The honey had soaked into the fluffy pancake just the perfect amount. It oozed more and more sweetness as I chewed. The faint scent of flowers wafted up from the slightly burnt pancake surface, which mingled pleasantly with the sweetness of the cake.
Pancakes are so delicious.
I had them serve me a second one, this time covering it with strawberry jam.
I’d struggled to make them rise without baking powder at first, but once I tried folding in air while mixing up the batter and using egg whites I’d whipped into a meringue, I finally achieved the perfect, fluffy texture.
I was enjoying my pancake with strawberry jam when Lord Aroo suddenly emerged from the bushes bordering my villa.
“Lord Aroo…”
It was a bit harder to react than normal. I’d felt the distance between our hearts the last time I saw him. But I also thought back to Lady Fillia’s touching account of her memory with King Glenreed.
For a brief moment, I went entirely still.
“Roo…?”
Whether or not he knew how I felt, Lord Aroo walked right up to me anyway. Then he pressed his nose up to the table and sniffed at the pancakes. There was one pancake left—one I’d made in case someone dropped theirs or needed an extra.
“Ah! No! You can’t eat that!” I whisked the plate away from him in a panic.
That pancake was drizzled with Flute Bee honey. I’d promised Lady Fillia that I wouldn’t treat King Glenreed to any honey snacks on his birthday.
The birthday party was still a few days away, but I would feel guilty feeding His Majesty something that spoiled Lady Fillia’s surprise. As I held the plate out of Lord Aroo’s reach, I felt Lucian take it from my hands and walk away briskly.
“Arooo…” Lord Aroo sounded a bit disappointed, but he readily stepped back.
Is he not very hungry after all? That doesn’t feel like a reaction to something that was supposed to be his favorite food…
As I racked my brain for an explanation, the wolf changed course and came over to sniff me a bit too.
“Lord Aroo?”
He wrinkled his nose and made a face resembling a scowl.
Do I smell like the ingredients I was cooking with?
I brought my arm to my nose to see if I detected anything, but that was when Lord Aroo moved away from me and started to sniff the villa’s perimeter instead. He pressed his nose to the trees surrounding the garden, checking them one by one, until…
“Wh-What?!”
Lord Aroo had suddenly started to ram his head into one of the tree trunks. He hit it over and over again, as if it required his dedicated concentration.
“What’s wrong, Lord Aroo?!” I rushed over to see if he’d gone mad. But that was when I heard something above me.
When I looked up, I saw…
“A man?! A bird?!”
My eyes landed on large, white wings and sparkling golden hair.
Something was falling down toward me from above.
“Lady Laetitia!”
“Aroo!!”
“Eek!!”
I felt an impact against my stomach and shoulders. It sent me tumbling backwards, but I landed safely in Lucian’s arms.
“My lady! Are you hurt?!”
“N-No, I’m fine, Lucian. Thank you for your help as well, Lord Aroo.”
“Woof!”
“Of course. This was nothing,” he seemed to say.
Lord Aroo had pushed me backwards for Lucian to catch, so thankfully, I didn’t seem injured. I smoothed down my wrinkled dress and took a look at the strange man who was face down on the ground.
He appeared to have used a wind spell just before he fell, allowing him to land safely on a cushion of air. The strange man shuddered slightly before slowly rising to his feet.
“……”
“……”
We stared at each other wordlessly for a while.
The man’s incredible beauty could be described as “divine.”
His long, platinum blonde hair billowed around him and his clear blue eyes reflected the hue of the sky. His eyelashes were long enough to cast faint shadows on his face.
The man had pale skin without so much as a blemish on his body—like he was made out of the finest alabaster. Something about his beautiful face struck me as melancholic, but the most eye-catching feature on his body was the pair of massive white wings on his back.
“…You must be a member of the Heaven-Wing clan,” I proposed my theory to the young man with the otherworldly beauty and wings that were so obviously the real thing.
The Heaven-Wing clan.
I’d never met one of their members before either. They were an incredibly rare clan who hardly ever showed their faces around humans. Though they were treated as a type of beastfolk, many humans worshiped them for their beautiful wings, flying ability, and various other reasons.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Laetitia. I am this country’s queen and mistress of this villa, which was given to me by King Glenreed himself.”
“I know.”
He answered bluntly—the beauty of his voice rivaling that of his looks. Though the man kept his face still and impossible to read, I didn’t presently sense that he was hostile. At least, I hoped he wasn’t.
“Featherio.”
He presented that puzzling word with no further explanation.
A question mark formed over my head. But then I realized he was introducing himself.
“In that case, may I call you Lord Featherio?”
“Fine.”
“All right, Lord Featherio. May I ask why you’ve come to my villa? How long were you up in that tree?”
Lord Featherio looked up at the tree he’d fallen from.
The thick trunk was surrounded by lush green leaves, but we really should have noticed a man up on one of the branches. The man’s hair was long and shiny, and he wore white clothes with gold embroidery—all things that should make him stand out in a tree. Yet despite the dozens of people at our luncheon, not a single person managed to spot him above.
Lord Featherio fell silent.
Realizing there must be a story behind this, I sent everyone aside from Lucian and Lord Aroo back inside the villa.
“Thank you for your consideration.” Lord Featherio said that before spreading his wings. The giant, white masses of feathers folded around his body, causing the man to gradually fade from sight. He was completely invisible within mere seconds.
“…Lord Featherio?”
“I’m here.” His voice came from the empty air, and once he spread his wings again, he returned to my sight. It seemed he could turn invisible at will.
“I see. So Heaven-Wing clan members can do this with their wings?” I said.
“It’s a secret.” His face was still blank, but he pressed his index finger to his lips. It was a childish gesture for someone as serious as he appeared to be.
“I understand. I’d be happy to keep this between the two of us, however…” I glanced at Lord Aroo. He sniffed before scowling at Lord Featherio.
“It’s fine. King Glenreed already knows.”
How surprising. It seemed Lord Featherio already knew exactly who Lord Aroo was. Lord Aroo didn’t deny it or show any signs of panic. He simply squinted his greenish-blue eyes uncomfortably at the man.
I watched them, recalling two pieces of legend regarding the Heaven-Wing clan.
First, the Heaven-Wing clan were said to be holy beings who protected the country and judged the actions of its king.
Second, the kingdom was said to be safe from ruin so long as members of the Heaven-Wing clan still dwelled in its land.
Both of these things seemed plausible, though I couldn’t know for sure.
It was possible they were total fiction. History books told that, a few hundred years ago, the Desert King slaughtered his country’s Heaven-Wing clan, leading to the country’s downfall as well as his own.
As for the present-day western continent, Heaven-Wing clans could be found in all countries with the lengthiest histories—Wolfvarte, my homeland of Elltoria, the great Maldion Empire, Raiolbern, and Alphasar.
But why would one of these Heaven-Wing clan members come to my villa?
Never letting my guard down, I observed Lord Featherio until suddenly…
Gurgle, gurgle.
I heard someone’s stomach growling.
It came not from Lord Aroo or me, but from Lord Featherio himself.
“I’m hungry.” There was no trace of embarrassment or unrest on his face whatsoever. “Will you share your food?”
I met his eyes, fixed directly on me.
Though I couldn’t tell from his completely blank expression, I felt like I detected a distinct eagerness in those eyes.