Formo’s face turned white as a sheet. The long-tailed tits were the same. They were frozen stiff with eyes that seemed even more surprised than Formo’s. They appeared extremely flustered at encountering the beast they had so wanted to avoid.
“Pipi, did you enjoy your walk?”
Serdin’s voice asking that was as affectionate and warm as always. Formo couldn’t understand how Serdin could be here. How did he know…? He hadn’t shown any signs at all.
“Why do you look so surprised, Pipi? Did you think I wouldn’t know?”
The reason Serdin was able to appear before Formo without being late was simple. It was because his sense of perception was excessively sharp.
Thirty minutes earlier, Serdin had declared that he would obediently stay out as Formo wished. As soon as he left the bedroom, he headed straight to the office, where he encountered Kert, who had been sorting and organizing documents inside.
“What brings Your Highness to the office……? Didn’t you clearly say yesterday that you would be resting?”
“Mm. I did.”
“Then why……”
Kert, who had been continuing his words, momentarily sparkled his eyes and asked in a moved voice.
“Don’t tell me you’ve finally matured? You thought you couldn’t go on living like this, right? That’s it, isn’t it?”
Even at the question full of anticipation, Serdin’s expression remained composed.
“No.”
“……I, I see. Of course that would be it. Such a near-miraculous thing will never happen…… Your Highness, then what brings you to the office……?”
“There’s something I need to check.”
“Ah, there’s something you need to check…… Pardon?”
For Serdin, who didn’t particularly like the office, saying it felt stuffy, to walk all the way here saying there was something to check. The more Kert listened to his story, the more subtle his expression became. Surely he hadn’t come to check on documents.
Then there was only one answer. Kert, who had finished pondering, asked carefully.
“……Does it by any chance involve Pipi-nim?”
Serdin nodded his head slightly. It seemed the answer he’d offered was correct. Whatever the reason, the fact that Serdin had come to the office of his own volition was something to be moved by. Kert’s eyes sparkled.
“Then I’ll help too.”
Recently, unlike at first, Kert had been feeling great interest in watching Serdin and Formo. He even felt deep emotion at the sight of Serdin enjoying himself while teasing Formo. This was because he had never thought his superior could smile like that.
Was that all? He had even inwardly clicked his tongue, saying that bastard was doing a pretty excellent job as an owner. In reality, though Serdin did act somewhat mischievously, he took very good care of Formo. Who would have known that Serdin would suppress his personality and coax and soothe the prickly and skittish Formo?
Probably even Serdin’s father, the Emperor who was Tersium’s ruler, didn’t know. The more he recalled that only he knew this fact, the better his mood became and the more smugly pleased he felt for no reason. It was as if he was being recognized as a very special aide.
“I think I told you to install a recording orb near the gate.”
“Ah! If it’s the recording orb, it should be working very well even now. After all, who installed it that they would act stupidly? Did you come to check the recording orb?”
Serdin, who nodded, sat down at the desk. Kert brought over the recording orb that had been well placed in one corner of the office and put it on the desk. When he removed the thick cloth that had been covering it, an opaque sphere appeared.
“Then I’ll play the recording orb.”
When Kert played the recording orb, a large gate appeared. The recording orb installed just in case captured the appearance of the gate in very clear quality.
Crackle, crackle…….
The area around the tightly closed gate was quiet. Only occasionally could be heard the sounds of insects crying and the whoosh of leaves and branches swaying in the wind. Just when it seemed only boring scenes would continue, several long-tailed tits with a familiar appearance revealed themselves.
Kert’s eyes, who had been watching the recording orb from behind Serdin, widened.
“Huh, huuuh? Wh-what’s that? Aren’t those long-tailed tits?”
Kert’s finger pointed at the long-tailed tits opening the large gate and flying in. He laid out his thoughts in a flustered voice.
“They look similar to the long-tailed tits I saw before. Of course, except for Pipi-nim, they all look similar enough that it’s hard to tell them apart but…… they’re definitely those long-tailed tits I saw.”
Serdin didn’t give any particular answer to Kert’s words, but inwardly he agreed. This was because when he’d finished work yesterday and entered the bedroom, he’d smelled an unfamiliar animal scent.
Though things had passed in a muddle because Formo had made a fuss and thrown a tantrum pretending not to know anything, he couldn’t forget that unpleasant smell. Moreover, hadn’t Formo’s behavior earlier been very suspicious too? The fact that he showed no particular reaction even to the walk and that he’d readily stamped his foot.
