Chapter 21
* * *
How much effort had I put into managing Raven’s health so it wouldn’t worsen? Just as they said, his recovery was probably only a little slow, and it hadn’t gotten worse.
But that feeling didn’t last long.
Even after a day passed, and then two days passed, there was no improvement in him, and I began to grow anxious. I also began to wonder whether something I had failed to notice was harming his health.
I paid even more attention than before to the feed he ate. Meanwhile, wondering if perhaps I had hit his broken leg in my sleep after letting Raven into my bed, I separated our sleeping places.
“Caw! Caaaw…”
Raven showed a more bristled and intense reaction than on any day I had seen until now. But it couldn’t be helped.
“I’m worried because your leg keeps not healing, so I can’t sleep beside you. I might hit you in my sleep…”
“…Caaaw.”
His cry in response sounded as if he were saying there was no way that would happen, and that he had no idea what his leg not healing had to do with sleeping. For some reason, it also seemed as though he was looking at me with a rather pitiful gaze.
Still, from my perspective, it truly couldn’t be helped.
“I’m sorry. But you have to get better quickly so you can return to the place you came from. Endure it just a little, hm?”
“……”
The sight of him with his beak firmly closed still made him look as though his anger hadn’t yet subsided. But in the end, just like when I first put medicine into his mouth, he reluctantly returned to his cushion and prepared to sleep.
Soon, his gaze filled with dissatisfaction reached me as I lay down on the wide bed without him. His stare was so sharp that it felt as though I was lying not on a bed, but on a cushion of needles.
“Looking at me like that won’t work. Until your leg heals, we’re sleeping separately.”
Even after that day, Raven didn’t give up, and every night, he struggled persistently to secure the spot beside me.
*
Like that, a week passed as we fought a full-blown battle every day.
Despite the maids’ comfort and advice, there was no improvement in his leg. He was still limping on his broken left leg, and rather, it had even grown worse than when we first met.
The feed packed with every nutrient, and the time I spent trying to sleep while enduring his gaze prickling the back of my head, had all been useless.
After silently watching him move while limping, I muttered to no one in particular.
“…This won’t do. It’s already been a week, but his condition has only gotten worse.”
“……”
“Go and call the veterinarian. I need to know what on earth is wrong.”
“Understood, Miss.”
At my words, Maya, who was clearing away Raven’s cleanly emptied plate, lowered her head and answered.
James visited the mansion soon after. When he opened the door and appeared, he clearly seemed bewildered that he was called again, even though he had thought there would be no more reason for him to come here.
As soon as I saw him, I immediately explained the whole situation.
“I removed the bandage last week, but he kept limping, as if the leg that had been broken was hurting. I thought perhaps it would take time to recover, so I watched him for one more week, but his condition actually seems worse than it was at first.”
“Is that so? But when I last examined him, the bone had clearly almost fully healed…”
James tilted his head and showed his doubt. Then, soon returning to the serious face of a doctor, he spoke.
“First, I understand. Let’s examine him and see whether there really is a problem with the bone.”
“Please, Doctor.”
James began the examination.
His thick, scarred hands gently and carefully touched Raven’s left leg.
His hands examined not only the leg, but every part of Raven’s body without missing a spot. As the range of the examination gradually widened, I briefly grew anxious, wondering if he had perhaps contracted some serious illness. But the answer that came back from him was utterly empty.
“Hmm… He is very healthy.”
“Pardon?”
“Overall, this child is extremely healthy. He must have eaten well too, because his feathers have such a sheen to them. The place where the bullet passed through last time has also healed well without a trace. I also examined the leg you were worried about, but the bone has already fully set, so there is no issue at all with walking or flying.”
Unable to hide my confusion at the unexpected result, my eyes slowly blinked. For a moment, my words caught in my throat.
After a long silence, I voiced the question that simply couldn’t be resolved.
“…Then why on earth is he limping? You said there’s nothing physically wrong with him. Why would a child that healthy…”
Just as I was pouring out questions toward James without pause, my words eventually slowed. It was because the answer to the problem flashed through my mind like a comet.
Because once his leg healed, he would have to part from me. Because he would have to leave this mansion and return to the place where he originally lived.
So, clever as he was, Raven the crow had pretended to limp and earned himself one more week.
He earned himself more time to spend with me.
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