TGBAP 26

[Lucian is really late…… nothing happened, right?]

It had already been well over four hours since Lucian left to run errands.

It wasn’t like they’d made him do that much, so why couldn’t he come back until now?

As Ria paced restlessly, Kaiser, who was still decorating the backyard, said bluntly,

“Thanks to that, we could barely prepare the party without getting caught. And if something was wrong, Lucian would’ve sent a signal.”

[But there’s always the ‘just in case.’]

“You’re not seriously going to say he got kidnapped without even being able to do anything, are you?”

[K-kidnapped?! No! We have to find Lucian right now—!]

“Okay, okay, I’m the sinner here. I was just saying it, so calm down.”

Kaiser stopped Ria as she floated up, about to rise above the mansion. Ria barely calmed down. Even so, she couldn’t help still feeling uneasy.

Kaiser, who had been clicking his tongue, suddenly perked up his ears. He grinned and looked at Ria.

“Nothing’s wrong. He’s coming now.”

[Really? He’s fine, right?]

“Looks fine if he’s running. So stop this and let’s start the surprise.”

At the words that he’d arrive soon, Ria put out all the lights in the mansion. Then she hid herself with Kaiser in the backyard.

* * *

“Ria~ Kaiser~”

Lucian, who opened the door with a bright face despite panting, looked for Ria and Kaiser.

“Do you know what happened in the village? I ran into Dio, and……! Huh?”

Lucian looked around with a bewildered expression. He was sure at least one person would welcome him, but no one was there.

“Ria?”

Even if he turned left.

“Kaiser?”

Even if he turned right.

He didn’t feel any sign of anyone. And for some reason, it felt like all the lights in the mansion were out—was it just his imagination?

“Th-this is no fun…… stop hiding and come out……!”

The silence answered in their place. It made him feel like maybe the days that had passed were nothing but an illusion.

“R-Ria……!”

In the end, Lucian began to sniffle. Before he could drop chickpea-sized tears—

Fwoosh-

A candle placed on the floor lit up.

“Uuuh……?”

Starting with the candle right in front of him, the candles laid out in a line lit one after another. Before he left to run errands, there was nothing on the floor.

“Where does it lead?”

The candles went toward the corridor instead of the stairs, past the kitchen, and pointed to the door leading to the backyard.

Lucian hugged the gifts in both hands tightly and followed the candles. This time, armor appeared right in front of him.

“Eek!”

Startled, he flinched back, and then he saw a red ribbon tied around the armor’s neck.

Clank, clatter-

The armor moved and gently held out its hand to him. Lucian was wary at first, but soon took the armor’s hand.

The armor walked at his pace. And the place he arrived with the armor was…….

Happy birthday, Lucian!

With the sound of small fireworks, Ria and Kaiser popped out.

Lucian stared blankly at them, dumbfounded.

“Th-this is all…….”

Behind Ria and Kaiser, he could see a charmingly decorated dining table.

A two-tier cake and an appetizing-looking turkey, plus various other foods and cookies.

That alone was shocking, but the area around the table was decorated with beautiful flowers and ribbons, and statues and other suits of armor were moving as they clapped.

“Ah! You startled me! Surprise success!”

[Lucian, how is it? Do you like the gifts we prepared?]

After blankly looking around the party, Lucian finally turned back to Ria and Kaiser.

Both of them were grinning at him. Then tears spilled from Lucian’s eyes.

[R-L-Lucian! Why?!]

“Hey, kid! Why are you crying!”

The ghost and the dragon panicked and hurriedly went to him, and Lucian, unable to hold back his emotions, began sobbing loudly.

Waaah!

Ria hurriedly hugged Lucian and soothed him. Ria and Kaiser looked at each other, trying to remember if they’d made some mistake.

* * *

“Khng! Hic.”

Lucian had stopped crying before he knew it. His eyes were so swollen it was just pitiful.

Kaiser, who had been fidgeting restlessly, let out a deep sigh and sat down.

“Why’d you suddenly cry like that, kid. You scared me—thought something happened.”

“……Khng.”

[Is it because we startled you too much? So you felt wronged?]

Lucian shook his head.

“I, I didn’t think you’d prepare a party like this…….”

There wasn’t anything special about why Lucian cried. It was only because something he never expected unfolded right before his eyes.

Even though he hadn’t known until this morning that today was his birthday, deep down he’d wanted the two of them to congratulate him.

Maybe because of the surprise gifts from Dio and James, his expectations had risen.

Even though it was natural they wouldn’t know his birthday since he’d never told them, he still wanted them to fulfill that swelling expectation.

