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Volume 9 Chapter 260

Surprise Party

「Tina-sama, happy birthday!」
「「「Happy birthday!!」」」
Following Rifa’s voice, everyone from the Elnor family cheers for Tina.
But it’s not just our family gathered here.
「Tina, happy birthday」
「It’s my first time celebrating someone’s birthday」
「Me too, Ifrit」
Undine, Ifrit, and Gnome are here too.
They were brought here by Sylph.
By the way, Sylph is already counted as a member of the Elnor family.
And since all four Elemental Kings are here, of course—
「Tina, happy birthday」
Even the father of Mai and Mei, the Star Spirit King, is here.
「Tina-sama, happy birthday!」
「H-happy birthday!」
From the Holy Capital Sanctum, Holy Knight Shin and Count Jan came.
Jan was originally a viscount but became a count after becoming the overseer of Sanctum.
I’m not sure why, but I felt like inviting Shin to this party would be a good idea, so I asked Elmia to invite him. Jan came along as well.
And then, these people also came to celebrate Tina.
「Tina! Happy birthday!」
「Happy birthday, Tina」
My sister Charlotte, and my brothers Cain and Leon.
「When we heard it was a surprise party……」
「We had to come too」
King Glendale and the Elf King also came.
Honestly, we didn’t invite them.
King Glendale came when Cain invited him.
Sarion helped keep Tina in Alheim until the party was ready. Somehow, the Elf King found out about the surprise party from Sarion and insisted on crashing my teleportation, saying, 「If I’m at Haruto’s mansion, Tina will surely be surprised!」
By the way, the Elf King was so surprised to see Sylph lounging at my mansion that he couldn’t even speak.
「Tina-sama, happy birthday」
Of course, Sarion is here too.
「Haruto-sama, wha-what is this—」
Tina looks surprised.
Did the plan work?
Today, I made sure not to show any signs of knowing it’s her birthday. I pretended to have completely forgotten about it.
Of course, there’s no way I’d forget Tina’s birthday.
I’ve celebrated Tina’s birthday before, but she always seemed uninterested, saying, 「Oh, today’s my birthday, isn’t it?」 Even though she’s a half, Tina has the blood of elves who live for over a thousand years, so her interest in birthdays seems to have faded.
Regardless, she always seemed happy to be celebrated, so I wanted to make her birthday this year more memorable.
「Today is Tina’s birthday. Everyone gathered here to celebrate Tina」
「Th-that’s a lie… You didn’t forget」
Forget?
Huh? So she actually remembered it was her birthday this year?
「I wouldn’t forget. It’s the birthday of someone very important to me—」
Before I could finish my sentence, Tina hugged me.
I think she looked a bit teary-eyed.
「Tina?」
「I… …I thought this year, I wouldn’t get to celebrate my birthday anymore」
Tina is crying.
Uh…… wait.
Could it be that she’s been pretending not to care about her birthday every year?
「I’m sorry for always pretending to be strong. Every year, I couldn’t wait for Haruto-sama to celebrate my birthday. As my birthday approached, I couldn’t focus on my work……」
Ah, I see.
That’s why.
「I’m sorry. Tina, you were looking forward to it, weren’t you?」
I shouldn’t have done a surprise party.
In particular, I made Sarion play a role he didn’t want to.
Sarion, who has taken care of Tina since she was born, would never forget her birthday.
Even so, today, I asked Sarion not to tell Tina about her birthday. If Tina remembered her own birthday today, she would surely have bad feelings towards Sarion.
While hugging Tina, I silently apologise to Sarion, who is right in front of me.
He smiles and raises his hand, silently saying, 『It’s okay』.
──＊＊＊──
After Tina stopped crying, we started the birthday celebration again.
Tina looked embarrassed after crying in front of everyone, but since everyone treated her as usual, she quickly started enjoying the party.
If there’s one disappointing thing, it’s that since Tina is the guest of honour, there’s no homemade food from her.
I feel bad for the other wives, but Tina’s cooking is the best.
「Well, I…… I expected as much, but Tina’s cooking isn’t available this time either」
The Star Spirit King muttered.
The last time he had a meal in this world was at my and Tina’s wedding reception.
At that time, Tina was also one of the guests of honour, so she didn’t cook.
Maybe Mai and Mei heard about Tina’s cooking from before and were looking forward to it.
It seems that all the Elemental Kings except Sylph were also looking forward to Tina’s homemade food.
Everyone seemed visibly disappointed.
However, they all perked up when I promised to summon Tina for cooking duty next time.
「Tina, this is a birthday present from me. In exchange for this— not exactly, but next time Haruto summons me, I’ll ask for a meal」
「F-Father, is that—-!?」
The Star Spirit King handed Tina a palm-sized glowing stone, which surprised Mai and Mei when they saw it.
I wonder what it is?
Since Mai seems to know something about it, I’ll ask her later.
「I’m sorry to bother you after the Star Spirit King gave you something, but……」
Undine gave Tina a small vial of liquid.
Ifrit presented her with a lamp with a flame.
Gnome gave her a bouquet of white flowers.
I could feel immense energy from all of them.
The one from the Star Spirit King seemed the most dangerous, though.
It’s a bit scary to ask about the details and purpose.
My intuition tells me that it’s something that should be isolated and stored in the Spirit Realm.
Since Tina seemed troubled after receiving it, I decided to take care of it.
Following my intuition, I’ll store it in the Spirit Realm.
After that, everyone gathered at my mansion and gave presents to Tina.
I was the last one.
「Tina, from me—」
「Haruto-sama, please!」
Huh.
「For my birthday present, I want Haruto-sama!」
「……We’re already married, so I’m already yours」
「Just for one day tomorrow is fine. Today, I felt really lonely, so tomorrow, please be only mine, Haruto-sama!」
Ah, I see.
Understanding her request, I put away the gift I had prepared in my pocket.
The gift I was going to give Tina was a jewel called the 『Dragon King’s Eye』,which sealed my magic.
It was a repaired version of Tina’s memento that I accidentally broke during a class at the magic academy.
I’ll give it to her tomorrow when the atmosphere is better.
「Got it. Tomorrow, I’ll spend the whole day with you, Tina」