I’m a Wren, but I’m Going to Charm a Human!

Chirpy had run away from home. And she had even overturned her food bowl before leaving.

‘What upset her so much?’

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t come up with an obvious reason. She had been behaving differently from usual lately, so I had assumed she had entered mating season.

And because of that assumption, I had spent an agonizing amount of time worrying over one question.

Would I be able to find an adorable little groom worthy of our Chirpy?

I had asked around everywhere and visited people who kept male wrens, but not a single bird seemed good enough for her.

‘No matter how I look at it, our Chirpy is still the prettiest.’

Unlike ordinary wrens, Chirpy had a thick coat of fluffy, snow-white feathers. For a while, I had even wondered whether she might actually be a long-tailed tit, but her finer characteristics seemed much closer to those of a wren.

From what I had researched, wrens generally formed monogamous pairs and raised their young together.

If that was the case, I wanted to find her the kindest, most handsome male wren in the entire world.

But the longer my search dragged on, the more worried I became.

She must already have been stressed because of the mating season. What if my own selfish insistence on finding the perfect mate was only delaying her happiness?

I blamed myself and agonized over it again and again.

Then, at a place I had visited without much expectation, I finally found a promising candidate.

He was an exceptionally handsome wren.

Surely even Chirpy would approve of him.

Though… she wouldn’t stop paying attention to me altogether once she had him, would she?

It would certainly be wonderful if she eventually had adorable little chicks with fluffy white feathers just like hers. I would be proud of her, of course, but the thought also stirred a strangely complicated ache in my chest.

In the end, however, none of my expectations came true. Instead, Chirpy threw an enormous tantrum and ran away.

“Where did I go wrong?”

I stared at the wren sitting inside the cage.

He was the bird I had temporarily brought home as a potential groom for Chirpy. His glossy reddish-brown plumage was practically the defining feature of a wren, complemented by round black eyes and a tiny, charming beak.

No matter how I looked at him, he seemed like an excellent choice.

‘Could human standards of beauty be different from a wren’s?’

How had that possibility never occurred to me?

Just as every person had their own preferences, perhaps our Chirpy had her own tastes as well.

Maybe I should have chosen a more dignified, masculine-looking bird. Or perhaps I should have taken Chirpy with me and let her choose her own groom from the beginning.

“Ah… What have I done?”

Even when I closed my eyes, I could still picture our Chirpy.

She was already so tiny and precious, like a little snowflake, that I couldn’t stop worrying she might become prey for some wild animal.

After all, the first time I had found her, she had already been on the verge of death.

There was a terrible wound near the base of her wing, as though she had been attacked by a predator. Her snow-white feathers had been soaked so thoroughly in blood that I hadn’t even been able to tell what color they were supposed to be.

Her emaciated little body rose and fell with each labored breath, like a candle flame flickering moments before it went out.

I had rushed her back to the estate, but as expected, the prognosis was grim.

“How is she?”

“I don’t believe she’ll survive more than three days.”

“Is it because of the wound?”

“The wound itself is serious, but she has also lost far too much blood. At this point, we can’t even be certain she’ll regain consciousness….”

The experts advised me not to expect too much.

Part of me had already known that.

From the moment I found her, she had looked unlikely to survive. Yet her final, desperate cry had sounded so much like a plea to be saved that I couldn’t get it out of my mind.

‘Please, somehow… survive.’

For three days, the tiny bird didn’t open her eyes. She simply slept, so motionless that she almost seemed dead.

Whenever I checked on her condition, the same thought would quietly cross my mind.

‘I suppose I should prepare myself to let her go soon.’

But almost exactly three days later, a miracle happened.

Her eyes opened. Two tiny, black-bean-like eyes stared directly at me.

“…Huh?”

An ordinary wild animal would have been frightened and wary after waking in an unfamiliar place.

But Chirpy was astonishingly calm.

She slowly looked around, taking her time to inspect her surroundings and determine where she was. Then, seemingly reassured by what she found, she simply closed her eyes again.

After that, she devoted herself quietly to recovering.

There was one particularly fascinating thing about her, though. She was extremely selective about who was allowed to care for her.

As though assessing whether each person was worthy of the privilege, she would scrutinize anyone who approached with those round, black-bean eyes of hers.

She would look them over from head to toe, and if they failed to meet her standards, she would give a disdainful little huff and sharply turn her head away.

—Chirp!

Rejected!

The servants who eagerly volunteered to care for her were sometimes reduced to tears by the rejection.

“Ahh… She didn’t choose me….”

“It’s all right, Miss Emily. None of us have been chosen either.”

“But… I wanted to pet that little snowflake body just once….”