/
Then his head turned toward me.
“Why the present?”
“You didn’t like me receiving so many gifts…?”
“No. Not at all. I want to give you a better present… Oh, no. So, you can take it all.”
“Aren’t we supposed to return all these gifts later?”
“Are you sure you don’t want to receive it?”
He shook his head left and right.
“Absolutely not. It’s not like that… There’s no such thing as kindness without a reason in these worlds.”
“This is kindness for a reason.”
His voice grew serious again.
“Reasonable kindness?”
“From now on, you are the daughter of the Grand Duke. It isn’t bad to make a kite. The Grand Duchy is the place where the strong can become the Grand Duke, so I’m trying to build a good relationship from the beginning. If it weren’t for that, the daughter and the Grand Duke used to occupy positions in the empire from generation to generation.”
“Wow… that’s right.”
“I’m just doing this because I want to look good to you. That’s the power of the seat. I’m glad you didn’t, I thought you wouldn’t like presents.”
When I made a simple expression that I did not understand, the Grand Duke turned away quickly.
“Okay… a gift. It was prepared for me.”
It’s awkward because I was born into this world and had never received anything like that except from my mom and dad, but at the same time, my heart tickled.
“Bebe.”
“Huh?”
“Now I hope that all your birthdays are happy, not sick days.”
He was exceptionally kind. He was like the only warm blanket in the room on a cold winter day where the wind blew.
He was warm and soft.
Now my room was no longer cold.
‘For me, my birthday is no longer a sick day, not a sad day, but a happy day. This year and next year…’
His eyes darkened slightly.
There were no more birthdays for the five-year-old who always lost her mother.
“Dad.”
“Huh?”
“The best gift for me is this time. I think this time is the best gift.”
He smiled slightly, squinting his eyes, and walked over to me.
His mouth twitched as if he had something to say, and he grinned.
“Now let me go back.”
“Huh!”
“Today, I’m going to hug you. I have to eat.”
“Ah! Yeah. I’m hungry.”
I spread my arms toward the Grand Duke.
“It’s the first time.”
“Today, I’m in a good mood.”
“Okay. Then go back.”
It was then… Just as I was lifted into the air in his arms, I saw a maid, who had always been following Harris, standing at the edge of the room and then backing away with a dissatisfied expression.
‘Did you even say it?’
But even after seeing it, I didn’t want to pay any attention to it.
Because today was a happy day and it’d be such a perfect day if Mom woke up.
When I got up, some people who had not yet given a gift were sad.
“I haven’t given you a present yet!”
“Let’s collect the rest of the presents. I will give it some thought and pass it on to Bebe.”
Those who murmured at those words had to retreat.
“Then we go back.”
He then walked. The path that did not exist was made as the Grand Duke walked. It was kind of weird.
‘Am I really no longer worried?
Since the Grand Duke became my father, am I officially his daughter?
That easy?
It felt unusually easy for what I had been struggling with.
“Why are you making that face?”
“Huh?”
“Your face is stiffer than when you left the drawing room.”
“It’s because of Dad.”
“Allen. You go to your room.”
“…Ugh. Daddy tries to do all the cool things on his own.”
“If you want to do cool things, hurry up and grow up.”
The two of them quarreled with each other, not like a fight between father and son, but like children of my age were fighting, but it ended only after Allen left, expressing his disappointment.
“I haven’t done this before, but Allen seems to like you.”
“Huh?”
“So don’t react like that to me.”
“Is that so… but why?”
“Huh?”
“Why do you like it? I… I’m a little scared.”
I broke my promise to not be weak and made eye contact with him.
“Scared?”
“Everything seems so easy… It’s all so smooth compared to what I’ve been through… so I’m scared.”
“It’s probably the first time you’re afraid that everything will go as planned.”
His blue eyes staring at me somehow seemed to contain the deep, deep sea. I haven’t been there, but I’ve seen that the sea was where you can’t get out if you sank.
‘Because I can’t do that.’
People like me shouldn’t be happy. My father died and my mother died because I was a cursed child, but the words I heard every day lingered in my ears on this happy day.
Meanwhile, we arrived at the room.
As we entered the room, Theo, who had entered the room and was guarding my mother, went out naturally.
“Nothing to be afraid of. You are a princess now, Bebe.”
“Huh!”
Seeing him worried, I smiled hard and turned my head back into the room.
And there, my mother was sitting.