I don’t remember who brought up the conversation first.

Amidst the enjoyable stories we shared, it seemed like the discussion about who liked whom more or less began.

“But even though we’re family, Unni loves Shasha the most!”

Shasha suddenly stood up, rushed toward me, and hugged me tightly.

“No, Mom loves me the most.”

“Nope! Pig! You have to ask Dad to love you.”

“…No. Dad is Dad, and Mom is Mom.”

Watching the bickering pair, Lianne wore a somewhat disappointed expression.

“Hmm, what Bella likes is…”

As if about to say that she likes herself the most, Lianne slowly began to speak. I looked at Lianne and shook my head. Discussing it here would likely lead to a dispute between Lianne and the children.

“If you don’t eat the cake, I’ll eat it all.”

Instead, he lifted a fork full of cake.

“Hey… you can’t!”

“Mom, you have to leave mine too!”

The children, who were just arguing, quickly sat down without anyone saying who would go first and hastily brought the cake to their side.

Watching that, I felt a sense of comfort and tranquility more than ever.

‘Family… Noah, this time, I will definitely protect our family as your sister.’

I will show them what it means to treat a child as a possession or an impurity interfering with their lives under the name of parents. This is what a family is.

“It’s quiet.”

Several days passed since then.

Today was an unusually quiet day. Recently, Shasha and Ruedello said they saw a dollhouse and a cat at the library and hurriedly set off for the library. It was my fault for going to pick out books with the children without thinking.

So, not only Shasha and Ruedello but also Haven and Merkin lived in the library.

Karitos seemed busy lately with the task I assigned him, sending only Haven. There were stories about him trying to finish the work as quickly as possible and return through Haven.

But that was it. Perhaps there was more to investigate than I thought, as he was in a situation where he couldn’t return for quite a while.

I considered going to see him or taking a stroll to the temple, but my body didn’t move easily.

I didn’t want to burden him unnecessarily. So, I enjoyed my time alone.

“Relaxing. Time alone.”

Now that they can confidently go to the library by themselves, the children went ahead and left.

Even if I tried to follow them, I couldn’t keep up, so I sent Ken and Aina to be with the children and enjoyed my leisurely time, sipping tea.

Cherity, who was pouring the tea, smiled a very small smile and refilled the empty cup.

“You’ll soon start preparing for the Crown Prince’s birthday party, and you’ll be busy again. Until then, it’s good to enjoy your leisure.”

“I guess so.”

“Yes.”

“I want to do it properly… but I’m worried because I’ve never had a proper party.”
As the Crown Prince, it’s his first birthday party. I’ve already publicly announced Ruedello’s existence on the day of my wedding.

But that was just an aside. The child will be properly recognized as the Crown Prince on his birthday. That’s why I want to do well in anything, but I can’t think of a good idea.

“His Highness, the Crown Prince, will be happy just being with Queen Mama.”

“Is that so…”

“Yes. Even if it’s just putting candles on a cake very modestly. His Highness, the Crown Prince, sometimes mentions it. He says the Crown Prince’s Palace was more splendid and better than Star Palace, but his heart is comfortable and happy here. He says it’s the happiest time among all the moments of his birth and growth.”

What kind of life has he lived? How unhappy has the child’s life been?

‘That’s why I want to do it even better.’

It’s the feeling of wanting to give a gift to a child’s life like that.

“I should talk to Lianne more.”

“Yes.”

Regardless of becoming a moiré, I hope the child is happy, and I hope others see it. Especially Lianne’s birth mother.

Lianne does well even without you. The time without you is a happier time for the child. I wanted to show it.

That’s when I was emptying my second teacup.

Suddenly, the air around me became stuffy. It was so irritating to the point that my throat stung. It was strange, so I looked around, and I felt like smoke was filling my vision in a very peculiar way.

In the situation where it seemed like mist was forming, I looked at Cherti.

“Cherti, didn’t you feel anything strange?”

“Something strange? Um… Could it be that you don’t like the taste of the tea? Shall I prepare another type of tea for you?”

“Not that. Can’t you feel anything else strange?”

Cherti giggled as if she couldn’t feel anything strange at all. My throat became more itchy, and the air felt even thicker, but she didn’t notice… This means it’s not a situation visible to the eye.

It must be some kind of magic or another type of power.

“Can you prepare a new tea? And prepare cookies for the children to eat. Something new. It would be nice if Cherti made it herself.”

“Yes? But if I do that, it seems like I’ll leave Queen Mama’s side for a long time….”

“I’ll go in a bit too. So please go in quickly.”