“……Ha.”
Formo, with his sharp hearing, reacted first to the sound of Kert swallowing an empty laugh with an incredulous expression. Startled by the sudden sound, Formo fluttered his wings and then discovered Kert, opening his eyes wide. Formo’s eyes blinked slowly as if trying to assess the situation.
“…….”
“…….”
Silence flowed briefly between Formo and Kert. Having somewhat come to his senses, Formo belatedly realized that he was on Serdin’s forehead and jumped up and down in place in utter panic.
But soon, feeling Kert’s gaze directed at him, he opened his eyes fiercely. Formo had eyes fiercer than a bird of prey as he exaggeratedly stomped on Serdin’s forehead several times.
It was a desperate gesture as if to show that he wasn’t sleeping on Serdin’s forehead but was scolding him. However, unfortunately, that’s not how it appeared to Kert’s eyes. Rather than scolding Serdin, it looked like he was protecting Serdin from Kert.
Kert interpreted Formo’s gesture as “I’ll stomp on you if you touch Serdin” and swallowed dryly.
As expected, it was ferocious, befitting a bird taken in by his scoundrel superior. He didn’t seem to be that fierce until just recently. Serdin must have done something.
“Pipi-nim, please calm down. I don’t have even the slightest thought of harming His Highness. If I did, my head would fly off before Pipi-nim could even stomp on me……!”
Kert explained in an aggrieved voice, but Formo’s eyes only grew colder. In the end, he withdrew his goal of having a serious conversation with Serdin and left the bedroom with his shoulders drooping.
“……Peep?”
Left alone with Serdin again, Formo couldn’t understand what Kert had explained. What action of his looked like he was going to stomp on him? While Formo wore a bewildered expression looking at the door, Serdin’s eyes slowly opened.
What was supposed to be a brief nap had turned into a full two hours of sleep. And with his guard completely down, at that. Was it because of Formo? Serdin had such idle thoughts while half-asleep. He blinked three or four times to focus his hazy vision and discovered Formo sitting on his forehead.
“Pipi?”
He never knew that discovering something small and round as soon as he opened his eyes could be such a pleasant thing. Serdin smiled with satisfaction at the warmth felt on his forehead and reached out to touch Formo’s plump bottom.
“Peep!”
When Formo threw a tantrum as if annoyed, Serdin’s lips loosened softly. Formo had quite a coy side to him, so now Serdin would be worried if he didn’t throw tantrums wildly. Regardless of Formo’s annoyance, Serdin touched his round bottom to his heart’s content.
The tiny bottom twitched in response to Serdin’s touch, showing great displeasure.
“Peeep!”
Only after Formo couldn’t bear it anymore and got angry again did Serdin’s hand finally pull away. Having placed his hand back on the bed, Serdin quietly gazed at Formo, who showed no sign of getting off his forehead. Perhaps he had become somewhat comfortable now, as it looked like he would even build a nest if left like this.
“Pipi, do you like my forehead that much?”
“…….”
“Is that why you won’t come down?”
“…….”
“If you want to build a nest, tell me anytime, Pipi. I’ll prepare it for you.”
What was this human babbling about preparing? Formo furrowed his brow and looked down at Serdin as if he was hearing all sorts of absurd things. Astonishingly, Serdin’s golden eyes were full of sincerity. Facing the sincerity pressed down to an uncomfortable degree, Formo turned his gaze with an uncomfortable expression.
Formo felt very wronged. He hadn’t fallen asleep on Serdin’s forehead for any great or special reason. Formo had definitely been sleeping on the headboard.
However, while tossing and turning in his sleep, he had fallen plop onto Serdin’s forehead. Serdin had briefly opened his eyes from that impact too. Though he thought it was a dream and soon closed his eyes again.
Anyway, Formo had simply fallen asleep there because he was too lazy to climb back up to the headboard. And yet he was being misunderstood like this.
He had known about this wretched human’s shamelessness and strangeness since he brazenly made shameless demands to kiss him or stamp his footprint. What exactly was going on in his head? How could he spout such nonsense every single time?
