As I instinctively turned my head, I noticed a pigeon perched on a tree branch, cooing softly while grooming its wings.
It looked particularly clean and well-behaved—could it be a carrier pigeon?
Seriously, with all these chicks and pigeons around, I couldn’t tell if this was a house or a bird sanctuary.
‘Huh? Now that I think about it… pigeons are birds, and chicks are birds too, aren’t they?’
At that moment, I had a sudden realization as I noticed something tied to the pigeon’s ankle.
‘Chicks liked cookie crumbs.’
If that’s the case, then maybe—if I had some bread or cookies—I could catch that pigeon. No, that carrier pigeon.
I recalled the plump pigeons I used to see in Seoul in my past life.
And the people who stubbornly ignored the Do Not Feed the Pigeons signs, happily tossing breadcrumbs and snacks to them.
“Laura! Laura!”
“Yes, my lady?”
Worried that the carrier pigeon might fly away, I anxiously grabbed Laura’s skirt and shook it.
“Go get me a piece of bread!”
“Huh? Bread?”
“Yes! Something soft and fluffy that tears apart easily!”
Laura looked bewildered, but seeing how urgent I was, she quickly ran into the nearby kitchen.
‘Carrier pigeon, you’re mine today.’
I’d catch it myself and finally find out who among the household staff had been secretly exchanging letters.
There had been too much suspicious behavior—I couldn’t just let this slide.
If our servants were really leaking information about the household, my dad wouldn’t have needed to go through all the trouble of auditing every document and ledger as soon as he returned.
If they were caught stealing their master’s information, that would be an immediate cause for dismissal.
“My lady, here’s the bread. But… what are you planning to do with it? Are you hungry?”
“It’s not for me—the pigeon is hungry.”
“Oh my, my lady is so kindhearted.”
Laura gave me an admiring look, but I simply turned away, uninterested.
Yeah, sure… if she wants to think I’m kind, then fine.
The white bread Laura brought had cooled down a bit, but it was perfect for feeding the bird.
I tore it into tiny pieces and scattered them under the tree.
“Coo, coo! Eat this!”
I even waved my hands and gestured excitedly, but the arrogant little bird just kept preening its feathers on the branch.
Was I standing too close?
Carrier pigeons should be used to eating food offered by humans…
“Bread! Eat the bread! Hey, bird!”
But instead of coming down, the pigeon just tilted its head, as if mocking me.
My neck was starting to hurt from looking up for so long, yet the pigeon showed no sign of moving.
‘Is the bread not good enough?’
Should I try tempting it with cookie crumbs, like I did with the chicks?
“Laura, can you bring some cookies too?”
“Cookies?”
“Yes. The bird doesn’t like bread, so I’ll give it cookies instead.”
“Alright, I’ll get them right away. But please don’t go anywhere—stay right here, okay?”
The area was bustling with people due to the nearby knight training grounds.
There was no real risk of me getting lost, but Laura still reminded me multiple times before finally heading into the kitchen.
I crouched a short distance away from the tree where I had scattered the breadcrumbs.
As I absentmindedly tossed more bread, a sudden fluttering sound caught my attention.
A pigeon gracefully landed on the ground.
Gasp! It worked!
The moment the pigeon cooed and took a few cautious steps toward the scattered bread, pecking at the crumbs, I had to clamp my mouth shut to keep from exclaiming in excitement.
‘With this, I can catch the pigeon!’
I just needed to approach slowly—without startling it.
Since birds tend to fly away at the slightest sign of danger, I carefully extended my hand, suppressing my footsteps.
Just a little closer…
“Ack!”
I almost lost my balance.
That sharp-eyed carrier pigeon dodged my hand and quickly scurried away.
I froze in place like a statue, waiting for the pigeon to lower its guard again.
Soon enough, it stopped where a pile of breadcrumbs lay and eagerly pecked at them.
‘Now’s my chance!’
I inched forward, closing the distance. Then, with all the speed I could muster, I shot my hand forward—
But just as I lunged, as if mocking me, the pigeon flapped its wings and gracefully hopped onto the lowest branch of the tree.
Wait, what?
So… what happens to me now that I just threw myself forward with all my strength?
As the ground rushed toward me in real-time, I squeezed my eyes shut.
“Gotcha.”
Huh?
I didn’t catch the pigeon…?
Realizing I hadn’t felt the impact I was expecting, I cautiously opened my eyes.
My legs were dangling in midair.
“Why is my daughter trying to pick up and eat bread off the ground?”
That voice from behind made it immediately clear who had caught me.
There was only one person who called me their daughter.
And now, thanks to my foolish actions, I looked like someone about to eat bread off the floor. My entire face burned with embarrassment.
Covering my face with both hands, I mumbled,
“Put me down…”
“If you promise not to eat food off the ground.”
“I wasn’t going to eat it! …Really!”
For a split second, my embarrassment nearly overpowered my instinctive fear of my dad.
I flinched, worried he might get angry, but instead, he simply let out a soft chuckle and gently set me down.
Meanwhile, the pigeon had already flown to a much higher branch, far out of my reach.
All that effort… and I ended up making a fool of myself.
“You were copying the bird, weren’t you?”
My dad’s voice took on a strangely gentle tone, as if he were trying to understand my actions.
Somehow, that made my embarrassment even worse.
Just as I was wallowing in humiliation, a thought crossed my mind.
‘Dad can use a protective blessing.’
If that’s the case, couldn’t he easily catch that pigeon sitting way up high?
“Uh…”
I hesitated, biting my lip.
Calling him Dad still wasn’t easy for me.
“Catch the pigeon for me.”
“You want to keep it?”
“Yes. The pigeon is pretty. Even the butler raised pigeons.”
“The butler?”
My dad frowned slightly, and I instinctively took two steps back.
…Scary.
But if I wanted to report the butler and the other household staff’s suspicious actions, this was my best chance.
‘Why didn’t I think of this sooner?’
If I had just mentioned that the butler was using pigeons, my dad would have figured it out immediately.
After all, having spent so much time on the battlefield, he must be very familiar with carrier pigeons.
I had been so afraid of my dad that I avoided him as much as possible, which was why this simple solution hadn’t crossed my mind before.
“How did you know that?”
“I saw the butler send a pigeon flying like this. He even held it in his hands and said it was pretty.”
As I spoke, I watched my dad’s expression turn colder and colder in real-time.
So terrifying!
I knew my dad wasn’t as bad as I had originally thought, and I was certain he wouldn’t harm a young child like me. But still…
Fear is something deeply ingrained in the body. It wasn’t something I could just control.
Especially after witnessing the coachman’s death firsthand—it had been far too much for someone like me, who came from modern Korea, where murder was almost unheard of.
“I need to see what kind of scheme these rats have been up to.”
My dad’s voice was colder than the ice shards forming rapidly in the air above us.
A pigeon, now trapped inside an ice cage, plummeted to the ground.
Tied to its ankle was a piece of paper, secured with string.
Anyone could tell just by looking—it was definitely a carrier pigeon.
Seeing this, my dad’s expression hardened even further.
“…The only person who would be interested in something like this is Dominique.”
Dominique? Who’s that?
My dad muttered the name like he was spitting out something distasteful, then suddenly turned his gaze toward me, as if he had just remembered something.
His expression shifted instantly.
Smiling playfully, he handed me the letter, moving slowly so I wouldn’t be startled.
‘…Why does that smile feel so fake?’
But right now, the important thing wasn’t whether my dad was genuinely smiling or not.
My eyes were drawn to the letter in his hands.
What could be written inside it?
