must have changed into a bird while sleeping because my dedicated servant didn’t see me and accidentally kicked me, waking me up as I rolled across the floor. That’s when I realized that when my strength was completely depleted, I transformed into a bird while unconscious.

“I’m going to be rolled around like a ball again this time…”

The exercise instructor was the devil incarnate. When I was panting heavily from exhaustion, he would quietly approach and tell me how many laps were left. And after I had run hard and was sprawled on the floor, he would urge me to lift the dumbbells he had made specifically for my strength.

“I heard you can easily run five laps these days.”

“Because he keeps adding more if I don’t run…”

If I tried to slack off because it was too hard, he would quietly approach and coldly say ‘One more lap added.’ It was so scary. There were times when I ran up to five extra laps. That day, I thought they must have a fresh heart ready to replace mine if I died.

I glanced at the clock, lifting my head slightly. It was about time for me to go. I let out a deep sigh from the bottom of my heart and stood up.

“See you tomorrow…”

After exercising, I was too busy collapsing and sleeping to have time to see Karhan. I walked towards the door with my arms hanging limply. From behind me, Karhan’s voice, tinged with amusement, could be heard.

“Have a good time.”

Karhan seemed to enjoy seeing me suffer. Is he perhaps a sadist? I pouted my lips in displeasure. Though I didn’t like it, I diligently moved my body towards the training ground today as well.

I, who had a very limited circle of friends, became acquainted with other knights at the training ground over the days of exercise. They all cheered me on, clenching their fists as they watched me run hard. I hope it’s my imagination that their gazes seemed somewhat like they were looking at a baby animal just learning to walk.

Those bastards… Their expressions are oddly annoying.

Today too, I ran hard under everyone’s gaze. Sometimes I worried about what would happen if my wings became visible. But unless I strained hard, my wings stayed attached to my back, and my clothes were loose and lined with thick fabric, making it difficult to notice easily.

As usual, the point at which I could leave the training ground was when my limbs were trembling so much that I could barely walk or lift my head or arms. Seeing me with my eyes half-rolled back and panting heavily, the satisfied trainer smiled happily. What a devil.

The servant who followed me supported me back to my room. The warm water had already been drawn, so I shed my clothes like a molting skin and immersed myself in the hot water. In my drowsy state, I blinked my eyes and fell right into sleep.

🐤

The next day, unlike usual, I was forced to wake up because my surroundings were too noisy.

I frowned deeply and wriggled my body, but as the noise grew louder, I had no choice but to open my eyes, and I was faced with figures with colorful hair I had never seen before.

“Peep.”

What’s going on? I couldn’t hide my bewilderment. Wondering if I might be dreaming, I squeezed my eyes shut and counted: one, two, three. I calmly counted and then lifted my eyelids, but the scene before me hadn’t changed. The guys with brilliantly colorful hair were still looking at me with curious expressions.

“Peep…”

Although they were unfamiliar faces, their eyes were full of expectation. I thought maybe I should show them something, but not knowing what to show to strangers, I just stood quietly on the table. Then one of them reached out and poked my head repeatedly, saying:

“Is this the animal that Duke Barthes brought to the social gathering?”

As I just blinked, wondering if they were asking me, a familiar voice came from behind me.

“This is the animal my brother brought to the social gathering. You know it’s very popular now and not easy to see, right?”

I quickly turned around at the proud voice. There I saw the owner of the dark blue hair, Arthur Barthes.

Good heavens. Now I began to understand the situation. There was no way Karhan, who had firmly refused, would have changed his mind and given permission. Arthur must have found me after I had transformed into a bird due to fatigue from exercise and secretly brought me out.

I opened my beak wide and looked at the culprit of this situation with an expression of utter disbelief. I don’t know how he knew to come to my room and take me, but I suppose it was fortunate that he didn’t find me when I was human. As I stiffened, I could hear the murmuring voices of the adolescents around me.

“It’s really cute. I heard from my brother that it’s hard to find one that looks like this.”

“Yeah, yeah. My dad is looking for one too, but he says it’s difficult to find.”

“Pee-eep.”

Of course. It’s hard to find a bird as magnificent as me. Hearing that I was rare made me feel good, and my shoulders rose involuntarily.

Arthur, who had been standing behind, approached the side of the table and reached out to grab me. Unlike Karhan’s, his touch was not at all gentle, and my wing feathers folded, but since I couldn’t speak human language, I just stayed still. Arthur lifted his hand holding me and extended it towards his friends.

“Here, touch it.”

As soon as Arthur finished speaking, the kids who had been approaching cautiously reached out and started fiddling with my head. My delicate head shook back and forth under their inconsiderate touches.

My neck hurts. As my head swayed against my will, I tensed up to resist, but worried that my neck might break at this rate, I opened my beak and started pecking at the approaching fingers.

“Peep! Peep!”

“Ouch!”

When one yellow-haired boy was bitten, the approaching hands hesitated and slowly retreated.

“Pee-eep!”

Don’t touch me! As I looked around, breathing heavily, I could see the frightened expressions of the kids. The pain of being bitten by an animal is greater than one might think. Perhaps because of that fear, they now hesitated to reach out their hands.

Amidst the awkward atmosphere, Arthur’s flustered voice was heard.

“It, it doesn’t usually do this…”

“Peep! Peep!”

What do you mean ‘usually’? You’ve never even seen me before.