Episode 12.
“Then let’s do this. You and I go to the Imperial Palace first.”
“Leaving Adele behind?”
“If you and I fly, it won’t take long to reach the palace. Instead, we’ll send a carriage here. You know what a carriage is, right?”
“I know.”
“We’ll send a carriage for Adele so she can ride safely to the Imperial Palace. She won’t get rained on, won’t meet bad people—she’ll be safe. Until then, you and I will prepare the room where Adele will live in the palace.”
“The room Adele will live in…”
“Where is Adele’s room now?”
At Jensen’s words, Sigmund pointed with his hand toward the attic of the house across from them.
“It’s an attic. Cozy and nice.”
Jensen shrugged and smiled.
“But there are no attics in the Imperial Palace. So you and I will prepare a big, beautiful room just for Adele. We’ll bring in a soft bed, decorate it with beautiful flowers, and fill the wardrobe with dresses. How does that sound?”
“…”
Sigmund imagined what Jensen was describing.
A pretty room, a good bed, clothes filling the wardrobe. And Adele smiling happily—together with him.
They would only be apart for a few days.
“Do we have to be apart… for a long time?”
“Just a little.”
“How many nights?”
“About five nights?”
“Five nights.”
Five nights.
Sigmund hesitated slightly.
He would have to be apart from Adele for five nights.
But if Adele went with him now, those bad people might hurt her.
Just five nights.
After that, they wouldn’t have to be apart anymore—they could stay together.
“Then when we go to the Imperial Palace, I won’t have to hide in the barn anymore?”
“Of course not.”
“Can I play with Adele?”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
He could play with Adele openly in broad daylight.
He wouldn’t have to hide.
Sigmund’s heart began to race.
This was exactly what he had wished for.
To make Adele happy, to stay together without being separated—but without hiding.
“Okay. I’ll go with you.”
When Sigmund answered, Jensen finally let out a small laugh.
“Then shall we go right now?”
“I have to tell Adele.”
“Where is Adele?”
“I don’t know that either. She didn’t come to the barn today.”
“Then let’s do this. I’ll go look for Adele, so you stay right here and don’t move. Got it?”
“Okay.”
As Sigmund stepped back slightly, Jensen returned to the form of a crow and flapped his wings, flying up.
Watching the black crow fly toward the attic window, Sigmund crouched down where he was.
“The Imperial Palace.”
It was an unfamiliar word, but somehow it sounded like a good place.
The best part was that Adele was allowed to go with him.
“Today is a really good day…”
Outside the barn, thunder rumbled again and lightning flashed across the sky.
—
Flap.
Hearing the sound of wings, Ena turned her head toward the window and frowned.
“Bad luck—it’s a crow.”
“Seriously. A crow on a rainy day. That’s unlucky.”
Ena and Mina were busy fixing Adele’s hair.
Caught by her two cousin sisters, Adele couldn’t escape and had no choice but to watch as her hair was being turned into something strange.
On the chair hung the new clothes Adele was going to change into.
Even shoes were there.
What on earth was going on?
Adele still had no idea.
Why had her uncle, aunt, and cousins suddenly become so kind?
Kindness they never showed before was, instead, frightening.
“Um, Ena… why are you suddenly doing this…?”
“Ask Mom later.”
“That’s right. Mom will tell you everything.”
Ena and Mina exchanged suspicious glances and giggled.
That was when—
Crash!
“Eek!”
“Kyaa!”
At the sound of thunder, Ena and Mina screamed in surprise.
“Kyaa!”
The window suddenly flew open, and wind and rain poured in. The lamps lit in the room swayed and all went out.
“Kyaa!”
“I’m scared!”
“Mooom!”
Terrified by the thunder, lightning, and pouring wind and rain, Ena and Mina fled outside, leaving Adele alone in the room.
Adele wasn’t particularly scared of this situation.
She was always used to darkness.
She was used to storms like this too.
“I need to light the candles again…”
The embers were in the kitchen hearth.
But going to the kitchen in her current state would be troublesome.
She was only wearing undergarments, and worst of all, her half-combed hair was a tangled mess.
Splash.
In the darkness, Adele heard footsteps.
Wet footsteps.
Even though it was midday, the outside was pitch-black, and as a result the room was shrouded in darkness too.
So even though she could hear the footsteps, Adele couldn’t tell who they belonged to.
“Sister? Ena? Mina?”
But the answer that came back was an unfamiliar voice.
“Hello, Adele.”
It was a man’s voice she had never heard before.
“Who…?”
Who could it be?
It was a voice she’d never heard, but strangely, she wasn’t scared.
Why was that?
“You’re Adele, right? I’m Sigmund’s friend. I heard about you from Sigmund, Adele.”
“Sigmund’s… friend?”
At those words, Adele was startled.
She thought no one knew about Sigmund’s existence.
But a friend?
How were they friends?
How had this man met Sigmund without her knowing?
Was he a bad person?
If he had met Sigmund, he must have seen his wings.
Suddenly, Adele felt anxious.
“How did you meet Sigmund…?”
“Sigmund was born from an egg, right?”
