“Your Grace, the priest said he’d like to examine your condition…? Your Grace, where are you?”

Entering the bedroom, Leonhart raised an eyebrow. Adrianne was nowhere to be seen.

He searched the bedroom thoroughly and even checked the terrace and the bathroom.

However, Adrianne was nowhere to be found.

“Where did this woman go…”

Leonhart sighed and brushed back his hair.

Had she grown impatient and gone back to her estate on her own? If she was going to do that, she could have at least said something.

The slight improvement in his opinion of her after the presentation plummeted straight back to rock bottom.

“Honestly, she makes it impossible to think well of her.”

After searching for Adrianne a while longer, Leonhart finally gave up and returned to the reception room on the first floor.

“It seems she returned to her estate. She wasn’t in the guest room.”

“She said she wasn’t feeling well! And you just let her leave?”

Ruspell, who was looking over the proposal, asked in an agitated tone.

Owen’s eyes narrowed.

“Professor Ruspell, are you aware you’ve been acting rather strangely since earlier?”

“Me? How?”

“You said the Sister’s presentation was worth listening to. You even said you were glad it wasn’t boring.”

“…Uh, and?”

“Isn’t that practically glowing praise coming from you?”

Ruspell avoided his gaze, feeling stung.

He hadn’t known Adrianne could speak so well.

Even though he’d already read the entire proposal beforehand, he hadn’t found a single moment to let his mind wander during the presentation.

It had been so engaging that he was almost disappointed when it ended.

“…I can’t exactly lie about it. Honestly, she did a good job.”

“Of course, I’m not saying she did poorly. Our Sister did a surprisingly good job.”

“See? Even you were surprised!”

“Which only made it all the more unsettling. I couldn’t help wondering just how obsessive she must be about winning over His Highness to go to such lengths.”

“N-no… it might not necessarily be because of His Highness that she presented well…”

“Someone who’d secluded herself for five years suddenly reappears, starts imitating Miss Adel, then comes up with a brilliant proposal and even joins the project as a consultant. And not just any project…the one Your Highness is in charge of. If she isn’t doing it for Your Highness, then who is she doing it for?”

“…”

“Owen, calm down.”

Leonhart gave Owen’s shoulder a light pat before sitting down on the sofa.

Not only had the presentation been a complete success, it had also secured the nobles’ enthusiastic cooperation.

If things continued at this pace, Leonhart would take the lead in the competition for Crown Prince.

That wasn’t a bad thing in itself, but the problem was that it was Adrianne’s achievement.

Leonhart and Owen were convinced that, since Adrianne could no longer make Leonhart hers through political power, she had decided to win his heart instead.

Otherwise, there was no reason for her to help him.

“Your Highness, did you see what kind of expression our Sister had in front of us earlier?”

“She’s never been very expressive to begin with… Though she did seem a little surprised.”

“That was all. She wasn’t curious about me, nor did she look at me with any particular interest. Even though it was supposedly our first meeting.”

Everyone who met Owen for the first time was astonished.

White hair, golden eyes, and eyebrows and eyelashes as white as his hair.

His ethereal appearance made it impossible to look away.

Yet Adrianne’s reaction had been nothing more than the slight awkwardness one might expect from an unexpected encounter.

She hadn’t paid the slightest attention to Owen’s appearance.

As though she’d seen him countless times before.

“Until now, there has been only one person who wasn’t surprised upon seeing me for the first time.”

“Who?”

“Miss Adel.”

“Can she really imitate even something like that?”

Ruspell, who had been quietly listening until now, cautiously spoke up.

“But… I keep thinking that maybe the Duchess wasn’t actually imitating Miss Adel.”

“Then who was she imitating?”

“Well…”

Even Ruspell, who thought of Adel when looking at Adrianne, didn’t think Adrianne was Adel herself.

Because that was impossible.

“To me, the Duchess doesn’t seem like someone with such low self-esteem that she’d imitate someone else… Sigh. I don’t know.”

