Now, this was more like it.

Crest elegantly tore into the flesh before him, making sure to savour its sweet, juicy taste. Licking his talons clean, he closed his eyes and let the delicious meat rest inside his gut.

It had been far too long.

Lazily peeking one eye open, Crest spared his new subordinate a glance. She was still laid within her bed, sleeping. The maid, who had mustered up the courage to introduce herself as Rose to Crest, stood beside her. Crest had really started to grow fond of this particular maid due to her always delivering the best delicacies.

Currently, the maid was holding up a tray of food.

“Princess, I have brought your breakfast.” (R)

After waiting for a while and not receiving a response, the maid pulled out the small table that rested bedside. She placed the tray down and unloaded the food onto it. Finally finished, she oriented herself up from her bent position and made way to the door. Grasping its handle, she momentarily paused before opening it and taking leave.

‘Are you done pretending to be asleep?’ (C)

‘Leave me alone’ (Z)

The curt and apathetic reply lightly, just lightly, set Crest off. Since arriving in this world and forming their agreement, they were still yet to do anything productive. For the last seven days, all they did was coop up in this room, wasting time. Though, admittedly, it did give Crest time to consolidate his mind. Staying in that other world seemed to have affected his mental state negatively.

Raising his body off the ground, Crest stretched it out.

He had gotten too used to flying daily. Letting his sharp eyes drift around, he smothered his desire to destroy all the instruments scattered about. Every day, without fail, his new subordinate would wake up just to play one of the instruments. It was the only thing she would do, and it was annoying. The playing would last for hours, and all the songs would be sad and frustrating sappy. In those times of playing, Crest couldn’t sense any emotion flowing from her. Talking to her during those times was like talking to a wall.

‘What happened to those oh so great plans of yours?’ (C)

‘I’m… I’m working on them’ (Z)

She was going to become Queen. An ambition Crest was certain was part of her plan and one he would undoubtably make true. When Crest first arrived in this world, he was a content man. A fact which still remained unchanged, but even he couldn’t pass up such an opportunity present before him. The opportunity to lead a powerful nation. In his past life, Crest had come to quite the unfortunate realisation of his era. No matter how much wealth and status you could accumulate, no one man could truly rule his country alone. Born into a democratic republic, Crest had unknowingly accepted such. He had once aspired to change that. To become greatness incarnate… but, he uncharacteristically gave up. Not because such a task was impossible, no, but because such a feat would take a time greater than his lifespan. Right now, right here, he was being given another opportunity to rule as he saw fit.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

And, he would do just that.

‘What-what are you doing?’ (Z)

Standing beside the bed, Crest grasped its bedding using his beak. It would be a bit of a of a shame he couldn’t rule directly. It would be achieved through his new “companion” but Crest didn’t mind too much. Being a puppeteer would be fun.

‘Lord, I already told you to-‘ (Z)

Crest pulled the beddings. Hard.

‘What is wrong with you!?’ (Z)

Crest gazed at the girl, elegantly scrawled on the ground. Despite her raging emotions and harsh words flowing into him, her face still remained its ever-expressionless self. If he couldn’t sense her emotions, he wouldn’t have pegged her to be the slightest bit troubled by his actions.

‘Staying holed up in this room won’t further your “plans”’ (C)

Nor his.

‘Honestly, how do you expect to become the Queen with such brutish, unpolished behaviour?’ (C)

This lazy Princess couldn’t even be bothered to eat when required to.

‘What? When did I ever say-‘ (Z)

Deciding they had wasted enough time talking, Crest used his beak to lift his slothful subordinate off the ground.

‘Lord… you better let go of my nightgown before I make you regret it‘ (Z)

‘Really?’ (C)

Crest wasn’t scared of this unusual girl. It wasn’t because he believed she couldn’t hurt him, but because he knew she wouldn’t. The mere thought of hurting someone led the girl to despair. Crest could feel that as clearly as the warning signs his body sent towards the girl. She was dangerous, but not to him.

‘Hey-hey! Stop moving already!’ (Z)

Crest slowly bound to the door of the room with the back of his subordinate’s dress in his beak. The room was full to the brim with tripping hazards.

‘C-Careful! The instruments are still out!’ (Z)

Really? When were they never?

After the annoyingly gruelling process of manoeuvring, Crest managed to make it to the door. Grasping its handle with his talons.

‘Okay, that’s enough!’ (Z)

A swing, the result of an attempt to escape, suddenly destabilised Crest’s balance. It resulted in him taking a back step… and knocking over one of the instrument stands. A domino effect was created with each stand taking down the one closet to it.

‘Well… I guess that takes care of that problem’ (C)

‘You…! I--I…’ (Z)

As his subordinate struggled to find the words, Crest opened the door. They had places, after all. It was about time they started on his plan. Step one: gather information about the enemy. Crest was already aware how the enemy resembled. He had seen them at the ceremony, and, simply put, it was a good thing that the priest held people back from attacking.

This might actually be a little bit of a challenge.

----------------------------------------

‘Are you still not going to tell me?’ (L)

Hearing the voice in his head, Zuian didn’t bother responding. Since the past week, it lost its booming, ancient tone, and with it, any respect Zuian feigned for it.

‘Surely you must have realised that the longer this takes, the more embarrassed you are going to feel?’ (L)

Zuian was really starting to hate the bond formed between them.

‘Suit yourself then, but I must revaluate your response to such situations. Being unnecessarily stubborn won’t take you very far’ (L)

Zuian wouldn’t direct this dumb beast anywhere, even if he could. The creature was rude, intitled and always seemed to forget that Zuain was BLINDFOLDED. It usually wasn’t such a problem under normal circumstances, but when the beast keeps disorienting Zuian, it becomes hectic. A prime example of this is when the first arrived at the castle. It was only through sheer dumb luck that they found his room due to the beast using an entrance Zuian didn’t know the castle had.

Zuian normally orients himself in space by excreting his senses lightly and mapping out the objects nearby. It was a conscious effort, which meant that if Zuian was distracted, the effect would greatly dampen. With the way they left his room, Zuian wasn’t even sure where they were in the castle.

They were really walking blind.

‘Ah, that’s quite a couple of guards. I wonder what they could be for?’ (L)

Crud! Really!?

A person may ask, what exactly were they looking for? Well, according to Lord, the dining room where all their enemies reside.

Calm down, it’s alright.

After taking just a second to think about the situation, Zuian felt his slight panic leave him. There was no way the guards would allow a beast to enter, no matter how-

‘It’s quite nice of them to open the door for us, don’t you think?’

Damn it!