On the first night Birdie became Ann’s contracted beast, it slipped Ann’s mind to start accommodating for Birdie. She scratched her head in confusion as she said with a shrug, “Well, I guess you can go sleep anywhere you like to.”
“Chirp chirp~,” Birdie said with an affirmative tone as she plumped towards one of the pillows on Ann’s bed.
“EH?!” Ann widened her eyes in disbelief, “Are you sure you’re going to sleep there?”
“Chirp~,” Birdie rolled to the left and right.
Faye’s jaws were opened wide. She couldn’t believe how insolent this Birdie was! To choose to sleep next to Arlea-sama’s side?! Ever since getting her own bed in the maids’ quarter, Faye never slept with Arlea anymore…She felt…jealous.
“But what if I accidentally crush you under my body?” Ann was really concerned.
“Chirppppp,” Birdie refused to move from the bed.
“Arlea-sama, what about letting Birdie sleep with me?” Faye asked. She would rather have this mistress-thief sleep with her than letting her sleep with Arlea-sama! If she couldn’t sleep with Arlea-sama, then this birdie couldn’t too! Hmph!
“I mean, it would be troublesome if she were to dirty your bed…,” Faye inserted an argument.
“That’s true. But would you be—”
“I’ll be fine. It’s a maid’s duty to let their masters live well. My bed is easier to clean than yours,” Faye cut off Ann’s words.
“Okay then…Birdie, you go sleep with Faye for today,” Ann said as she nudged Birdie. But Birdie held on to the pillow very tightly. Ann tried to lift Birdie, but somehow Birdie was so strong that she was clinging on the pillow and the bed.
Ann sighed. It couldn’t be helped, then.
“Sure, you can sleep with me but don’t dirty the bed. There’s toilet over there if you need it. I’m sure you’re intelligent enough to understand me, right?” Ann asked.
“Chiii,” Birdie growled as if she protested that Ann even questioned her intelligence.
“Alright then. It won’t be my responsibility if you were injured due to sleeping with me…got it?” Ann tried to threaten Birdie, but it didn’t work. Ann knew that she might not be able to remain still in her sleep, thus she was genuinely concerned over Birdie’s wellbeing. But if Birdie insisted, then she got no other choice.
Thus, Birdie slept comfortably next to Ann, while Faye returned to her own bed, heartbroken…
The next morning, Ann woke up seeing the cute little pink birdie sleeping so soundly next to her. Ann smiled reflexively from this relaxing spectacle. She used her index finger to nudge Birdie softly.
“Wake up, Little Birdie! Rise and shine~,” Ann said.
“Ch…chirrrp?” Birdie slowly opened her eyes and got up from her sleep.
‘KYAA—ADORABLE!’ Ann’s heart almost exploded. She didn’t expect to be so happy for having Birdie sleep next to her. She thought that she wouldn’t be able to sleep well and would wake up worried over crushing Birdie or if Birdie made a mess…Guess what? None of that happened.
Ann softly patted Birdie to make sure Birdie was completely sober. Faye arrived at this display of affection that caused her heart to burn with jealousy. But she kept herself restrained for she believed that Birdie would get her own place to rest and reside soon. It was no biggie~!
Faye’s guess was right, as in the morning, after Ann took a bath and got changed…
“Ah, that’s right, can I go outside again to search for a birdcage for Birdie?” Ann asked. Incidentally, Ann and Allen were having their breakfast together today.
“…Why don’t we invite a craftsman here to make the birdcage?” Allen suggested.
“HUH, WE CAN DO THAT?!” Ann was very surprised she almost choked on her food. If Simone were here, she would already say, “Minus xxx point.”
Allen was surprised by Ann’s unladylike behavior, but for some reason, he wasn’t repulsed by it, neither did he hate it. He thought that it was amusing.
“Yes. I’ll call a craftsman I know so you can make an arrangement with him later,” Allen said.
“Thank you so much!” Ann was excited. Having something personally made for her (her contracted beast, to be more exact) was akin to a luxury to her. As a modern person, she was more used to have things ready made. The most she had done in the modern world was to commission some arts and had her name written on a necklace. But now, something physical was going to be made from the scratch as per her request!
For some reason, Allen’s mood was lifted up.