“It’s understandable that you’d be confused. Her mannerisms are similar, and if even the subtle expressions on her face are alike, who wouldn’t be? In any case, let’s set that aside for the moment. That’s not what’s important right now.”

“Then what is?”

Owen fell silent for a moment, as though organizing his thoughts, before speaking slowly.

“Has there ever been a rumor that the Duchess Ivrante possesses a supernatural ability?”

Leonhart shook his head.

“Not a single supernatural ability user has ever appeared in the Ivrante family. They are all ordinary people.”

“That’s what I believed as well. Then what was it that I saw from Sister?”

“You saw something? Was it unusual?”

“It was.”

There was something unsettling about Owen’s demeanor.

Leonhart and Ruspell both held their breath.

“My eyes can see the auras possessed by certain people. For example, a warrior’s aura is blue and cold. A mage’s aura is red and heavy. Even without making physical contact, I can identify the nature of a person’s power simply by the color of their aura.”

Through physical contact, aura users could sense aura, mages could sense mana, and priests could sense divine power.

Ruspell’s eyes widened.

“So you’re saying you can see something from us right now too?”

“From Professor Ruspell, I see a red aura resembling a ruby, and from Your Highness, I see a fantastically sparkling sea-colored aura.”

Like Ruspell, this was the first time Leonhart had heard such a thing.

“Since when did you have an ability like that?”

“Since the day Miss Adel died.”

“…”

“It suddenly became visible. It was as if God threw me this ability, saying, ‘Since I took something precious from you, I’ll give you this.'”

Owen smiled cynically.

“As I said, I can’t see it around everyone.”

“Then who?”

“Those who possess a special power. Whether it’s aura, mana or divine power.”

Leonhart lowered his voice.

“Don’t tell me… you saw one around that woman too…”

“I saw it.”

“What color?”

“Well…”

Owen hesitated for a moment.

“It was a color I’ve never seen before.”

“…You mean you don’t know what kind of power it is?”

“Yes…”

The drawing room fell into stunned silence.

Duchess Ivrante was known to be an ordinary person.

But if what Owen said was true, then she’d been concealing a supernatural power all this time. She wasn’t even boasting about it. Wasn’t that far too suspicious?

Leonhart rested his chin on his hand.

“I didn’t feel anything when I grabbed her arm earlier. That means she’s not an aura user…”

“I don’t think it was divine power either. I never touched her, but I couldn’t sense the distinctive presence unique to priests at all.”

Divine power was like dazzling moonlight.

Even without seeing a person’s aura, it was easy to recognize a priest.

Simply approaching one filled your heart with reverence and stirred something deep inside you.

However, he didn’t feel any holiness from Adrianne’s aura.

‘It was a breathtakingly sinister yet beautiful shade of violet. If demons possessed auras, I imagine they’d look something like that…’

Owen turned his gaze to Ruspell.

“Professor Ruspell, have you ever checked whether Sister possesses mana?”

“I had the opportunity, but… everything happened so suddenly that I didn’t have the chance-”

Before Ruspell could finish speaking, Leonhart raised a finger to his lips.

“Shh.”

Owen and Ruspell immediately fell silent.

Gesturing for them to stay where they were, Leonhart silently approached the window.

Then, without warning, he pulled the curtains wide open.

“…A crow?”

“A crow?”

“Where?”

When Leonhart stepped away from the window, they saw a jet-black crow perched on the windowsill. The three men gathered by the window.

“I felt a presence and thought it was an assassin… but it was a crow.”

“It’s not flying away. I wonder who owns it?”

“For a pet, it doesn’t have any markings.”

The three men’s gazes were fixed on the crow.

Yet the crow paid them no mind. With its neck held proudly upright, it simply gazed off into the distance.

As though it had no interest in humans whatsoever.Its crimson eyes gleamed like rubies.

“…How adorable.”

“It is kind of cute.”

“It certainly is.”

Similar remarks escaped all three of them at once.

The men exchanged awkward coughs.

“Hmm, is it injured?”

Leonhart carefully picked up the crow and examined it.

