I was so accustomed to Lady Kobayashi’s analysis and Lord Endo’s play-by-play that their commentary felt wonderfully nostalgic, but that wasn’t the case for Lieselotte. In fact, this was her first time actually hearing them expose her in their commentator modes.
She looked at them nervously, muffled sounds escaping her lips.“A-Are the gods all-knowing?!”
Oh, she exploded.
...Am I a terrible person for thinking that? But I see... So she did spend an enormous amount of time and effort on this birthday present. I’m touched by the extent of her love, but at the same time, I feel bad.
“Thank you so much, Liese. However, please don’t do this kind of thing again. I’ll gratefully accept them this time since it’s also our once-in-a-lifetime wedding, but I don’t want to burden you. Next year, you can buy something and give it to me as-is.”
For some reason, my proposal was met with shock. Lieselotte trembled. “B-But...how could a suitable gift for Your Royal Highness possibly be sold anywhere? Oh, perhaps I could find a small villa...”
“All right, let’s also decide on a budget ceiling, the types of stores you can buy from, and the area boundaries. We’ll discuss it in detail later.”
“Very well. Let’s...discuss it.” Lieselotte acquiesced, albeit reluctantly.
I sighed in relief. I’ll also have to prohibit her from opening a store within that valid area, whether run by herself or a relative, or else she’ll be able to purchase ridiculously high-end products, curios from a distant land, or her own handmade items, and claim they were within budget. Just to be sure, I’ll have a civil servant check for loopholes and write a formal agreement.
“Heeey, Aoto, I really think we should give Sieg something for his birthday.”
“Believe me, I want to. But we don’t have any of this world’s currency, so we can’t just go out and buy something for him.”
While I was internally strengthening my resolve, Lady Kobayashi and Lord Endo sighed. I couldn’t help but chuckle at their lamentations.
“Kobayashi, Endo, you already came all this way today. That’s the best present I could ever ask for. Well, if I’m allowed to be selfish, I’d like to have a little more time to chat with you.”
“Aw, you sure?”
“We’re gods, so it’s not selfish unless you demand our blessing or something, right?”
The two deities looked troubled. They glanced at each other and nodded.
“Honestly, I do wanna at least give him our blessing. But how do we do that?” Lady Kobayashi mused.
“No idea. Should we ask Lirenna to teach us the ropes?”
“Oh, no, you don’t need to do that,” I said. “Besides, my family has already received the ability to hear the Voices of the Gods, so it may be difficult to receive another blessing on top of that.”
“Now that you mention it, no one born to the royal family has ever received a blessing from any deity besides Lirenna, the Goddess of Creation,” Lieselotte said. “There aren’t many people who have received a divine blessing to begin with...”
“Ohhh, is that why we couldn’t bless Sieg or Fiene no matter how much we prayed?”
“I honestly feel equally attached to Sieg, Lieselotte, Fiene, and Baldur. So maybe it’s that kind of system issue?”
Lady Kobayashi and Lord Endo tilted their heads in unison.
I smiled and nodded. “I’m sure that’s it. I know you both truly care about us. I can’t express how much you’ve already helped me, even if it wasn’t in the form of a divine blessing. That I was able to hear your voices from another realm was a miracle in and of itself, and I’m sincerely happy we were able to establish this friendship.”
The pair fidgeted, embarrassed.
“Aww, you’re making me blush! Don’t be so stiff and formal.”
“Yeah, be more casual, like, ‘We’re friends, so don’t worry about it!’ Oh, it might sound friendlier if you call us by our first names. I’m Aoto.”
“And I’m Shihono! You do it too, Liese-tan!”
“Er, I don’t think it would be right to address gods that casually...” I said, hesitant.
“I’m afraid I shall have to refrain...” Lieselotte, too, was reluctant.
Suddenly, Lord Endo held his palm out towards us as if to stop us. “Oh, but wait. I’m happy to be called by my first name, but I don’t really want Sieg calling Shihono by hers. She was a Magikoi player and a Sieg fan, even if she shipped him with Lieselotte.”
“Ha ha, look who’s jealous! I think Aoto still has some misconceptions about otome games. Well, I get it’s normal to feel conflicted when your SO’s getting along with another guy. But hey, that means there’s no problem if I get fanservice from Liese-tan instead, since we’re both girls! C’mon, Liese-tan, call me Shihono!”
“Pretty much. C’mon, Sieg, call me Aoto.”
“Um... A-Aoto...sir.”
“Sh-Shiho... No, I really cannot address a god so casually. Please allow me a little time to mentally prepare myself.”
I managed to muster up the courage to say his name, but I couldn’t stop myself from adding a formality at the end. Meanwhile, Lieselotte gave up midsentence. I didn’t blame her.
“You guys are so serious,” Lord Endo said with a strained smile. “We’re not that important. Shihono’d be on cloud nine if Lieselotte were to call her by her first name, ’cause she sees it as fanservice. Oh, do you know what fanservice is? Basically, it’s doing something that makes your fans—in this case, Shihono—really happy.”
Lieselotte nodded, looking awkward. “If it will make her happy... Well, um, I will work towards it.”
I averted my gaze from Lady Kobayashi, whose eyes were now sparkling in anticipation, and cleared my throat. “Yes, that’s right. We’ll take it step by step. Now, where were we? Oh, yes. If you wish to do something for my birthday, please join me and Lieselotte in our garden for tea later. I’d love to talk more with you.”
Unfortunately, I was hearing a lot of noise outside the door. I had a feeling our pleasant chat was about to end, hence my invitation.
Lady Kobayashi and Lord Endo beamed.
“We’d love to!” Lady Kobayashi said. “A tea party in a garden sounds like fun! I wanna reminisce about stuff!”
“A lot happened this past year, huh? And we haven’t seen each other in a while, so I also wanna find out what happened while we were away.”
The pair nodded firmly.
I smiled back and said, “I’m glad to hear that. In that case, let’s have tea after the parade. Oh, but Lieselotte will be changing her dress, so I suppose we’ll have to leave her for a bit.”
“Oh yeah, it’d be hard to relax in the garden in that fancy dress.” Lady Kobayashi’s expression darkened and turned serious. “Um, by the way, have you already decided what dress you’ll be changing into?”
Lieselotte and I tilted our heads. I had indeed given my wife a dress to wear to today’s tea party, but based on the way Lady Kobayashi was asking, perhaps it would have been better if it were still undecided?
“Sorry, guys.” Lord Endo wore a resigned look. “Shihono’s a total Lieselotte fanatic.”
“Um, you can just ignore me if you’ve already picked something, but I really wanna see the dress Liese-tan wore to school; like, the fan in me is thinking that, since I get to meet the real Liese-tan in the flesh, I also wanna see the actual outfit she wears in the game! Please! If it’s at all possible!” Lady Kobayashi stared with pleading eyes.
Lieselotte gave me an inquiring glance, to which I nodded.
“Indeed, I hadn’t decided what I was going to wear, so I shall change into the dress I wear to school when we return to the castle. That one would certainly be appropriate for afternoon tea in the garden.”
Yes, that must be the right choice.
“Woohoo!” Lady Kobayashi jumped up and down in joy and excitement.
“Glad it worked out.” Lord Endo looked at Lady Kobayashi with gentle, satisfied eyes.
If Lieselotte’s response made the two of them this happy, then it didn’t bother me at all that the dress I’d given her had been rendered meaningless. That was why I had given my approval just now. But, well, to be honest, I was a little jealous that Lieselotte had prioritized Lady Kobayashi over me. It wasn’t that I felt neglected, but I did feel a similar sense of loneliness and hurt.
It is my birthday, after all.