Of All Things, I Became a Crow

*Karmeut’s POV

---Without even glancing at the leaving healer, the prince sat on the sofa while holding the crow in his arms.

"...Is Prince Luwellin the one who kidnapped Rainelle?"

"---Yeah. Very stupid and daring. I came over myself."

"Why? There doesn't seem to be any reason for Prince Luwellin to kidnap the crow."

Karmeut didn't respond. Ignoring Namuel's gaze, he only stroked the crow's cheek gently with his index finger. He felt the sensation of the smooth feathers brushing his fingertip and the warmth of her body, but she didn't wake up as he had hoped.

Rainelle, who was breathing quietly with her eyes closed, was sleeping without knowing anything about Karmeut's thoughts.

"It doesn't matter what Luwellin took Rainelle for. What's important is that he took the one I love the most. So, shouldn't pay me back with a lot of interest?"

The prince barely restrained himself. Seeing the murderous intent in his golden eyes again, Namuel let out a short sigh inwardly.

---It was arguably the first time that Karmeut had shown so much emotion to others. Perhaps if someone who knew Karmeut even a little bit saw him now, they would have been staring blankly while opening their mouth now.

However, Namuel did not. Rather, when he heard that the prince wanted a lot of interest, Namuel furrowed his brows. And after thinking for a moment, he asked the question.

"---what are you going to do?"

"There's only one way to settle the dispute when there are two awakened persons at the same time."

The wizard briefly nodded his head when he heard those words.

"You're talking about Bozcourt."

When there was more than one awakened person at the same time and neither side was willing to give up their right to succession, there would be Bozcourt. The match was declared by their howling in their wolf form, and under the emperor's watch, the awakened individuals will fight a bloody battle in their wolf form until one of them died.

Because of that, there was no room for the nobles to do crafty work from behind during the match. It was also a method to know at once who had stronger wolf's blood in the Imperial Family, so it was a method that must be done if there are two or more awakened persons.

Even though there was such a certain way, the reason it was delayed until now was because of the confusion it would cause if it was suddenly revealed that Karmeut was an awakened person. Of course, most of the nobles would quickly change their attitude accordingly.

But, of course, those who were loyal to Luwellin might cause chaos within the Empire. They could even cause a revolt, which Karmeut wanted to avoid as the first prince.

In addition, if it was revealed at a premature time, Karmeut might have to face the threat of assassination every hour inside the Imperial Palace.

...If that happened, not only Karmeut, but Rainnelle could be in danger, so it was a situation that he wanted to avoid.

No matter how selfish, arrogant, and violent Luwellin may be, he's still a guy who knows how to take care of his own people.

...that's why they attacked me in the dark, and there was no way that such figures would not cause problems.

It is very likely to happen, so it is ideal to choke Luwellin while slowly getting rid of those people, but...

His gaze fell on the crow, and the crow's beak twitched faintly as she curled up and burrowed further and closer to his body. She seemed to be dreaming.

He wondered what she was dreaming about. He gently stroked the crow's head as she curled up, her relaxed body leaning against him. Warmth returned to his golden eyes.

"--Is that crow that special?"

*Namuel’s POV

From Namuel's point of view, that was a logical question.

Of course, there is no denying that the crow is clever enough for me to want to study it. --but I couldn't understand why he was so angry.

If your beloved pet is seriously injured, you will get angry. But is it enough reason to get so angry to that extent?

If the action of getting angry was enough to risk his own life, then Namuel could answer 'no'.

There are plenty of crows. It may not be the same, but if you want pets, you can have as many as you want.

The wizard could not understand why the First Prince, who could get rare animals as much as he could, was getting so angry for a crow.

Isn't it like the angry attitude when one's lover has been subjected to a terrible thing?

Thinking up to that point, Namuel shook his head.

...what kind of nonsense idea is that...? But what's wrong with the prince?

Not knowing that he was close to the truth, the wizard waited for an answer.

"-Yes. She's dear to me. She helped me to get here, so I wanted to protect her."

The First Prince spoke briefly in a resolute voice, expressing his will not to make further comments as he hugged Rainelle more deeply in his arms.

His eyes were gleaming sharply as he took in the crow's warm body temperature

Karmeut looked down at Rainelle and took a few deep breaths. He looked at the crow and Namuel alternately, then his mouth formed a flat line. After a moment of silence, he opened his mouth to the wizard with shining eyes as if he had made a big decision.

"Marquis, can I leave Rainelle with you for a while?"

"...is it you okay?"

Namuel's question was reasonable. Considering the attitude of the prince, it would have been unimaginable to entrust the crow in its present state to someone else. But the prince suddenly said that he would leave the crow to him. The wizard's eyes were half surprised and half puzzled.

"----there's something more urgent than nursing Rainelle right now."

"Do you mean Bozcourt?"

"It would be better to declare it as soon as possible."

The wizard nodded. Politically speaking, he had no idea what was the best decision, but this was a judgment that came from a capable man who had persevered to fight for the throne even without being awakened. Being inexperienced, it was better to be silent than to give advice.

"--I will take good care of her for you, Your Highness."

"Swear on the magic path. Make an oath that no matter what happens, you will protect my one and only crow as long as you can and will not harm her."