Sensing that he meant it no harm, the crow didn’t even flap its wings.

Ruspell marveled softly.

“It must be clever. It’s so calm.”

“It seems very gentle. I don’t think it’s injured anywhere.”

“That’s a relief. You shouldn’t wander into places where people are. It’s dangerous.”

Leonhart gently stroked the crow’s head with his finger. Then he gave it a light toss into the air.

“Go on.”

The crow took flight with effortless grace.

***

“Go.”

Leonhart spoke gently as he gave me a light toss into the air.

‘Hey, you bastard! How could you just throw— huh?’

I had no idea what had happened.

Just moments ago, my body wouldn’t obey me.

Now I was soaring through the sky.

A feeling of weightlessness washed over me.

The wind slipping through my feathers felt exhilarating.

I’d never felt so completely free.

Swept away by the moment, I flapped my wings with all my might.

‘…I shouldn’t have done that.’

I’d heard that even birds had to practice flying.

Some even fell from cliffs while learning.

If creatures born with wings still had to work to master flight, then a human who had suddenly transformed into a bird without warning was in an even worse position.

Of course I’d need countless hours of practice.

Instead, I’d skipped straight to flying.

There was no way that wouldn’t backfire.

‘What do I do…’

I felt like crying.

I had no idea how far I’d flown.

I didn’t even know where I was anymore.

Looking down would at least tell me my location.

But that was impossible.

The instant I so much as lowered my eyes, a wave of vertigo made my head spin.

Then I would stagger -> instinctively flap my arms to grab onto something -> but since my arms are now wings, the result is that I fly even higher.

After repeating this cycle about eight times, I suddenly remembered something I’d completely forgotten.

I was afraid of heights.

A fatal weakness for a bird.

Moderate heights were fine, but heights where objects looked infinitesimally small were another story.

If I were human right now, my whole body would be drenched in cold sweat.

I desperately wanted to go down.

But since I couldn’t look down, I couldn’t descend.

More importantly…

I had no idea how to descend.

As far as this body was concerned, there were only two things I knew how to do:

Fly.

And gain altitude.

So I had no choice but to keep flying.

The spirits, who’d hidden themselves just before Leonhart discovered me, finally caught up.

• Rianne, are you having fun? You couldn’t even walk earlier, so when did you learn to flap your wings?
• You fly very well. You’re quite fast.
• Why didn’t you say you could fly! I was terrified when that bastard threw you!

‘Does it really look like I’m flying on purpose?!’

I can’t land! that’s the only reason I’m still up here!.

Unable to even open my beak, I merely shifted my eyes ever so slightly toward the spirits.

Unfortunately, bird eyesight was far too good.

My field of vision was unbelievably wide.

I’d barely moved my eyes…

Yet I caught a glimpse of the ground below.

“Caw-kyaaak!”

My posture immediately fell apart.

The terrifying sensation of plummeting swallowed me whole, and my mind went completely blank.

Forgetting all my earlier resolve, I frantically flailed my arms.

Flap, flap!

Naturally, the distance between me and the ground grew even further.

I’d barely beaten my wings a few times before I shot even higher.

Something hazy drifted into view.

Clouds.

‘D-damn it…’

Fighting back my tears, I forced myself to stay calm.

If I panic, I’ll end up in the stratosphere. Get it together.

As I muttered to myself, Undine flew alongside me.

• Rianne, but how long are you going to just fly? Shouldn’t we start heading down now?
• I agree. We should start descending. We also need to figure out what to do about what we overheard a little while ago.
• Are your earholes blocked? I said let’s go down first!

‘Shit… I want to do that too.’

Whenever I tried to think through the mechanics of how these wings worked, my body would freeze up.

But the moment I stopped thinking…

I flew faster and higher.

Fortunately, flying itself wasn’t particularly exhausting.

Unlike Adrianne’s human body, this crow seemed to have remarkable stamina.

As long as I didn’t make a mistake, I probably wasn’t going to drop dead from exhaustion.

There was just one problem.

• Eh? Rianne, why are you crying?

I was so lonely.

