TREQ Ch 1

The quail pecked Killian’s cheek like a quick, light kiss. It was such brief contact that it was almost embarrassing to call it a kiss. Killian continued to feign sleep, his eyes languidly closed.

Peck.

Reassured, the quail pecked him once more. As if shy, its tiny feet fidgeted. Killian could feel its tail feathers trembling beside his face.

While in his human form, Noel was always eager to avoid Killian, but as a quail, he became quite bold. Killian finally couldn’t hold back a chuckle.

“Beep, beep-!”

As Killian opened his eyes with a laugh, the quail tumbled backward. Not just tumbled, but rolled head over heels. Killian easily caught him before he fell off the bed.

Did he not realize he was a bird? Killian couldn’t understand why he didn’t think to spread his wings and land.

“Honestly, you’re so stupid.”

Killian held the quail in his hand, a menacing look on his face, and cocked an eyebrow.

“Do it again properly. In your human form.”

“Beep-! Beep-!”

The quail shook its head defiantly, even turning its head away. For a creature so light that it rolled around even with the flap of an eagle’s wings, it was surprisingly stubborn. He shook his head so hard that a feather came loose and floated down onto the blanket.

“It’s an order. Do it again.”

Killian smirked and lifted his chin arrogantly.

🕊️⊹ ࣪ ˖️

A shoddy leather duffel bag was tossed into a corner with a thud. A few clothes and the brown ankle boots Killian had bought him last winter spilled out of the open bag.

Killian’s large hand seized Noel’s neck. The same neck he had bitten and kissed countless times the night before. The slender neck felt like it would break with the slightest pressure. He had, in fact, imagined breaking it.

“How dare you leave me?”

A cold light shone in his eyes, hinting at the quiet rage lurking beneath. And at the bottom of that rage lay a sharp, pervasive fear.

What Killian felt now was closer to fear than betrayal. Fear that this quail could genuinely leave him.

“This isn’t going to work.”

Killian whispered slowly, his low voice thick with sharp desire and anger.

“You were the one who relentlessly pursued me. You were the one who sweet-talked me, saying you’d wake me from my nightmares.”

“That, that was…”

Noel trailed off. It was a promise from eleven years ago. A promise that had already expired and become meaningless. Killian no longer walked through nightmares, and Noel was no longer the child who followed him like a mother bird.

“Ugh…! H-hand… Killian…”

Noel’s already pale face became ashen. The fluctuating rage in Killian’s eyes suffocated him more than the grip on his neck.

“This is the second time I’m asking. Where were you planning to go?”

“H-home…”

Noel’s stammering voice trembled pathetically. Tears welled up in his frightened eyes.

“That’s not it. Your answer doesn’t make sense. Where is home for you?”

“Hng…”

Killian gritted his teeth, watching Noel’s wavering eyes. He was the one who had picked up the quail. He was the one who had carried the frightened creature, unable to even fly, on his back and soared through the sky. He was the one who had spared its life and kept it by his side.

Therefore, Noel belonged to him. Noel couldn’t do anything without Killian. That’s how it had to be. He should be incapable of doing anything on his own.

“You told me to leave. You, Your Highness, clearly…”

“Ha.”

Killian cursed under his breath, running a hand through his hair in frustration. He shoved Noel onto the bed and climbed on top of him.

The force of his movement made Noel gasp and clutch the blankets. Small quail wings sprouted from behind the startled Noel’s back.

Whenever the quail Noel was pinned beneath the eagle Killian, he felt suffocated. He felt as if Killian would transform into an eagle at any moment and crush him with his sharp talons.

“Yes, I did, but now I feel cheated.”

“What…?”

“I need to be compensated for raising you.”

“How, how can I…? You know I have nothing.”

“Indeed. All you have to offer is your body.”

Noel’s face went white. Killian grabbed the wings that had sprouted from his back, his grip rough, as if he could snap them at any moment.

“Ugh…!”

“Shut up and take your clothes off. I’m in a fucking bad mood right now.”

🕊️⊹ ࣪ ˖️

Killian had to admit it now. The quail’s small flutters had become a tempest for him. From the moment he picked up the quail, his life had been thrown into a storm.

