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Chapter 6

I faced off with the crow for a long time.

But the bird didn\'t easily open its mouth... or rather, its beak.

"Your Highness, I have brought you a snack as you requested."

Eunuch Han returned at that moment and spoke. I quickly grabbed the crow\'s beak to avoid being discovered by the eunuch and hid it under the blanket on the bed.

"Oh, you\'re here."

There was a paper door in the room separating the sleeping area from the living space. The eunuch, holding a wooden tray with food, slid the door open and looked at me.

"I will place this over there... Your Highness?"

The crow naturally started to struggle, but there was nothing it could do as long as I held its beak.

However, it wasn\'t completely silent, so the eunuch immediately realized I had a bird.

"Your Highness...?"

So, because I couldn\'t control the cawin, the eunuch immediately noticed that I had caught some kind of bird.

"It was loitering around, so I caught it."

"You caught a bird, Your Highness?"

I nodded.

It was unusual, but for the First Prince, who was already known as a troublemaker, suddenly catching a bird in his room was probably something people could understand.

Right?

It\'s a good thing I\'m a rascal.

"You mean you caught it while I was away?"

I nodded again. The crow was still flapping its wings.

"Th-That\'s impossible... What kind of wild bird would be in the palace...?"

The eunuch, placing the tray on the table, muttered in disbelief. I took this opportunity to act spoiled.

"The palace management is so poor that birds can\'t even tell if this is the palace or a mountain."

The eunuch\'s shoulders flinched.

"Don\'t you think so, Eunuch Han? Next time, I might even attract a tiger. When that happens, I\'ll use my amazing hunting skills to catch it and make you a fur coat."

To maintain my reputation as a rascal and prevent rumors of a sudden change in personality, I guess I need to periodically torment Eunuch Han. Right? There\'s no way the unruly prince wouldn\'t have tormented the eunuch he sees every day.

If even a bird-brain could tell that I\'m different from the real First Prince, Eunuch Han would know it even better.

Surely a human\'s brain isn\'t inferior to a bird\'s.

Unfortunately, there\'s nothing I can do about it.

"I-I... I will go and find out what\'s going on, Your Highness. I will take care of it right away," Eunuch Han said, flustered. Then he tried to take the crow I had covered with the blanket.

That won\'t do.

"Eunuch Han, there\'s something I didn\'t tell you. I caught this one, but I missed another one."

"Th-There was another one, Your Highness?"

I nodded.

"I\'d like you to catch the one I missed, Eunuch Han. It was a different kind of bird, if I remember correctly."

"Wh-What kind of bird was it?"

I yelled at him for no reason.

"Do I really need to explain that? If there\'s more than one bird that shouldn\'t be in the palace, that\'s a bigger problem, isn\'t it? Do you need further explanation? Huh?"

"I apologize, Your Highness. You are absolutely right."

It was a forced argument, but it worked on Eunuch Han.

"Then go catch it right now."

"Yes, yes, Your Highness!"

Eunuch Han dashed out of the pavilion as if he were flying.

Good luck with that.

I stared at the empty space where Eunuch Han had disappeared and then stood up with the crow.

"Alright."

"Caaaaaw—!"

The crow cried out as soon as I released its beak.

"Now, let\'s have a little chat."

Fortunately, there were snacks prepared for our conversation.

I sat down on a chair and picked up a rice cake from the tray Eunuch Han had brought.

"I\'ve never heard of a talking bird."

"L-Liar!"

Oh, this is delicious.

I picked up another rice cake.

Perhaps because it was a palace snack, it had colorful decorations that made it visually appealing as well.

Since I\'m a troublemaker, I could probably ask for it every day, right?

"What am I lying about?"

"How can you act like that! There\'s no trace of tension or surprise in you! You\'re so calm in the face of my majesty, you\'re definitely not an ordinary human!"

I spoke indifferently.

"So you\'re not even treating me like the First Prince anymore."

"Yoooou—! You\'re revealing your true colors! An even worse troublemaker has possessed you! A demon, a demon!"

I had a feeling that if it were human, its eyes would be bloodshot.

"Where has your respect gone! Have you transformed into his shell, or are you wearing his skin! Confess the truth at once!"

I ate a few more rice cakes while it was yelling. I also took a sip of the tea that Eunuch Han had brought.

"Ah, this is nice."

The troublemaker\'s snacks are the best.

Being a troublemaker might be even better than I thought.

Then I said, "You\'re noisy."

The crow immediately fell silent.

It must have finally realized that its neck was in my grasp.

"You just need to answer my questions."

I tightened my grip.

Now that I looked closely, its feathers were quite soft.

Eyes filled with fear look similar, whether they belong to a human or an animal. Seeing the crow\'s terrified eyes made me feel disgusted.

I hate these eyes.

"First."

"The most important question."

"Who in the palace knows about your existence?"

It was Taejo who made me into the First Prince, Yegyeong. So it\'s natural for me to connect the appearance of this strange creature to Taejo.

In terms of being difficult to understand, Taejo and this crow were similar.

And so was my current existence.

"N-No one!"

"Are you sure? Or else..."

"It\'s true!"

It trembled. It didn\'t seem like it was lying.

"Then the next question. What was your relationship with me?"

Of course, a human and a bird could become companions in a lonely palace life, but a human and a talking bird was a questionable combination.