The usual Formo wouldn’t have done that. This adorable long-tailed tit sometimes showed a surprisingly clever side, so he couldn’t let his guard down for even a moment. Even his chattering as if telling him to open the window and get lost might have been part of a grand plan.
“……Pipi.”
The lips murmuring the cute name curved up crookedly.
“Y-Your Highness! Those long-tailed tits seem to have come to fetch Pipi-nim. What should we do?”
“Leave them be.”
“Of course, right? We should run over right away…… Pardon?”
“Pipi must have been curious about the outside too.”
“……The outside?”
“He must have been frustrated being confined only inside.”
“Are you serious……?”
When Serdin muttered words whose meaning couldn’t be understood, Kert’s complexion visibly worsened. What on earth was that bastard thinking? It definitely wasn’t a good thought, that was certain.
Kert worried anxiously about what to do if Serdin by any chance ordered him to hunt down all those small long-tailed tits. If he had to forcibly hunt small, weak birds…… he felt like his heart would ache terribly.
“Kert.”
“……Yes, Your Highness.”
He replied in a slightly trembling voice while glancing at Serdin. Serdin, who had been sitting in an upright posture, slowly rose from his seat. That appearance looked like just before starting a hunt, making him anxious.
“Let’s go.”
“Pardon?”
“If he gets caught before he can even run away, he’ll be greatly disappointed, won’t he?”
“……”
Kert’s mouth fell wide open at his superior’s following words.
“I should at least give him time to get some outside air.”
……I think that would be even more disappointing though.
Kert forcibly swallowed the words that were about to burst out and moved his feet to follow Serdin, who was moving slowly.
Serdin, who had come outside, hid his body while being conscious of the long-tailed tits on guard around them. He hid so diligently that the pitiful long-tailed tits couldn’t discover a single hair of Serdin. No, they couldn’t even sense his presence.
Only after they struggled to move a rock slightly smaller than a human’s head was Serdin able to catch up to the distance the long-tailed tits had created. He had also been quietly watching them chatter as they looked for a place to rest.
Kert, who had been about to go with Serdin to the gate, was abandoned in front of the villa because he couldn’t hide his body well, his movements were sluggish, and he couldn’t even conceal his presence. It truly couldn’t help but be a regrettable matter.
In any case, Serdin, who had caught up to the long-tailed tits without difficulty, revealed himself before they could go any farther.
Formo looked down at Serdin from inside the basket with a stunned gaze.
“Pipi, let’s go back now. We need to go back and rest so your wing can heal.”
The coaxing voice was as sweet as honey. It was such an attractive voice that if Formo had been a honeybee, he would have definitely run over and embraced him. But Formo was a long-tailed tit. A white-haired long-tailed tit with the coolheadedness to accurately distinguish right from wrong.
“Cheep, cheeep!”
[You damn jaguar, go back!]
The sense of betrayal, confusion, and shame had long been forgotten. Right now, Formo was genuinely dumbfounded that he had come looking for him.
“Are you angry because I came too late? I’m sorry, Pipi. I wanted to come early, but I was worried Pipi would be disappointed if I came too early.”
“Cheep?”
[Are you messing with me right now?]
Formo’s eyes opened sharply. If Serdin grated on his nerves just a little more, he was ready to charge at him right away and peck him painfully. At that fierce appearance, the search party flinched and murmured.
[D-did you hear? Formo-nim is having a conversation with that vicious jaguar……!]
[He even spoke meanly!]
[Then does that mean Formo-nim is winning against that jaguar?]
[S-surely…… How could Formo-nim win against such a terrifying jaguar?]
[Peno, are you looking down on Formo-nim right now? Formo-nim is the Guardian of the kingdom!]
As that murmuring gradually grew louder, Formo’s fierce gaze immediately turned in that direction.
“Cheep! Cheeep, cheeeep!”
[Be quiet! I can’t concentrate on the conversation, concentrate!]
While Serdin was observing that scene with interest, he realized one fresh fact. Formo was fierce to everyone. When his temper rose to the point of boiling over, he didn’t hold back and shouted at anyone regardless of who they were. In other words, this adorable long-tailed tit didn’t get angry while considering his opponent.
The sight of Formo mercilessly arguing even with the long-tailed tits was truly like that of a single beast. Serdin looked at Formo with eyes where not a trace of boredom could be found and smiled.
