Published: March 21, 2026
Right, left, right, right...
I lost count of how many turns we'd taken, following Lord Crow away from the main street until we were well off the center.
At first I tried to guess where he was headed, but once he started taking roads I’d never been on, I was hopeless.
The town was already a tangled mess of streets; even if you lived there, it was hard to fully know the side alleys the way you did the main roads.
The road we were on now was dim and nearly deserted. I couldn’t tell where in the town we were.
We had been walking so long my feet were starting to hurt.
"Lord Crow, how much longer until we get there?"
I had asked so many times I’d lost count.
His steady, unchanging pace made it clear he wasn’t lost, but being in an unfamiliar place made me uneasy, and that was only natural.
"A few more minutes. ...What, have you gotten soft from living like a princess and already tired out?"
Even though I knew he was teasing me, his mocking tone made me pout.
"I'm not tired! Anyone would be uneasy if they weren't told where they were going."
"Oh? So you feel uneasy following an unknown road now? You used to follow right behind me no matter where I led."
When could he possibly be talking about?
As far as I remember, I’d never followed him down an unknown road. Or—maybe I had.
"Forgotten? Your mother once asked you to run an errand to the neighboring town and I went with you. I took a detour and you never noticed."
Now that he mentioned it, I remembered that.
It was around then that Lord Crow started tricking me more often.
Back then I’d believed his words too honestly and followed him on detours that added decades—figuratively speaking—to our journey to the next town.
It did make for good exercise, so I didn't mind being tricked, but I was appalled at how gullible I was.
Thinking back, there was no reason to cross two mountains to get to the neighboring town. It wasn't that rural.
"That was then. Things are different now!"
"They had better be."
His blunt reply annoyed me. Why was he so bad at conversational back-and-forth?
"Lord Crow hasn’t changed at all! You still treat me like a child, and you’re terrible at conversation!"
He truly hadn’t changed.
He looked like the same Crow from back then, right here in front of me. Is it possible for anyone—beastmen or otherwise—to stay the same for decades?
"Child or not, you are still a child. Besides, I have no intention of changing. Conversation? I never felt the need for it, then or now."
"Hmph! I am a woman! It's because of you that you’re single all this time! With a face like yours it's a waste!"
Why did he insist on being alone like this?
Being alone is lonely, sorrowful, and painfully hard.
If you've never had anything, maybe loneliness doesn't hurt. But I knew what it was to not be alone. Crow should know it too.
When everyone in the village died, and Crow was gone, I felt as if a hole had opened in my chest.
Being alone is that: losing someone important leaves a void that suddenly starts to throb with hurting, and it's unbearable.
Now that I lived in the Royal Castle and met many people, I didn’t feel alone so much, but Crow was different.
I didn't think he wished to be alone. Yet here he was, alone.
When I said as much, he curled the corner of his mouth in a self-deprecating way.
"Being single is fine... I no longer intend to be happy."
"...Huh?"
His muttered words made my eyes widen.
"When I decided to avenge my sister, I stopped considering my own happiness. Once I placed that on a young man's shoulders, my path to hell was sealed."
I had vaguely known about "sister's revenge."
Back in the village I had asked him about his beloved sister, and how she had been killed by their kin during adrea's nightmare. He hadn’t told me who the killers were, but his eyes had been sorrowful and fiercely burning when he spoke.
I had forgotten other details, but that had stuck with me. But what did he mean by putting it on a young man?
Asking someone else to carry out the revenge? That wouldn't clear Crow's conscience.