Episode 2
……Was that permission?
Maybe Baon is a bit lacking in common sense?
It didn’t really matter, though, since it turned out to be a good thing for me.
I lifted up on my heels and, hanging from the knot on the basket handle, I looked around the room.
I couldn’t see it well, but I could tell from the ceiling and walls that it was a very luxurious room.
I thought back to the man Baon had called “lord” earlier.
Being called such a name meant that he was the head of a family, and this house belonged to the man.
Wait a minute.
I belatedly realized an important fact and stiffened up.
……The owner of the house hates me.
It was an easy fact to understand just by recalling the conversation he’d had with Baon.
The man with the title of clan leader didn’t like me staying here. 1
It was only a matter of time before I was kicked out.
What should I do?
“……pii.”
I covered my eyes. My wings seemed to be getting wet.
“You’re crying.”
Seeing me like that, Baon asked curiously,
“Are you hungry?”
“Pii….”
I lifted my head, then nodded. I guess I was.
I just hatched and so I hadn’t eaten anything yet.
My stomach gurgled as I realized that.
Then, unexpectedly, Baon’s expression showed a tinge of puzzled dismay.
“Hmm. Come to think of it, what do birds eat?”
No, wait a second.
“Do you eat meat? No, I think that was birds of prey.”
Baon looked in my direction and mumbled as if he were in distress.
This isn’t right. What was with that look in his eyes. 2
I clamped my beak shut against the anxiety that was creeping up on me.
No, I can never open my beak.
My anxiety was reaching a peak, as I imagined a scene I never wanted about to come to mind when Baon opened his mouth again as if he had remembered.
“Oh. Do you eat bugs? Insects.”
No! Absolutely not!
I shook my head in a strong denial.
In response to my heated reaction, the corners of Baon’s mouth lifted in a sketchy arc.
It seemed full of his intention to tease me.
“I’ll get it right away.”
“Piiiii. Pii! Pii!”
No, no. Don’t go, Baon!
As I watched Baon’s back leaving the room, I called after him desperately.
What if he’s really gets some?
I sank to my knees and reached out.3 My short wings were trembling pitifully.
I got over one mountain only for there to be another mountain beyond it. 4
A future where I survived felt suddenly far away.
Fortunately, what Baon brought was a small fruit.
The red fruit smelled sweet and fragrant.
“Except for the family, here are no other living creatures on the estate.”
I didn’t know how it was possible to find no life on the land, but I was glad to hear it. I was worried that they’d really have given me bugs to eat.
“Here you go.”
“Piiiii!”
I began to devour the fruits, which were packed in a small barrel, one by one.
At first, I thought it would be difficult, but when I used my beak, it wasn’t that hard.
As I ate, I gained some skill and was able to eat the fruit quickly.
“Pii, pii, pii.”
I’m full.
I patted my bulging belly. I felt I’d eaten a huge meal, and sunlight streamed in through the window, so I closed my eyes.
A nap was the best thing after eating.
How long has it been since I took a nap? It felt like a dream to be able to fall asleep like this without being wary of my surroundings.
“You must be sleepy.”
“Pii.”
I nodded and plumped down on the blanket.
A huge yawn escaped me.
I stirred and started to doze off, and for a moment, I could see the juice on my once-fluffy white feathers.
“Pii?”
When did it get on me?
I looked around and quickly wiped at it with the blanket.
It only made a bigger mess.
“……piii!”
No matter how many times I wiped it, it didn’t get better, so I kicked the blanket with annoyance.
“Oh no, you shouldn’t do that.”
Baon scolded me sternly. Was he going to scold me for being rude?
When I glanced at Baon, he leaned down. He met my eyes and spoke very seriously.
“What if you break your leg?”
“…….”
“So you must not kick it.”
I looked at my leg, stunned by his words.
Wiggle.
“…… pii.”
Look, it’s fine.
I showed him my leg. It was very well attached.
I’d have to be careful from now on.
As I flattened the blanket, Baon made a strange face. Like he was holding back laughter…….
I guess it’s just my imagination.
I looked down at the blanket.
Now, even blankets that contain only cotton could be classified as dangerous.
I thought it was the safest place in the world to be.
“Beginning tomorrow, a new person will come.”
“……?”
“Rosaria will help you in many ways, and so you have to be good and listen to her well.”