Allen then asked one of his subordinates to request for the said craftsman to come to his residence that afternoon. He hesitated a bit when his mind told him to tell the craftsman to agree only for a comfortable birdcage to be made. If Arlea were to request something that could inconvenience Birdie, the craftsman had to refuse.
Allen hesitated because for some reason, he didn’t feel like it was necessary to do that. Still, his mind triumphed over his feelings as he made sure his subordinate conveyed this message to the craftsman.
The craftsman never met with Arlea before, and he wasn’t someone who had heard any rumors about her. Therefore, upon receiving the instruction, he furrowed his eyebrows and stroked his moustache. That instruction implied that this woman he was supposed to work for—she might think of the bird only as an ornament and might disregard the bird’s comfortability in the cage. That was definitely an awful first impression.
The craftsman sighed. A job was still a job, after all. He had the permission from the master of the said residence to decline if the request was too absurd. Nothing could go wrong.
Thus, that afternoon, the craftsman arrived in the Schwartzen residence.
When Ann welcomed him, Ann was surprised to see that the craftsman wasn’t as she imagined. She imagined a robust and muscular man, a rough and a bright young man to arrive. But what arrived was an elderly man with a moustache that formed the curved “w” letter. He had slanted eyes that reminded her of a fox. Then, those eyes were covered by glasses. The man’s build was slender and…totally betrayed her expectation of a craftsman.
But if Allen recommended him, then he must be good.
“Greetings, Lady Schwartzen. How may I help you with the birdcage you desire?” The man said politely as he bowed. Ann blinked her eyes in surprise. It seemed that this craftsman was so adept in etiquette towards nobles. The man must have been working for so many nobles in his life. Ann felt a little bit unconfident with her progress in noble etiquette…
“Ah yes, thank you for coming, Mister…”
“You may call me Hugh.”
“Mister Hugh! Thank you for coming. You see this cute Little Pinkie Birdie?” Ann asked as she pointed at the small bird perched on her shoulder.
Hugh adjusted his glasses and seemed to widen his eyes slightly as he said, “Why, yes, I see.”
The bird’s name is Pinkie Birdie?? It was so true to its name.
“She’s cute and adorable. She’s small, but I’d like to have a big cage made for her to live comfortably. It has to be so spacious she could fly around. Then, make sure to have a good bedding for her…Oh, also for the food and drink place, it had to be cute and good too—then…Ah, why not make a mini castle for her?!” Ann asked with sparkling eyes. She didn’t hold back at all and considered it her satisfaction to have a mini castle be made as Birdie’s cage. She would own the gorgeous cage, after all!
She wasn’t stingy at all in the first place for things like this. Also, she didn’t need to mind about the fee since Allen told her that he would be paying!
While she wanted not to become a spendthrift, she remembered that she would die soon, so she decided to just go all out to fulfill her desire. Thankfully, she wasn’t a spendthrift in the first place.
Hugh froze on the spot.
This was truly the epitome of unlimited budget works.
Hugh’s mouth twitched as he asked, “A…a mini castle cage?”
“Yes, yes! Don’t you think it will be a great idea? Birdie is a female, so make it cute too,” Ann said.
“This…” was beyond his expectations.
“What’s wrong, Mister Hugh? Could it be that my idea won’t be good? If yes, then just make me a great and cute huge cage…Ah, will it be okay for Birdie to be in that huge cage? Just make it comfortable if having a huge one is bad for her,” Ann quickly added.
Hugh understood now. This lady was a bit bizarre in her request. The husband was afraid that the wife’s request would be too bizarre that the bird would be inconvenienced living there. Thankfully, the lady was actually kind and didn’t forget the bird’s comfortability. The husband might be afraid that the wife forgot about it and reminded him to let her know!
Hugh’s impressions of Ann soared—yet at the same time it soared towards the ‘good weirdo’ category.
“No, it will be alright. I will work on it quickly,” Hugh said.
“When will it be finished?”
“I can deliver it to you tomorrow afternoon.”
“What?! That fast?!” Ann almost popped her eyes out of their sockets.
“Yes…I have a whole team working under me, and we’re also saved by the fact that some of us can use magic to help with the production. No need to worry about the quality drop, as I’ll ensure it to have a good quality,” Hugh said.
“…”
Ann thought Hugh was working alone…and it completely slipped her mind that magic existed in this world and it could help chores tremendously.
Thus, Ann was very excited the whole day until the next day’s afternoon. She let Birdie stay next to her again that day, and Faye tried her best to be patient and kept convincing herself that tomorrow, her anguish would be over.
