111 – Abby, Happy Birthday!
Deathmont’s birthday has arrived.
The end of a long urban life.
Although there was a somewhat awkward incident with Kyle, we were able to find a common ground in our desires and smoothly move forward.
My room on the second floor of the mansion.
Wearing my butler’s uniform after a long time, I stretched my tired body and let out a weary sigh. I don’t know if it’s because of the date last night that left my heart unsettled, or because of the heated conversation with Kyle, but my physical condition didn’t seem good.
Strangely tired.
“Achoo~! Ugh…”
I feel like I might be coming down with a cold.
Ever since reaching the level of a Sword Expert, I’ve accumulated colds and fatigue, but I didn’t feel particularly happy about the cold that came after a long time.
Shivering with chills, I sighed and stretched again, preparing for an energetic day ahead.
I looked at the clock.
[10:00]
I covered my ears and nodded.
“One. Two. Three.”
-heheheeek!! Air raid alert!!!
-Empire on high alert!
-Imperial mobilization!
As the familiar Deathmont’s harmony resounded once again, I smiled with a pleasant feeling.
“You seem to be in good health today too.”
*
Darbav’s birthday began early in the morning.
Amidst the arrival of many guests and the bustling presence of nobles and business associates, the young lady and I did our best to hide in a corner of the banquet hall, pretending to be invisible.
“Ricardo.”
“Yes.”
“There are too many people.”
“It’s because the young lady is popular.”
“Does Dad have many friends?”
“Yes.”
The young lady looked at Darbav with a sulky expression.
“I don’t have any.”
“You’re an insider, young lady.”
“No, I have Ricardo.”
“That makes you an insider.”
The young lady, displeased with her newly acquired title, pouted, puffing air into her cheeks.
“I’m not an insider.”
“Yes~”
“eeek…!”
As she clenched her fist in response to the teasing reply, the young lady abruptly raised her hand.
“Darbav!”
“Aunt…!”
As the voice of Aunt Grandma, who had vowed to break legs upon meeting, echoed from afar, the young lady bowed her head under the dining table, muttering, ‘Oh no…’
“Ricardo, hide me!”
Gracefully bowing her head and trembling, the young lady soon extended a black box from the treasure pouch.
“Why is that coming out from there?”
“It’s precious. What if I lose it?”
“Still…”
The young lady firmly said, ‘Don’t vomit on the obvious.’
“Give this to Father.”
“Me? Are you sure?”
“Yeah. It’s a bit awkward with many people.”
The young lady looked at her immobile legs and spoke.
Her legs that couldn’t walk.
The young lady, marked by the stigma of Deathmute using dark magic, knew that her presence wouldn’t be welcomed in this banquet hall.
The ugly princess.
Knowing well that the title of a villainess who could only show her temperament was attached to her.
So, even though Darvab had told her to sit next to the stage before the banquet, she shook her head and chose a corner of the empty banquet hall.
At the moment when the broken wings were trying to spread again, both nobility and I, who were not noble, knew that the young lady’s presence wouldn’t lead to a good result.
From the point when the young lady used dark magic, Olivia, known as Deathmute, was a discarded child from the family.
If such a child were to be reintroduced on the official pedestal with a declaration of ‘We’ve reconciled,’ the carefully built tower was sure to shake.
Kyle also knew this fact, so he stopped Darvab’s stubbornness, and Rosanna closed her mouth with a sad smile.
I actually felt comfortable and good about this cold reception.
As a descendant of Desmund, it should have been a right that we naturally enjoyed, but it didn’t appear that way to people.
Perhaps it was a problem that we should have naturally accepted, and a part where we should take responsibility for what had happened.
However.
I thought it would be better for the lady to personally give the gift. The meaning is different when I give it and when the lady gives it.
It could change the meaning that I, as a servant and not the lady, prepared it out of courtesy, and I thought Darvab might be disappointed.
It’s my very personal thought, but the true daughter fool Darvab of this era must have been waiting for the gift from her daughter.
I thought that not receiving a gift for nearly two years, like cutting off a lifelong addiction, would give a sense of loss, so I stubbornly refused the lady’s hand, going off-topic.
The lady’s hand holding the black box remained elegantly in the air.
I refused with a whistle while the lady awkwardly insisted on me receiving it quickly.
“You should give it to me, lady.”
“I don’t want to.”
“It’s not like you don’t have hands.”
“I don’t have hands.”