But contrary to that feeling, his reason grasped reality well, and a child whose expectations had never once been fulfilled quickly gave up even after expecting, tightly hiding his heart away.

And yet, how did they know that heart of his, to prepare a surprise like this?

“O, today…… how did you know it’s my birthday?”

Ria and Kaiser glanced at each other. They couldn’t exactly say they realized it through the Crown Prince’s birthday.

[I don’t have anything about you I don’t know. Of course I’d know.]

“Really?”

[Of course. I’m your bride.]

“Ah, then you sent me on errands to prepare this?”

[Right. I thought you’d be back in one or two hours, but you came later than I expected? Still, thanks to that, we could decorate it even prettier.]

Ria wiped Lucian’s face and led him to the table packed with food.

[How is it? Do you like it?]

“……Yeah! Ria is the best!”

Lucian hugged her tight around the neck.

“Tch, only Ria is the best? What about me? I, huh! I laid out this tablecloth, decorated with flowers, and even made these guys move, and you’re leaving me out?!”

She wondered where the grumbling was coming from, and sure enough, Kaiser was sulking, complaining that she should praise him too.

Unlike Ria, whose eyes went cold, Lucian burst into giggles.

“Hyung is the best too! This is my first time having such a fancy party!”

“Ahem! Ahem! Of course! Who do you think decorated it!”

At that, Kaiser got excited and scattered more light particles around, moving the armor and dolls in perfect unison. Lucian clapped happily.

“Now, before the food gets any colder, should we eat first?”

The three sat around the table and began to eat. Of course, they didn’t forget to sing a birthday song and cut the cake before eating.

Ria, who couldn’t eat, handed food to Lucian and Kaiser and watched them enjoy it.

“Ria! It’s super delicious! I think today is the tastiest!”

“I’m still far from being won over, but it’s not bad. Hey! Give me a leg too! Why are you only giving Lucian!”

Even if it was noisy, it wasn’t bad. How had the mansion, once filled with nothing but silence, changed into this?

When Lucian first came, she never even imagined a scene like this would unfold.

It made her think it was a good thing Lucian came here, and that he could see her.

Lucian and Kaiser soon patted their full bellies and stuffed even their dessert stomachs with cake.

“So cake tastes this good.”

“You’ve never had cake before?”

“Yeah. I first had cookies and muffins after coming here too. Everything is so, so delicious!”

Lucian chewed cake with a beaming smile, but Ria and Kaiser could only hide their trembling fists.

Especially when Kaiser couldn’t manage his expression and tried to get angry, Ria covered his mouth with mana.

[Come to think of it, Lucian, what are those two boxes? They don’t look like something I made you run errands for.]

“Ah! Right!”

Lucian sprang up and brought over the two boxes.

“Ria! I became friends with Dio! Dio is……!”

Lucian explained what happened in the village.

“……So because it’s my birthday, he gave me this as a present!”

[A grateful friend. You should repay him later, right?]

“Yes!”

She’d been thinking it might be good for him to have friends his own age, but he already made one in the village—her heart felt much lighter.

“Oh, he gave you something decent. Let’s try it out tomorrow.”

“I was going to, anyway.”

[And this is Dio’s present, and this is James’s?]

“Yes! Ah! I forgot to give Ria’s food to James.”

Lucian was disappointed that he’d missed a good chance for an experiment, but Ria thought it was better that James had gone back as he was.

If he thought Lucian was alone and then suddenly found food laid out this brilliantly, wouldn’t he be very startled?

“A doll!”

What James gave was a wooden soldier doll. It didn’t seem expensive, but it was the kind of present where you could feel James’s heart.

Seeing Lucian giggling as he delighted in the two presents, Ria and Kaiser exchanged looks.

“Ahem! You’re not satisfied with just that, right?”

“Huh?”

[We prepared presents too.]

Lucian’s eyes began shining like jewels. The first to hand over a present was Kaiser.

“Ahem! Ahem! What I prepared is…….”

Kaiser stuck his hand into pocket space and rummaged for a long time before finally pulling something out.

“This!”

As if he weren’t a dragon, it was a necklace with a diamond almost the size of a gold coin set into it.

“Wow…… it sparkles.”

“It’ll be hard to find a diamond this big anywhere.”

“Are you really giving this to me?”

“Yeah. And that’s not all. Try it on.”

As Kaiser said, Lucian put on the necklace. And then something happened to him.

[Lucian, your hair…….]

Lucian, whose hair and eyes had returned to normal on the way back to the mansion, changed again like he had when he went out to the village.