“Luca, I’m glad you could make it,” uncle greeted me. He was smiling kindly until surprise replaced his expression. “What’s that on your shoulder?” 

“Well, um… a crow,” I answered while carefully easing into my seat. “It followed me home.” 

“Followed you home? From where?” 

I hesitated. I felt embarrassed to admit I was visiting my father’s grave every day. It felt childish when I was about to say it out loud. 

Yet before I could actually answer, the crow moved. It landed right in the middle of the table. It began to walk up to the dishes of food and peck at them. 

“Gah, what is that filthy thing doing?!” uncle suddenly exclaimed, standing up from his seat. He tried to shoo the crow away with his napkin. 

“Hey, stop that!” I reprimanded the crow. I stood up and tried to catch it with my hands. 

The crow hopped and flew out of our reach. It sneakily tried to take more bites of food as we continued to try to stop it. Uncle told the servants to help and it became chaos as the crow flew around the room, dodging everyone who reached for it. 

Someone caught hold of the bracelet around the crow’s foot and tried to pull it down. He managed to capture it by holding down its wings. I hurried over to take the crow from him. 

“Get rid of that thing,” uncle said. 

I paused and looked at him. His irritated expression became a smile when our eyes met. 

“Don’t worry Luca, it’s for the best. It’s a wild animal, yes? It should stay in the wild.” 

The servant bowed before leaving the room. I hesitated. The crow had been nothing but trouble. Yet something about it made me want to keep it around. 

“Wait!” I called out to the servant. 

“Luca, let’s eat.” I saw uncle getting comfortable in his seat again. “Hurry, before it gets cold. Don’t worry about that thing. It’ll be fine.” 

Uncle wanted to eat with me. He was my only family left. Why should I worry about some crow, especially one causing such trouble? I made my way over to my seat and sat down. Uncle smiled at me as he dug into his steak. I picked up my knife and fork to do the same. 

“I’m glad you’ve been getting out lately, Luca,” uncle said. “I was a bit worried when you wouldn’t leave your room.” 

He was worried? I couldn’t tell… Not that I was aware of other people anyway while I was like that. Yet I don’t remember him visiting my room or any of the servants mentioning his name. “Sorry…” I said. 

“All that matters now is that you’re taking better care of yourself. I’d like to go out and get some fresh air myself sometimes, but I’ve been too busy lately.” 

“How is…everything going?” I tentatively asked, knowing I’d already given up my duties to him. 

“It’s good, but very busy. It’s stressful. I know you struggle in stressful situations. Don’t worry about taking over any time soon,” he smiled. 

“Okay…” He’s right, I’m not ready and I know I’ll struggle and want to quit when I can’t. I still can’t imagine ruling over an entire country. I’m glad he’s taking over for me. 

Once dinner was over, I went back to my room but the crow was nowhere to be seen. The window was open and a light breeze made its way towards me. I had the urge to go see my father’s grave. Yet it wasn’t exactly to see him, it was to see if the crow was there. How had I gotten so attached to that mischievous crow in such a short time? 

I wandered over to my vanity and gently placed the gold bracelet a servant returned to me on top of the rest of my jewelry. I never wear any of this, so the crow should have been able to keep the bracelet. Maybe I should bring it when I visit father tomorrow…