"I know... I'm a bad mom. The precious little boy I had is probably gone now. You have grown up without me, and we can't change the past.
In this very present, I have you, I have my dear grown-up son, alive and fine, and that's enough for me.
It's good, I'm happy, you will soon properly be twelve, and it will be fun~.
And even though won't do much as you like, it will be quite fun, and that I'm sure of~.
You will be going to your friend's house, again, with my two lovely daughters, so you better take care of them until you come back.
Besides, I have a faint idea about the thing you two are planning. And seeing this stubborn future daughter-in-law of mine, that one must be inevitable.
Huuuu... so, don't worry and just go~. We will do our best this time too~! Far better than your last birthday we celebrated~."
She was cheerful and I knew she would find out from the way the both of us had spent this past week.
The past week had been pretty quick.
From setting up my room and secret room, preparing materials to fill a full room of empty selves just beside the one with full shelves, training with Rein in Carla's training room, teaching Carla when Rein was doing her training, reading books in my room as well as in Alf's house.
Teaching Alf things that weren't in the diary or solving his doubts, and learning about the society of this current time.
Learning other basic subjects, gathering information through Celes's clones, observing the knight training, and also Chry's training.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtIn the middle of these things doing my special own training was also part of these things.
And if I have free time, then do things like this tea party, talk with other people in this house, help with their work, prepare food for everyone like I did on the second day, and also work on some of my projects if I have last bit of time.
The way we were doing this in a hurry as well as the fact that mom was mom, a merchant guild master, and a countess with high, long, wide, complicated connections, she would naturally know we were preparing for something.
Not that we actually needed this much preparation, and Rein also didn't understand this thinking of mine. But, my mom would know... I liked being prepared if not over-prepared for situations.
And even after knowing that we might be doing something dangerous, she wasn't stopping me anymore, like she used to do before.
She was like a completely different person now and I knew that for a while now but, it was still surprising to see my dear mom with that expression of helplessness.
But... she genuinely was not worried about me anymore.
She was warmly smiling, hoping for me best of luck in whatever I wanted to do, supporting me unconditionally.
She was different from how she had been but, this was still my dear mom, and I was the same Eon she knew, which she knew and couldn't change.
'It should be called character growth. Both of us had lived differently in these six years I was away.
She knows my life was full of unimaginable things. She knows I have suffered. And she knows I am now fundamentally a grown-up person than the child she had taken care of.
I also know that she has been with her parents in this place, with the young Anna.
She had taken care of that normal child, learned from others as well as from her mistakes, and improved a lot.
She is sad that the past she had lived won't be the same anymore, but also happy that the present where she has me, the present where I am here with her, is all that matters.
Well... that's the strong mom that I know.'
Smiling at her, I grabbed her hand with my free hand and looked into those gorgeous light brown eyes.
They were warm, happy, sad, and a harmony of emotions.
And the smile on my face was also the same but reassuring.
"Yes~. We will be fine and don't worry at all~. I will take care of my lovely sisters~.
And I know you will have a spectacular birthday celebration for me when I come back. So... I'm looking forward to the party~!"
"Yei~! We too~!"
I was naturally cheerful but, Anna and Zoe spoke just after me with cheerful voices and star-filled eyes, Taika and Clover having the same excited expression, these children's and cute ones' reply was far more powerful than mine.
And what could we do but laugh lovingly at this excitement of the children?
This was our tea party and this... should be alright, right?
The past week was in haste so it passed by without any noticeable event aside from this one so, right now, this tea party, was the only 'quite something' that had happened.
Tomorrow, we all will be busy packing and I had to take care of Anna and Zoe all the time we will travel to different places in the city and the area around her house.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmIt will be fun, and I was looking forward to seeing those chocolate and coffee farms.
I knew Anna and Zoe would love seeing those things and I knew I would love that too.
Maybe I should buy some fruits from there if possible but, we can think about that there.
That would be fun but, even more fun would be when we come back here.
Mom and dad both just loved the birthday surprise thing and I wanted to see just how awesome they would prepare if given full time and they already had all the resources.
The tea party was fun, something I genuinely enjoyed.
Rein loved it too... most of it, at least.
I could tell just from looking at her cheerful smile while talking with my first aunt that she would become a good friend with all three of these ladies, maybe grandmother too.
Things were pretty and much normal after the day we all met Ast in the Astral realm and nothing much changed between us.
They both already liked her, and just like them, Ast liked us too.
The love fairy was now our friend, and it would be pretty fun having a fairy friend like her.
She was here the day before yesterday and I asked her about the pink fairy dust too, and she accepted without hesitation.
So, thanks to her, I now had a good amount of that special pink dust with me.
It will definitely come in handy in something but, for now, this is the end of the tea party.
'Now... how would our peaceful playtime at her place be? Should be pretty fun, considering I would be seeing the natural fruit and coffee gardens.
She knows everything there so I know it would be pretty fun with an awesome guide like her.
So, let's see~!'