When the Duke was in his right mind, his emotions were always strictly controlled by reason.
While his head still said it was too early, his emotions overflowed uncontrollably like boiling water.
“I…teacher…”
The Duke reached out his hand. It touched Carol’s hand. The Duke’s hand, which looked fierce, was warm. She wanted to grasp it back.
But at that moment, as if by a twist of fate, Carol looked out the window.
The dark sky was slowly brightening. Dawn was beginning to break.
Her body slowly started to shrink. If she stayed holding his hand, the Duke would notice her transformation.
‘No.’
The Duke said he disliked beastmen. She didn’t have the courage to see the Duke treat her with contempt.
Carol violently shook off the Duke’s hand.
Thwack!
“No!”
In the cruel snowstorm, a faint but certain light brightened the sky.
After shaking off his hand, Carol flung the window wide open. The snowstorm invaded the room as if it had been waiting.
And at the same time, Carol transformed into a sparrow.
Thump.
Her dress fell to the floor.
“…Teacher?”
The sound was similar to someone falling, so the Duke half-raised his body.
“Don’t come close!”
The Duke stopped in his tracks at her words.
Meanwhile, Carol worked hard to drag her clothes. She pulled the dress to the spot she had planned earlier when thinking about what to do when she turned into a bird.
Although her beak hurt from the weight, Carol didn’t rest.
At this rate, even if someone came in, they wouldn’t find the dress unless they searched the room thoroughly.
“Teacher. Why did you open the window?”
“…I’ll go out and call someone.”
“Suddenly?”
“Because the sun has risen.”
“Someone will come even without that.”
“…Still.”
“Do you dislike being with me?”
“That’s not it.”
At this moment, the answer was meaningless. The Duke knew. Unexpected situations bring out emotions closest to one’s true nature.
It was similar to when Noah first silently grabbed his horns.
Although the feeling of wretchedness was incomparable to that time.
The Duke couldn’t see where she was, but he was looking exactly in her direction.
“I don’t want to apologize for what I said.”
“…”
“But if the teacher was offended, then… I’ll apologize for that.”
The Duke’s voice was desperate. Carol couldn’t even begin to imagine how miserable it must be for him to apologize for his feelings.
Carol sat on the windowsill. His words were cut off in the middle, but she knew what he was trying to say.
In truth, she was happy.
She was happy that it wasn’t her misconception. She was glad that what he had shown her wasn’t just passing kindness, but a unique affection.
She had even had nightmares about misunderstanding the Duke’s goodwill.
Carol actually wanted to say that she liked him too.
But reality is cold. She couldn’t answer those words, swept up in these emotions.
“I’ll go call someone.”
But this was all she could manage to say.
Whoosh.
The wind blew harshly.
It was a cold wind that could even cool the burning emotions inside a person.
“Please wait a moment.”
“Ah. So you’re determined to leave after all.”
Leaving the Duke’s words behind, Carol flew.
Everything was over.
The tiny feeling she had secretly nurtured in a corner of her heart was instantly devastated.
She saw the same scenery as when she left the Duke’s room.
She felt like crying.
Though it seemed her wings might break in the snowstorm, she didn’t stop flying.
Carol flew past the Duke’s Mansion. Although she knew in her head that she shouldn’t leave like this, Carol didn’t stop flapping her wings.
Her head was dizzy. She thought she’d go home, rest a little, and quickly return to inform him.
“Chirp–.”
Countless what-ifs rose and faded in her mind.
If only she could transform into a human at will.
If only she wasn’t a beastman.
If only she didn’t know the original story.
Then their relationship wouldn’t have become distorted like this.
If even one of these hadn’t been true, she wouldn’t have met the Duke at all.
Arriving home, Carol couldn’t open the door, so she flew towards the window where her siblings were sleeping.
Seeing her siblings sleeping peacefully in the room, tears came to her eyes.
‘Why am I crying?’
Is it because she has these two, while the Duke is left alone in the garden house?
Tap.
Tap.
As she pecked at the window with her beak, Kevin and Dylan, who were sound asleep, stirred.
Tap.
Tap.
The two woke up to the persistent tapping on the window.
“What is it?”
“What’s that sound?”
When their gaze reached outside the window, both of them jumped towards it simultaneously.
Fling.
“Sister?”
“Sister?”
