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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: A Surprise Party
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[Lucian is taking a long time… I hope nothing’s happened to him.]
It had already been well over four hours since Lucian left on his errand.
I didn’t send him on that many errands, so why hasn’t he returned yet?
As Ria paced back and forth anxiously, Kaizareu, who was finishing up the decorations in the garden, spoke bluntly.
“Thanks to that, we were able to prepare the party without getting caught. Besides, if something was wrong, Lucian would have sent a signal.”
[But you never know what might happen.]
“Are you trying to say he got kidnapped without even being able to put up a fight or something?”
[K-Kidnapped?! No! I have to find Lucian right now…!]
“Oh, for crying out loud. I was just joking. Calm down.”
Kaizareu stopped Ria as she floated up, about to rise above the mansion. Ria managed to calm down, but she couldn’t shake off her anxiety.
Kaizareu, who had been clicking his tongue, suddenly perked up his ears. He grinned and looked at Ria.
“Nothing’s wrong. He’s on his way now.”
[Really? Are you sure he’s okay?]
“He's running, so he seems fine. Let's get this surprise started.”
Hearing he would arrive soon, Ria turned off all the lights in the mansion. Then, she and Kaizareu hid in the garden.
* * *
“Ria~ Kaizareu~”
Panting for breath, Lucian opened the door with a bright face and looked for Ria and Kaizareu.
“Guess what happened in the village? I met Dio…! Huh?”
Lucian looked around with a bewildered expression. He was sure someone would be there to greet him, but no one was.
“Ria?”
He looked to his left.
“Kaizareu?”
He looked to his right.
There was no sign of anyone. Plus, it seemed like all the lights in the mansion were off. Was it just his imagination?
“Th-this isn’t funny… Stop hiding and come out…!”
Silence was his only answer. For a moment, he wondered if the days he’d spent here had all been a fantasy.
“R-Ria…!”
Finally, Lucian began to tear up. Just before he could let the fat tears fall.
*Fwoosh-*
A candle on the floor lit up.
“Huh…?”
Starting with the candle right in front of him, a trail of candles lit up one after another. There hadn’t been anything on the floor before he left for his errand.
“Where does this lead?”
The candles led not to the stairs, but down the hallway, past the kitchen, and toward the door to the garden.
Lucian hugged the gifts in his arms tightly and followed the candles. This time, a suit of armor appeared before him.
“Hya!”
Startled, he stumbled back, and that’s when he saw a red ribbon tied around the armor’s neck.
*Clank, clunk-*
The armor moved, gently extending a hand to him. Lucian was wary at first, but then he took its hand.
The armor walked in step with him. And the place they arrived at together was…
Happy birthday, Lucian!
With the sound of a small firecracker, Ria and Kaizareu popped out.
Lucian stared at them blankly, utterly dumbfounded.
“A-All of this…”
Behind Ria and Kaizareu was a charmingly decorated dining table.
A two-tiered cake, a delicious-looking turkey, and various other foods and cookies.
As if that wasn't surprising enough, the area around the table was adorned with beautiful flowers and ribbons, and statues and other suits of armor were moving and clapping.
“Ha! You were surprised! Surprise success!”
[Lucian, what do you think? Do you like the present we prepared?]
After blankly surveying the party scene, Lucian finally turned back to Ria and Kaizareu.
They were both grinning at him. At that moment, tears welled up in Lucian's eyes.
[L-Lucian! What's wrong!]
“Hey, kid! Why are you crying!”
The ghost and the dragon hurried over to Lucian in a fluster, and Lucian, overcome with emotion, began to sob loudly.
Waaaaah!
Ria quickly hugged Lucian and comforted him. Ria and Kaizareu looked at each other, trying to figure out what they might have done wrong.
* * *
“Hng! Hic.”
Lucian eventually stopped crying. His eyes were so swollen it was pitiful to see.
Kaizareu, who had been fidgeting nervously, let out a deep sigh and plopped down.
“Why'd you suddenly start crying, kid? I thought something bad happened.”
“…*Sniffle*.”
[Did we startle you too much? Is that why you were upset?]
Lucian shook his head.
“I-I just didn't expect you to prepare a party like this…”
There was no special reason why Lucian cried. It was simply because something completely unexpected had unfolded before his eyes.
Even though he hadn’t known it was his birthday until that morning, he had secretly hoped they would celebrate it.
Perhaps the surprise gifts from Dio and James had raised his expectations.
He knew it was natural for them not to know his birthday since he'd never told them, yet he hoped they would fulfill his heightened expectations.
