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

‘I’m starving. What if I actually die of hunger at this rate?’

As if to make my worries seem ridiculous, I soon discovered a vine laden with fruit. I hesitated for a moment, wondering whether it was safe to eat, but the fragrance drifting toward me was irresistibly sweet.

I plucked one of the fruits and popped it into my mouth. The sweet, tender flesh seemed to melt against my tongue.

“Wow, it’s delicious!”

I gathered the fruit in both hands and eagerly stuffed it into my mouth. I had been happily enjoying my meal for some time when I suddenly felt someone staring at me.

Turning my head, I saw a family of squirrels watching me from a tree.

They looked utterly devastated. There was something almost mournful in their gazes, as though they were desperately holding back tears.

“Ah….”

The one that bothered me most was the tiny baby squirrel peering down at me with its round little eyes.

So this must have been their territory.

With the lake nearby and fruit-bearing vines growing so close, it was probably the perfect place to raise their young.

I still wasn’t full, but after seeing those expressions, I couldn’t possibly keep eating.

‘I’ll find something else. This mountain is enormous. Surely there must be other food somewhere.’

With that thought, I moved on.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t nearly as much edible food in the mountains as I had expected.

For a moment, I considered transforming back into a wren. With a smaller body, I wouldn’t need to eat nearly as much to fill my stomach. But every so often, dangerous predators like eagles could be seen soaring through the sky.

‘The meals Human Servant No. 1 prepared for me were so good….’

I smacked my lips wistfully and trudged onward.

Then, in the distance, I spotted the silhouette of a familiar human. Even after rubbing my eyes, the figure didn’t disappear.

It was Human Servant No. 1!

“What? Why is he here already?”

He normally didn’t begin his walks until late afternoon, but today he had arrived much earlier than expected.

My plans were thrown into disarray.

I hadn’t even finished preparing yet!

Afraid he might leave before I had my chance, I hurriedly gathered some fallen leaves from the ground. Fortunately, beneath one of the branches, I also found a few feathers that some bird seemed to have left behind after resting there.

“Ah, found some.”

Searching for all the materials I needed took longer than expected. Keeping an eye on Human Servant No. 1’s position every now and then, I hurried to adorn myself.

Sadly, there was no mirror around, so I had to use my reflection in the lake instead.

I had heard that the more extravagant one’s appearance was, the more likely it was to capture the opposite gender’s attention. In that case, there was surely no harm in going a little overboard.

I arranged brightly colored leaves around the crown of my head and tucked long bird feathers into the back of my hair.

I had worried it might look strange, but once I examined the result, it was surprisingly decent.

“This isn’t bad at all.”

I wondered how Human Servant No. 1 would react when he saw me. I wanted to see his dumbfounded expression as he fell hopelessly in love with me at first sight.

Suppressing the giggles that kept threatening to escape, I strode toward him with all the dignity and confidence befitting a princess.

‘Behold, foolish servant. Feast your eyes upon my beauty!’

To make sure I caught his attention, I deliberately walked right past him. Yet there was no reaction.

By now, he should have been gasping in breathless admiration.

‘What?’

Had he not seen me? Or perhaps I was simply so beautiful that he couldn’t bring himself to look directly at me.

I turned around and began walking in the same direction as Human Servant No. 1. This time, unlike before, I made it abundantly clear that I was right beside him.

“Ahem!”

At my pointed cough, his body seemed to flinch. Yet he still didn’t turn to look at me.

“Aheeem! Hmm-hmm!”

I deliberately raised my voice even louder. Still nothing.

Unless he had suddenly gone deaf, there was no possible way he could fail to notice me at this point.

I stared openly at Human Servant No. 1 as I continued walking beside him, only to notice that his pace was gradually quickening.

Eventually, he was moving so fast that he was practically running. I was already starving, and now he was making me chase him around on top of it?

By that point, stubborn determination took over, and I started running too. Finally, unable to tolerate it any longer, I darted ahead and planted myself directly in his path.

“Ahem!”

“…!”

His startled gaze finally landed on me. I looked up at the man standing before me.

His brilliant golden hair shimmered beneath the sunlight like scattered starlight, while his clear blue eyes rippled like the surface of a lake.

“Ah….”

His lips parted slightly, almost as though a sigh had escaped him.

Come to think of it, this was the first time the two of us had ever truly stood face-to-face like this.

Until now, I had always been nothing more than a small, delicate wren in his eyes.

‘Now hurry up and fall for me!’

I stared at him with my eyes wide open, waiting for him to succumb to my charms.

Instead, Human Servant No. 1 looked distinctly uncomfortable and quickly averted his gaze. An awkward smile crept across his face as bewilderment flickered over his features.

“Hmm. I’m busy, so I really ought to… hurry along.”

His behavior was painfully unnatural.

He walked away in stiff, jerky movements, like the ticking hands of a clock, before quickly disappearing from sight.

Could he have run away because he was embarrassed?

But if that were the case, his expression had been awfully strange.

He had looked more like someone who had just seen something he desperately wished he hadn’t.