At the top was a door that a single person could just about pass through.

A clear blue sky could be seen beyond the glance. It was probably connected to the outside.

“If we go out there, will there be no surveillance?”

Rieta asked, and Noel shook his head.

“Did you forget the soldiers outside? Usually, you’ll be caught on your way down from the roof.”

“Then how is BB going to get out of here?”

“Well, he’ll take care of it. Because that’s what gatherers specialize in.”

But being a gatherer didn’t mean he can make his body transparent, so Rieta was a little worried about BB.

“Rather than that, shouldn’t we close the cage first?”

When Noel mentioned it Rieta quickly approached the cage.

The bird was still inside it.

She couldn’t see if the bird ate all the fruit.

“. . . You’re really quiet.”

“BB said even if it goes out, it knows that it’s the same cage anyway.”

“Yes.”

Rieta carefully closed the cage. She whispered an apology.

At the same time, a deep blue light shone from the high ceiling and disappeared.

It must be the surveillance magic that BB was talking about.

It was the mysterious magic that could take notice even if the inside changes a little.

Now that the magic had passed, she wondered if she could open the cage again.

They wouldn’t be noticed for at least twenty minutes.

“Don’t open it.”

Perhaps knowing Rieta’s feelings, Noel spoke right away.

“It could open it with its own strength anyway, but that’s not how it works. Besides, there’s no point in leaving the door open for only twenty minutes.”

“Yes . . . but . . .”

Rieta lost her words at Noel’s resolute tone.

“If I were a bird, I’d hate people who are too quick to sympathize.”

“Ugh.”

She couldn’t refute the words.

Because Rieta’s heart was exactly like that.

“BB said it too, don’t show affection. Doesn’t that mean not to make unnecessary expectations that stem from clumsy kindness?”

That was right. Rieta’s shoulders drooped.

‘Freedom’ would be something the bird would never have, so long as this bird’s status was that of a valuable ‘gift’.

“Yes . . . that’s right.”

Rieta nodded her head slowly and turned her gaze to the ornament in the other direction.

Then she turned her back on the bird, admiring the other objects.

Noel was led by Rieta, staring at her.

He thought that she was trying really hard.

The truth was, she was so concerned about the little bird that she couldn’t even notice anything else.

It was clearly seen in her eyes that she was trying to forget somehow.

“Look at this, Noel. There’s a strange hat!”

Rieta looked around at a hat in the form of an animal head, and laughed.

But when she saw the sign next to it that said, ‘Made of a real animal head,’ her face turned contemplative and she quickly took a few steps back.

“It’s used for hunting.”

Noel explained a little more about the hat that Rieta had been admiring a while ago.

“The person at the forefront wears this and charges forward. It is also a symbol of leadership.”

“Well, that was no laughing matter.”

Rieta narrowed her brows.

She couldn’t laugh at what had been made and offered to a foreign Emperor a symbol of leadership.

Rieta reflected on her laughing and giggling.

It was like offering a crown, so it was quite a sad thing.

Of course, if she looked around a little, there was a sorrowful feeling around everything.

Objects that have left their hometowns for diplomatic purposes and have not been used by anyone.

I was lucky.

She left her hometown for the same diplomatic purpose as these objects, but she came to live in a very different way.

In fact, in her position, she would have nothing to say even if she was treated similarly.

If the Duke hadn’t accepted me, I might have lived like this.

Living a quiet, meaningless life. Like that bird that stays calm inside the bars.

If that were the case, she wouldn’t have even thought of going back to her home when she turns sixteen.

She wouldn’t have been able to reunite with Elisha, and she might not have been able to benefit from learning.

“Does that bother you very much?”

Suddenly Noel asked, and Rieta looked back at him asking what he was talking about.

“The bird.”

“Um . . . a little bit? After all, it left its home and was stuck here all the time.”

Noel’s heart throbbed when she said that it had left its home.

He understood what Rieta was thinking about this far.

That idiot, really . .

Noel felt uneasy.

Wasn’t it really stupid to see herself as the bird?

The only thing that bird and Rieta had in common was that they left their homes.

That bird was a gift from a foreign king to show off to the Emperor.