Knock knock.
As usual, the coachman came today.
The siblings said they had a bad cough and couldn’t go out, so they told me to slip a note under the door. But the siblings weren’t there, and at that moment, I transformed into human form.
Carol stuffed the note into her pocket.
“Yes, I’m coming out.”
Carol opened the door with a solemn face. When she came out, the coachman’s eyes widened as he greeted her.
“Miss Carol! Are you feeling alright?”
“Thanks to you. I think I can go today.”
“…Is that so?”
She was about to leave the house, but the coachman didn’t budge from in front of the door.
“Yes. Is something wrong?”
Sensing something odd, Carol asked, and the coachman took off his hat.
Carol’s courageous effort was met with a disheartening response.
“I was told that Miss Carol doesn’t need to come to the Duke’s Mansion for a while.”
“…Pardon?”
The coachman regretfully delivered the sad news to Carol.
“Actually, I hear that the Duke has lost consciousness due to a high fever.”
Carol’s body swayed at the shocking news.
“He’s unwell?”
“Yes.”
Suspicion welled up that Mrs. Wells hadn’t sent her a letter because she didn’t have the energy to look after things this far.
“…Since when has he been ill?”
She felt dizzy.
“Since the day Miss Carol said she was sick and stopped coming.”
The answer she least wanted to hear came. Why are bad premonitions never wrong?
It was because of her. It was because she left the window open when she left.
“Why are you telling me this only now?”
Although she knew the coachman was just a messenger, she couldn’t help but speak resentfully.
“I was ordered not to say anything about the Duke until Miss Carol said she was coming. I’m sorry.”
The coachman apologized. She should have said it wasn’t his fault, but her lips were stuck together and no words came out.
The Duke had tried to hide his illness as much as possible.
The reason was obvious.
‘He must have done it so I wouldn’t feel guilty.’
But from the moment Carol said she was going to the Duke’s Mansion, it couldn’t be hidden anymore, so they only told her now.
How much more of a fool do they need to make me before they’re satisfied?
“We’ll contact you again when the Duke recovers.”
“Wait a moment.”
Carol stopped the coachman who was about to run back to the carriage.
“Yes?”
“…Is he very unwell? Are there… any changes?”
Carol asked, clinging to hope until the very last moment. Could it possibly be a sign that he’s changing into a human? Unlike the original female lead, maybe the curse would be broken after a few days?
“I only know that he’s unconscious.”
The coachman was a tight-lipped person, but detailed reports probably weren’t given to a messenger.
“…Ah. I see. I’m sorry.”
“Not at all. I’ll let them know that Miss Carol is concerned.”
The coachman bowed politely once more and left.
Carol retreated back into her room. Trying to stop thinking about the Duke for the past few days had been foolish.
At the news of his illness, Carol’s mind was filled with nothing but thoughts of the Duke.
Even after her siblings returned, Carol couldn’t leave her room. She stayed curled up, hugging her knees.
Around the time the dim morning arrived, Carol’s eyes sparkled in the fading darkness.
‘I need to go check on him myself.’
Before transforming again, Carol took out the perfume bottle she had carefully stored in the bedside table drawer.
This was pure selfishness. A selfish desire for the Duke to recognize her, no matter what form she took.
Even though it was impossible.
Spritz.
Carol sprayed the perfume on herself. It felt like it cleared her head.
Then she felt an unbearable longing to see the Duke.
****
Getting to the Duke’s mansion was fine, but she hadn’t thought through what to do next.
Even though just a few days ago, she had woken up her sleeping siblings because the window wouldn’t open.
She paced back and forth, peering towards the bed through the window.
It would have been good if she could observe from outside the window, but the curtains were drawn, and she couldn’t see the Duke’s face properly.
She needed to get inside, but all the windows leading to the Duke’s room were closed.
She had planned to enter through an open window in the hallway if there was one, but due to the recent bad weather, there were no open windows.
‘…I didn’t want to use this method.’
It might be better to turn back now, but she felt like she absolutely had to see the Duke today.
Carol sighed and took flight again. There was still one way left to get in.
Tap.
Tap.
Noah woke up to the sound of rhythmic tapping. At first, he thought it might be snowing again.
But as the sound continued and his drowsiness faded, he realized that snow couldn’t possibly make such a regular sound. As soon as that thought occurred to him, his sleepiness vanished completely.
