Chapter 25
At the appearance of the large crow, the maids flinched slightly and stepped back. Even though they had become used to him while living together, it seemed fear couldn’t be helped.
I paid no attention to them and took out a few of the accessories I had been choosing before he came, then showed them to him.
“Do you want to choose which one you like? Personally, I like these sapphire earrings too, but the pearl ones aren’t bad either, so I was hesitating.”
“……”
“Do you like this one?”
“……”
“Or this one?”
“Caw.”
He had been silent when I showed him the pearl earrings, but when I showed him the sapphire earrings, he cried briefly. It seemed he liked the sapphire earrings.
“Good, let’s go with this one. Thank you for choosing for me.”
Saying that, I carefully pushed the sapphire earring, deep yet clear in color, into my earlobe and fastened the back with the clutch.
When I checked the mirror, the jewel reflected the sunlight and sparkled brilliantly. It was quite a beautiful sight.
“It’s pretty. I like it.”
“……”
“Then, it’s a little early, but shall we go for a walk?”
“…Caw.”
At my words, the same as usual, Raven’s answer came back one beat late.
*
With Raven on my shoulder, I headed to the mansion’s rear garden.
It was a place I often brought him to even normally, avoiding people’s eyes, but today my steps headed deeper in than usual.
Throughout the walk through the rear garden, neither I, nor Raven, nor even the maids accompanying us said a word. As if the beautiful scenery full of radiant blooming flowers had been rendered meaningless, we walked in silence like those facing death.
Everyone here sensed what was to come.
The place where my steps, which had been leading the way, finally stopped was in front of the abandoned storage shed my grandfather was said to have used in the past, where I had first met Raven.
Perhaps the gardener’s hands didn’t reach this far, because the storage shed gave off the same gloomy air as ever.
After silently looking at it for a while, I soon dismissed the maids. With words that I should call them anytime I needed them, they silently moved away.
Only after they had completely disappeared did I finally meet Raven’s eyes as he sat on my shoulder.
“Will you come down for a moment?”
“……”
Contrary to my expectation that he would cry in refusal or resist by refusing to budge, Raven obediently came down from my shoulder and set his feet on the ground.
He then turned his body toward me and looked up at me. To meet his eyes at the same height, I crouched down in place. Then I slowly reached out and untied the handkerchief around his neck.
“……”
This time too, Raven merely silently followed the handkerchief as it left him. When he saw the handkerchief finally disappear into my pocket, his gaze grew distant.
So that he wouldn’t discover the lingering attachment left in my heart, I quietly steadied my breathing and composed my expression. Then, at last, I spoke.
“It’s time for you to leave now.”
“……”
“You went through a lot, staying at the mansion all this time without knowing why. I had never raised a bird before, let alone a crow, so you must have suffered a lot. Thank you for enduring such a poor master.”
“……”
“You’re healthy now. You can fly as much as you like, and you can go anywhere. Always be careful from now on so something like this doesn’t happen again.”
“……”
“Hurry and go— Back to where you lived.”
With that final sentence, I pushed against his back.
Raven said nothing. Thanks to the time we had spent together, I had been able to read his expressions a little, but this time, I could hardly read him at all. Raven merely stood as if rooted in place.
“You should hurry now. You must have a family too, and a flock you live with. Go back to them. I’m sorry, but I’m not a master who can take responsibility for your whole life.”
“……”
“So, go.”
I spoke again with a firm face. Then, after seeming to hesitate for a moment, he finally turned his head and began moving forward.
Little by little, Raven grew farther away. Once in a while, he stopped in place and looked back at me.
That sight seemed to be asking whether this was truly the end, and it also looked as though he could hardly bring himself to leave.
I didn’t speak to him, reach out my hand, or smile. I only watched him.
Raven, who had turned his head back several times, at last spread his wings and soared into the air, as if he had finally accepted the parting completely. Like that, he left entirely.
Even after he disappeared, I kept following the sky with my eyes for a long while before rising to my feet. Then I called the maids I had dismissed for a moment and quietly returned to the mansion.
Three years passed after that day. On my twentieth birthday, Raven returned to me. Along with a proposal letter saying he wanted to marry me.
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