It was harsh weather for a small bird to fly. The fact that she had come all the way here from the Duke’s Mansion through this snow surely meant something had happened.
When they opened the window, Carol hopped inside.
Shiver shiver.
Carol shook her body, shedding the wet water.
Kevin hurriedly went out of the room and came back with a handkerchief, placing it on Carol’s body.
“Sister, you’re so cold.”
“Flying in this awful weather…You’re completely soaked.”
Instead of asking what happened, they wrapped Carol in the handkerchief. Then they picked her up and moved her to the bed.
“I need to rest a little and go out again.”
Carol said in a tired voice.
“Even we would have difficulty flying in this condition.”
“The snowstorm has gotten worse than before.”
“But…”
Unable to talk about the Duke, she just moved her beak.
“Sister, you have a fever now.”
The two were clearly determined not to let her go out.
“Then I’ll go when the weather clears a bit. Okay?”
“Alright. Rest now. We’ll let you know when the weather improves.”
Carol said nothing and just shed tears.
“…Don’t cry, sister.”
Kevin and Dylan transformed into their beast forms. Then they wrapped their wings around Carol, who was between them.
Carol cried for a long time, feeling the warmth of her siblings embracing her.
Her head felt heavy. She didn’t want to think about anything.
Why hadn’t the curse been broken…?
‘What on earth had I forgotten?’
After crying so much that her head felt numb, Carol fell asleep still carrying her unresolved questions.
And the next evening, Carol failed to transform into a human.
****
The Duke was alone again.
After first becoming a monster, he thought he would never feel a more terrible loneliness than that.
“How ridiculous.”
Compared to then, now was incomparably worse.
It felt like falling into a deep quagmire. Sinking endlessly, sinking until he could no longer see the surface, a distant feeling.
The Duke slowly approached the window. It hadn’t been long since the window was opened, but snow was already starting to pile up in front of it.
Whoosh.
The wind was so cold that it felt like it was cutting his entire body. Nevertheless, the Duke stood there as if nailed to the spot.
[No!]
Her sharp voice was no different from the screams of servants who had seen him.
What had he done?
He had done the one thing he shouldn’t have.
“It seems… I made a big mistake.”
He had been arrogant. He had gotten too excited, feeling almost human only in front of Carol.
What he had thought was good for him must have been terrible for her. Terrible enough to make her flee through the window, out of the garden house.
Even if it stemmed from a misunderstanding, it was clearly a mistake.
He had hurt her, and the fact that he was the one who inflicted that pain was unbearable.
Instead of closing the window, the Duke faced the cold wind. Eternal winter was where he was meant to live.
Yet he dared to dream of spring.
He had ruined everything.
“…Ugh.”
The blood vessels in his entire body were acting up, and his reason was clouding. The Duke hunched his shoulders and held his forehead.
Of all times, to have an attack now.
He needed to apologize.
He should beg for forgiveness and trample on the green feeling that had bloomed in this frigid hostage situation.
Thud.
The Duke’s body collapsed on the floor. His head felt like it was about to split.
Until white snow piled up softly on his body, the garden house was filled only with the sound of the fireplace burning.
****
Mrs. Wells got up early to see Carol off, even though it wasn’t her usual working hours.
Carol usually waited for the carriage in the servants’ lounge.
Seeing the lounge exactly as it had been left the night before, with no signs of use, Mrs. Wells immediately headed to the Duke’s room.
Knock knock.
“I’m coming in for a moment.”
Click.
The Duke’s room was warm, but there was no sense of human presence at all.
The weather had been bad since dawn. An unpleasant thought finally crossed Mrs. Wells’ mind.
Mrs. Wells headed straight to Norman’s room.
“Norman.”
“…Yes?”
Norman, who had been sound asleep, rubbed his eyes with a drowsy face.
“The Duke hasn’t returned.”
At Mrs. Wells’ tense voice, Norman’s half-closed eyes opened wide.
Hastily dressing, Norman went alone to the garden house to assess the situation.
Norman held his forehead upon seeing a fallen tree blocking the front door.
“They couldn’t get out because the front door was blocked!”
It was obvious that they couldn’t get out through the back door either because the accumulated snow had frozen and then melted, making the door impossible to open.
As this happened often, he hadn’t thought much of it until now.
It was when he walked towards the window of the room where the two had been, intending to help them get out.
“…Why is the window open?”
The window was wide open. And through it, he could see a collapsed figure.
