Chapter 575:
The Bear Goes to a Birthday Party
WE FINISHED THE RECAP from yesterday.
“Well, I’ll head out now.”
“Yuna, please wait.”
Seleiyu stopped me as I was about to stand up from my seat.
“Actually, I turned sixteen today.”
“Really? Congrats, Seleiyu!”
That’s right, the man had mentioned something about coming to get her when she was sixteen.
“Thank you. I know all those terrible things happened yesterday, but we’re celebrating my birthday with a party today. I thought of cancelling, but everything had already been planned, so Father said we couldn’t call it off...”
Seleiyu glanced at her dad.
“We have also prepared food,” he said. “If we cancelled it, I think the servants would worry. Most importantly, I believe my late wife, Shulia, would not have wanted it cancelled.”
“I feel terribly for combining my birthday with showing our gratitude to you, but I wondered if you might be interested in attending?”
Seleiyu gave me a serious look. Normally I would say no, but Seleiyu’s eyes made it hard to refuse.
“Who else is attending?”
“Just our family. I was worried about what might happen, so I asked Father for a private party just for us since there was a possibility I might not be present.”
She said this part a little awkwardly since her dad was next to her. That was how prepared she had been for the worst.
“We actually already asked the servants to prepare some extra food for you and Noa.”
“I would also like to extend my own invitation. Please do attend,” Seleiyu’s dad replied.
I wasn’t a decision I could make on my own, though.
“Could I talk to Noa first?”
“Yes, of course.”
Seleiyu and I headed to the room where Noa was waiting and told her about the party.
“Lady Seleiyu’s birthday party?”
“Yes, and we would like you to come if you would like.”
“I don’t have a present for you, though.”
“I don’t need a present. Instead, I would be so happy if you could tell me more things you know about Yuna.”
“In that case, yes, I will attend. I can tell you all about her.”
“Ha ha, I’m looking forward to it.”
“Are you two done joking?”
They smiled when I said that. I wasn’t kidding though, for real. It was a matter of privacy.
A present though... If we were celebrating a birthday, I knew just the thing.
“Noa, what would you think of making a cake for Seleiyu?”
“A cake?”
“We have time, so I think we should be able to do it.”
“That’s a wonderful idea, Yuna,” Noa said.
Noa was on board. I had cake in my bear storage, but it would be a better present if we made one from scratch. That way Noa could make her a present too. Since she would have a present from Noa, that meant Noa wouldn’t have to tell stories about me, right?
“So, Seleiyu, could we borrow your kitch...?”
I was about to ask about their kitchen, but I realized we couldn’t be in the way when the staff would already be busy making meals.
We didn’t have a spot to make the cake. In a pinch, we could set up the bear house in their garden, but that would cause a commotion. The staff and neighbors would probably be in for a shock.
“A kitchen?”
“We’d like to make you some good food, but we can’t be in the kitchen when your staff are already busy using it, can we?”
Seleiyu thought for a bit.
“We have a kitchen in the annex, so I think you could use that. You are our guests though. I think it would be better if you didn’t have to work.”
“Lady Seleiyu, Yuna’s cakes are so, so very delicious. I’d like you to try one. We couldn’t prepare you a present, so won’t you let us make one for you?” Noa begged.
“All right. Please feel free to use the annex’s kitchen as you please. I’ll wait with great anticipation.”
“Yes, please do.”
We headed right over to the kitchen. It was small, but well-equipped. More than suitable for cake-baking.
“Okay, shall we?”
“Yes!”
I pulled out utensils and ingredients from my bear storage and we started baking.
“For Misa’s birthday party, we couldn’t make the cake together, but we get to this time,” Noa said. I hadn’t been able to include Noa in the baking then, so she had been pouty about it.
“You’re a natural, Noa.”
“Thank you. I’m so happy to hear that from you, Yuna. I do actually sometimes help with the cooking.”
“I’m surprised you cook, even as a noble.”
“Until I met you, I hadn’t done much. But then I saw you and Fina making things and wanted to try it myself. I had ever so much fun baking bear bread with Fina.”
If the bear bread helped unlock Noa’s love of cooking, then I was glad, even if it was embarrassing.
Noa was a little shaky about the process, but she followed my instructions as she assisted me, so we got the sponge cake done. Then we needed to slather it in the whipped cream, give it some strawberry flourishes and write a happy birthday message for Seleiyu. I left the writing to Noa.
“Are you sure I should write it?”
“Fina wrote it for me on Misa’s birthday cake too.”
“In that case, I can’t let Fina beat me.”
I had no idea what they were competing in, but Noa was all fired up, and she slowly drew the letters on the cake using strawberry whipped cream.
“There.”
She had finished the message, and finallythe cake was an actual birthday cake.
“Seleiyu will love it.”
“Yes!”
We headed out to tell Seleiyu the cake was done.
“Already?”
“Yup,” I said.
“It looks very good,” Noa said.
I told her I wanted to serve the cake last, after the meal.
“Ha ha, all right, then. I’m looking forward to seeing it at the end. We have finished our preparations as well, so please come this way.”
What preparations? We followed after Seleiyu. After walking down a long hallway, we stopped in front of a room.
“It’s in here.”
As Seleiyu said that, she opened the door and stepped inside. Noa and I followed her in. The moment I set foot inside, I froze.
“Since it’s a special occasion, I’ve prepared dresses.”
Several dresses hung around the room.
“Wow! They’re so pretty.”
“I think that the ones I wore as a child might fit you, Noa. Please choose something you like. Yuna, please choose from these.”
Of course I had to wear one too. I still had a dress that Noa had given me in my bear storage.
I compared my physique to Seleiyu’s. I wondered when she’d worn the dresses that were here today. Or were these dresses that were currently in her rotation? I was conflicted for a bit. Maybe it would be better to wear the dress Noa had got me? Or maybe I could convince her to let me pass, since I didn’t look good in dresses.
No, the latter was definitely not an option. Noa and Seleiyu would gang up on me to force me to wear one.
In that case…
“I have a dress that Noa got me, so I’ll just wear that.”
I might have looked a little conflicted even as I spoke. After some internal conflict, I decided to go with that one. I mean, if I tried on Seleiyu’s dresses and found myself lacking in a certain very noticeable area, I’d probably cry myself to sleep. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t think you were so petite,” she might say. Or “We’re the same age, right?” I wouldn’t know how to recover after that.
In order to avoid fatal psychological damage, I chose the dress Noa had given me.
“You kept it?!”
“It’s just in my item bag,” I said.
I brought out the dress, which made Noa very pleased.
“All right, then shall we pick yours out, Noa?”
“Yes.”
Noa and Seleiyu started going through the hangers together.
“Haah...”
I could only sigh. Unlike the two of them, I wasn’t used to wearing fancy dresses. I really wanted to scream that out loud.
Noa chose a bright blue dress and changed into it. Seleiyu put hers on, so I reluctantly did so too. This was even worse than the uniform.
After we were dressed, the maid fixed up our hair.
“I thought you were cute, but in a dress, you look beautiful.”
“Yuna is both cute and pretty,” Noa said.
“You two are the cute, pretty ones,” I said.
Noa was cute and Seleiyu was pretty. Since there was a stark contrast, something was obvious... Then I looked down. I looked at Seleiyu’s chest. Yeah, I was pretty happy with my decision not to try on any of her dresses. I should stop comparing—it was just going to make me sad.