I suddenly opened my eyes, feeling a rocking sensation. Even though I had fallen asleep early yesterday, my eyelids felt heavy, as if I had pulled several all-nighters and only managed to catch a few winks before waking up.
"Shuian, wake up."
At Theo's soft call, I forced my eyes open and raised myself up, but my eyelids and body felt heavy, drooping down, which wasn't good at all.
When I was in the forest, I was fine even if I stayed awake for a week, and it was the same when I came to the palace, but from a few days ago, I started sleeping more and more, and my body felt heavy as if I had caught a cold, and I kept dozing off.
Could it really be a cold? I don't think it's a cold... I don't know what the symptoms are when a bird catches a cold, but if it's not much different from when I'm human, I don't think it's a cold.
"Are you feeling unwell?"
"Screech."
I shook my head and answered, but Theo didn't let go of his worry and held me in his arms.
"Your body temperature seems higher than usual. This won't do. I'll have to call the head physician."
Theo must have thought my condition was worse than usual today, as he immediately called Ben, and Orca also heard the news and rushed into the bedroom in a flurry. Ben was terrified, thinking that if something happened to me, he wouldn't be safe either.
"W-Well... birds are homeothermic animals that maintain a constant body temperature, so if their body temperature is higher than usual, there's a high probability that they're sick... But basically, their body temperature is higher than humans, so you'll feel warmer."
In other words, I didn't really have a fever right now. But Theo scowled and growled as if chewing on his words.
"Do you think I'm an idiot? I hold him every day, there's no way I wouldn't know that!"
"I-I'm sorry...! That's not what I meant...!"
At the fierce rebuke, Ben immediately knelt on the floor and cowered, and Orca massaged his forehead and stopped Theo. He was more sensitive than usual because I was sick, and his reaction was sharper. Calm down! You're going to kill someone!
"Screech-"
Theo's eyebrows, which had been raised sharply at my cry, lowered slightly. Ben, who had been watching the situation for a while, seized the opportunity and asked.
"W-Well, did Lord Shuian have any particular problems with eating or sleeping? Including even minor symptoms such as more feathers falling out than usual."
Theo pondered for a moment and shook his head. Come to think of it, I had never seen my feathers fall out before. Even when I bit my tangled feathers hard with my beak to comb them, or when I flew vigorously, I never saw a single feather fall to the ground. Are my feathers strong...? Anyway, none of the symptoms Ben mentioned applied.
"There wasn't anything in particular. He's just been sleeping more lately."
"Lord Shuian, do you have any special symptoms?"
Originally, he should have just asked Theo and ended it, but Ben, who knew that I had the intelligence to understand human speech and even answer, asked one more time just in case.
Come to think of it, I had directly seen the tea leaves in Theo's tea being poisoned, and since then, I had been more sensitive to my surroundings, so it was true that I was on edge.
If it was due to mental fatigue, it wouldn't be that strange to be this tired. Even if there was really something wrong with my body, it wasn't a big deal, so I didn't want to worry Theo, so I just shook my head.
"Screech-"
Ben, who still looked at me in wonder as I answered, even though he had experienced it several times, became dejected at Theo's order to leave. Before leaving, he looked back at me with a lingering expression several times, but no one held him back.
Theo picked me up and touched me here and there with his hands. He seemed to be worried that my body temperature was higher than usual, and his worried face didn't seem to relax.
"Are you sure you're not really sick? There’s no way my Shuian would lie to me."
"Screech-"
I wasn't sick, just tired and sleepy, so I answered obediently.
"It may be because Shuian's amount of exercise has decreased. You said you used to walk around a lot when you were in the forest."
"That's probably true. He used to patrol the forest once a day, and he left quite often to get things for me."
"People also feel sluggish if they stay still, so how about going for a walk today? It's still under construction, so there's not much to see, but the greenhouse wouldn't be a bad place for Shuian to take a walk comfortably."
The greenhouse, which was being diligently cultivated by the gardeners and the power of money, was not accessible to anyone except Theo and a few specific people, so I could walk around comfortably without worrying about running into other people. Living in seclusion wasn't bad, but I suddenly got excited at the thought of flying around after a long time.
"Screech-!"
