Chapter 71: Men and women can be just friends
The pair turned around and saw the princess approaching them. She had an amused smile on her face as she glanced between the two.
Because Hael had grown accustomed to being able to converse with animals, he'd forgotten that normal mortals couldn't understand animal speech, and so, to outsiders, it looked as though Hael was talking to himself or having a one-sided conversation with a regular bird. It created quite the odd picture.
"Loki is a dear friend of mine. I converse with him like I would any other person. Is that wrong?" he asked.
The princess's smile deepened. "Of course not. I think it's quite refreshing to see a man have so much care for an animal. You don't see that very often here," she replied.
She stood next to Hael, placing her hand on the railing as she briefly turned her attention toward the sky before looking back at him. "He's a beautiful bird. I've never seen one with eyes so green," she said.
Loki lifted his head to look at the princess and felt a burst of pride in himself. Of course, he was a beautiful bird—he was a divine animal, after all. Hael smiled as he noticed the smug look on the bird's face.
"He is," he agreed.
The princess's gaze lingered on Hael for a moment before she spoke once more. "He isn't the only beautiful thing here," she started to say. "You aren't so bad yourself."
Hael's head snapped up as he looked at the princess with wide eyes. He wasn't expecting to be complimented by the young woman, and he didn't know how to handle the attention she was giving him. He was flattered but also felt uncomfortable.