I nodded my head obediently. There was no reason to dislike someone who would help me. In fact, it was rather news.
My goal was to grow up safely in this house.
And if I could, I wanted to stay long enough to learn how to humanize.
My previous life ended without me ever being humanized.
If I’m lucky, wouldn’t I be able to learn how to do that from Rosaria?
* * *
“Good morning, baby. You’re much cuter than I heard! My name is Rosaria.” 5 You’re much cuter than I heard! My name is Rosaria.”
Early in the morning, much sooner than expected, Rosaria came.
“Pii, pii.”
I greeted her with surprise.
I didn’t expect her to be so friendly.
By all accounts, she was treating me favorably.
I looked at her awkwardly, feeling shy.
It felt strange to think that Rosaria, who wasn’t even of the same clan, would take care of me when I couldn’t even get help from adults of my own kind.
“Oh, you’re polite, too. You just said hello to me, right?”
Rosaria, with her thick, wavy red hair and violet eyes, was moved to the point of covering her mouth by a simple greeting.
I don’t know why she likes this so much.
She seemed like a person who had never been greeted like this before.
I don’t know what she’s been through so far, but this…….
She’s so easily won over?
I decided to capitalize on this momentum and show her a special move I’d been thinking about all night.
It was a technique honed to captivate the family members as a means of survival.
“Piiiii. Piiiii!”
A method a small child is allowed to use.
It was the so-called ‘give me a hug.’
Rosaria clutched at her heart as I approached her with my wings stretched out and small, even steps.
“Baby…in all the world, where is this kind of person a daughter of the clan leader? I can’t believe it.”[6]
“Pii.”
“Oh, you’ve got something on you. Shall we go wash up first?”
With a straight face, Rosaria pointed to the lingering traces of what I had eaten yesterday.
I climbed cautiously onto her palm.
It was time to get back the original fluffiness of my feathers.
For some reason, Rosaria’s hands trembled as she carried me in one hand as though I might fall.
“How could anyone come up with the idea of sending someone this out of the territory. Hoo, it’s been so long since I last had to regulate my strength, I don’t think I can do it.”
……I think I must have heard something wrong.
Or did I?
Rosaria smiled nervously when I turned back.
“Don’t worry, baby. I’m pretty good at controlling my strength. I’m not like those people who use knives before words.”
I guess that’s probably why Mr. Baon invited her.
Rosaria spoke with pride.
I, on the other hand, stiffened up. It felt like my feathers stood on end from head to tail.
I think I just heard a very life-threatening statement.
Having brought me into the bathroom, Rosaria started to run warm water.
“The baby is still young, so she should have the water slightly warmer than her body temperature.”
She seemed to be recalling something she had read in a book earlier.
An uneasy feeling came upon me.
Rosaria smiled at me with a beautiful face.
It seemed to be a characteristic of this family that they were all so good-looking that they could make you forget about reality for a moment.
After looking dazedly at Rosaria for a moment, I was wakened back to reality by her words.
“Now, shall we go in quickly? Baby.”
Oh, my. I’m gonna be okay, right?
For a moment, I missed Baon like crazy.
Notes:
[1] Gaju (가주) is a term of address / title that means head of the family [household] or clan leader. She also uses -nim at the end of the title here, a more respectful honorific. I feel like directly addressing someone as ‘head of household’ is awkward, so I’ll swap in clan leader in some places. Master of the House? Leader of the House?
[2] 그런 눈빛을 보이면서 Lit: With those kind of eyes.
[3] This bugged me so I googled it. Apparently not only do birds have knees, but what we actually see that looks like knees are actually typically their ankles, and their knees are super high up out of sight under the feathers.
[4] 산 넘어 산이라더니 / I didn’t stay completely faithful here – “it’s a mountain after a mountain” / “Go over the mountain and there is another mountain.” it’s an idiom that basically says life is one hardship after another, and as soon as you clear one there’s another to take its place. I English idiom with a similar meaning might be ‘out of the frying pan, into the fire’ or phrases like ‘After crossing one hurdle, there’s immediately another’ or ‘It was just one thing after another’
[5] 아기님Interestingly, -nim is appended here so she’s using a respectful honorific
[6] She’s basically saying how is it possible that our scary family head of house produced such a cute kid
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