Chapter 158
It’s a hot day in the middle of summer.
Today was a special day.
“Happy birthday, young lady!”
“We wish our little lady a very happy day!”
Last night, the parenting corps, who had failed in their plan to be the first to congratulate her the moment the date changed because she fell asleep early, congratulated her at the same time.
“Thank you.”
“This is a gift that we’ve been saving up for since the tenth.”
Yuni led the way and handed her a birthday present. She smiled at the golden <Well done!> praise badge.
“Haha, what is this?”
The Parenting Corps beamed with pride at her reaction.
“See, I told you she’d love it.”
“She loves it.”
They laughed happily along with her, as if it was worth waiting until the crack of dawn to deliver the gift.
“I’ll give you the second gift later, after the birthday party!”
“You have another gift?”
“Of course~!”
The nursery giggled like mischievous rascals.
“The Archduke told us to expect a present, do you like it?”
She nodded, pinning a golden <Well done!> badge to her chest.
Yes, today was her birthday.
***
The Halbern family, uncharacteristically for a great noble family, did not interact much with the outside world.
There were many reasons for this.
First of all, the secretive nature of the Halbern family, which favored no outside interaction, and the fact that their master, Valar, was away in a northern castle for a long time.
Finally, the Archduke’s agent, Mehen, is not a fan of outsiders.
If a guest were to enter any of the sealed outbuildings, disaster would ensue.
But today, the gates of Halbern, which had been so tightly closed, were wide open.
“Arel~!”
“Allelirin!”
Not that many people came.
The twins and Duke Sperom.
“Arel!”
“…”
Pession and Aaron.
The wizards who had managed to get here after a fierce battle inside the tower.
The Knights of Saren and Regent Ludwig.
Empress Ageni, who couldn’t come in person but made her presence felt with a baptism of gifts.
Aaron stared at the mountain of gifts stamped with the imperial crest, then turned to Pession.
“By the way. Didn’t Highness Shirua say she wanted to come to Arellin birthday party today?”
“Shhh.”
“…”
It seemed that there was someone who wanted to come but couldn’t, but for some unknown reason was silenced.
A birthday party in the garden, organized by almost everyone at Halbern Mansion.
It wasn’t a grand affair, as the birthday girl didn’t want it to be too loud, so she kept it small and invited only those she knew, but it was enough to make it enjoyable.
“Happy birthday!”
Arellin looked gagged at the sight of the three-tiered birthday cake, but she smiled and greeted the thunderous applause.
The Duke of Sperom couldn’t help but marvel at the beauty of the gardens of Halbern Mansion, which were already famous for their beauty.
“Nice sunshine.”
“Yes, it is.”
Everywhere they turned, there were coveted paintings and statues, but Sperom’s eyes were drawn to something else.
“Arel, look at this.”
“It’s our birthday present, isn’t it?!”
The caveat was in front of Arellin, but damn the twins!
Duke Sperom, who had been plagued by lesser demon twins all his life, was devastated.
He hadn’t realized it when his vassals told him about it, but now that he’d witnessed it with his own eyes, he felt it.
“The future of Sperom, after all, is in the hands of Lady Arellin.”
The Duke of Sperom looked back and forth between Pession and the twins, seriously contemplating whether to marry them.
“Why would you entrust the future of an intact family to someone else’s daughter?”
Hmmph.
As if out of nowhere, Valar came up to him, smiling.
For some reason, he broke out in a cold sweat.
“No, listen. Valar. This is not a black heart or anything…”
“Business, you want to take it away?”
“…”
The Duke of Sperom’s jaw dropped.
His mind flashed back to the huge Big Deal that had been negotiated between Sperom and Halbern a few days earlier.
‘If only it weren’t for the automobile business!’
A joint venture between Sperom and Halbern, a huge business with a steeple.
There was no way the Duke of Sperm, who had brought with him an artifact that could visualize his imagination, not only the shape and basic principles of the automobile, but also a bird’s-eye view of the future of automobile travel, could give up the business.
The future of transportation, the beginning of a logistics revolution.
“Why, do you have something to say?”
The Duke of Sperom shot a scathing look at Valar, who was smirking innocently as he held the other man’s leash.
“The abomination.”
“A day or two?”
‘A bastard younger than me…’
Whether Duke Sperom glared or not, Valar was too busy looking at my daughter, who was smiling happily.
“So, have you prepared a birthday present?”
“Oh, I’ve got something huge.”
“How big?”
Valar chuckled at the Duke of Sperom’s question.
When the Duke of Sperom’s eyes narrowed as he watched Valar laugh without answering, Valar’s eyes twinkled like a rogue’s, and he announced.
“Look forward to it, it’ll probably be good for Sperom.”
“…?”
Why would it be good for his house if someone else’s daughter was getting a birthday present?
The sudden riddle confused the Duke of Sperom.
Regardless, Valar laughed heartily.
“I hope my daughter likes it.”
***
In her not-so-long life as Arellin, her birthday party had never been this big.
“Wow.”
Sure, the parenting corps took care of it every year… but a birthday party for someone?
There was no way that was happening in her life. Mehen wished her well, but there was nothing special about her birthday.
She couldn’t help but smile at the brightest birthday party of her life, her entire life.
“I guess it’s good that it’s Arel’s birthday. You keep smiling.”
“I know. Did you like our birthday present that much?!”
The twins’ birthday present was a special 100th anniversary platinum coin of Sperom Bank.
“Limited to 10 pieces worldwide!”
“Hoo hoo hoo. We got one too!”
“We have two, so I’ll give you one.”
“It’s our treasure!”
She realized how special the twins thought she was by giving them one of only two.
But this special commemorative coin was also in the Halbern cabinet. Is it the same one?
“Anyway, thank you, I’ll cherish it.”
Aaron gave her a portable crime-fighting artifact, which made her feel a little weird at the thought of it being useful for finding lost children.
‘Doesn’t Aaron actually know that I was kidnapped and returned?’
Pession’s gift, on the other hand, was unexpected.
“Cute, huh? It’s a shinsuya.”
“Cute…!”
Shinsuya, a round, tiny bird that looked like a bunting, landed on her hand.
“Even though it looks like this, it’s a Shinsuya, so it has high intelligence, so it recognizes its owner, eats well, and plays well.”
“So cute!”
“I thought it would be better to get a pet like a puppy so we can go for walks together.”
“No, I like it!”
She was mesmerized by the little black eyes that seemed to recognize her.
It’s so cute…
“I’m glad you like it.”
Pession smiled brightly. She smiled back, a smile she hadn’t seen in a long time.
“I brought her here because I wanted her to be with Arellin at the time, since I can’t always be there for you.”
“Sion…”
There was a brief flash of the shady look she’d seen before, but Pession smiled brightly again.
‘I wish you’d tell me what you’re thinking.’
Could this be what Pession was thinking when he saw her, the one who had once been locked away?
Thinking about it, she didn’t want to scratch and scratch again on this beautiful day.
“It’s good to be with you,” Pession said to her, his smile still as bright and dazzling as the sun.
“I know.”
She wants to keep living like this.
She thought to herself.
***
The evening after her small but intimate birthday party.
On this night, when all the guests had left and only her family remained, three men who had not yet given her a gift sat around her.
“So what’s your birthday present?”
‘What did you go to all this trouble to get me?’
Mehen, who is usually the last person to ask, was taking a back seat for some reason.
“Hoo-hoo, Dad’s birthday present is…”
“…?”
Dad suddenly opened the map.
He drew a large, random circle in the empty wasteland near the capital.
“I’ll give you this.”
“…??”
‘What did he just say he was going to give me?’