The lady puffed up her cheeks and hid her fingers with her sleeves. I almost gave in to the cute face of the lady looking at me with a piercing gaze, as if saying ‘enough already’, but I barely managed to hold back the urge to take care of Lady Gaju’s bright and lively mental health, as I am a true butler and, if you think about it, a steward of the Desmund family.
“Ricardo, my hands fell off.”
“You said you didn’t have hands.”
“They just grew back.”
“Are you a lizard?”
“Is it delicious?”
“No.”
The young lady lowered her head with a gloomy expression.
“It’s not fun.”
“I didn’t say it had to be fun.”
“eeek…!”
Biting her lip, the young lady bowed her head and let out her anger.
“I’ll give it to you when your legs are fully healed.”
“I think it’s okay to give it to me now.”
I looked at Darvab, who was greeting the guests, and suggested that he should naturally pass it to us when it’s our turn.
The young lady with her head bowed hesitated.
“Is that alright?”
Attracted by the not-so-bad suggestion, the young lady looked up at me with a curious gaze. I nodded and gave a positive response to the young lady’s questioning.
“Of course. Wouldn’t you like to give it to me personally? And I’m sure Lady Gaju thinks the same.”
The effectiveness of rehabilitation had not yet become evident. I didn’t know exactly what vitality meant, but one thing was for sure, it wouldn’t consume anything positive.
It was a problem that time would solve. There was no need to be too impatient. There would be a way to refill vitality and solve the young lady’s legs someday.
And for the possessor, nothing was impossible.
I handed the young lady a black box and smiled brightly.
“They’re coming over there.”
Darvab’s expression as he approached was different from the forced smile he had shown the guests so far. He was smiling with the corners of his mouth twitching, just like Father’s smile.
Deliberately, Darbav addresses us with a nonchalant tone.
“Hmm… Olivia was sitting here.”
“Yeah.”
Underneath the dining table, the lady’s fidgeting fingers were visible. The hesitant fingers, whether to give or not, of the lady. I smirked and gently nudged her side, pushing her forward.
“Kkyak…! Heh… huh?!”
A startled movement, and the hand jumping up onto the table.
The lady glared at me with a bewildered expression, but I simply turned my head as if I didn’t notice.
Meanwhile, Darbav’s lips were curving upwards, as if about to burst into a laugh.
“Heup… is that…!”
The moment Darbav’s eyes met the black box in the lady’s hand, his eyes became moist.
“A gift for father?”
The betrayed lady glared at me with a tingling sensation, but I casually winked at her.
“What’s that! Surely…!”
“Iiik… Ricardo, bad.”
“I just scratched it because her side looked itchy.”
“Haeueeu…”
The lady sighed deeply and exhaled a deep breath.
“Now.”
In a quiet voice that Darbav couldn’t hear, I whispered, rallying the hesitant lady once again with a wink that gathered all the charm so far.
Swallowing her saliva and looking at Darbav, the lady couldn’t hide the emotion of ‘anticipation’ on her face. I almost laughed at Darbav’s expression, filled with anticipation, but I wanted to avoid filling this historic moment with the noise of mockery, so I subtly smiled as I listened to the lady’s congratulatory message about to come out of her mouth.
“Dad… Dad!”
“Yeah, Olivia.”
“My late grandmother used to curse Dad a lot!”
“What?”
Even as she sweated profusely, the young lady extended a gift with a flourish.
“Happy birthday!”
The congratulatory words, which could be mistaken for curses, brought a smile to Davrav’s face.
“My mother used to say that… I guess we should skip the ancestral rites next year.”
Simultaneously making a resolution to commit filial impiety, you know.
In front of the young lady, Davrav opened a black box. Although he had received many expensive gifts throughout the day, such as mansions and mines, Davrav’s expression upon seeing the gift inside the box seemed happier than when receiving any other gift.
“Did Olivia personally choose this?”
From Noble mtl dot com
“Yeah.”
“As expected of my daughter. She has excellent taste.”
Davrav, while pinning the gift the young lady had given him to his tie, smiled warmly.
“Thank you, daughter. May you live a long and healthy life. And Ricardo.”
“Yes?”
“Is it safe to assume that the box placed in the room in the early morning can be considered a present?”
“What did you just say…?”
“Well… it’s sufficient as a gift.”
Darbav gave a small kiss on the lady’s forehead and left. Tiny droplets adorned the table where he had been.
The fact that those were tears was our secret, something we didn’t need to explicitly mention.