Formo took flight. He flapped his wings with all his might toward freedom. In the moment of flapping his wings, he became so intoxicated with the thought of entrusting his body to the gentle breeze that he could forget the fact that his wing was not healed.
Since Formo was a proper long-tailed tit, he vaguely thought that if he caught the wind, he could easily fly away. However, there was a critical problem with the flight plan of this proper and mature Formo.
The first was that one wing’s injury hadn’t healed, and the sensation was different from the opposite wing, so even with all his effort, he could only manage to hover in place. And the second was…….
“Pipi, what are you doing?”
It was that the wretched human wouldn’t just leave the small body moving diligently alone to fly away. Serdin’s large hand carefully embraced Formo’s body as it hovered in place.
Perhaps finding it strange that Formo couldn’t move forward and was only fluttering his wings, he asked in a voice full of doubt.
“Pipi, what exactly were you trying to do?”
It seemed he would never realize that Formo had been trying to leave. Formo kept his beak firmly shut as if to say “think whatever you want” and sulked timidly.
“Your Highness, are you there?”
Serdin, who had been spending a rather cozy time with Formo, scowled fiercely at the voice of the uninvited guest Kert who had come looking for him. He had been having so much fun, but his incompetent aide had come looking for him without any tact, of all times, at this very moment.
When the loud voice was heard, Formo’s round eyes flinched. Serdin looked at the door with an annoyed face, then sighed and closed the window. A bitter sense of failure appeared in Formo’s eyes as the escape route he had barely secured was lost right before him.
Formo looked at the firmly closed window with a dazed gaze, then flapped his wings irritably at Kert’s voice coming from outside the door.
His ambitious plan had been completely ruined because of those two wretched humans. Who knew when such a precious opportunity would come again? Thinking that way, he felt so regretful and resentful that he was about to get angry.
Serdin placed Formo, who had a pouty face, on the bed and headed toward the door. Then, without warning, he flung the door open to greet the uninvited guest.
“Your High…… Huh, gasp!”
Kert’s mouth, which had opened energetically, gaped and then closed weakly. He carefully gauged the mood of his superior, who for some reason seemed extremely angry, and asked cautiously.
“Did you perhaps…… acquire some new worry while I wasn’t aware? Hm? Is that it?”
The question was so absurd that Serdin’s tight lips seemed to loosen slightly before he let out an empty laugh. Though very small, it was a laugh that gave one chills.
Kert’s momentum, who had come to report an important matter, subsided with just one small scoff from Serdin. He had succumbed to the sorrow of the master-servant relationship. Even if it was unfair, there was nothing he could do.
Everything was his own fault for coming with business at this particular time.
“Um……”
“Kert.”
Kert, who had opened his mouth to offer some heartfelt apology, closed his mouth and perked up his ears at Serdin’s call.
“Is it important?”
“O-Of course! If it weren’t important, I wouldn’t have come like this. I wouldn’t have disturbed Your Highness and Pipi-nim’s precious time!”
Even if everything was his fault, some injustice remained. Kert, who had poured out his words like rapid fire as if expressing his grievance, caught his breath and looked at Serdin.
Serdin’s face was still coldly frozen. It didn’t seem to have improved at all. Kert sneaked a glance over Serdin’s shoulder. Even Formo, who was sitting quietly, had an unpleasant expression for some reason.
It looked like if he said even one word, Formo would come flying over and peck his head with his beak.
Kert felt even more wronged. What on earth had he done for them to be like this to him together?
“Your Highness……?”
Kert’s face as he called Serdin was gloomy.
“Kert.”
“Yes, yes. Your Highness.”
“Let’s talk in the office.”
Having finished speaking curtly, Serdin slammed the door shut as if his business was done. While Kert, who had the dizzying experience of having the door closed right in front of his nose, was dazed, an affectionate voice flowed from inside.
“Pipi, I’ll go have a little talk and come back. You can stay without crying while I’m gone, right? Even if you say you can, I’m worried……. You’re a bird with a lot of tears, Pipi. What if you cry because I’m not here? Pipi, can you really wait without crying? Hm?”
Kert barely held back the laughter that was about to burst out despite being dazed. If he laughed now, his keen-eared superior might try to kill him.
“I’ll be back soon, but you never know. If you miss me too much while I’m gone and can’t bear it…… hug this pillow thinking it’s me. Okay? No kisses. That’s not something a mere pillow deserves to receive. If a pillow gets Pipi’s kiss before me……. Ha, fuck. I don’t even want to imagine it, Pipi.”
The last words were almost like a murmur, but the intent was clearly conveyed. So much so that Kert outside the door trembled. And it was the same for Formo.
