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Azur Lane: Episode of Belfast Volume 2 Chapter 2 Part 11

The preparations were then spot on.

* * *

In less than twenty minutes, both Elizabeth and Warspite had finished handing out all the presents that were their part.

After leaving the last room, Elizabeth and Warspite returned to the conference room where they had their gift meeting just the other day. In the meeting room, a laundry basket was prepared to collect all of Santa Claus’s clothes, and there, Elizabeth took off her clothes as if that was the most natural thing to do in a situation like that, and then she turned towards Warspite.

「There were fewer children to handle than I thought. Maybe it’s because we were the first ones to go?」

「Well, I’m sure it was actually Hood taking care of that matter.」

Hearing Warspite’s words, Elizabeth’s temper flared a little bit.

「I don’t need anyone to worry about the job that I’m doing! I wanted to feel more like a genuine Santa Claus!」

「Your Majesty.」

Elziabeth then wanted to storm out of the room and return to the dining room, but then all of a sudden Warspite stopped in her tracks and called out to her.

「Hm? What’s wrong? Why did you stop there?」

「Actually, I have something that I would like to give to you, Your Majesty.」

Warspite then slowly leaned towards the bag she had placed on the floor in advance, and then opened it up.

Then, she slowly took out the Christmas wreath that she happened to make not all that long ago, and she held it out towards Elizabeth with both of her hands. She then froze in place in that exact position.

「Uwah…… W-What is this? What’s the occasion?」

「This is a specially made wreath that I made from materials collected from yesterday’s excursion. Would you please accept it?」

Elizabeth stood silent for a while as she looked at the Christmas wreath made of colorful sea shells and pieces of coral.

After a brief moment during which Warspte thought that her heart would burst out of her chest, Elizabeth finally took the wreath in their hands and said:

「Of course I will accept it. Wow, it’s so pretty…… Thank you very much, Warspite.」

Elizabeth said those words with her voice clearly trembling from all the emotions that were boiling deep inside of her.

And it just so happened that her joy was so perfectly visible on her face, that even Warspite started to feel happy and elated because of that. She also felt glad that Her Majesty accepted the gift and did not downright refuse it.

「Say, Warspite……」

After saying that, Elizabeth crouched down on the spot.

As Warspite pondered what it was that Elizabeth was doing, she could see her rummage through the contents of her dack that she put down on the ground after taking it off of her arm. She then took something out of the sack and held it towards Warspite.

「Huh……? N-no way, Your Majesty!?」

「No way indeed, it is exactly what you think –––––– This is for you, Warspite.」

Elisabeth in a Santa Claus costume and with a smile on her face held out her present once again.

「Huh? B-But this is……」

Seeing the present held against her chest, Warspite was so taken aback by the sudden excitement that she had trouble finding the right words to describe how she felt.

It was a cracked straw and a soap fluid.

Elizabeth then tied her bag back up and stood up.

「You can tell just by looking at it, right? It’s a set of soap bubbles. Actually, I secretly ordered exactly the same one I have with the current batch of supplies.」

「W-why did you do something like this for me, Your Majesty?」

「Why? Why, surely you did not forget, eh, Warspite?」」

「Huh ––––––?」

In response to Warspite’s reaction, Elizabeth’s expression sharpened as she reminded her.

「We went to an uninhabited island together in the summer, didn’t we? It was a wonderful memory, so why would you ever want to forget about it?」

Involuntarily. Warspite’s entire body trembled.

「Yes, I…… I remember.」

She could barely even squeeze those words out of her throat.

For Warspite, it was a memory she could never forget. Just the other day I had a strange dream about that very same excursion.

「About that time…… Because it was so much fun for me. While I was wondering if we could do it again sometime, it got completely cold, are you listening to me?」

「Yes, I…… Yes, I’m listening, Your Majesty.」

She just thought that Elizabeth had forgotten all about it.

She was wondering if it would just remain as a one-sided fun memory for her and her alone.

But that was not the case here.

Elizabeth did in fact remember about it.

「Yes, Your Majesty…… Let’s do it. Let go to that island sometimes soon.」

She was really happy that she felt the same way.

「Let’s go there again sometime soon. And once we are there, let’s blow the biggest soap bubble that there ever was! Let’s make it so big that it will cover the entire island!」

「You can’t cover the entire island with it. It won’t get that big.」

Warspite slowly shook her head as Elizabeth furrowed her brow.

「No, I will definitely inflate it. This time it’s my turn to surprise you, Your Majesty!」

「No them’s the fighting words!」

Seeing Elizabeth’s giggling face, Warspite also laughed genuinely.

That summer day when they went to an uninhabited island together.

And today’s Christmas was also an important and unforgettable day for her.

* * *

After everyone had finished handing out the presents, Belfast called out to every single person of the Maid Corps.

「Everyone, can you come to the kitchen with me for a moment」

All the maids who heard this followed the Head Maid with a puzzled look on their faces wondering what had happened.

Belfast slowly opened the wooden door leading to the kitchen.

Then, a small Christmas tree with electric decorations on the wall greeted the maids with a twinkling glow.

「Whoa! Amazing!! Head Maid, what is the meaning of this……?」

Kent, who was the first to enter the kitchen, let out a cry of surprise and her eyes lit up.

「I was thinking that for this year’s Christmas I would like to give you all a Christmas present for all of your hard work, so I decided to secretly decorate the kitchen like this.」

After saying that, Belfast paused for a brief moment, and then she also added, but in a much more hushed and barely even audible voice.

「Because I wanted to deliver a Christmas gift to you all, since I care about you so much.」

Never before would Belfast even think that expressing her own thoughts like that to someone else would be so hard of a thing to accomplish.

Belfast wanted to hear everyone’s frank impressions of what they thought of the decorations. That much was true. But at the same time, she was also afraid to hear the other maids speak their mind about it. What if they won’t like it?

「W-Well? What do you think? Is that something that makes you feel happy?」

「Well, duh! Of course it does make us feel happy!」

When Edinburgh said that, those words seemed to be a trigger for everyone else to turn towards Belfast and exclaim all at once in unison:

「Merry Christmas!! Thank you for all of your hard work, the Head Maid!!」

Being faced with such genuine words of gratitude and a smile this radiant, Belfast could not really help it but to start feeling embarrassed for some reason.

Even though those were actually the exact words that she wanted to hear all this time, she was wondering why hearing them right now made her feel the way she was feeling, as if it was something quite embarrassing.

「Waah! Everyone, please look outside! It’s the snow! It’s snowing outside~!」

Suffolk then opened her mouth and suddenly said so in a loud and excited voice.

Curious as to what Suffolk said just now, Belfast went out towards the back door, and indeed, just a little bit of snow had begun to fall from the night sky.

「The weather has been so gloomy lately, so I didn’t exactly expect it to happen……」

It may have had something to do with the fact that the weather was much colder right now than it would usually be.

It wasn’t exactly something that could be called a genuine White Christmas, but it was quite a romantic Holy Night in its own right.

At that time, Bel-chan suddenly pulled on Belfast’s sleeve.

「Hm? What’s wrong, Bel-chan?」

「Did you manage to make this Christmas tree all by yourself, Belfast-nee-sama?」

Belfast thought about that matter for a moment out there, and then she slowly shook her head in denial.

「No…… No, that’s not it. I actually managed to receive some help from Santa Claus itself. A very kind and a very clumsy Santa Claus, that is.」