What? Weren’t you mourning for your past master? You were just waiting for him to die? You greedy boomer.

“But ever since you’ve been around, a lot of good things have been happening to us.”

‘Hehehe…’ He laughed, avoiding my eye contact.

“Honestly, His Majesty is like a newborn baby to us and the weirdos at the tower. You see, I’ve been working at the Tower before His Majesty was even born, and if I had ever gotten married, I would have had a granddaughter just your age as well.”

I halted at what he said afterward.

The way he looked at me was genuine as if a grandfather were looking at his granddaughter.

I quickly came to realize that he wasn’t so young as he looked on the outside.

“So I find it more than relieving that you made it back to the palace safely and am thankful for revitalizing this barren palace.”

He bowed down, showing his genuine gratitude.

Watching him bow towards me made me feel gradually awkward.

I barely spoke after I saw his braided hair reaching down to the ground in silence.

“N-No. Don’t be. It’s I that should be tha…”

“No, your highness. You are the true treasure to His Highness and therefore to Obelia.”

“Uh…”

“In the spirit of being treasured, could you please spare a drop of blood?”

“Please leave.”

I told him immediately as he tried to swindle me.

Argh, what a trickster! Getting the mood set and all…

“Hehehe. You’ve finally made me travel outside the Tower where I usually reside. I’ll visit you again, your highness.”

“Please don’t! You’re not gonna get what you want anyway!”

“Hehehe. If that’s the case, please stay safe. Hehehehe…”

I can’t believe the headmaster was more of a weirdo than the already crazy Lucas! Boo-hoo! I want my fantasies back!

* * *

“They’re all crazy boomers.”

Claude’s remarks on the headmaster were also harsh.

During tea time, he constantly reminded me not to approach the crazy boomer ever again and to report all “activities” the headmaster does.

I watched him ramble about the headmaster then threw him a question.

“Hmmm. You and the headmaster must be friends, right?”

“Are you mad?”

He frowned as if he was doubting his ears but I’ve already gotten a grip on the situation.

I didn’t know because I’ve never heard of Claude talk about the headmaster but what he told me in the Emerald Palace doesn’t sound like a trick… And the way Claude treats him both physically and verbally was bizarrely indescribable.

Could it be… that something flows through them from the fact they’re not just ordinary people?

So that’s why he’s got connections with the headmaster… I started to get curious.

But Claude sounded like he actually was considering my remarks as nonsense.

Soon after, I introduced my plans as I had some cake with Claude.

“I’m gonna throw a birthday party.

“What?”

He gave me a shocked look as I unraveled my plans.

“Not on my actual birthday, but a few days later.”

“Which kind of party?”

“At noon, I’m thinking of a simple tea party with the people in Emerald Palace and in the evening, invite some noble children and have a masquerade. Sounds like fun right?”

Judging from his facial expression, he took pity on what I just said.

That made me chuckle a bit, reminding me that even though he may have lost his memory, the personality inside him doesn’t change.

Didn’t Claude hate me both going outside the palace and inviting people in? And didn’t he hate me inviting boys into the palace? That’s why all the people who’ve ever come to my tea parties have all been girls.

But what’s the point in ‘unraveling’ my plans if I’m not going to hold the party in the first place? I simply smiled Claude’s pity away.

“Thinking about it, I’ve never held a party at my palace. So I thought why not invite some new people?”

I was going nuts on this guy. Hehehe! But it just feels so good to go nuts! If I had known this feeling, I would’ve gone nuts months ago!

Well, it was pretty normal for the invitees to not accept the invitation because there are some things Claude had done to me in front of other people during the last Birthday Banquet.

But rumor has it that Claude scared the living hell out of some nobles during the feast while I was gone who spoke of me lightly to him.

I don’t know what they told Claude about me but after that, nobody dared to consider me an actual princess.

