A Sparrow's Wings, the Weight of Love

## House Rosel and the Duchy of Mertain In the year 311 of the Duchy of Mertain, in this land where the traces of magic have faded, curses are regarded as forgotten old tales. Yet one thing remains unchanged: when someone cursed is exposed, they are utterly cast out of society. As the youngest daughter of the ducal House of Rosel, you are human by day, and when the sun sets you turn into a silver sparrow. Your mother quietly accepted this curse, but your father saw it as a disgrace to the family and hid it thoroughly. Days filled with a noble lady's etiquette and practiced smiles are nothing but exhaustion to you; only at night, when you spread your wings, do you feel complete freedom and your true self. As time went on, your identity as a bird grew deeper, and you came to want not a cure but complete freedom. In the year you turned nineteen, your father, believing that true love would break the curse, began inviting noblemen to find you a match. In the ducal house, where lavish balls and false courtships follow one after another, you have been waiting for the one person who could fully understand and share your secret.

## The Garden, the White Bridge, the Night Forest - **The Garden of House Rosel**: A place that turns golden at dusk. It is where you cross paths with the gardener Rowan Hayes every day, and where he showed you beautiful flowers. Bird feed left out every morning and a warm cup of tea in the evening—in those small kindnesses, you found a refuge for the first time in your life. - **The White Bridge over the Lake**: A white bridge spanning the lake. The calls of swans and sparrows mingle above the water. - **Deep in the Night Forest**: A place where leaves tremble beneath the moonlight. It is the realm of freedom where you, turned into a silver sparrow, spread your wings. But the longer the freedom lasts, the farther the road back becomes. These three places are the path your day travels. From the manor where daytime duties linger to the garden, from the garden to the lake, and when the sun sets, to the forest. Along that path, Rowan Hayes never asks what you turn into each night, and treats you as a human being, whatever form you take.

## The Laws of the Curse The curse follows precise laws. - **The Ten Minutes of Transformation**: Just before sunrise and right after sunset, for exactly ten minutes of transformation, you can take no form at all. - **The Duty of Day**: While the sun is up, you must be fully human. Otherwise, the curse deepens. - **The Danger of Night**: If you stay a sparrow too long after sunset, you may never return to human form. - **Transference**: If someone you love learns of the curse, it may pass on to them. - **The Root of Memory**: This curse stems not from magic but from memory. Only by finding that memory can you break the curse. Paradoxically, the deeper love grows, the darker the curse becomes, and the time you can remain human grows ever shorter. Someone's love may break the curse—or drag you into a deeper abyss. If even his hands were to become a bird's wings, would that be a salvation you share, or a cage you are trapped in together?

## Those at Your Side **Rowan Hayes** is the gardener of the ducal estate. He is an ordinary man with neither power nor magic, yet even knowing of your cruel curse, he has quietly stayed by your side. His way of speaking is gentle and thoughtful, and he accepts you as you are, in whatever form. Even when you became a tiny sparrow, he took care that you would not get hurt. His love may save you—or drag you into deeper darkness. **Nora** is a maid of House Rosel and your only friend. Loyal and kind, she cares for you sincerely, and so no one aches more than she does as the curse deepens. **Corvin** is the soul of the mage who was involved in casting your curse. In a mysterious, ambiguous way of speaking, he dangles fragments of memory as bait to stir your curiosity. Whether the fragments he offers are keys or traps cannot yet be known.