Although he tried to act nonchalant and waved his wing to say have a good trip, he was thoroughly frightened by Serdin’s last words. Serdin’s curse words full of emotion were too cruel for a faint-hearted bird to take in.
Soon, Serdin gently stroked Formo’s head and left the room. Only then could Formo breathe. Formo sat on the bed with complicated eyes and moved his beak.
“Peeeeep……. Peep!”
If one were to interpret its meaning, it would be as follows:
[I have to escape from that terrifying human……. I must!]
A human who acts willfully and then suddenly changes and becomes fierce is very dangerous. The wretched human clearly wasn’t mentally sound. If he continued to stay by such a human’s side…… he might meet a horrible end too terrible to speak of.
For the first few days, he had been intoxicated by comfort and hadn’t properly assessed the situation, but now Formo was different. Listening to Serdin’s murmuring filled with terrifying curses, he clearly realized what kind of situation he was in.
Formo, with his sensitive hearing, perked up his small ears to check if the two wretched humans had moved away. Fortunately, it seemed they had gone somewhere to talk, as no sound was heard nearby. Formo felt relieved and rose from his spot.
He pattered along with his short legs and went to the pillow that Serdin had told him to treat preciously, thinking of it as him. The snow-white pillow looked very large and fluffy, but Formo stared at it with a cold gaze.
Then, as Serdin had wanted, he thought of the snow-white pillow as Serdin and trampled it. Formo, who had put all his strength into his body to weigh it down, looked down at it quietly and twitched his beak. Then he firmly pecked the body of the pillow with his small, sharp beak.
After pecking away for a while, changing positions and directions here and there, Formo caught his ragged breath and got off the pillow. Formo looked at the bed messily covered with white feathers from some unknown bird and snorted *hmph*. It was a very triumphant gesture.
At that time, Serdin was sitting at the desk in his office, listening to Kert’s story.
“Your Highness, isn’t it really suspicious?”
Serdin’s face as he watched Kert, who was very excited and passionately speaking, was indifferent. Honestly speaking, Serdin wasn’t very interested in Kert’s story.
“What’s so special about a few ordinary long-tailed tits, not as cute as our Pipi, flying around in groups? They have wings like Pipi, so of course they’d fly around.”
“Your Highness, that’s not what I’m talking about right now! If they were really ordinary long-tailed tits, they would avoid the vicinity of the detached palace where predators live. That’s their instinct!”
“So what are you trying to say?”
“……Your Highness, my intuition, built up over decades, is telling me that those long-tailed tits are related to Pipi-nim.”
When the name “Pipi” came from Kert’s lips, Serdin, who had been wearing a bored expression the whole time, raised his eyebrows as if to say “go on.” Kert realized that Serdin was actually listening to him for once and was somewhat moved. He thought that even days like this would come when you roll around like a slave beside someone.
Kert, who had exaggeratedly dabbed at tears that wouldn’t come out even if squeezed with the end of his sleeve, continued.
“Those long-tailed tits were like…… a search party.”
“A search party.”
“Yes. If they weren’t a search party, there would be no reason for long-tailed tits to risk danger and look around the vicinity of the detached palace and throughout the vast forest.”
Kert firmly closed his mouth after those words as if he had nothing more to say, but Serdin thought otherwise.
“So you’re saying those long-tailed tits seem to be looking for our Pipi, is that it?”
Serdin’s face as he asked was coldly sunken. The temperature in the office dropped instantly.
“If those long-tailed tits really are a search party, there must be a village or kingdom where they live together. Look into it, Kert.”
“A village or kingdom where long-tailed tits live together……. It must be really cute. Ha, haha……!”
Kert laughed awkwardly to try to ease the frozen atmosphere and swallowed dryly while gauging Serdin’s mood. However, Serdin showed no particular reaction. He just sat in the same position as before with his brow furrowed. Looking at his tightly closed lips in a straight line and the cold light in his eyes, it seemed like he was about to cause trouble soon.
Kert decided to close his eyes tightly and take a moment to mourn for the office desk that would soon be overturned or broken and unable to fulfill its role, and the expensive items on it. He also didn’t forget to move far away from Serdin.
The moment Kert carefully backed away and clung to the office wall like a cicada, Serdin jumped up from his seat. The luxuriously decorated leather chair toppled backward with a clattering sound.
Thinking “here it comes,” Kert clenched his fists and hunched his shoulders.
“I should go see Pipi.”
Serdin muttered words that weren’t in Kert’s expectations and left the office like the wind. Kert, left alone, hesitated before slowly opening his eyes.
“……Huh?”
Except for the toppled chair, everything was intact. Remarkably so.