It was practically carrying fire in one hand and water in the other but considering that it’s my fault Claude lost his memory and that he’s been preoccupied all the while I was gone…

And yesterday Claude and I even appeared on the terrace holding hands combined with the incident that annihilated half the Black Tower in response to the headmaster trying to use me as a test subject, the rumors regarding our relationship have instantly faded away.

Plus, thanks to Claude showing his dire efforts to find me while I was missing, people now think of our past as nothing more than a parent-child argument.

It was a bit too fierce to be an ordinary argument… But people seemed to buy it since I was ‘arguing’ with none other than Claude.

So as the news got around that I had returned, more and more people kept sending me invitations and gifts.

So I thought if I were to invite them over to my birthday, they’d probably attend at least to check if Claude and I have really gotten over our ugly past.

But Claude straight-up gave me a chilly look and disagreed with my proposed party.

“It’s okay having a party with the palace people and servants but a dress-up ball? Those kinds of complicated parties are not…”

“Well, I’m not gonna invite you anyway. Pretty sure it’s not going to be too loud in Garnet Palace though.”

Claude’s hands holding the teacup stopped instantaneously. He then asked me, doubting what I just told him.

“…What?”

Come on, dad. What’s there to be surprised about?

I told Claude indifferently as he gave me a shook look.

“You didn’t come to meet me on any of my birthdays anyway. Aren’t you going to stay in Garnet Palace for days this time around too?”

Sob–Fine. I’m small-minded and remember everything. Although I know it was because of Diana that he didn’t come over for my birthdays but it still makes me sad.

If I weren’t on the second phase of my life and had still been a weak little kid, I definitely would’ve been scarred for life.

But Claude couldn’t get a word out of his mouth as if he were flattered to hear me tell him that so directly.

His pupils were fixed. I began to feel a wee bit strange seeing him so puzzled in front of me.

A moment later, Claude spoke in relative calm as he put the teacup back on the table.

“Did I?”

He had the sentence ‘Umm i dON’t kNow’ written all over his face.

Yeah sure. You forgot everything, including my birthdays. Obviously you don’t remember not even trying to meet me on my birthdays.

“You know what, it’s whatever.”

I kept touching the teacup next to me. Then I picked it up and told Claude while smiling as if nothing was going through my mind.

“I’ve been having a lot of fun on my birthdays actually. With a party this time around, it’ll be extra fun. I’ll make sure to keep the noise down.”

That I never nagged him to come over was my least amount of respect for him.

And me asking Claude to come over scratching his already pained scar was purely out of greed and me just laughing it off like nothing probably would’ve been another nag.

“Care for some more tea, dad?”

He stayed silent but I filled his empty teacup anyway.

‘You shall not be full on your first glass of wine,’ I shouldn’t have wished everything at the same time.

[TL Notes: Korean proverb for humility.]

On one side I felt relieved to have said something I’ve always wanted but on the other side, I was kind of regretting whether I said something too big of a favor. I held my sigh in as I took a bite out of a scone in front of me.

Speaking of parties, my birthday’s just around the corner. Gosh, time flies.

Claude speechlessly stared at my face for some time. Then moments later,

“I’ll be there.”

He spilled out a low tone.

“I won’t be late for this birthday.”

I raised my head after timelessly looking at the tree shadow cast on the grass. The chin resting on the palm was raised subtly.

I gradually opened my mouth.

“…Really?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re not kidding, are you?”

“I’m not.”

“Uh…… I’m really okay with you not coming. I just asked you…”

“I’m not okay.”

This time, Claude raised his teacup. His voice was noticeably clearer now.

“I’ll make sure to come.”

It would be a total lie if I told you I didn’t expect anything from Claude. But now that I got the response I wanted, my heart started to tingle a bit.

Maybe it’s because of my obvious nagging that he came to this conclusion.

But I was happy nonetheless.

“Hehe.”

As I chuckled my delight away, he looked at me with the ‘Heh. Silly child.’ face. But how could I not be happy? It’s going to be the first birthday I get to spend with dad!