But contrary to his hopes, his reason understood reality, and a child whose expectations had never once been met quickly gave up and hid his feelings away.
And yet, somehow, the two of them had known his heart and prepared a surprise.
“H-how did you know… today was my birthday?”
Ria and Kaizareu exchanged glances. They couldn't bring themselves to say they figured it out because of the Crown Prince's birthday.
[Is there anything I don't know about you, Lucian? I know everything.]
“Really?”
[Of course. I'm your bride, after all.]
“Oh, so you sent me on an errand to prepare for this?”
[That's right. I thought you'd be back in an hour or two, but you took longer than expected. Thanks to that, we were able to decorate a bit more nicely.]
Ria wiped Lucian's face and led him to the table laden with food.
[What do you think? Do you like it?]
“…Yes! Ria, you're the best!”
Lucian threw his arms around her neck.
“Tch, only Ria is the best? What about me? Hey! I set the table, decorated with flowers, and made these guys move, so why am I left out!”
He'd heard grumbling from somewhere, and sure enough, Kaizareu was sulking, demanding praise for himself.
Unlike Ria, whose expression turned cold, Lucian giggled.
“You're the best too, big brother! This is the first time I've ever had such a fancy party!”
“Ahem! Ahem! Of course! Look who decorated it!”
Excited by the praise, Kaizareu scattered more particles of light around and moved the armor and dolls in perfect sync. Lucian clapped his hands in delight.
“Alright, shall we eat before the food gets cold?”
The three of them sat around the table and began to eat. Of course, they didn't forget to sing the birthday song and cut the cake before the meal.
Ria, who couldn't eat, served food to Lucian and Kaizareu and watched them enjoy their meal.
“Ria! This is so delicious! I think this is the best food I've ever had!”
“It's a long way from satisfying my palate, but it's not bad. Hey! Give me a leg too! Why are you only giving them to Lucian!”
It was noisy, but not in a bad way. When had this mansion, once filled only with silence, changed so much?
When Lucian first arrived, she never would have imagined a scene like this.
She felt glad that Lucian had come here, and that he could see her.
Lucian and Kaizareu soon patted their full stomachs, making room for dessert with cake.
“I never knew cake was this delicious.”
“Is this your first time eating cake?”
“Yeah. I had cookies and muffins for the first time here, too. Everything is so, so delicious!”
Lucian beamed as he mumbled around a mouthful of cake, but Ria and Kaizareu couldn't hide their trembling fists.
When Kaizareu, in particular, lost control of his expression and was about to erupt, Ria sealed his mouth with mana.
[By the way, Lucian, what are those two boxes? They don't look like the things I sent you for.]
“Oh! That's right!”
Lucian shot up from his seat and brought over the two boxes.
“Ria! I made friends with Dio! Dio is…!”
Lucian explained what had happened in the village.
“…So he gave me this as a birthday present!”
[What a kind friend. We should thank him later, right?]
“Yeah!”
She had been thinking it would be nice for him to have a friend his age, and her heart felt much lighter knowing he'd already made one in the village.
“Oh, he gave you something nice. Let's try it out tomorrow.”
“I was planning to.”
[So this one is from Dio, and James gave you this one?]
“That's right! Ah! I forgot to give James some of Ria's food.”
Lucian was disappointed to have missed a good chance to experiment, but Ria thought it was probably for the best that James had left.
Wouldn't he have been shocked to find a house he thought was occupied by Lucian alone suddenly filled with such a splendid feast?
“It's a doll!”
What James had given him was a wooden soldier doll. It didn't seem expensive, but it was a gift that conveyed James's heartfelt sincerity.
Seeing Lucian giggle with delight at the two gifts, Ria and Kaizareu exchanged a look.
“Ahem! You're not satisfied with just those, are you?”
“Huh?”
[We prepared gifts too.]
Lucian's eyes began to sparkle like jewels. Kaizareu was the first to present his gift.
“Ahem! Ahem! What I've prepared is none other than…”
Kaizareu reached into his dimensional space and rummaged around for a while before finally pulling something out.
“This!”
As expected of a dragon, it was a necklace with a diamond almost the size of a gold coin.
“Whoa… It's so sparkly.”
“You'd be hard-pressed to find a diamond this big anywhere else.”
“Are you really giving this to me?”
“Yep. And that's not all. Try it on.”
As Kaizareu said, Lucian put on the necklace. As he did, something strange happened to him.
[Lucian, your hair…]
Lucian's hair and eyes, which had returned to normal on his way back to the mansion, had changed back to how they were when he was in the village.
