CHAPTER 44….
Tiny beads of sweat dotted the bridge of the child’s small nose.
They must have been really focused.
Piace closed the first aid kit and opened a colorful box.
Inside, there was a single palm-sized chocolate chip cookie with one corner bitten off.
‘Isn’t this the recovery commemorative cookie I gave before? You’re still eating that?’
Anyone could tell it was deliberately saved and hidden.
“You’re hungry, right? This is from the butler uncle. Here, eat it. You can eat it all. If you’re thirsty, drink some milk too.”
‘Why would you give something precious to a crow you just met? You should eat it.’
I just stared blankly at the cookie. Then the child pretended to eat the cookie.
“This is for eating. Yum yum, yum yum, oh, it’s delicious! Eat quickly, okay?”
Piace’s eyes sparkled so brightly. It looked like they would be very disappointed if I didn’t eat.
Tap, tap tap.
I pecked the cookie with my beak and broke it in half.
I dragged the smaller piece in front of me and nudged the bigger piece toward the child.
Piace’s face lit up.
“Wow! You’re giving it to me? Can I eat it?”
‘That’s originally yours.’
I worried. How could someone so kind survive in such a harsh world?
I pretended to peck at the cookie roughly and then sat cross-legged.
‘That should make you feel full enough.’
“Ugh, why are you saving it? Eat more. You have to eat well so you don’t get hurt, the sisters said.”
Piace tidied their feathers without even looking at the cookie.
After urging a few more times, Piace got sulky.
Seeing them put the leftover cookie back into the box made my chest tighten.
‘No way. How little snacks must they have gotten for the kid to be so careful with a cookie? Is the Evrante family’s finances really that bad?’
That couldn’t be.
That dazzling diamond dress must be more expensive than buying a whole cookie shop.
Come to think of it, I had drunk tea to my heart’s content at the mansion but never remembered tasting desserts.
‘Does Adrian hate sweet things?’
So the chef wouldn’t care about making desserts.
Unless the owner liked the child enough to purposely make food they didn’t eat.
‘So Piace hasn’t even gotten snacks until now? In such a rich family?’
No wonder they were so happy when given the cookie box…
Meanwhile, the child finished their share of cookie and milk and tidied up the area quickly.
Then they turned off the light and climbed onto the bed. They lay quietly beside me, staring intently.
“You’re still hungry, right? Sorry. I went to the dining room earlier but couldn’t bring anything. The chef was really angry…”
The chef was angry? Why?
Piace hugged me tightly and mumbled.
“Piace isn’t a thief. I didn’t steal anything from the dining room.”
Looks like the chef treated Piace like a thief for entering the kitchen.
Breathing quietly and swallowing their sorrow, Piace softly confided.
“If I were a child of this house, do you think the chef would like me? The chef said he didn’t like me because I’m an orphan. But that’s something I can’t help…”
‘…’
“So I can’t live with you. I might get kicked out later. But visiting is okay. I’ll give you food. You can take mine secretly.”
‘…’
“Let’s sleep now. Lullaby, lullaby. Birdie, don’t get hurt tomorrow.”
Looks like they were getting sleepy.
The child’s slowly blinking eyelids showed drowsiness.
Soon, their breathing became regular.
Only then did I lift my head, which had been buried pretending to sleep, and looked at Piace.
Even in the darkness, the fresh scratch on their pale cheek was clearly visible.
“Tsk.”
The crow treats wounds but why leave their own injuries untouched?
I suddenly remembered that animals help each other recover by licking wounds.
But if a crow tried to lick the child with its sharp beak, the wounds would only worsen.
‘If the familiar had been a cat or dog from the demon tribe, it could have licked Piace…’
I watched the child a little longer, then quietly left the bedroom before dawn.
Sneaking back into the bedroom while the butler was away, I collapsed and fell asleep immediately.
When I woke up, the mansion was in chaos because I hadn’t been found all night.
“Ugh.”
Muscle pain visited as usual today.
