Ah, nothing like waking up early in the morning on a Saturday. I’m lying on my back, but my outstretched arm is a bit sore, I wonder why that is. Turning my head to the side to see what could be the reason behind this, I saw a resting Cecily sleeping soundly, using my arm as a pillow. Oh right, she likes doing that.
“I love you today as well…” I muttered.
“Mn, me too, dear…” She giggled with her eyes still closed.
“A-Ah! Were you awake the entire time!?”
She kept on giggling and muttering something, but it seems like she was just talking in her sleep. Well, I don’t mind her hearing that, since we are back together after all, but it’d still be a bit embarrassing. Hmm? You’re wondering in which chapter we got back together? Well, I’m afraid that happened in between this one and the last. Tough luck!
Oh, I will say thought that it’s been a couple months since that dinner with the Gryses. A lot has happened since, but nothing that merited its own chapter. Well, maybe an interlude at best, but I’ll think about that later. In the end, Cecily finally understood my intentions with her and opted to give me another chance, given everything we’ve went through. It seems my flattery worked like a charm, and we’ve been getting closer and closer ever since.
We’re on good terms with the Gryses, but then again the time between our visits is quite scarce. I do enjoy Adam’s company, and if there’s anything I’d like to ask for, it’s a male friend, but I still can’t shake the feeling of anxiety every time we’re in the same room together.
In stark contrast to how I see Adam, Cecily actually quite enjoys talking to Elaine. Looks like the nasty attitude she showed was purely a one-time thing given her shock after finding out the Famed Inventor is still alive. She did apologize multiple times after that first evening though, and she and Cecily regularly go for walks around town together. Well, I’m not one to hold grudges on people, plus her suspicions towards us were certainly valid, so I forgave her pretty quickly as well.
And Nelly’s, well…
“Good morning!” She busted in, “I’m officially a year older! Praise me!”
“Ah! Fueh…?” Cecily got jolted awake from the sudden sound before rubbing her eyes in a haze, “Oh, happy birthday, Nel. Congratulations on turning seven years old.”
“Get a grip, mom!” Nelly ran around the room, “You said you prepared cake for today! Come on, I wanna eat cake!”
“Hrm… No can do. Breakfast comes first. Savory, then sweets.” Cecily said before realizing in what position she was just in, “A-Ah, good morning, Lune.”
“Don’t you mean dear?” I decided to tease her a bit, “I rather like that pet name.”
“Come on, stop it with that already. I called you that like once when I was drunk! Ugh, to think you still remember it…”
You called me that just a second ago, though. Well, I can’t be too greedy. But man, I’d sure enjoy being called that every once in a while. Eh, I’m just gonna be happy with being able to wake up to her sleeping face every day instead. That’s more than enough for me.
“In any case, today’s a pretty special day, isn’t it?” I gave Nelly a wink, “What’s so wrong with eating cake first thing in the morning when there’s a special occasion like this involved? Right, Nelly?”
“Yeah!” She gave me a big smile, “Now come on, get dressed, stop flirting and come down here already!”
“Wai- how did you know we were doing tha…!” Cecily called out to her, before realizing she wasn’t covering herself with the blanket the entire time, “Kyaaa!”
She was a bit embarrassed to come downstairs after this little fiasco, but I still got her to feel better after complimenting her body enough times. Really, women like compliments about their physique just as much as guys do, and it’s not like it’d cost me anything to make her feel a bit more confident about her appearance. Well, I shouldn’t be too hasty, lest she gets as narcissistic about it as Adam is…
“Finally!” Nelly hopped in place on her seat, chanting, “Cake! Cake! Cake!”
“Alright, alright.” Cecily approached the fridge, “But don’t forget, this is only for today! Eating food out of order isn’t good for your tummy!”
“Boohoo, Cily.” I sat myself down next to my daughter, “Always with the warnings… Come on, live a little, and bring us that cake!”
“You too?” She rolled her eyes before chuckling, “Fine, then I guess I’ll have some too then. I don’t wanna be left out, do I?”
“You’re just saying that because you wanna eat cake too, mom…”
Enjoying the Stracciatella cake Cecily had made for us, we enjoyed a nice family breakfast together. The cake had a little bit of everything in it, from whipped cream to chocolate, but really, no one celebrates their birthday for the cake, do they? Certainly, it’s a nice way to start the day off, but what everyone is most looking forward to on their birthday is…!
“Presents!” Nelly reached out her tiny arms to accept the boxed up gifts she got, “So many, too!”
“Yes indeed, since you were a good girl this year, you got a ton of presents! Here, these are from the Gryses.”
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Handing her the luxuriously decorated box that was all but wrapped up in pure gold, she opened it up to reveal a stunning sunhat, surely fit for a lady of royalty.
“Wowee!” She gawked at its majesty, “I’m gonna look like such a princess wearing this! Surely, I’ll win over Meil’s heart if he sees me wearing it!”
“Ha-ha, whatever you say, dear…” Cecily and I looked at each other before handing her our gift, “Look here, it took us a while to figure out just the right present for you, so we finally came up with this!”
Opening the gift wrapping, the present revealed itself to be a box. But not just any box, a complete Universal Dictionary Box Set, which includes 3 dictionaries in total! These are the Entropic-Cardinic/Cardinic-Entropic Dictionary, the Entropic-Aurolian/Aurolian-Entropic Dictionary, as as the Entropic-Simpletonian/Simpletonian-Entropic Dictionary! Yes sir, this right here is the perfect gift for our little genius.
“Wow, thanks…” She gave us a pity smile.
