“What?! Birthday?!”

Catherine, hearing about Bonita’s birthday from Luke, jumped up.

“Why are you telling me something so important only now!”

“Mother didn’t know either.”

“No, you should know!”

She pounded her chest with both hands. Luke narrowed his eyes.

“Mother, do you know my birthday?”

“Of course.”

“When is it?”

“November 17th.”

Luke looked a bit surprised.

“Surprising that you know.”

“Well! What parent doesn’t know their child’s birthday? Your head was so big I almost died giving birth!”

“…”

Facing the weighty truth, Luke sealed his lips. He realized that continuing an argument on this topic would only lead to defeat.

And, in his opinion, Catherine must have had a really hard time.

Even though Bonita was born very small, Elodie’s body was severely damaged.

Considering Elodie was congenitally frail, childbirth itself was already a life-threatening task.

Grumbling in his chest, Luke, with a sullen expression, muttered, “You were absent-minded. Besides, you should’ve remembered at least a week ago, right?”

“Didn’t Hilton tell you?”

“That…!”

How could that be?

Catching Luke’s confusion, Catherine chuckled.

“Apparently, as children grow up, it becomes obvious what they’re thinking, my son.”

“Really?”

He asked with a suspicious look.

“I never know what Bonita is thinking every time. Bonita is… a bit peculiar. Not like an ordinary child.”

“More than me?”

“You were like a child when you were young.”

Catherine cynically retorted.

“Do you even know how many house curtains you tore and ate? You used to tear down frames from the walls to sled down the stairs. The servants cried and ran to my room every day. Do you even remember?”

“…T-There’s no need to go into so much detail.”

At the timely revelation, Luke cleared his throat with a fake cough. His earlobes turned red.

“Anyway, that’s how it happened.”

“What happened exactly?”

Catherine raised her eyebrows in a puzzled tone.

“Didn’t you ever prepare for a birthday party?”

“Elodie’s birthday party…”

“Elodie is an adult over twenty, and Bonita is a seven-year-old child! Completely different!”

Right, it was.

“What’s the difference? Decorating the entire mansion splendidly would be the same.”

“Tsk, you’re like a cold-hearted kid who doesn’t understand children’s hearts at all.”

“I’m probably closer to being a child than you, mother.”

Catherine neatly ignored Luke’s displeasure.

“First, fill the mansion with helium balloons. The more shapes and colors, the better.”

“Oh.”

It was quite a reasonable suggestion.

Luke reminisced about his childhood birthday parties.

‘Surely there were… balloons.’
As he passed the age of twelve, Luke began to prefer a more refined atmosphere, but it seemed like it was different when he was younger.

Seeing Luke’s expression, Catherine gained confidence and started expressing her opinions one after another.

“Next, it would be good to fill the birthday table with a large chocolate fountain that kids would love, fireworks to set off in the evening, giant gift boxes, and various tasty desserts. Also, Bonita likes macarons, so…”

Luke’s hands moved busily.

Unlike him, at least Catherine had experience preparing birthday parties from her childhood.

Moreover, surprisingly, all the opinions seemed useful.

After noting down all of Catherine’s words, Luke asked, “Is this enough? Should we just fill all the presents with good ones?”

Catherine shook her head, wagging her tongue.

“Tsk tsk, pathetic for my son.”

“What’s again?”

Luke’s eyes narrowed.

Chocolate fountains, fireworks, gift boxes, various foods and delicacies that Bonita would like, desserts, and more.

No matter how he thought about it, nothing was missing.

Recalling childhood memories, it seemed the same back then. Generally, it was about this much.

“Sigh.”

Catherine shook her head at her son who couldn’t catch the point. Eventually, she spoke first.

“We need to invite friends!”

“What?”

Luke blinked.

“Why invite friends?”

“Do you just want to have a birthday party without inviting guests?”

“Originally, these kinds of things are for old adults who like to talk endlessly.”

“Old…?”

Suddenly, Luke’s face, who had turned thirty and become an old adult, crumbled for a moment.

‘It’s not entirely incorrect…’

The age gap between Bonita and him is nearly twenty-three years.

Even at the age of twenty, children around that age tended to call someone over twenty an uncle rather than a brother. To Bonita’s friends, Luke was undoubtedly an uncle.

He felt a bit dizzy and looked into the mirror. Fortunately, the man in the mirror, while having a somewhat grim expression, didn’t look like he was in his thirties.

“To be honest, I look about twenty-five on my face. It’s different from Mother.”

“Tsk, that won’t last long. As you get older, the weight of time comes closer. Even when I was your age, I looked like I was in my mid-twenties.”

“…”

Luke closed his ears.

Anyway, that was a very distant future.

…It had to be.

“Great idea!”

Aria, who heard the story from Luke, reflected on it.