“Happy birthday, Princess!”
Clara was noisy in the morning.
It was my birthday and Clara seemed more excited than I was.
For breakfast, there were two sunny-side-up fried eggs next to the toast for my birthday.
‘Well, I like this.’
Usually, I have one egg, but It’s two now. In addition, it was brilliant to see the yolk in a perfectly semi-boiled state come up in a circle.
I’m not so poor that I regret a single fried egg, but somehow, such a small change in my daily life just makes me feel good.
With that thought in mind, I popped the egg yolk, ignoring the heart-shaped ketchup. Two fries gave me a very satisfying meal.
As soon as I put down the napkin after eating, Clara quickly came to my side.
“It’s such a nice day today, would you like to go to the beach in front of you?”
“I don’t like the weather?”
I looked out the window and saw the cloudy sky. The sky was full of gray clouds.
“It’s your birthday, so it’s good to go outside and play.”
“Well…not really.”
I said so, then changed my words again as I saw Clara’s eyes twinkle with anticipation.
“Ok, fine.”
There’s something. If it was a walk, it was a trick the previous nanny had used for me.
Come to think of it, Stefan hasn’t been seen since morning. What the hell are they up to?
It was an obvious masterpiece, but the plan was quite sincere, so I decided to follow Clara.
I put on a light cardigan and went out with Clara to the beach in front of the villa.
It was a cloudy day, and the wind from the beach was cool and salty. A gray sea resembling a cloudy sky on a dimmer sandy beach than usual. I felt the end of the world in the waves crashing wildly.
This is great weather for a walk. It’s the perfect weather for my birthday.
“Oh! Princess Dorothy! Look at the seashells over there. So pretty!”
Clara, that line is too contrived.
Clara said, pointing to the white sandy beach.
The sandy beach, which was usually dazzling in the sunlight, was covered with a murky and dirty gray color.
In the meantime, shells that signaled the clam’s death were scattered. I wasn’t really interested in seashells.
When I saw a person who liked seashells, I was so emotionally dry that I wanted to ask if I wanted to pick them up because I liked human bones so much.
But, as a good child, I didn’t ask, knowing that such a question would be offensive to the other person.
Instead, I obeyed Clara’s words pointing to the floor, and picked up the clams.
‘Isn’t it something like that I picked up a shellfish and buried a gift
underneath it?’
It’s nothing special, but just picking up shells made me nervous.
However, even after picking up a lot of seashells, there was no gift.
It’s not disappointing, but somehow I felt like I was in vain.so I became lazy.
How long do I have to pick it up?
“Clara.”
I grabbed the clam in both hands and looked back.
But Clara didn’t have to be behind me.
“Clara?”
I looked around and did not find her.
Where are you going to hide after making me look away?
Just as I was about to disintegrate that I had just been tricked by Clara, a huge thing approached me from afar.
I took a step or two back, looking at a strange and huge object.
That giant thing approaching me with a wacky walk, dressed in a strange mask and dressed with a brown tail…
‘It’s Stefan.’
Even if he was wearing a mask and a lion’s robe, he looked like Stephan from here and there.
What the hell did you ever make those weird clothes again?
I endured the twitching of my brow and looked at Stefan’s clothes.
A mask that looks stuffy, a fluffy mane made of wool, brown clothes that cover the whole body, brown gloves and large doll shoes made to imitate a lion’s paws.
‘Isn’t it hot…?’
Although the weather was cloudy, it was not a pleasant and cool day to walk on the sandy beach wearing such thick doll clothes.
There was only one person who could make a giant lion costume the size of Stephan.
‘Clara is a complete accomplice. No, she’s the mastermind.’
Because Stefan wouldn’t have come forward and said he’d be a lion.
‘Did you think I would be deceived by something like that? What do you see me as?’
Stefan, dressed in a lion’s robe, crossed the sand and stopped in front of me, then bowed his head and looked at me.
I didn’t like this childish prank, so I opened my mouth.
“There you are…”
“Groarrr!”
As I was about to call out Stefan’s name, I froze at the sound of his roar.
‘Stephan said it was a joke…?’
That blunt knight Stefan? I can’t believe he’s wearing that lion’s suit, huh?
“I’m brave…Lion warrior Leo.”
ah…! Don’t do that, Stefan.
I had goosebumps all over my body.
