Chapter 19
“Wow, I found him in one try!”
“Thankfully, he’s still not asleep.”
“You’re right.
Wow, when his bangs are down, he actually looks his age.”
Usually, he buttoned his uniform-like clothes neatly to the neck
and brushed all his bangs back,
so he looked older than he was.
It was strange how just a hairstyle
could change someone’s age so much.
Anyway, he’s handsome.
I stared at Lionel in the crystal sphere—
sitting straight with perfect posture,
moving his quill without rest
beyond the tightly closed window.
“That’s amazing… really.”
“What is?”
“No one is watching him,
but his sitting posture is still perfect.”
When you’re in your own room,
isn’t it normal to lean back or put a leg on the chair?
Watching Lionel made me feel sorry for my own spine,
so I straightened my back too.
Unlike me, Eunice—who already had perfect posture—
fixed the shawl slipping from my shoulder and said,
“Maybe that posture is simply more comfortable for His Highness.”
“How can that possibly be comfortable…?”
Maybe Lionel isn’t even human.
While thinking that and staring at him—
“…Huh?”
Our eyes met.
“Oh no, I got caught!”
I quickly tried to press the flight button to escape,
but I dropped the controller!
“M-Miss! His Highness is coming closer!”
“Wait!”
Why am I panicking this much?
I grabbed the controller and pressed the button—
but nothing happened.
The magic circuit must have been damaged by the fall
and temporarily stopped working.
“Ahhh! What do I do?!”
“Stay calm, Miss…
Th-the window is opening!”
“Please work! Fly, fly!”
I hit the controller desperately,
praying it would start working.
Electronics are supposed to work when you smack them!
“Fly! Fly… fly already!”
At that moment,
Lionel’s face, which had come very close,
moved farther away.
The flight worked.
“Wow… thank goodness.”
“Miss, let’s retreat for now.”
“Should we?
If we’re unlucky, we might get caught.”
The controller had already malfunctioned once.
If it failed again,
the blue bird might fall into Lionel’s hands.
If the illusion broke,
it would just look like a stone—
but if a passing mage analyzed the magic circuit,
that would be a disaster.
“Miss?
Why is it going inside the Second Prince’s bedroom?”
“Huh? Why is it going in there?
…Oh no! The controller must be broken!”
This was a new magical tool,
used in real action without enough testing.
I was such an idiot.
“Ahhh! It’s moving the opposite way!
Not there—this way!”
“Miss… I think I heard the window closing.”
“What? Really?”
After struggling with the reversed controls,
I finally landed the blue bird
on top of a tall wardrobe.
From that angle,
it was the perfect CCTV view.
And the window below—
was truly closed again.
“Why would he close it?
What am I supposed to do now?”
“Can this magical tool open windows?”
“…No.”
Lionel, you fool!
If an unknown bird enters your room,
you should chase it out—
why block the escape route?
“…Wait.
Maybe this is actually good.
My goal was to observe Lionel anyway.”
Watching from inside the room
was better than from outside.
“That’s true, but…
is it just me?”
“What?”
“Doesn’t His Highness’s gaze
toward this side feel… softer?”
“…You feel it too?”
He wasn’t trying to chase it away or catch it.
The way he quietly looked up
felt strangely gentle—
almost like longing.
“Ah!
Rio used to raise a blue bird when he was young.”
“Really?”
“Yes.
The bird he raised must look like
the illusion I used.”
No wonder I wanted a blue bird illusion
instead of a common pigeon or sparrow.
Maybe my unconscious planned this effect.
As expected—
I’m a genius!
“But Miss,
how did you know that?
It wasn’t in the information documents.”
“Huh? Oh…
I heard it from Rio!
When I baked cookies for him!”
“I see.”
Wait—
was the story about the blue bird
not known outside?
Well, the First Prince killed the bird Lionel raised…
so the Empress must have silenced it.
I should be careful talking elsewhere.
Just then,
Lionel turned back to his desk
and continued reading a thick book
and writing notes.
Watching him do only that,
I felt dumbfounded.
“What is this?
He’s just ignoring it?”
“It seems so.”
“Then why trap it inside the room?”
Normally,
wouldn’t someone try to touch a bird
that looked like their childhood pet?
I never expected to be ignored like this.
The situation was too different from what I imagined,
and my stubbornness rose.
“…Let’s go closer.”
“What?
What if you get caught?”
“Don’t worry.
If it looks dangerous, I’ll run away.”
This time,
I would not make the same mistake.
Holding the controller tightly with both hands,
I moved the stick
and guided the blue bird
onto the desk.
* * *
Lionel had met the blue bird
when he was seven years old.
But saying he “raised” it
was not completely accurate.
He had never once
put the small bird inside a cage.
Their first meeting was outside.
The second was when it flew into his room
through an open window.
The blue bird came to him freely—
yet whenever he tried to show interest,
it quickly flew away.
After this repeated many times,
Lionel stopped reaching out first
and instead left water and small fruit
by the window.
At first,
the bird ignored them.
Then one day,
it began pecking the fruit.
Later,
it even chirped softly
as if humming.
Little by little,
very slowly,
the distance closed—
until even when he reached out,
the bird no longer ran away.
It took about three months.
Because that memory was still clear,
Lionel knew well
how to treat a bird.
Small creatures are naturally cautious.
If he reached out,
it would flee.
So he simply left the bird alone—
the one that reminded him
of his childhood friend.
“Beep!”
Because he knew
it would eventually come down
on its own.
It really looks the same.
Blue feathers like a clear sky,
white fluff on the belly,
even the way it tilted its head
and hopped closer—
exactly like Lily in his memory.
As if Lily
had come back to life.