“Dammit.” Cecily whispered, “I knew we should’ve given her our gift first…”
“Ha-ha…” I chuckled before trying to save face, “That’s right Nelly, since you’re planning on attending a University in Simpleton, we thought you should start learning some languages early. You’ve got a solid foundation for Aurolian, but you’re still not used to Cardinic, so we thought…!”
“I don’t want this!” She threw a fit, “It’s not ladylike at all! How is this gonna make me look like a princess that’s gonna make Meil’s head turn?!”
“And what exactly isn’t appealing about a smart and knowledgeable woman?” I asked, hinting at Cecily, “For your information, your mother and I bonded the most when we both realized our shared interest in literature.”
“Lune…” Cecily’s eyes twinkled for a bit before she got serious, “A-Ahem, and not only that, but Meil is a smart guy, plus you’re both gonna be in a University that values genius above all else. If it really means that much to you, you can pull off the ‘cool beauty’ vibe by frequenting the library. That’s how I got ahold of your father, at least.”
“No you didn’t!” I blushed, “In fact, I remember that day to the tiniest of details! I tried scaring you through the bookshelf, but you were busy doing…!”
“Shhh!” She promptly shut me up, “Alright, I give! Don’t say another word!”
“Mnn…” Nelly closed the box with a slightly disappointed look, “Thanks, I guess…”
Darn, looks like she didn’t like the present one bit. Well, at least when compared to the Gryses, we’re nothing but a bunch of peasant parents. It makes me sad to see my daughter disappointed in me, but there’s another emotion that’s stronger than that, and that’s the anger of getting one-upped by that damned family. Don’t get me wrong, they’re our dear friends, but I’ll be damned if their present overshadows the fact that they were too busy to even attend her birthday party! I’ll give them a piece of my mind later, but right now we gotta go fix this day for Nelly!
“Alright then, let’s go make you a princess!” I shouted decidedly, “Just for today, you’ll get the full royal treatment!”
“Really?!” She sat up with her hands on the table, “Can I really be a princess?!”
“Lune, what are you plotting?” Cecily gave me a worried gaze, “Don’t do anything too crazy, please.”
“Nonsense, Cily!” I gave her a one-armed hug, “Now, let’s go get ourselves a carriage!”
Immediately calling over a transport wagon to our house, I had ushered her in with the utmost care. Cecily was there too, of course, but she was a bit hesitant about the entire thing, worrying that I’m spoiling Nelly a bit too much.
“Your carriage has arrived, Milady.”
“Hehe, dad, stop that! It’s embarrassing!” She smiled as she got on.
“Hold on, aren’t you forgetting something?”
“Oh right!” She gave me a hug, “Thanks, dad!”
“Cute, as well as appreciated, but that wasn’t what I was talking about.” I said as I pulled out the sunhat she just got for her present, “A true princess has to look beautiful in every possible scenario! The sunhat helps you look cuter than ever, but it also protects you from sunburn or getting an unwanted tan!”
“Why would a tan be bad?” She asked.
“No clue, but have you ever seen a princess with a tan?”
“Fair point, all of them have snow white skin.” She noted.
Well, that’s kind of a lie. It’s true that I’ve never seen one in person, but there’s definitely royalty of a darker complexion out in the world. Even still, I kind of just said what I said in the heat of the moment because I too didn’t know the answer to that question, but I should probably correct myself, otherwise Nelly might grow up to discriminate. Then again, she likes Meil, so maybe she won’t?
“Err, actually, scratch that.” I scratched my cheek, “There are all kinds of princesses, so just forget what I said. Sunhats look good on girls and that’s that, okay?”
“Okay?” She didn’t seem to understand why I corrected myself, but took it to heart nonetheless.
“Now, where would you like to go, Milady?” I continued my fancy butler shtick by doing my best impression of Arthur while he’s at work.
“Wherever you want to go.” She replied in earnest.
“No, no, no, Milady!” I corrected her, “A princess has to be decisive! Now tell me, where do you want to go?”
“Uhh…” She thought long and hard before coming to a rather pessimistic answer, “I don’t think I’m fit to be a princess…”
“Wait, you’re giving up so quickly?” Cecily seemed surprised, “Come on, surely there’s a place you wanna visit. Any place is fine, really!”
“Then…!” She beamed up before I shot her hopes down immediately.
“Wherever Meil is isn’t an option.”
“Urk! Dang it…”
In the end, she spent another five minutes coming up with all sorts of ideas before finally coming up with a realistic one. That being to go to the Grys Estate and ask the “Beautiful Maids” if she can borrow their outfit for a bit just to feel like royalty. We tried explaining to her that a princess and a maid aren’t the same, but she was adamant in stating “Then I’ll just be a Maid Princess!” and happily putting the outfit on.
The maid outfit looked adorable on her, despite the fact that it was far too big, not to mention that it didn’t at all mesh well with the sunhat she had on her head, but it made her happy, and that’s all that mattered.
“It’s so nice of the maids to have gifted you that outfit permanently, Nelly.” Cecily said as we were being driven back home, “Make sure to thank them properly next time, don’t be shy when showing appreciation.”
“Right.” Nelly said with a sleepy expression, “Yaawn, I’m gonna take a quick nap…”
“Sure, sweetie.” I let her rest on my lap, “Did you have fun today?”
“Yeah…” She slowly closed her eyes, “Sorry for saying all that stuff about your guys’ present. I really like it after all.”
“Anything for you, our little princess.” I gave her a warm smile.
Heh, suck it, Adam! Grimhearts One, Gryses Zero! Booyah! No one can beat Lune when he sets his mind on something, especially not when it comes to family! Ooh, I can’t wait to rub it in his face how much she liked our presents more than theirs…! Muahahaha!