19 years ago.

Spring. The season when dormant breaths awaken and all things revive. Killian hated spring, the season where even the slightest breeze seemed to pulse with life.

He shuddered whenever he saw everyone bustling about with renewed energy, instinctively knowing that the most tiring season had arrived.

“Tsk.”

Killian Lenoir, the Empire’s first prince, had just turned seven years old today. Born to the Empress, he had lost his mother two years prior. Not long after her death, the Emperor had taken his mistress as his new consort. The son they had kept hidden was already three years old.

Killian’s position had weakened, but the fact remained that he, the legitimate heir, was the most likely candidate for the next emperor. However, the presence of the consort and his half-brother provided ample fodder for gossip among the nobles.

That was why Killian was currently sneaking away from his own birthday banquet, walking through the forest behind the Imperial Palace.

“Leeches.”

He kicked at the dirt with a rough shove of his foot. Neither the expensive, lace-trimmed shoes nor the gifts and delicacies offered by the nobles brought him any joy.

Killian spread the blue silk cloak, a recent gift from another kingdom, on the ground and lay down on it. Only after impatiently undoing the tightly knotted lace tie and several buttons could he finally breathe in the scent of the grass.

Instead of the barrage of questions laced with ulterior motives and the faces wearing artificial smiles, he gazed at the towering trees. It felt both liberating and, paradoxically, more suffocating.

Killian abruptly plucked a clump of flowers beside him. The petals and leaves, which had bloomed in a cluster, crumpled easily in his hand. But it wasn’t particularly entertaining.

It had been a while since Killian, still only seven, had become indifferent to everything in the world. He couldn’t tell if it was his nature or his position that had made him this way.

What was clear was that even this moment was boring to him.

“Tedious.”

Killian dusted off his hands. The leaves fell away, but the scent of flowers and grass lingered on his palms. The things he could hold in his hands would only increase with each passing year. But he knew none of them would bring him true joy.

“A stone?”

A small pebble, sitting alone in the bare patch where he had pulled up the grass, caught his eye. It seemed to have been hidden among the flowers and revealed by Killian’s actions.

The oval pebble was smooth, with mottled patterns of brown and gray.

The glossy stone looked like a tiny bird’s egg. But Killian couldn’t bring himself to believe it was one.

“Hmm.”

He was an eagle shapeshifter. It had been over a thousand years since shapeshifters, with their superior physical abilities, had seized power.

Among the various shapeshifter species, the eagle shapeshifters, the kings of the sky, had taken the throne. Consequently, most of the shapeshifters Killian had encountered so far were also birds of prey.

However, the round object before him was only slightly larger than the first joint of his thumb. He had never seen such a small bird’s egg. So, it was natural for Killian to think of it as a small pebble.

“Your Highness!”

“Where are you, Your Highness!”

He heard voices searching for him in the distance. They were likely servants or knights sent by the Emperor. He glanced in the direction of the voices and clicked his tongue.

“Annoying.”

Killian looked away from the pebble and stood up, intending to leave quickly. If caught, he would be dragged back to the banquet hall. But his feet remained rooted to the spot. The pebble had rolled over to stop at his feet.

“What?”

A moving stone? That was enough to pique his interest for a moment in this tedious day.

“Hmm.”

Frowning, he sat back down on his cloak. He picked up the smooth pebble and examined it closely. Was it magic? There were mages among those invited today.

The pebble began to crack as he rubbed it with his thumb. He felt movement inside. He remembered a fairy tale from a distant kingdom about a fairy emerging when a teacup was rubbed.

Crack!

With the usual cracking sound of an egg hatching, the stone cracked. The sound was faint, befitting its small size. Killian was familiar with this process. It was the process of a chick hatching from an egg.

So this small, stone-like thing was not a stone, but a real bird’s egg. Killian frowned at the egg with its thin shell.

“Peep…”

A tiny sound, barely audible unless one strained to hear, emerged from the cracked egg. Finally, a hatchling, its eyes still closed, emerged from the fully cracked egg.

“Huh?”

“Peep…”