Hearing those words, Namuel furrowed his brows. A wizard making an oath on the path of magic was equivalent to an oath made by a priest to God.

Karmeut's behavior, which was to casually order him to make such an oath was rude, but his golden eyes that stared at the wizard were completely serious. Namuel let out a long sigh as the prince looked like he would never hand the crow over or leave his seat if the wizard did not swear that oath.

"...I swear on the path of magic that I will protect the First Prince's one and only crow as long as I can, and I will not do any harm to her."

But at best, it was only a crow. It wasn't too difficult to protect the crow or not harm her, so even though he was upset and it was an unreasonable oath, the wizard's voice did not show any hesitation.

Karmeut's rigid face softened at that oath. Then he carefully handed over the crow to Namuel with hands that seemed to be worried that the crow might wake up because of the movement.

Namuel also carefully accepted the crow into his arms. Blinking slowly at the body temperature that was hotter than he had expected, the wizard looked at the prince's back as he left the room.

*3^rd person POV

Karmeut was walking alone in the wide hallway of the Imperial Palace in strides. The servants and escort knights who had to follow him from behind tried to walk fast to catch up with him, but they couldn't.

It was because Karmeut exuded a silent atmosphere that seemed as if he was telling people that no one was allowed to come near him, so they could only follow at a certain distance.

*tap, tap*

Karmeut took light steps in the hallway. In the blink of an eye, the one there was no longer a human, but a giant wolf with fluttering golden fur.

Gasps were heard from all over the place. The guards guarding the hallway stationed at every certain distance were stiff like statues, while the servants cleaning the hallway along with the people following him also looked at the golden wolf with the frozen expressions.

It was the First Prince who was known to be not awakened.

He was the individual who fought Luwellin for the throne using his outstanding qualities despite not awakening the wolf's blood.

And then, now, the First Prince who was cold, intelligent, and generous to his own people, had turned into a wolf

Receiving gazes full of astonishment and joy, the golden wolf gently shook his body.

His moderately long golden fur was swaying gently whenever his body shook. It was as beautiful as a wheat field shining under the autumn sunlight.

The wolf snorted a little. His shining eyes, which looked as if they had gathered the sunlight, were staring at a certain place, and then he began to slow down.

Slowly but with dignified footsteps, he went out of the hallway. The golden wolf, who went out to one of the palace gardens, took a long breath and exhaled slowly.

Then, as everyone who followed the wolf was looking at him, he raised his head and howled loudly.

The golden wolf's howling, which spread through the air and shook the Imperial Palace, was loud enough to rattle a nearby window lightly, but it wasn't an unpleasant cry.

The howl of a being who was destined to rule over someone had the power to make the people who were around to kneel.

The howl that seemed to be proudly shouting: "Come out if you're not a coward because I'm here," made those who were kneeling and looking at the wolf in awe to swallow their saliva.

Will Luwellin come?

He was the Imperial Family member who was considered to be the one to have the strongest wolf's blood before. So of course he will make an appearance here in response to the calling of Bozcourt.

How long had it been? The howl of the wolf, who had been howling with a confident manner, stopped suddenly. Then, he turned his head and looked at one point.

"Grrrrhh..."

It was a wolf that was slightly smaller than the golden wolf. Its golden hair, which must have shone brilliantly once, had faded and had lost a lot of its luster. White hairs were growing here and there like a person's gray hairs.

As if to tell the passage of time, the parts around its eyes were wrinkled and the skin around the snout that had also lost its elasticity was slightly drooping, but the wolf was looking at the gold-colored wolf with brightly shining eyes that were enough to overshadow its appearance.

The old wolf sniffed. It was an action that was impossible for humans to understand whether it was trying to find out something or something else, but it seemed to be different for the golden wolf.

The golden wolf stiffened slightly, sticking out his tongue as if he was tense and nervous, and licked his snout once. Seeing that, the old wolf snorted.

In the next moment, the old wolf vanished and a human figure appeared. The emperor, who wore a gorgeous crown on his head, stared at the golden wolf with a curious expression and opened his mouth.

"It's Bozcourt."

The wolf nodded. Then he sat in place, puffed up his chest, and looked at the emperor. It was an attitude that could be said to be dignified, but the emperor didn't seem to think so.

Rather, the emperor smiled a little and opened his mouth as he bent his eyes.

"But what should we do? I don't know if someone had hit him, but the Third Prince is currently recovering, so he can't participate in Bozcourt right now."

He said 'someone', but the emperor's eyes muddled. The ruler of the Empire, who pretended not to know even though he knew everything, stared at his son and continued.

"But I can see your determination. When it is judged that Luwellin has recovered, then I will hold Bozcourt. Until that time, I will forbid any kind of tricks. Every noble will be under surveillance, and if it is judged that they violated my order, I will judge it as an action of insulting the emperor and punish them accordingly."

They would be given appropriate punishment. Needless to say, the punishment for those who insulted the emperor was far more merciless than what can be said. Because of that, those who were watching all this around them were so stiff that they did not dare to move, but the golden wolf was not the same.

The wolf wagged his tail and bent his eyes satisfactorily, then the wolf changed form.

***