‘Is it a ghost?’
He remembered the servants in the annex jokingly saying that ghosts appeared in the main castle, which was why people weren’t allowed in at night. It sent a chill down his spine.
‘But it’s early morning now.’
The light coming through the curtains clearly indicated it was morning.
Tap.
At the sound that seemed to be urging him on, Noah bravely approached the window. Then, squeezing his eyes shut, he threw open the curtains in one swift motion.
Noah opened his eyes slightly to check outside the window.
“Of course, it couldn’t be a ghost.”
The source of the sound was a small sparrow. Noah sighed in relief, his hand on his chest.
Noah soon rested his chin on the windowsill and gazed at the sparrow.
A round white belly, a brown back with patterns, a white line between the face and body, and cheeks with black round markings.
“You made me wake up earlier than usual.”
Noah frowned slightly, tapping his finger on the window where the sparrow was perched.
It was an ambiguous time, too late to go back to sleep but still early. Any other time he might have been annoyed, but because the one who woke him was cute, his anger melted away.
Still, due to the chilly weather, he was about to return to bed when a question suddenly occurred to him.
‘Were sparrows’ eyes always teal-colored?’
Instead of flying away, the sparrow tapped on the window again.
It was a knock that clearly meant ‘open the door’.
Noah tilted his head, seeing a sparrow express its intentions like this for the first time.
Aren’t smaller birds usually quick to flee at the slightest approach?
Tap.
Tap.
“Wait.”
Noah hurried back to the window.
Wondering if he had understood correctly, he opened the window just a crack.
The sparrow, as if it had been waiting for this, took a flower in its beak from nearby and squeezed through the gap in the window.
“Oh?”
Belatedly realizing he might get in trouble for letting a bird inside, he quickly grabbed the bird to try to shoo it out.
“…It’s me, Noah.”
A familiar voice came from the bird. Noah stared intently at the sparrow sheepishly calling his name.
“…?”
In this unbelievable moment, Noah looked at the bird with wide eyes.
“I’m sorry. It’s sudden, isn’t it?”
Carol, having escaped from Noah’s hands, sat on the desk in front of him and apologized. Noah pinched his soft cheek, just in case. The stinging pain snapped him fully awake.
It wasn’t a dream, nor had he misheard.
“…Carol?”
“Yes.”
“Oh my. How did this happen!”
Before Carol could explain anything, Noah burst into tears.
“Sob. So you mean… you were like this all along?”
“Yes. So please stop crying.”
Only after Carol explained several times, sweating nervously, was Noah able to stop crying.
“To think Carol was a sparrow.”
“…Not exactly a sparrow, but a beastman.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“…I suppose it is.”
Perhaps not yet tainted by prejudice, Noah accepted Carol the sparrow without much resistance.
“I always thought you were small and cute as a human, but you were hiding your true identity.”
“That’s rich coming from you, who’s even smaller than me.”
“I’ll grow bigger eventually.”
Noah shrugged his shoulders. Carol stretched out her wing and stroked Noah’s cheek.
“Can you… keep it a secret that I’m a sparrow beastman?”
Carol hadn’t wanted to use the method of finding Noah because she didn’t want to reveal her identity. She swallowed hard, not knowing what answer she would receive.
“You kept my secret too, Carol.”
“…Yes.”
“So I’ll keep yours as well.”
Noah thumped his chest, telling her not to worry.
“Thank you.”
Noah stroked Carol’s head with his finger. While it was a relief that she didn’t feel uncomfortable, she backed away slightly, not wanting to be treated too much like a pet.
Noah looked at Carol with a disappointed face. But he didn’t try to touch her forcibly, instead sitting on the edge of the bed.
“But you didn’t come to me in this form just to tell me your secret, right?”
At Noah’s perceptive question, Carol nodded without hesitation.
“…Can you take me to the Duke?”
It was a difficult request for Noah to fulfill.
“You came because you’re worried about the Duke, didn’t you?”
“…Yes.”
“I’ve been worried about him too.”
“Do you know how the Duke is doing?”
“I don’t know much either. I’ve only heard that he’s unwell. That’s why I thought you couldn’t come either.”
“I see.”
“You must really like the Duke to transform into a bird just to check on him.”
It was an innocent remark. In front of her small and honest friend, Carol revealed the true feelings she had been hiding.
“…Yes.”
