As the time they responded to each other increased, Noel noticed an important fact.

It wasn’t that this bird didn’t miss the sky.

However, it was more hungry for moments of sharing warmth with someone like this.

It was then that he heard Rieta talking with the wizards.

She was telling various lies to stop them coming near the stairs.

It was stuffy so they came up for a while. There is only Noel up there. They didn’t touch anything.

Of course, no matter how desperate her lie was, it didn’t work for wizards.

There was an item that disappeared right away, so they couldn’t believe it. They pulled Rieta away and climbed up to the roof.

When Noel looked back at them, the bird fluttered in surprise and landed on the back of Noel’s hand.

“Lord Noel!”

One of the wizards exclaimed in surprise.

“That’s the bird the Emperor cherishes!”

Cherishes? Noel laughed bitterly.

Because ‘keeping it safe’ and cherishing it were very different issues.

He stroked the head of the bird sitting on the back of his hand.

Maybe this will be the last.

He whispered softly to the bird that was looking up at him.

“Okay, go now.”

The little face tilted slightly. But Noel was not fooled.

“You’re pretending you don’t understand.”

Noel raised the arm on which the bird was sitting.

The bird flew through the air for a while, but quickly returned to the back of its hand.

“Go!”

At the moment Noel gave a shout, an unfamiliar light began to flow from behind him.

It must have been that the magician had begun to use his power.

The bird was now frightened and jumped up and soared into the sky.

‘……I guess it was afraid of magic.’

But in the end, that magic lifted the bird into the sky, so he should say thank you.

“Hurry up and grab it!”

Urgent voices of the wizards were heard from behind.

The bird’s wings that hadn’t flown properly for a long time were somehow clumsy, so it was still not too far from the roof.

It would be nice if it could fly high enough to disappear from sight right away.

At that time, the white wind that emerged from the magician’s hand began to fly in a straight line toward the bird.

“…!”

The bird was completely caught in the white wind, and soon it could not even flap its wings properly.

Noel turned his head towards the wizard.

“You better stop, wouldn’t it be difficult if a precious bird was injured?”

However, someone who said so, appeared before Noel.

Noel was a bit startled and forgot to give a proper salute to the person’s sudden appearance.

Soon the wizards bowed down to him first.

“Your, Your Majesty.”

The Emperor looked alternately at the wizards, Noel, and Rieta, then pointed at the bird again.

“Life comes first before manners toward me. Take the magic away.”

As he spoke, the white wind slowly died away.

The bird seemed to fall for a moment, but soon began to soar upward again.

“I heard there was a commotion?”

The Emperor asked, so the old wizard quickly stepped forward and said.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. It is very difficult to say.”

Noel felt a little sorry for the wizards now.

Actually, they weren’t guilty.

They were just perfectly preserving what the Emperor had entrusted to them.

Noel managed to get up and approached the Emperor.

It was right to keep his head down on this one.

“There is nothing difficult, because sometimes I want to give my cute nephew a gift.”

However, hearing the Emperor’s answer, Noel as well as the wizards raised their heads in puzzlement.

“….what?”

“That pretty bird. I have been wanting Noel Mayer to have it for a long time.”

Noel almost asked back, ‘Me?’ without a clue.

“Today was the day the ownership was passed, and whatever happens to that bird will be at Noel Mayer’s free will.”

Rubbing his chin, the Emperor muttered regretfully, ‘it’s too pretty of a bird to fly away.’

“Yes, that’s right. Then…….”

The wizards said with trembling voices.

In any case, they seemed relieved that they would not take responsibility for this.

“But, Noel. Dear nephew, from now on, I would like you to act after properly explaining the situation. You can’t let my magicians run like this. Because everyone is stuck to their desk, their knees are weak.”

“I apologize for that.”

“That’s right.”

Noel walked up to the wizards and bowed.

“I’m sorry.”

“Kuhmm, no. If it belongs to Lord Noel, there is nothing I can do about it.”

“I was a bit surprised.”

When the situation was sorted out to some extent, the Emperor clapped his hands.

“Okay, so can I take care of my business now?”

“Of course, Your Majesty. I’ll take you this way.”

The wizards started going down the stairs again, and the Emperor looked back at Noel for the last time.

“Thank you.”

Noel bowed deeply to the Emperor, who was willing to lie for him.

“It’s for real.”

“What?”

Noel quickly asked back.

“I’ll give you the bird as a gift. it’s not in your hands how.”

Noel looked down at his hands for a moment.

As it took flight, the bird’s claws left white scratches.

And the small warmth that touched his hand.