Still, compared to yesterday, my condition was much better.
Maybe my body adapted in a day, or because I had been careful at dawn—I wasn’t sure.
But my voice was shot. It was from the fight with the owl earlier.
“Ugh, my ankle’s scraped too…”
The wounds I got while in crow form remained even after I reverted to my original form.
‘I need to be careful.’
After checking my body, I immediately focused my magic.
“Guys, come out…”
Before I finished, the spirits appeared in a rush and surrounded me.
- Rian! Are you okay? Was everything alright at dawn?
- Lord Rian, was anything unusual while we were away? We were very worried.
- Damn! You know how scared I was thinking something happened to you? Right, Gnome?
- (Nods!)
For some reason, the spirits seemed to know what happened at dawn.
Before I could even ask, they rushed to tell me what happened in the spirit realm.
- So, we went to the spirit realm, and the king said, ‘I thought your contractor would stick close. Why did you come here?’
- We asked why because it felt strange. The king said, ‘Your contractor will turn into a crow for the next fifteen days. We thought he’d protect him by sticking close, but it was surprising.’
- Then he said, ‘Well, since he can’t use his power anyway, having him around is just a nuisance. Good thinking.’ We nearly freaked out hearing that, right, Gnome?
- (Nods!)
- Anyway, the king really doesn’t understand us! If he knew you’d turn into a crow for half a month, would we have come back to the spirit realm?
- He overlooked the fact that when you turn into a crow, you can’t use magic. He regretted it a lot. That was careless.
- If you can’t use magic, you can’t summon us. And if we’re not summoned by the contractor, we can’t cross into the human world… Damn, it was terrifying.
“Wait, wait.”
I held my forehead and stopped the spirits’ chatter.
The spirits, who were mimicking the tone of the spirit king to convey the situation vividly, fell silent.
“So… the crow transformation lasts for fifteen days at dawn?”
- Yup! Thirteen days left!
“I thought it’d be at most three days… Fifteen days?”
- A dark sorcerer’s familiar transforms for half a month a month. The king told us that.
- Was it something like? From the full moon, when the magic is strongest, to the new moon? Right, Gnome?
- (Nods)
To live half a month out of every month as a crow…
‘Soon, I’ll have to be stuck in the lab with Luspel for experiments.’
Of course, since I’m a consultant, I don’t have to go every day.
But eventually, there will be times I have to attend no matter what, and if I suddenly transform into a crow while there…
Lost in such chilling thoughts, I was staring blankly into space.
Suddenly, I remembered the abilities given by the failed author during the part two serialization event.
First, the world’s greatest beauty.
Second, spirit magic.
Third, secret.
The problem was the hidden third ability.
‘Could it be… that turning into a crow is the ability?!’
My jaw dropped. It was just too ridiculous.
The familiar of a demon tribe wasn’t special at all.
Like a beast, with frozen magic unable to borrow the power of spirits.
And yet that’s the “ability”?
“Crazy bastard! At least let me transform at will!!! What kind of damn thing is this?”
I couldn’t hold back and shouted.
The spirits slowly backed away, whispering among themselves.
- Our Rian is talking to himself again. Must’ve been a big shock. Poor thing.
- Seems worse than when he was Lord Adel. Maybe it’s the soul transference effect?
- Isn’t he just crazy? Half the month he has to live as a creature at dawn. No one can survive without going crazy. What do you think, Gnome?
- …
“Really gonna lose it.”
To live half the dawn as a crow until this novel ends…
I was about to go mad, just as the spirits said.
It felt like the failed author was poking me in the ribs, asking, “You still wanna hold on? What about now? You can’t take it, right?”
‘Do you think I’d give up just because of that?’
Until now, I tried to go along with the failed author’s rhythm as much as possible.
I thought I’d stay like a shadow that doesn’t affect the novel much and help the protagonist end this damn failure.
That was all I ever thought.
But if it goes like this, my thoughts change.
“Even a worm wriggles when stepped on.”
Failed author, you picked the wrong person.
