Chapter 4
He tried to give me my freedom, even though it clearly pained him to say goodbye.
But as I stood before the wide-open cage, I made my choice.
I would stay.
For one thing, I had no way of returning to the Wren Kingdom anytime soon. More importantly, I wasn’t confident I would ever find another servant this competent in the human world.
‘I shall grant you the special title of Human Servant No. 1.’
However, there was an old saying that came to mind.
One of the virtues required of an excellent royal was the ability to treat those beneath them well.
Come to think of it, Schwein had done nothing but take care of me, while I had never given him anything in return. It was almost as though I were exposing my own shortcomings as a member of the royal family.
‘What should I do?’
There wasn’t much I could do for him while pretending to be an ordinary wren. Besides, this human didn’t seem to lack anything. If anything, he lived surrounded by an excess of wealth and comfort.
After giving the matter considerable thought, I plucked one of the pretty flowers I could see outside the window and brought it to him.
After all, for people like us who already possessed everything, the gift itself was no longer what mattered. What touched the heart was knowing how much someone precious had thought of you.
Whenever I spotted something shiny, I diligently picked it up and brought it back for him as well. Then, just as Father and Mother had always done for me, I would pat the human on the head.
Of course, as a wren, I had no hands, so I graciously used my noble beak instead.
‘Consider this my acknowledgment of all your hard work.’
Yet at some point, Human Servant No. 1 began to look noticeably troubled.
Every now and then, he would stare blankly into space. Eventually, he even committed the unthinkable mistake of dropping the meal he had prepared for me, spilling everything across the floor.
—Chirp, chirp, chirp!
(Human! Where in the world has your mind wandered off to?!)
“Ah… Sorry, sorry. I’ll prepare another one right away. Just wait a little, all right?”
His strange behavior continued for several days.
Then one day, he went out for an unusually long time. When he finally returned, I immediately caught an unpleasant scent coming from somewhere.
And nestled in his arms was an exceedingly unwelcome presence.
“Chirpy, I brought you a new friend. I took extra care choosing him for you. Do you like him?”
It was another wren.
—Chirrrp!
The moment the creature spotted me, it let out an irritating call.
‘Why did he suddenly bring home another bird?’
Could it be that I wasn’t enough for him? No, that couldn’t be right. We had been getting along so well!
After eating together, we always went out for walks. Whenever I got carried away and splashed around in the water, he would personally dry my soft, fluffy feathers afterward.
And that wasn’t all.
At night, I would curl up against his warm body, and we would fall asleep together on his bed.
All those precious memories came crashing down inside me at once, and in their place, a raging fire flared to life.
Another wren besides me?
And that one, of all birds? A creature who looked inferior to me in every possible way, from the tips of his claws to the end of his tail feathers?
Absolutely unacceptable.
—Chirp, chirp, chirp!
(One slave is more than enough! Get that ugly thing out of here immediately!)
I flapped my wings furiously, trying to drive the wren out of his arms. Normally, Schwein was so good at understanding what I wanted.
“Aww, you must be excited to have a new friend.”
Yet Human Servant No. 1 had the audacity to spout such utter nonsense. Then, saying that he would give us some privacy, he disappeared from the room.
‘W-What in the world…?’
Left alone with me, the ugly wren immediately forgot his place and began sidling closer. He kept making strange noises while shamelessly wagging his tail from side to side.
—Chirrrrrp!
—Chirp, chirp, chirp!
(How dare you! Do you have any idea who I am?! How dare you shove that vulgar backside at me!)
When the fool showed no sign of understanding my warning, I was forced to take drastic measures.
Clearly, he needed to be taught a painful lesson.
Peck!
I drove my beak straight into his forehead. The male wren froze as stiff as a stone.
His eyes darted wildly from side to side before enormous tears welled up in them and began pouring down his face.
It was in the midst of this chaos that the missing Human Servant No. 1 finally returned.
In one hand, he carried a large, cozy-looking nest that had been carefully decorated.
“I tried to make your newlywed nest as pretty as possible. What do you think?”
What? A newlywed nest?
Only then did I finally begin to understand what was happening.
Human Servant No. 1 had taken it upon himself to bring me a mate. Without even asking me!
And worse, he had chosen that hideous male wren!
The moment I realized the truth, the rage boiling inside me became impossible to contain.
To think he would subject me, Princess Meishutanacompattineoraro, the thirty-second princess of the Wren Kingdom, to such humiliation!
Unable to endure another second of it, I violently overturned the bowl containing the rest of my food.
Clatter!
Glossy, high-quality grains scattered everywhere.
But even that wasn’t enough to soothe my fury, so I turned on the nest he had brought and viciously pecked at it with my beak.
Peck! Peck! Peck!
Under my relentless assault, its neat, carefully crafted exterior gradually began to fall apart.
Throughout the entire rampage, Human Servant No. 1 merely stood there staring at me, apparently unable to believe that his usually adorable little bird was capable of such destruction.
“W-What in the world…?”
He looked as though his entire world had just collapsed before his eyes.
Once I had made my displeasure sufficiently clear, I left the house without a shred of hesitation.
Thus began my very first runaway from home.
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