The next day’s afternoon, Hugh arrived with his subordinates to bring the huge birdcage over to the Schwartzen residence. The maids who saw the cage being transported all felt like their eyes would pop out of their sockets.
That day, they learned that their ‘new’ mistress was a huge fan and pamperer of birds.
Arlea-sama is a bird person!!
The birdcage was so huge that two workers had to move it together. Hugh led the way to report to Ann first. Ann immediately showed the way to the workers—she decided to put the birdcage in her room’s living room. It seemed to be the perfect place to put it.
After the workers put the birdcage there, the workers and Hugh opened the cloth covering the birdcage, revealing an elegant white mini castle birdcage to Ann, Faye, and Birdie. The birdcage had beautiful and comfortable bedding resembling a real noble bed, the feeding section, the playground, and even the toilet section. It was a perfect bird castle.
Ann was so satisfied with the end result and complimented Hugh and the workers. Since their client was happy and satisfied, Hugh and his subordinates excused themselves from the room and returned.
Now only one human, one bird halfling, and one bird monster left in the room.
Ann opened the bird castle’s door happily and said to Birdie, “Tadaaa, Birdie! It’s your new castle-home! How do you like it? Don’t worry, the door will be opened so you can still go out whenever you’d like to. But now, you don’t need to follow me around and can have fun and rest alone~”
Ann turned to look at Birdie with anticipation in her eyes. She was waiting for Birdie’s excited response…
Birdie stared at Ann then at the bird castle next to her that was built just for Birdie…
Ann held her breath in anticipation.
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You know I am still suspicious of Birdie especially because it feels like forced contract. Probably also because I am a fan of Faye and this little bird are stealing my precious girl's spotlight from the story!
I'm a bit suspicious about her too, but I think that Birdie will be/is genuine in wanting to help Ann when the situation calls for it. It don't think Birdie showed up in the original story since Ann doesn't recognize her from anywhere. I wonder if Birdie is involved to the Claritianta family's plot at all-possibly sent by that mage they contacted to try and get "Arlea" back on track with whatever they're plotting, but Ann's adorkableness and cheerfulness will bring Birdie solely to be on her side
Faye definitely needs more spotlight (and a hug) and to be pampered by Ann so Faye knows Ann isn't letting her 'maid' (daughter) go unloved
Don't know... to me me they are to separate things, bot adorable in their own way.
They are not interchangeable...
Something telles me Birdy will react like a cat and ignore the new fancy house for the pillow...
Since there is no box to choose from anyway, it seems like a logical decison.
Thank you very much for another two fluffy chapters~
Ann was very surprised she almost choked on her food. -> was so surprised
Minus xxx point -> points
you desire?” The man said politely as he bowed -> the
Sounds like Faye should ask if she can sleep in Ann’s room too. Since Faye is her child-I mean ‘maid’. Faye definitely needs some hugs and pampering
Ann is definitely a bird lady.
"Sure, you can sleep with me but don't dirty the bed. There's toilet over there if you need it. I'm sure you're intelligent enough to understand me, right?" Ann asked.
I am done with the pink bird's shit. Either add explanations or the novel is over. I react like this is because it's a reduction of protagonist agency and the protagonist doesn't care to address the issue. This has a tendency to lead into annoying plots where the protagonist is dragged around and can't resolve their situation on their own, and I don't want to read such books because I like to feel empathetic to a protagonist - but I don't like being helpless.
Please pamper Faye. It's been too long.
I guess the biggest problem is that neither Faye nor Ann takes the initiative to speak up. I'm sure Ann would love to pamper Faye if only Faye would make her desire for attention known. And Faye doesn't realize how dense Ann is, so she doesn't speak up.
unladylike behavior, but for some reason, he wasn’t repulsed by it, neither did he hate it. He thought that it was amusing.
Not really a problem with your writing but I have been reading some chinese stories recently and I swear i am done with that line. Like male MC does something some random chick would not like but for some reason MC has some special aura that makes her okay with it. Every single time. I swear every time I think to start reading some chinese stories that all the authors were taught by the same 2 or 3 schools depending on genre with how similar the stories are.
I guess for you, author, I would advise do more showing then telling. rather than telling us that ML is not repulsed by it make him act like he is truly not repulse.
ex:
“HUH, WE CAN DO THAT?!” Ann was very surprised she almost choked on her food.