It was then that I realized that Stefan was copying Leo, the protagonist of my favorite book cover, The lion warrior.
I wanted to shout “Stop” at his acting, which made me embarrassed…
But seeing him, who can speak, even wears such clothes and writes lines, it’s a pity so I couldn’t say that.
‘Yes, this is today’s good deed. Because I’m kind.’
I don’t know if I’m really good, but Stephan in the lion warrior’s suit was so pitiful that I felt like crying.
“Wow… Are you really the lion warrior Leo?”
When I asked with a forced smile, Stefan, no, the lion warrior Leo nodded.
A sense of shame surged in. Maybe Stefan is, too.
At the same time, I realized The fact that everyone will be embarrassed the moment I call him Stefan here.
Sometimes ignorance is a medicine.
“….”
In the awkward silence, the sound of rushing waves was repeated.
Speak up, Stefan. you started!
“Groarr!”
please! don’t do that! Don’t roar! You are not allowed to roar!
I got goosebumps and took a step back. Then Stefan came up to me and waved his hand.
“Leo, I’m afraid…”
I’m not running away because I’m afraid!
I continued to take a step backward, but Stefan followed steadily and persistently. Honest, he wasn’t about to back down until he completed his mission.
It wasn’t until I reached the very end of the beach that I realized I couldn’t get out of the lion warrior’s trap.
Okay, then I’ll break through it head-on.
“Would you like to have this?”
I held out the seashell that I had been holding for a long time.
Then Stefan went back and forth and reached out his hand in a brown glove and took the clams I had handed him.
I handed over the shells that were obviously full of my two hands, but not even one of his large hands was full.
Stefan didn’t know what to do with the seashell he had received from me.
When I saw that, maybe my embarrassment had become dull or it just felt cute.
“Put it in your pocket.”
I pointed to the open pocket on the belly of the lion’s robe.
Stefan was delighted to find out that he didn’t know there was a pocket there and put the clams in it.
‘Clara, if you were thinking of acting like a lion, you shouldn’t have made a pocket there.’
A pocket on the belly of a lion. Not even a kangaroo.
Clara usually has a lot of pockets for practicality when sewing, but that habit came from here as well.
Huh…I have no choice but to pretend that I don’t know. I had to be the main character leading this skit.
I continued with the next question.
“Where is your deer friend?”
Stefan didn’t expect this question, so he staggered like a broken machine before finally opening his mouth.
“At home.”
That’s the answer…!
“Did you come to see me because it’s my birthday today?”
Yes, this was a birthday event.
So, if you just celebrate your birthday, you probably achieve the main purpose of the event.
Stefan nodded instead of answering my question.
it was the right time to just say ‘Happy Birthday’ and disappear, Stefan!
I looked up at him as if to speak quickly.
He could not speak, even if he lacked conversation skills, which he was lacking for a long time. If He only resembles half of Ethan.
“Aren’t you going to congratulate me on my birthday?”
Then he shook his head and nodded.
“Princess Dorothea… happy birthday Groarr.”
Stefan said.
He leaned over and patted my shoulder awkwardly.
I stopped laughing at how hard he was working through the lion mask. It’s creepy, but it’s still good. who is working hard for me?
“Thank you, Ste… the brave Leo.”
I almost said it was Stefan, but luckily, I just skimmed it.
Then Stefan bent his knees and squatted down to my height, and then he stood up again, holding me in his arms.
“Oh!”
I was held in his arms and floated in the air.
He started walking along the beach, holding me steady in one arm.
I could sense that Stefan was tall.
The sea looked farther away, the wind somehow seemed to be blowing harder, and the floor was far below.
Stefan walked to the end of the beach. His footprints were lonely on the white sandy beach.
It was the first time I had been so close to Stefan.
I didn’t know the day would come when Stefan would say “Roar” in lion clothes for my birthday.
I never thought I’d be in Stefan’s arms.
‘It was a knight on Ray’s side.’
I felt restless at the thought of the past.
When I killed him, frankly, I laughed at Stefan, who was willing to die in his own blood to protect Ray.
I also thought that the foolish choice of risking death was a good fit for the ignorant Stefan. I think I looked down on that knight who was a mercenary and had no sociability.
But only now the knight Stefan Greenwall look different.
* * *
I just love them all so much he’s really the dad/older brother she deserves <3