[Corvus POV]
"Mister Raven, why do I have the feeling that you were jealous when I danced with Crown Prince?"
Corvus paused when Anna asked that. He thought his cover as a regular Raven had been blown away, and Anna finally discovered his identity as a raven by accident. Since their mind mysteriously got connected to each other during that banquet.
Yes, Corvus realized that their minds were connected when Corvus could hear Anna's voice when she asked if he was jealous of her dance with Ignis.
Truthfully, Corvus didn't understand his feeling either. He was unsure if he was jealous of Anna and Ignis or because he just didn't want to be left alone.
As a cursed monster, he was destined to be alone for his entire life. So him getting jealous of Anna was uncalled for.
'Surely, a monster like me cannot have a heart. How treacherous would it be for the world to have a monster with heart?' Corvus thought. As the Raven, Corvus stayed silent, not croaking or clucking. He waited until Anna shook her head and laughed at herself.
"Ah, I must've been too tired. I really thought that you are actually a human, Mister Raven," Anna laughed at herself. She wiped the sweat on her forehead and patted Corvus' head once more. "Wait here, I will bring you something."
Anna got up from the bench and was about to leave. Corvus thought Anna would need to work somewhere else, so he wanted to perch on Anna's shoulder again. "Ah, no—no, Mister Raven, stay here, okay? Head Maid Edith would kill me if she caught me taking care of you here."
'Edith? Miss Edith, the head maid?" Corvus pondered. She was close with Edith, just like Ignis was quite close with her because Miss Edith had taken care of them since birth. Miss Edith was his mother's loyal servant.
'Did she bully Anna because she is a new maid?' Corvus started speculating. 'If I remember correctly, Edith is a very strict head maid and often scold maids who are lazy or incompetent at doing her job. Did she bully Anna just because?'
Corvus started speculating in his head whether Anna was bullied as a new maid in this kingdom or not. Because Corvus was mostly locked inside the tower, he didn't know anything that was happening inside his kingdom for ten years.
True, he could just spy around as a raven, but his apathy towards this kingdom's people was the same as their apathy towards him.
But the moment he imagined Anna getting mistreated, bullied, and possibly beaten, Corvus started having this same dark thought again. It was really foreign, like a dark cloud inside his heart that gradually thickened, and he would lose control again.
'If Anna got bullied and beaten by someone…' Corvus started imagining Anna who got beaten by other maids or other royals,
she could only cry and beg for their mercy, just like what Ignis did to him when he accidentally killed his father and Serena.
Ignis kicked him and burned his feather until Corvus was severely burned. His mother, Queen Seria, was too shocked to react until she finally realized that Corvus was severely burnt and beaten by Ignis.
They were in a ball when that traumatizing thing happened ten years ago. Corvus still remembered the gaze of the people. Fear, estrangement, anger, all of them judged Corvus as guilty.
A monster worth being hunted and killed.
'Yes, it is my fault, and I owned it… but Anna…'
Corvus' imagination started going wild again as the scenario inside his head got worse and worse. Maybe Anna was only eating the leftover food of other maids? Perhaps Anna was not given a drink? Maybe Anna was treated like a slave and never got paid?
Maybe Anna… was suffering…
Corvus' raven body started emitting strange cloud again, and the flowers beneath the bench wilted immediately. 'Maybe I should… get rid of some people…'
"Mister Raven, I'm here!" Anna yelled at Raven Corvus, who was still on the bench.
'Anna!'
"Creaak! Creeaak!" Corvus' dark aura vanished instantly when Anna appeared again with two loaves of bread. He flew towards Anna and perched on Anna's shoulder.
"Are you hungry or something?" Anna smiled on the bench again and patted her lap, allowing Corvus to perch on her lap. "Come here, on my lap."
Corvus stared at Anna's lap for a while.
'This… I shouldn't think of unholy things…' Corvus gulped as he suddenly became nervous. He decided to just roost on the bench again, near Anna's thigh.
Anna ignored Raven's weird attitude and chipped the bread to make crumbs enough for the Raven to eat with his beak. "Mister Raven, is it just me, or the flowers beneath the bench actually wilted? I thought I've taken care of it very well," Anna pondered.
Corvus gulped again. He almost choked on the bread crumbs fed by Anna. Again, he was out of control for no reason when he thought of Anna getting hurt, or Anna went with Ignis.
'I thought I have enough self-control over myself. But maybe, I need to learn more, so I will not harm Anna in the future…' Corvus thought.
Anna continued feeding the Raven, who obediently ate the bread that anna gave to him. The Raven, although it looked intimidating because of the bad omen rumour surrounding the said animal, actually looked very time in front of Anna.
Anna chuckled and patted the raven head. "Wait until I collected enough money. I will buy you a necklace with a nametag, okay?"