"Yes," allen said while passing Ann her glass of water, "Don't speak and eat you will choke"
or something
Capital 'A' for Allen and the the last sentence could be like -> "But it's dangerous to talk while eating" (Furrowed brows... JK) 눈_눈
(I'm thinking that if you put words of caution at the start, he'll look like he cares for her. Also, if 'Don't' is used at the beginning, it seem like he's commanding her, than it feels like Allen has no feelings for her.)
PS: OP, I think you made a good point btw.
But there is also a reason why Chinese romance novels always have this cliche scene, I think it's because it gives you a fluffy(?) feeling. The author did really well by not making it too fluffy, but small scenes like these are necessary I believe.
Final note (to author):
If the above points were taken into account and used, I think you should definitely keep most of what was originally written.
But you could have for example:
(OP's) "Yes (maybe 'Sure')," Allen said while passing Ann a glass of water, (not taking credit for this) "But it's dangerous to talk while eating"
(Then author's) Allen was surprised by Ann’s unladylike behaviour, but for some reason, he wasn’t repulsed by it, neither did he hate it. He thought that it was amusing.
I think the above could somewhat work, you know, less cliche scenes I guess. But personally I prefer what Author originally wrote.
@OffTrackReader This post wasted 40 minutes of my life, so OP, don't hate me plz 人(_ _*).
@OffTrackReader No, I think what you added is more in-depth and good. Its cool to see others adding on.
In regards to the chinese comments, I understand that cliches are a reliable way to get the reader to feel a thing but over done it loses its value. ex any cultivation story after the 3rd young master face slapping. Face slapping scenes can be a lot of fun comeuppance but that's when it is earned. If it is some random young master or whatever that gets faced slapped every 3 chapters its not fun anymore. And since every author over uses it, it has driven me insane and now I don't have as much fun with face slapping scenes anymore.
My main gripe with what the author did is with this line
Allen was surprised by Ann's unladylike behavior, but for some reason, he wasn't repulsed by it, neither did he hate it.
bc in harem chinese novels they use a variation of this line to make some female interested/fall in love with MC. like MC is slightly sexist or flirts with the female and then the inner thoughts of the female (so she stays high class) is "normally I hate men that flirt with me but for some reason I don't mind it with this guy" on like their first interaction. The chinese authors use it as a cheap and easy way to make female fall in love with male with no effort. I was just reading a story that had that line in it that sorta triggered me and made me sensitive to it. which is the main reason why I commented here. There has been already a lot of build up with Allen and Ann so far that it is not out of place.
Also sorry for making you read this abomination of unedited text.
@RobotRatz666 Brother/sister from another mother! I get exactly what you mean!
For ML cultivation (or in general) novels, there's always horrible cliches (something similar) like:
Every pretty girl encountered feels like they've been picked and thrown into their rapidly enlarging harem. For those types of novels, you never feel like the girl has any chance but to choose the ML and all other candidates are, well... crap?
Other cliches are the plot armour, every protagonist needs them, but some are way too obvious.
In the case of FL novels:
I don't really read them as much as ML ones, but for the ones I have, I did find your points being the case for most.
The cliche I found and didn't like (which some may, not judging btw) is how every action of... uh... beautiful FL will result in over-the-top poetry-like sentences.
Some authors make it work really well and you couldn't help but loving the FL more. While others... write unnecessarily cringe stuff that makes you want to drop the novel, the phone itself or keep on reading with a twisted expression (like I said, not judging. I've been the latter... a couple of times).
Last point:
Nationalism exist in most novels, don't judge them, they're respectable people who love their country that it even influences their work.
I haven't met any (yet) in FL novels, but in some really trashy and not so trashy ML novels, some racist comments have touched some bottom lines.
I'm not going to go in details of these, but I guess there also labelled as 'cliches' that probably no one loves (maybe, I don't know, can you like these if you're not part of the country itself?).
…Freedom of speech I guess.
On a lighter note:
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I only found this working for this website so far btw.
@OffTrackReader Btw, sorry author. (シ_ _)シ Didn't mean to make a mess(?) of your comment section!
Your work is great, and little or none at all of any of the above (negative) comments are dissing you!!
You made a great work, please keep it up!!!
Btw, btw, on the other hand, if there were positive comments, than they were describing you.