I Want To Die One Day Before You - Chapter 57
The sparrow, which had been crying out towards Rufus for a while, suddenly fluttered into the room. Landing on the floor, it shook its body, casting a long shadow against the wall.
In an instant, a man with ash-gray hair appeared.
Startled, Sarubia gasped.
“The sparrow turned into an uncle!”
“Ugh, I’m not that old yet…”
Transformed back into human form, Iruel looked at Sarubia with a bitter expression, then abruptly turned to Rufus.
“Look here, Lieutenant! I came to check since you didn’t return for so long, and what do I find? Why did you suddenly break the spell?”
“It wasn’t me.”
“Ah, enough! Mother is tired of waiting, let’s go back quickly! Put down your little girlfriend!”
Iruel forcibly separated Sarubia from Rufus and pressed his forehead, just as the Witch Odr had done.
Thump!
It all happened in a flash. Something black and paper-like fell helplessly to the floor.
“Huh? What? Is that Lord Rufus?”
Sarubia hurriedly knelt down to pick it up. A black butterfly trembled in her palm, seemingly hurt from the fall.
“What’s this? Is this Lord Rufus? What happened?”
A flustered Sarubia alternated her gaze between the butterfly and the man.
“Yes, surprisingly, that small and cute thing is Rufus. And now, I’m taking him back.”
The man transformed back into a sparrow in the blink of an eye. Sarubia’s eyes widened at the sight of the man turning into an animal.
“Who are you? Don’t tell me, a demon?”
“Hey, if I were a real demon, I wouldn’t be able to stroll around in this silver-dusted palace!”
The sparrow chattered nonchalantly.
“Please forget everything you saw today! Though, even if you tell someone, they probably won’t believe you!”
“Wait, what did you do to Lord Rufus!”
“Nothing much, just taking him back to where he was supposed to be. Don’t worry too much!”
The sparrow hopped onto Sarubia’s palm and bowed politely, then suddenly picked up the black butterfly with its beak.
Sarubia was enveloped in shock.
“Don’t eat Lord Rufus!”
“I won’t eat him, what a disgusting idea. Just transporting him. Goodbye!”
With these words, the sparrow, holding the butterfly in its closed beak, flew swiftly out of the window with a flutter.
“Iruel, you son of a…”
A faint human voice seemed to escape from the butterfly’s mouth as it was carried away by the sparrow.
***
Ptoo!
The sparrow, perched on the witch’s broom, spat out the butterfly.
“Hmm? I definitely sent him off as a crow, why did he return as a butterfly?”
The Witch Odr, leisurely knitting atop her broomstick, tilted her head in confusion.
“Because of a saintess.”
The sparrow pecked at the trembling butterfly that had fallen onto the broom.
“A saintess? Who?”
“His girlfriend—she’s a saint.”
“Oh my, do humans now employ saintesses as maids? Times must be tough for saintesses too.”
The Witch Odr’s long fingers lightly pressed the damp butterfly.
“Iruel, you…”
Rufus, back in human form, coughed and glared at Iruel.
The Witch Odr soothed Rufus with a look of pity.
“Forgive him. His magical skills are clumsy, only capable of turning someone into a low-intelligence animal.”
“……”
Rufus, about to wring the sparrow’s neck, barely restrained himself upon seeing Odr’s face.
No matter how frustrated he felt by the man, he couldn’t kill Iruel.
Not yet.
“It’s dangerous that you suddenly turned back into a human like that. If not for Iruel, it could have been disastrous.”
After making sure Rufus had a firm grip on the broom, Odr flicked her finger, releasing a burst of magic. The broom began to move swiftly again.
“I didn’t choose to return. And didn’t you say your magic couldn’t be undone? What happened?”
“Didn’t you say your lover is a saintess?”
Odr glanced at Rufus as if he was asking the obvious.
“I don’t quite understand.”
“Oh dear, didn’t you know? When a human is born with innate magic, they become a saint. Conversely, if a demon is born with innate magic, they become a witch.”
Odr added in a gentle voice.
“When similar types of magic come into contact, they cancel each other out. That’s why the magic of a saint and a witch don’t mix.”
“Sarubia doesn’t have any magic.”
“Come on, there’s no such thing as a being without magic. It’s just that her magic is so minimal it’s hardly noticeable.”
Is that so?
Certainly, when Sarubia, a saintess, touched him in his crow form, the spell was undone. Could it be because she neutralized the Witch Odr’s spell?
“But when I turned into a butterfly and landed on Sarubia’s hand, nothing happened…”
“Of course! Iruel isn’t a full witch!”
Odr looked back at the sparrow on her shoulder and laughed heartily.
