His hands were very white. He seemed almost as white as he was. And it had a very elegant and beautiful appearance.
I was about to reach out my arms towards him, but I felt the bird curled up in my hand flinching its wings and shook my head in a hurry.
"No, what are you holding in your hand right now?"
I could see the boy's eyes narrowing under the hood, which was limp from the rain.
He lowered his gaze to my hands folded over my chest.
"Is it important?"
I thought for a moment and shook my head.
"It doesn't matter."
"Then throw it away."
"It's not important, but I can't throw it away."
The boy's smooth brow wrinkled at the hot words. He seemed to be getting annoyed. I thought that maybe he would leave me alone.
However, the boy again behaved completely incongruously with his cold appearance. He bent down in front of me and hugged my body, which was stained with rain and mud.
I let out a small scream at the unexpected action. Then the boy hugged me tightly and said bluntly.
"Hey, I'm sorry."
"Stay still."
I immediately complied with his instructions.
While carefully examining the bird in my chest, he relaxed his grip so as not to hurt it, and he moved his legs up the muddy slope. It was a swift gait like a cat's.
But even though he had come out of the quagmire so quickly, he couldn't seem to stop his clothes from getting dirty. He wrinkled his brow as he looked down at the hem of his messed-up pants, boots, and robe.
"Terrible."
"...You're helping me, so I'll reimburse you. I can buy you a new one that is much more expensive than the one you are wearing now. In fact, I'm the daughter of a very great person. I'll tell them to pay him a lot of compensation."
I said it out of sorrow, but he seemed to be offended somehow.
The boy took a few more steps to avoid the piles of dirt around the pit and said bluntly.
"The little thing is quite cocky."
I blushed. Normally, I would have slapped the boy in the face for saying something cheeky. He would not dare to say such a thing to the Emperor's daughter.
But for some reason, I couldn't say a word. Even though the cold rain was constantly hitting my forehead and cheeks, my face burned like a fire.
The boy stopped under a large, beautiful tree that Senevere had not yet pulled out. Then, the bird let out a faint cry.
The boy bent down to let me go, but he paused, and dropped his gaze to my hands, clasped over my chest.
"What are you holding?"
It was then that he became curious.
I hesitated for a moment, then carefully stretched out my hand.
"Birds?"
He muttered skeptically.
It was understandable. The little baby bird, with its mud-covered wings drooping limply, exposing the pink flesh of its chest, looked more like a rat than a bird.
My cheeks turned red. The horribly ugly thing was a bird, but I felt humbled.
"It's because I'm drowning in muddy water. Originally..."
It might have been prettier.
I was going to say that. The brown bird, which was only bony, did not seem to be very pretty. It must have been just a common starling that could be seen anywhere.
But the boy seemed to be willing to show kindness to the humble and ugly bird.
He took it with one arm and pulled the bird's hand into his hood.
My eyes widened. His skin was as warm as the light of a fireplace. The bird found warmth and leaned close to the lower part of the boy's collarbone.
"Your fingers are like ice. How long have you been standing there?"
The boy looked down at the bird under his chin and turned his head toward me. Thanks to this, I was able to see his blue eyes under his dark eyelashes, soaked in rainwater.
His eyes were very unusually close up. It was as if small pieces of silver were scattered on the clear winter sky.
I, staring at it, muttered involuntarily.
"Right... There's a silver crown in your eye."
The boy's eyes widened a little.
His lips parted slightly, as if to say something, and then closed again. I noticed that the nameless boy was also looking into my eyes.
What did he find in my eyes?
I was thinking about it when I heard a familiar voice in the distance.
"Miss!"
It was my nanny.
She was not familiar with the word "Your Highness" yet, so she used to call me that way, and my mother and other maids would scold her. But it still didn't seem to be fixed. Her earnest voice echoed in the distance.
"I have to go now."
I muttered softly. I don't know why, but I hated to say that. Perhaps this boy didn't want to hear that, too.
He stood motionless for a long time, then slowly put me down on the floor like a reluctant man.
As his arm left mine, I could feel the chill in my bones. It was then that I realized how warm the boy's embrace was.
I hesitated, then held out the young bird to him.
"Will you take it with you?"
Because my hands are so cold, and you are warm.
As I was about to say that, he bent down and carefully took the bird. Then he pressed it to his cheeks, which were as white as plaster, and pulled the hood forward as if to keep it out of the rain.
I stared up at him and asked.
"That bird... Can it live?"
"... Yes."
The blue eyes with the silver crown lingered on my face for a long time.
"It can live."
The boy's expression was expressionless, but I somehow thought he was smiling.
I turned and started running through the rainy garden.
I ran through the uprooted rose trees and shrubs, and the pile of dirt that was piled up like a small grave. I turned my head as if drawn by something, and saw him standing still under a beautiful tree.
Why don't he go?
Maybe he is waiting for the rain to subside.
Maybe he is watching me leave.
I suddenly felt the urge to go back to where he was. I wanted to escape the rain with him. I also wanted to sit side by side in front of the warm fireplace and watch the birds recover their health.
But while I was hesitating, a nanny suddenly jumped inside the building. Her round face turned red as if she had been looking for me for quite a long time.
"Where the hell have you been? Do you know how much Senevere has been looking for you?"
The nanny squeezed my hand tightly with her chubby hand and pulled me into the building.
"What is this? You have to go see His Majesty soon, but what should I do if you get your clothes dirty like this?"
"...I fell while taking a walk."
"Oh my, what kind of walk is a walk in this weather!"
The nanny shouted in dismay and strode towards the corridor that led to the palace.
I looked back, being dragged away by it. However, he was no longer seen.
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