Rieta was . . .

Noel recalled some historical records he had recently seen.

It was a letter from the stupid King Liz to the Emperor.

As a token of my gratitude, I’ll give you my daughter. She’s pretty, so you’ll like it.

Give his daughter.

She was pretty, so the Emperor would like her.

Now Noel could understand the vulgar meaning behind the words.

Crazy bastard.

He pursed his lips to keep from swearing at King Liz.

How dare he say something like that about Rieta?

Noel couldn’t come to the conclusion that the bird was different from Rieta.

It was regrettable that they were in the Empire for the same purpose.

“But well. I know that I can’t help it, so it’s okay now.”

Rieta was clearly laughing to suppress her aching heart.

He had been with her since she was nine, so it was impossible not to know.

“Do you want to go over there now? I think we’ve seen almost everything here.”

Rieta took him by the hand.

However, Noel did not budge from his spot.

“Noel? What’s wrong?”

Their arms stretched between the two.

Rieta looked back and blinked her eyes.

“. . . You.”

Noel stared at Rieta, as if he had something to say, then let go of her hand.

There was a bit of annoyance on his face.

“. . . Noel?”

While Rieta was flustered, Noel turned around and started walking away.

“What’s wrong all of a sudden?”

Rieta asked, following him hurriedly.

“Why? Because I’m annoyed!”

He groaned and hurried his steps a little more.

She thought he was going out, but he wasn’t. Rieta soon noticed that Noel was heading towards the cage.

“Why are you going there . . .?”

As Rieta was puzzled, he pulled the cage down.

The bird inside it fluttered in surprise.

“Noel, what are you doing?! If you mess with something here . . .”

He threw the pocket watch in his arms at the screaming Rieta.

“You check the time. I’ll have to return the empty cage here in ten minutes.”

Return the empty cage. That would mean letting go of the bird.

“If that’s the case, let’s wait for the surveillance magic to pass once more . . .”

“If you were this bird, would you want to wait any longer?”

Rieta looked at the bird with her eyes wide open and shook her head gently.

Because her waiting time had been long enough.

“Damn, that’s really heavy.”

Noel murmured and ran to the narrow emergency staircase where BB had climbed a little while ago.

Rieta soon followed him, picking up the watch.

In fact, she didn’t know what the stairs were like when BB was climbing up here, but when she came here, she seemed to know.

It was made to clean the ceiling or roof.

Cleaning tools were arranged on the way up, so she was sure.

“It’s so cramped, really.”

The large cage was heavy, and the narrow, spiraling stairway made Noel feel sick.

However, as Rieta was swiftly following right behind him, she couldn’t even say something weak.

The bird inside the cage flapped wildly, not understanding the situation.

“Stay still, you idiot.”

Not long after he uttered those harsh words, Noel’s breathing began to quicken.

Even though he had trained quite a bit at the academy, it was very difficult to keep running up the stairs to the ceiling.

Before he knew it, Rieta’s presence, who had been following him, also disappeared.

“Noel, I think we got a few minutes left!”

Instead, an urgent cry was heard from below.

“I know!”

He gritted his teeth and shouted.

Perhaps by now Rieta might be regretting moving the cage right away, without waiting ten minutes.

Because she was a worrier.

But Noel didn’t regret his haste, even when his arm was about to fall off.

Probably because he thought the bird and Rieta were quite similar.

If Rieta, and not the bird, were going through something like this, then he would have rushed without hesitation, to the point of being reckless.

He could not delay even for a moment.

His lips parted and an urgent breath escaped.

And at the same time, the door through which BB came out could be seen right in front of him.

There was the sky beyond this, so now it was really close.

Noel quickly pushed the door open.

Clack, clack.

But, ironically, the tightly closed door did not budge.

What is this?!

The bewildered Noel turned the doorknob around and found that it was locked.

“Damn it, you damned gatherer!”

BB must have had spare keys.

Come to think of it, he said he went in and out several times to give fruit to birds.

Noel slammed his shoulder into the door several times.

Now that this had happened, he was thinking of going outside even if he had to destroy the door.

He heard Rieta asking what was going on up there.

Noel didn’t answer the question mixed with urgency.

Because he was only obsessed with opening the door.

Despite how hard he threw himself against it, the locked door wouldn’t open.

“Noel, now it’s . . .”

Perhaps Rieta was worried, so she opened her mouth again.

It probably meant that time was running out.