I didn’t want to be alone.

I hated cawing like a crow.

I wanted to talk to someone.

The moment tears welled up, the wind whisked them away.

I never knew crows could fly this fast.

• Oh my! Rianne, what’s wrong?
• H-Hey, I didn’t even do anything! Now I can’t say a damn thing without making you cry… Shit, I’m sorry. Come on, stop crying.

Salamander…

I hadn’t heard a single word you’d just said.

The only thing on my mind was landing safely and collapsing onto a bed as soon as possible.

• Huh? Why is she still crying? Is flying through the sky that moving?
• Humans can become emotional depending on their surroundings. If we’d known, we would’ve let you fly much sooner.

They always said spirits were sensitive to their Pactmaker’s emotions…

I wondered which idiot had started that ridiculous rumor.

• Pactmaker, should we come back later? Humans get embarrassed when people see them crying, right? Isn’t that so, Gnome?
• (Nods)

‘No! I’m not embarrassed, so please don’t go! It’s too scary and lonely up here to be by myself!’

Panicking, I lost my concentration. My balance collapsed in an instant, and my body plummeted downward.

‘H-help me!’

“Caw!”

I flailed my arms desperately.

I managed to regain my balance…

But climbed even higher.

Along with my despair.

Just then, Undine tilted her head.

It seemed she’d finally realized my emotions had nothing to do with being moved.

• Rianne… don’t tell me you don’t know how to land?

Drip…

Tears fell from the crow’s crimson eyes.

‘Please get me down! Please, I just want my feet on solid ground!’

Undine covered her cheeks as if shocked by the tears that scattered into the air before they could even fall.

• Gasp! You kept flying because you were scared? Seriously?

At my desperate gaze, Salamander shook his head.

• Ugh, you idiot! If you want to go down so badly, just stop flapping your wings!

‘I told you I don’t know how to land!’

• We can just catch you, so what are you worried about?

‘Ah!’

Sylph’s answer felt like a light turning on in my head.

Why didn’t I think of that? With the spirits right here, why did I think I had to struggle to land on my own?

I must have been so terrified that my brain froze.

• Rianne, when we count to three, stop flapping your wings. We’ll catch you, so don’t worry. You can do that, right?

‘Yes!’

“Kwak!”

Wearing a tense expression, Undine held up a finger.

• Starting now. One!

Whew. I took a deep breath. Following Undine, Sylph counted.

• Two…

Focus. When it’s three, stop flapping. No… think of it as stopping my arms. That’ll be easier.

• Three!
• Wait, don’t!

The instant Salamander shouted the final number, Gnome suddenly thrust out his hand and cried out.

But my wings had already stopped.

Gravity took over, and I began plummeting toward the ground.

My stomach lurched with the sickening sensation of freefall. The rushing wind was so fierce I couldn’t even open my eyes.

Both wings whipped violently like banners in a storm. A few black feathers fell out and vanished into the distance.

‘Ugh, guys, hurry…’

Right then, the spirits shot downward like arrows and grabbed hold of both my wings and my tail feathers.

My body, which had been falling helplessly, jerked to a stop in midair.

• Got you!
• I was so nervous I thought we’d miss. Whew… Now we just have to lower you down carefully.
• B-But isn’t something weird? Pactmaker’s heavy as hell. Is it just me?

The spirits began fidgeting nervously.

• Y-you’re right. Why is she so heavy? This shouldn’t be happening… D-don’t tell me?
• Oh, what do we do! We forgot that Rianne’s mana isn’t responding!
• Ha, we’re fucked…

Only then did Gnome answer gloomily.

• …That’s why I said we shouldn’t…
• Gnome! You should have said that sooner!

With my mana refusing to respond, the only way the spirits could use their strength was by borrowing power from nature.

For example, in the case of a water spirit, there must be a large body of water nearby to borrow energy.

Even then, the energy obtained from natural objects was limited. No matter how much artificially collected water there was, it was useless.

The problem was that there was nothing around us right now.