To think he had to continue staying with this wretched human until his wing healed. It was a moment when he desperately missed being in his family’s embrace.
Actually, Formo had tried to fly out the window yesterday while Serdin briefly left the office, but he failed when he remembered the physician’s words.
Instead, he looked for a way to deliver the letter he had written while Serdin was watching. But there was no suitable method. No matter how much he searched and thought, nothing came to mind. He couldn’t even find a single bird passing by this area.
And so Formo had to return to the bedroom dejectedly with the letter in his mouth.
Fortunately, Serdin didn’t seem to think that the footprints on the paper were a letter. The letter that Formo had protected was preciously stored under his sleeping cushion. Formo planned to ask any bird he found passing by this area to deliver the letter.
“Pipi, what are you thinking about so hard? Are you contemplating the shape or materials for a nest?”
“……Peep.”
Formo shook his head in annoyance at Serdin’s nonsense and jumped down from Serdin’s forehead. Formo settled on the soft pillow with his back turned to Serdin.
Serdin’s lips gently curved up at the sight of the bird who had been sitting on his forehead just moments ago now acting composed as if nothing had happened. Formo was adorable to the point of wanting to tease him. Serdin, who had been silently admiring the fluffy back of the long-tailed tit’s head, opened his mouth.
“Oh, Pipi.”
Formo didn’t even pretend to listen, thinking Serdin would just spout nonsense as usual. But he couldn’t help but react to the words that immediately followed, trembling with a start.
“You were drooling on my shoulder yesterday while looking at the corridor. Was it that fascinating?”
Him, born with the fate of a guardian, indescribably mature and mannerly, drooled on Serdin’s shoulder? Formo’s pupils shook from side to side. He couldn’t believe it. That wretched human must have made it up to tease him.
Serdin swallowed a mischievous laugh looking at Formo’s small body trembling as he tried to contain his indignation.
* * *
Moti, the King of Arancha and Formo’s mother, twitched her beak with a gloomy face. She had drafted several capable long-tailed tits to form a search party, but they couldn’t find even a single feather of Formo. They had risked danger and even gone to the predators’ territory beyond the barrier, but there was no gain there either.
Moreover, the majority of the long-tailed tits who participated in the search felt killing intent and returned to the kingdom in utter panic.
At such a chaotic time, the barrier surrounding Arancha Kingdom happened to be crumbling. At this rate, the kingdom would surely be spotted by enemies and natural predators and be turned into ruins. Given the situation, whispers began to emerge within Arancha Kingdom wondering if the country was doomed.
To restore the barrier protecting the kingdom, Formo, who was born with the blood of the guardian, was needed. Formo had to return safely to the kingdom to restore the barrier and calm the unsettled atmosphere of the kingdom. That’s why Moti desperately needed Formo.
“Peeep…….”
[Formo…….]
Moti sighed, recalling the face of her son whose guardian abilities hadn’t properly manifested yet. She needed to bring Formo back quickly and help him manifest his abilities. But no matter how much they searched, he was nowhere to be found, and she was burning up inside.
She even reached the point of making the worst assumptions—that he might have been kidnapped or something had gone wrong and he had already passed away. Potun, who had been watching Moti’s melancholic face, comforted her by tapping her drooping shoulders with his wing.
It was then.
“Peep!”
Armo, Formo’s older sister and the heir to Arancha Kingdom who would succeed to the throne, stepped forward with a resolute face.
“Peeep, peep. Peeeep! Peeep!”
Armo tapped her chest with one wing and steeled her resolve.
[Mother, Father. I will take responsibility and find out Formo’s whereabouts.]
At those words, Moti and Potun’s pupils shook from side to side. Their breath caught at the thought of what they would do if they lost Armo as well. But there was no other way. Armo was an elite long-tailed tit who possessed the best flying skills, hearing, and search capabilities in all of Arancha Kingdom.
If Armo stepped forward, it would be a great help in searching for Formo. Moti and Potun decided to trust Armo while forcibly suppressing their anxious hearts.