"Shuian seems to like it too."
I jumped up from my seat and climbed onto Theo's arm, and he still had a worried expression on his face, but he soon gently stroked my back.
"Then, I'll show you around outside the palace today. And then let's take a walk in the greenhouse. But you skipped breakfast because you were sleeping, so you have to eat lunch well."
"Screech-"
Theo takes better care of me than I take care of myself! I rubbed my forehead against his neck in joy. And as he said, I ate lunch as much as I had missed breakfast, and then I diligently took care of dessert. Theo's expression was satisfied, so it seemed like I passed.
After lunch, I decided to look around outside the Imperial Palace as he had said. Orca was also with us as the guard. Since I didn't know who I would run into outside and dangerous things could happen, I decided to sit quietly on Theo's arm until I arrived at the glass greenhouse.
The scenery outside the palace wasn't as special as I thought. I was briefly overwhelmed by the majesty of the huge Imperial Palace, but it wasn't like the entrance was in the sky or floating above the ground. It was only for a moment, so I quickly shifted my gaze to the people passing by.
I felt it in the forest too, but the hair and eye colors of the people here were so colorful. The most common was brown, but even that had different saturations, so it was hard to find someone with the same hair color. If there was a common point, it would be the expression they made when they saw us.
"Gasp... It's His Highness the Second Prince."
"Lord Eagle, his feathers are really silver!"
"The rumors must be true...!"
Even the people far away were whispering with the same expression on their faces. I wondered if it would help the rumors if I looked reliable and smart, so I stretched my neck out, and Theo chuckled, realizing my intention.
"You don't have to do that, you're already beautiful."
I'm not trying to look pretty! Look at this man's rose-colored glasses! Then I made eye contact with Orca, who was following behind with a soulless face. Does Orca... have two bodies?
"What's wrong, Shuian?"
The glass greenhouse also had to be renovated, he had to make a cloak with the white fox I caught, he had to catch the culprit who poisoned Theo's tea leaves, he had to escort Theo wherever he went, and he had to do assistant work... At this rate, he's going to die from overwork before the empire collapses... Being too competent is also a problem.
I was looking at him with pity, and Orca came closer. With half a heart of admiration and half a heart of telling him to work hard in the future, I spread one of my wings and gently covered the top of Orca's head.
"...Shuian?"
"Screech-"
Orca, with my wing on his head, looked back at Theo with a flustered face. It was as if he was demanding an answer as to why I was doing this.
"It seems like Shuian is praising you."
"Screech-!"
That's right! He understands me well! Theo sharply removed my wing himself and carefully returned it to my side.
"I-I don't know what you're praising me for... but thank you anyway, Lord Shuian."
"Shuian, there's no need to praise Orca. Don't you have anything to praise me for?"
He's jealous of everything. But Theo is always doing well, so I should definitely praise him. I turned to him and covered his cheeks with both wings. I carefully covered them, just in case his skin would be scratched by the rough feathers.
"...This is a more precious compliment, isn't it?"
"Screech."
"Then that's enough."
Leaving behind Theo's satisfied face and Orca's dumbfounded face, I looked around again. I thought I might run into other nobles, but except for the servants, there was no one else I ran into. Perhaps because of the rumors that Theo was here, even the servants I ran into seemed to be decreasing as time went on.
I was thinking that the environment for a walk was more pleasant than I thought, but the situation suddenly became very bad. I had run into the person I least wanted to meet.
"...Second Prince."
"What brings Her Majesty the Empress here?"
I forcibly swallowed a sigh at Theo's tone, which was pretending to be calm but was sharper than usual. To run into the Empress... It seemed like she ran into us on her way to Ricardo because the First Prince's Palace and the Second Prince's Palace were close to each other.
The Empress also couldn't hide her displeasure for a moment, but she immediately unfolded her fan to hide her face. The corners of her eyes curved softly, and I would have believed it even if the face inside the fan was smiling gently.
"I'm on my way to see the First Prince. It seems like the Second Prince is... out for a walk."
The Empress looked back and forth between Theo and me once, and then folded her fan again. The expression full of displeasure and unpleasantness was gone, and only the benevolent face of the empire's mother remained. I guess that level of expression management is basic.
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