“ALL I have are leftovers and extras I made for today’s luncheon. Does that sound all right?”
We’d returned to the villa, where I asked Gilbert and my chefs to prepare whatever they easily could. They brought it up to us in the second-floor drawing room.
Lord Featherio was seated on the sofa. He stretched his wings, staring at the food presented to him.
“I personally recommend these fruit sandwiches,” I said. “What looks good to you?”
“Meat.”
The answer I received was succinct.
Meat…? I hadn’t quite expected that. His looks and sublime aura made me picture him eating fruit or nectar, if not just clouds or air altogether. But now it turned out he was actually a carnivore.
“What kind of meat do you like?”
“Boar, deer, or bear.”
“Bear…”
So he’s the wild type. It sounds like he enjoys hunting game.
The more I thought about it, the more sense it made.
Heaven-Wing clan members dwelled in remote areas far away from civilization. Supposedly, that meant deep in the mountains, where they were unlikely to be stumbled across. I doubted they could farm at all, so perhaps wild animals and plants made up the majority of their diet.
“Then why don’t you try one of these sandwiches? You can eat them with your hands this way. They have ham in between slices of bread, which is a little like boar meat.”
“Fine.”
I presented him with the plate, from which he picked up a sandwich with his long fingers. He lifted it up to his face, stared at it for a while, then began to eat. It wasn’t long before he was silently reaching for his second sandwich. He must have enjoyed it after all.
It might have just been my imagination, but Lord Featherio seemed pleased.
It was almost impossible to tell with how little he spoke, but I was getting the sense that maybe he was something of a strange character. Lord Aroo had transformed back into his human form at this point and was sitting beside me on the sofa. He glared at Lord Featherio, who didn’t seem concerned in the slightest.
My eyes drifted to Lord Featherio’s wings. That was when I realized something.
“Lord Featherio, have you been to my villa before today?”
The white feather that had landed in front of Lady Kate during our tea party was a match to Lord Featherio’s wings.
He swallowed his bite of sandwich and nodded. “Yes. I come here a lot.”
“And how long have you been watching me?” I asked.
“Since the start of the summer after you came here.”
“That was almost a year ago…”
“Correct. At first, I watched you from far enough away that King Glenreed couldn’t smell me. But you always eat your food outside, don’t you?”
“Yes, I enjoy eating outside when the weather permits.”
“It made me curious. But I got too close and King Glenreed found me with his nose.”
“I see…?”
In other words, he was lured here by my cooking, only for His Majesty to discover him? Now that I thought back, the feather had landed on my outdoor tea party with Lady Natalie and Lady Kate.
…Is this man just sort of a ditz?
The divine presence he’d first appeared to have was slowly starting to crumble.
“I would have given you food sooner if you were that curious…” I said.
“I couldn’t be seen and couldn’t take the food without asking either. Stealing is wrong.”
“That’s true…”
Feeling a bit exhausted from all of this, I brought my eyes up to meet his. I couldn’t be careless, even as his aloof aura threatened to distract me from that fact.
“Lord Featherio, why were you watching me for so long? Were you making sure that I, the temporary queen, wouldn’t cause any harm to this country? Were you going to remove me if I proved unneeded to Wolfvarte?”
I was speaking about the legends surrounding the Heaven-Wing clan, even though I didn’t know how much of it was true. But I didn’t get the sense that he would be observing me, this country’s queen, without a good reason.
Lord Featherio blinked his sky-blue eyes and parted his slim, attractive lips. “I only watched. Nothing more. I have no desire to remove you.”
“Is that true? I’ve heard legends that the Heaven-Wing clan exists to protect their countries.”
“Our role is to watch over the country. The king and nobles are the ones who rule. That is your purpose.” He pointed at King Glenreed and me with fingers that looked like they’d been sculpted from marble. Those blue eyes, as clear as the sky, revealed no traces of animosity. “I fulfill my duty and pray that the kingdom takes a path of righteousness.”
It was as if he’d delivered a revelation. With that, he stood up. Lord Featherio proceeded to the window with those white wings at his back.
“I’m leaving. Farewell.”
“W-Wait a minute, please!”
I had a bad feeling about that. I stood up.
Lord Featherio had opened up the large window that went down to the floor.
“Are you going to leave through the window?” I asked.
“Of course. That’s what we do in my homeland.”
“I’m sorry, but could I ask you to walk to the front door like you did to get here?”
“Why? I won’t be seen once I spread my wings. It’s not a problem.”
“Yes, it is. In this villa—”
“Kreh!!”
“Suspicious man detected!”
Fon had spotted Lord Featherio sticking halfway out the window.
Fon, the winged creature, was greatly concerned by other flying things. That was why he perceived the man with wings on his back as a potential threat. Fon had stared him down when he first entered the villa too.
“I see.” Lord Featherio seemed somewhat impressed, though he was unmoved by the way Fon kicked up wind by flapping his wings. “So humans these days keep griffins at their homes instead of watchdogs. Clever. They can protect the sky as they do the ground.”
“…No, that’s just something unique about this villa.”
Unable to put up with Lord Featherio’s airheadedness anymore, King Glenreed finally broke his silence with that single retort.