In reality, 100 years ago when I fought against different species, there were monsters pretending to be humans like me. Of course, it wasn’t difficult to find them since they couldn’t imitate humans as skillfully.

‘If I had bad luck, I could have been accused of being a monster and expelled along with Hadel.’

But a lot has changed over the past 100 years. No such monsters appeared in the kingdom anymore, and people didn’t see me as a monster but described me like this.

The beautiful lady cursed to turn into a woodpecker!

‘Being cursed is such a comfortable excuse.’

Sitting on Hadel’s office desk, munching on grapes that were rare to find in the North, I thought calmly.

The fact that I was actually a human quickly spread throughout the Northern Fortress. At first, watching the rumors spread, I thought like this.

‘They’ll probably keep their distance from me now.’
Being someone cursed makes people uneasy, and it’s normal to want to avoid such a person. However, the people of the Northern Fortress turned out to be tougher than I expected. Instead of avoiding the curse, they became even more interested.

‘So that’s why even exotic items like these grapes came up.’

During my stay here, I couldn’t even enjoy the grapes. Well, I’m satisfied with their taste.

Hadel’s aides looked at me with sparkling eyes. One of them, the aide who wrote in place of Hadel, clapped his hands together and said, “Oh, then did the woodpecker lady also write the documents with elegant handwriting?”

“Yes.”

Hadel nodded proudly as if he had written it himself. I pursed my lips.

‘Woodpecker lady. That title is amusing.’

From Woodpecker-nim to Kkyu Kkyu, and now back to Woodpecker Lady. It was amusing how the titles and forms of address kept changing. Aide, who watched me munching on grapes with fascination, nodded.

“We thought she wasn’t an ordinary woodpecker. Even if it’s a woodpecker eating bread.”

“I thought the tail color was unique.”

“We thought she was clever, but never imagined she was a human…”

Although I tried to live pretending to be an ordinary woodpecker, perhaps I couldn’t hide my extraordinariness. It was when I shrugged my shoulders at their reactions, thinking I knew it would be like this.

Someone threw a sharp question.

“But how does one turn back into a human?”

Ugh.

Facing the inconvenient question, I unintentionally looked at Hadel.

‘Surely he will speak, right?’

It’s too complicated. I am originally of the fire attribute, so I can absorb your mana and transform into a human…

When I nervously looked at Hadel, his answer was concise.

“I turn her back by kissing her.”

“The prince’s kiss!”

“That’s right! The royal way to lift the curse is the prince’s kiss!”

Huh? What are they all talking about? Isn’t it the other way around?

‘Usually, isn’t it the princess’s kiss that lifts the curse on the cursed prince?’

I made a perplexed expression. Everyone seemed excited about the fact that Hadel’s kiss was the key to breaking my curse.

With sparkling eyes, they approached me and bombarded me with questions.

“What’s your favorite food, miss!”

“Don’t you know that? It’s cake, cake.”

“Don’t be funny. Our Woodpecker Miss likes chocolate the most, right?”

“Why argue about that? Go quickly and bake a chocolate cake in the kitchen!”

Watching them bickering pathetically, I couldn’t help but applaud the appearance of the chocolate cake that appeared last.

‘A stroke of genius!’

Adding something delicious to something delicious is, of course, even more delicious. Why didn’t I think of this?

‘Chocolate cake! I want to eat it.’

Fruit sweetness is good, but artificial sweetness with plenty of sugar is the best.

As I was savoring the taste, someone cautiously approached me.

“Shouldn’t we give you a separate room? Being together with His Highness like this might be…”
“This idiot! No, it’s not that. It would be more bewildering to live in a strange place. Please stay close to His Highness.”

“That’s right. We should even prepare a separate space in His Highness’s study and office.”

The man who cautiously expressed his opinion had his mouth shut and was pulled back. As I observed their overall excitement, I furrowed my brows.

‘Why are they all so thrilled?’

Did I unknowingly make some bet?

The change in the aides’ attitudes was somewhat refreshing, but still, it didn’t shock me as much as this person’s change did.

In a black suit that was neatly pressed without a wrinkle, a middle-aged man with a well-groomed mustache and sparkling round glasses asked me in a polite tone.

“Miss Woodpecker, how do you feel today?”

It was none other than the steward who used to mistreat me.

‘No, Steward! Even you?’

Shocked, I opened my mouth and stared at him, and the steward countered with a flustered expression.

“D-Don’t look at me with that expression. If I knew you were a human, I wouldn’t have mistreated you like that.”

“Kkyu.”

Is he trying to be firm? He seems like a deceitful person.