"...Servant!"

It hesitated for a moment.

"...I was."

"That\'s suspicious."

It wasn\'t just suspicious; it was completely unbelievable. Even a regular prince wouldn\'t have a bird-brain as a servant, let alone a troublemaker prince?

Nonsense.

"Next."

The crow fidgeted. Of course, it was useless. It would only lose some feathers.

"You, what\'s your true identity?"

"Can\'t you see?!"

It raised its head high.

Seeing it still acting defiant even though it might be killed, maybe bird-brains really are bird-brains.

Hmm.

This creature didn\'t seem to be a legendary spirit bird.

Just a bird-brain that could talk, which was interesting enough.

It seemed like the threshold for surprise has become too high after dying and coming back to life.

"I can\'t tell just by looking."

"I\'ve lived in this palace longer than your father\'s father\'s father\'s father, and if you don\'t recognize me, it\'s because your head is filled with stupidity!"

My eyes widened involuntarily.

"You\'ve lived that long?"

"...Indeed!"

"Hey, crow."

I lowered my voice and said, "I told you I could kill you."

Frightened, it immediately became quiet again.

Actually, it wasn\'t an empty threat. If it didn\'t cooperate or told others about me, the best course of action would be to kill it.

"Explain it in a way that even this foolish head can understand. Let\'s get along, okay? If you listen well and prove useful... I can\'t make you my servant, but I can feed you."

I lightly flicked the top of its head with my index finger, and its fear-filled eyes welled up with tears.

So even a bird-brain can cry.

"Do you understand?"

It stayed silent for a moment before answering.

"It\'s true. I\'ve lived longer than your grandfather\'s grandfather."

I didn\'t quite believe it, but it didn\'t seem like a lie either.

"So you\'ve been freeloading in the palace despite being a wild creature."

You probably ate better than me when I was a beggar. Even just scavenging leftovers from the kitchen would be a feast.

I\'m kind of envious.

"Then you must know something. You\'re a bird-brain, but you can talk and fly, and you said I\'m the only one who knows you, right?"

I nodded to myself.

"Good. You\'ll be very useful."

Actually, if what it said was true, it would be even more useful than I had said. So useful that the word "very" wouldn\'t be enough to describe it.

But I couldn\'t just blurt out its true value and make it even more arrogant.

"Then..."

Maybe this creature was Taejo\'s arrangement after all? I might have to take back my criticism of the old man for being clueless.

"Tell me everything you know."

But it disappointed me.

"Who does the King favor more? Between me and the Second Prince."

"I-I don\'t know."

"Alright, who would know about favoritism? Do you know what the King is thinking? About the successor, I mean."

"I don\'t know."

"What are the Second Prince\'s weaknesses? Tell me anything, even something small."

"...I don\'t know."

"Then have you ever seen the Second Prince do anything embarrassing in secret? Like, maybe picking his nose and eating it or something?"

"Cawww! How dare you insult the royal family! Neither you nor he would do such a thing! You... You must be a demon!"

"Tsk."

How noble.

Then something important came to mind.

The King\'s favor and keeping the Second Prince in check were important, but the primary qualification to become the Crown Prince was royal blood.

The reason royal blood was special was because it was passed down from Taejo.

"Special abilities."

The creature visibly reacted.

I didn\'t miss that moment.

Of course, I didn\'t have high expectations. The special ability unique to the Ye royal family, which Taejo was said to have possessed, had been lost for over a hundred years.

If there was a possibility of having a special ability, it was probably due to the bloodline from the maternal So family.

In this situation, if the special ability of the Ye royal family came into my hands, there would be no stronger claim to legitimacy.

It would be like having an invincible card, but I didn\'t think such luck would come to me.

I have already come back to life. I have already received tremendous luck, and wanting more would be greedy.

Could it be that the ability to understand this creature\'s words was the special ability the First Prince had?

If that was the case, I wasn\'t too thrilled about it... but at least it was something.

"You little bird-brain... You\'ve got something, don\'t you?"

The creature started wriggling violently.

"I almost missed something so important."

But it was still a meaningless struggle.

"Answer me properly. If I catch you lying, I might just wring your neck."

"Wh-Wh-What are y-you t-talking ab-bout...?"

But no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn\'t imagine the First Prince not being aware of his own abilities.

I had heard that special abilities were like having a third arm or a third leg, something you could naturally use without anyone needing to tell you.

As long as you\'re a human with limbs, even if not everyone has extraordinary skills, you know where your limbs are and how to move them, right?

Then what? The answer that this creature was desperately trying to hide might not be on its side.

For example, something like this.

"I was just thinking, maybe there\'s something wrong with the Second Prince\'s special ability. Otherwise, why would he specifically target me?"

It was possible that the Second Prince was deceiving people by pretending to have a special ability.

With the influence of the Second Prince\'s maternal relatives, the Queen\'s father, Grand Marshal Woo Jo, and his family, it wouldn\'t be entirely impossible to fabricate something that didn\'t exist.

Yes, that was a more plausible explanation.

"Or..."

But from my perspective, knowing the future, the more suspicious one was me.

Because until the moment I died, I had never once heard any doubts about the Second Prince\'s special ability.

So, maybe.

Just maybe.

Daring to hope one more time.

"Do I have something too?"

Perhaps the cold sweat running down my forehead was because I was more desperate than I thought.