The exhilarating excitement Nasir felt at first gradually changed into something bigger and more viscous as he observed her.

Haniel, feeling lonely despite being among numerous living beings that loved her.

Watching her secretly as she exhausted all her energy just to cultivate a territory too vast for her to use alone, Nasir was filled with a sympathetic heart to an extent he didn’t know he possessed, and yet he still found her lovable.

‘It must be because she has no family.’

<I must make sure she’s not lonely.>

Nasir watched many aspects of Haniel from within the shadows of the forest.

Her melancholy moments, her satisfaction while farming and gathering, her nest-mending activities, her managing of her own carnal desires, her breeding seasons. Each and every one was lovely.

But among Haniel’s numerous facets, what stood at the forefront of Nasir’s mind, returning to shake him whenever he might forget, was the image of her from the very first moment he saw her.

Why had that particular image and scenery of Haniel at that moment struck his heart so deeply?

Surrounded by wind, looking lonely as if she were the last person in this world.

That appearance, seeming even more free than Nasir himself, who had wings…

After hiding himself and watching her for a long time, Nasir developed things he wanted to tell Haniel.

Haniel standing alone against the wind.

Nasir wanted to tell her that wind isn’t something to stand against, but something to let your body ride and flow with.

And that… with Nasir, with him, it would be even easier. He wanted to let her know. That’s what he wanted to say.

And so Nasir decided to approach Haniel.

Cunningly pretending to be an injured baby bird, revealing himself while trembling his feathers.

“Huh? A baby bird… Oh! Is it injured?”

He nestled against her, as if asking Haniel, who seemed to care for small animals, to care for him too, to form an attachment from now on.

“I’ll call you ‘Saedol.'”

The destined companion who would transform him, a baby bird, into an adult.

Nasir had found his wife, who would rule this forest with him.

⋆˚🐾˖°⋆˚🐾˖°⋆˚🐾˖°

But looking back, it was truly a foolish thing to do.

While he was moving hesitantly and slowly like a newborn’s down feathers, some damned wandering wolf had burrowed his way to her side…

The already harsh forest became crowded with people searching for their runaway dog, and bold land creatures with eyes burning with desire for anything rare and valuable.

Naturally, Nasir, who became urgent with the desire to quickly become an adult and stand proudly by his bride’s side, hastily left his position, intending to return promptly.

But what? In that brief moment, his mate had apparently mated with that wolf cub not just once or twice, but several times!

“I found you first.”

Nasir’s feathers trembled.

His splendid features twisted with unbearable indignation and anger.

You are my wife.

“I knew this would happen. I knew something like this would happen from the moment that dog came here.”

“No. Calm down, Nasir. He… well, Regan suddenly went into heat…”

“What?”

Nasir’s eyes widened as large as lanterns.

“You spent his heat season, with a Hume?”

“Huh? Yes.”

“You, do you know what that means…”

What meaning? As Haniel tried to guess what Nasir was implying, he stepped closer to her.

“Don’t tell me that man didn’t tell you?”

Humes spend their heat season with their mates and stay together for almost their entire lives.

This was a fact that even Nasir, who had spent his life only in this forest, knew well.

But it seemed that the Hume male in Haniel’s house, Regan, hadn’t told her anything about such matters.

Nasir’s mouth, which was about to question her about this, slowly closed.

‘No, I have no reason to tell her this. Who would that benefit?’

Haniel was Nasir’s mate.

Until that cursed wolf cub got stuck here like a recently rolled-in stone, he was the one closest to Haniel.

So Nasir quickly made a decision. He decided not to bother mentioning the Hume customs that this Regan had not revealed to her.

Instead, he changed his strategy slightly and began to stare at Haniel with provocative eyes.

“Surely you’re not planning to breed with that Hume fellow, leaving me behind…”

“Huh? Nasir. Why are you holding my hand…”

“Look, Haniel. You always praised how soft my feathers were.”

Nasir’s large hand took Haniel’s and pulled it toward his temple.

After being momentarily distracted by his hand that strangely resembled a raptor’s talons, Haniel swallowed at the unfamiliar sensation touching her fingertips.

“You can touch it.”

Nasir whispered as if doing her a favor.

Hearing his tone, she immediately wanted to rebuke him, but her fascination was greater… after all, his hair, shimmering under the sunlight, looked truly soft and beautiful, worthy of Nasir’s pride!

With no choice, Haniel opened her hand and stroked Saedol… Nasir’s hair and the feather-like fur around it.

This was incredible.

“Wow. It’s soft… really, really soft.”

An exclamation burst forth spontaneously.

The sensation under her hand was even softer than when she had stroked Nasir in his bird form.

The smooth, soft fur on his head… that is, his hair. And if she lifted the hair covering his pointed ears like Regan’s, there was slightly fluffy down like a bird’s inside.

Is this what touching a cloud would feel like?

As Haniel’s hand gently ruffled and combed down the blue hair—a color not found among humans—Nasir’s mouth spread without him realizing it.

Peep peep.

‘Huh? Did I hear wrong?’

She thought she had just heard something chirping slightly…

Tilting her head, Haniel again absentmindedly ruffled and stroked Nasir’s hair.

Then the sound came again.

Peep… peep peep.

It wasn’t her imagination.

Haniel’s lips trembled as they curved upward. A very faint noise like a young bird whimpering in its sleep.

That sound was coming from inside Nasir’s throat!

‘This is unbelievable.’

Peep peep. Peeep…

Haniel’s touch, like birds preening each other’s feathers, was combing through his hair. Nasir seemed to be letting out satisfied m*ans under her touch without even realizing it himself.

Why did this suddenly feel so endearing?

A deep smile appeared on Haniel’s lips as she remembered the trembling baby bird that had once been in her hands.

Her naturally stroking hands transformed effortlessly into the affectionate ones of before.

“So pretty, so pretty.”

Soon she could see that Nasir’s ears had turned bright red.

‘They’re shaped a bit differently from Regan’s…’

While Regan’s ears were quite pretty too, Nasir’s were smaller and, despite their sharpness, extremely aesthetically shaped—beautiful ears.

Not fully human ears, but ‘Reginas’ ears with a few blue feathers sticking up like plumes at the tips.

Without thinking, Haniel reached out to those ears and gently caressed them.

The reaction was immediate.

“!”

Fwoosh!

Nasir, with goosebumps rising from his toes, shuddered violently and exclaimed in a high-pitched voice.

“What are you doing!”

“S-sorry?”

“If you’re sorry…”

Nasir, his entire face turning bright red, opened and closed his mouth before suddenly calming down and pushing his head forward.

“…No. No, keep touching me.”

‘What’s going on?’