Not a single breath of wind blew. The ground was too far, and since it was night, they couldn’t obtain the energy of fire from the sun.

There was a way for Undine to draw as much water vapor as possible from the clouds, but it was ridiculously insufficient to fly while carrying me.

In other words, the spirits were currently nothing more than pretty dolls.

And I had stopped flapping my wings in the distant sky, trusting those dolls.

‘I’m doomed…’

• Rianne… ngh! My arms are giving out…
• Ahh, what do we do?! I-I can’t hold on any—nnngh!
• There’s no “can’t”! Hang on, damn it!!!

The spirits struggled with everything they had, but it was a futile effort.

Together…

We plunged.

“Caaaw!”

Honestly, I’d thought I could simply start flapping again whenever I wanted.

But when it actually happened, I couldn’t even try.

The wind was too strong.

My body spun through the air like a pinwheel.

 

Far from spreading my wings, I couldn’t even keep my balance.

The spirits didn’t let go of me until the end. It was a truly kind gesture, but I wasn’t particularly happy about it, because the weight of the spirits only accelerated the speed of the fall.

A small-scale forest stretched out at the predicted impact site.

Not far away, a very familiar estate was visible.

It was the Ivrante Estate.

I thought quite a bit of time had passed. It seemed I had passed the Imperial Castle and reached the Ivrante main castle.

Things that looked distant suddenly grew larger.

The lush forest turned into dense trees, and I could see birds flying between them.

At that moment, with the eyes that had improved tremendously upon becoming a crow, I spotted a pool of water located in the center of the forest.

If it looked that size from this height… it’s a lake!

‘Guys! There’s a lake over there! Undine, a lake!!’

“Kwak! Caw caw! Kiaaaak!”

Naturally, the spirits could not understand my words.

• Rianne! Why on earth are you doing this! Stop struggling!
• Please don’t move, Rianne! We’re going to lose our grip!
• Ah, this is fucking hard, so just stay still!

You guys aren’t holding me; you’re riding on my back!

At this rate, I had no choice but to fall and die.

‘I have to struggle at least! I’m going back to my original world no matter what!’

So please, read my mind!

‘Lake! Lake! Lake! Lake! Lake! Lake! Lake! Lake! Lake! Lake! Lake! pant pant Lake! Lake! Lake! Lake! Lake! Lake! Lake! Lake! Lake! Lake! Lake!’

“Caw! Caw! Kyak! Kyak! Kwak! Kwagak!”

• Rianne, why do you keep doing that? Is there something somewhere?

As if sensing a strange vibe, Sylph looked around. After a moment, a voice filled with joy erupted.

• Over there! It’s a lake!!
• Huh? It really is! Water-idiot, can you draw energy from that lake?
• I can, but… it’s too far! We need to be closer!

‘H-here, even closer? We’re about to crash already!’

The further the distance, the harder it is to draw the energy of nature.

Unless there was a massive amount of water like an ocean, distance was even more critical.

• U-Undine, shouldn’t we start soon?
• Still not enough!
• Still? We’re all going to fucking die at this rate!
• Just a little more!

The ground drew closer by the second.

Now, I could even see tiny grains of soil.

The moment I squeezed my eyes shut, imagining a miserable end.

• Aqua shield!

A water droplet created by Undine enveloped me. Simultaneously, I crashed into the ground.

Boing!

As soon as the water droplet enveloping me collided with the ground, it bounced up like a ball.

‘Ugh!’

The water droplet shot surprisingly high into the air before tracing an arc back toward the ground.

And then, with another boing! sound, it bounced into the air.

Boing, boing, boing, boing, boing-rollll.

When the water droplet finally stopped rolling, I was completely exhausted.

My stomach was overturned. I felt like I was going to vomit my internal organs.

As I lay there panting, completely drained, the watery droplet dissolved into a splash.

I lay sprawled on the ground, miserably soaked.

• Rianne! Are you okay?
• Rianne!
• Pactmaker! Are you alive?
• …….

I didn’t even have the strength to open my beak. I slipped into unconsciousness as though passing out.