“That’s…”
“It was a big, beautiful egg. Softly glowing, like that.”
Only Adele had seen that egg.
After Sigmund hatched, she buried the broken shell in the ground.
No one else had seen it.
So how did this man know?
‘Could it be…?’
Anxiety surged up inside Adele.
‘Is this man the owner of the egg?’
The egg that held Sigmund had been inside a hollow at the base of an oak tree.
If the egg was that large, the bird that laid it must have been enormous.
But such a large bird couldn’t fit into that hollow.
More than anything, Adele had raised chickens and ducks.
Eggs don’t hatch immediately.
It takes at least twenty-one days from laying to hatching.
But even two days before she first discovered the egg, she had sheltered herself in that hollow, and at that time there was no egg.
And after she first discovered it, it hatched in just one day.
An egg that hatches in two or three days?
That didn’t exist.
Which meant someone had hidden the egg there.
Was this man the one who hid it?
‘Did he come to take Sigmund?’
To take Sigmund away?
Adele’s heart pounded.
Anxiety overwhelmed her, and her palms became sweaty.
“D-did you… come to t-take Sigmund away?”
Perhaps he noticed the tremor in her voice.
In the darkness, the man laughed.
“Of course I have to take him. I can’t leave him here.”
“Ah…”
“You know it too, don’t you? That Sigmund isn’t an ordinary child.”
“I know that, but…”
“What did you think Sigmund was?”
“I don’t really know. But Sigmund is just Sigmund.”
“Just Sigmund?”
“A child. A child who needs help. A child who needs care.”
“Ah, yes. A child. But there are many people who can take care of Sigmund. Right now, countless people are waiting for him.”
“Countless…”
Did he have family?
If he had family, then of course he should go back.
What right did she have to hold him back?
“If I take the child with me, you won’t be upset, right?”
“I…”
“It’s only been a few days. Not even a month. That’s too short a time to grow attached.”
“No. It’s not short.”
She had grown attached in just one day.
From the moment she fell asleep holding the egg in her arms, she had already grown attached.
Only a few days had passed, but Sigmund had already become precious to her.
More precious than the uncle’s family she had lived with for nine years.
“Sigmund is precious to me. I love Sigmund.”
“Love?”
The man laughed as if it were absurd.
Hearing that light, breeze-like laugh, Adele clenched her fists.
“He’s my family. Because he’s family, of course I love him, and because I love him, it’s sad and painful to part. That’s natural, isn’t it?”
“Family…”
The man fell silent for a moment.
She could hear his shallow breathing.
After a brief pause, he let out a small laugh again.
“Will you still be able to call him family after you learn what he really is?”
“I don’t care what Sigmund is.”
“Even if he’s a monster?”
“What?”
“Even if he grows into a gigantic monster someday and commits terrible acts? Would you still say he’s precious? Could you still call him family then? Wouldn’t you run away in fear?”
“No. I wouldn’t run away. I wouldn’t be scared. No matter what he looks like, Sigmund is Sigmund.”
“Ah-ha.”
Splash.
The man’s wet footsteps struck the floor.
Then, in the darkness, he slowly walked over and stopped beside Adele.
Cold fingers lightly brushed her hair.
“Adele.”
At the man’s whisper, Adele shuddered.
“Sigmund has to leave now.”
“That’s—!”
“Shh.”
The man’s hand pressed down firmly on Adele’s shoulder.
“You have to listen carefully until the end, okay? Sigmund will leave with me now. But wait just a little. I’ll come to get you.”
“What?”
“I said I’ll come get you. I’ll send a carriage, so wait. It’ll take about five days. When the carriage comes for you, don’t doubt it—get on. That carriage will take you to Sigmund. You understand what I’m saying, right?”
A carriage.
Five days.
Being apart from Sigmund for five days?
Where would the carriage take her?
Where was this man taking Sigmund?
But—
“Yes.”
Anywhere was fine.
There was no affection for this place anyway.
She had wanted to leave long ago but couldn’t because she had nowhere to go.
If possible, she wanted to leave for a place where she could live freely with Sigmund.
And now, if she could leave at last—yes, she could wait five days.
No matter how long she had to wait, if she could live without hiding, without worrying about anyone’s eyes, together with Sigmund, she could wait.
“Yes. I’ll wait. I’ll get on that carriage.”
“You’re smart. You’re smart, so why is that kid such an idiot?”
Muttering, the man hung something around Adele’s neck.
Even in the darkness, Adele could tell it was a necklace.
A necklace with a small gem at the end.
“What is this?”
“A token.”
“A token?”
“A token that connects you and me. A link that lets me know immediately if anything happens to you during these five days. So don’t take it off.”
“I understand. But your name—”
“Jensen.”
“Mr. Jensen.”
“Duke Jensen.”
“Ah, yes. Duke Jensen.”
“Let’s get along well from now on, Adele.”
The man lightly patted Adele’s shoulder and stepped backward.
“I think we’ll get along just fine.”
“Um…”
Before Adele could ask anything else, flap—she heard the sound of wings, and the dark room suddenly brightened.
The lights that had gone out in the storm came back on.
