Chapter 26 Birthday Presents
After the cake was one, I spent a few hours happily relaxing with those two in Sasha’s room, before I finally remembered what I needed to do next. After excusing myself, I soon returned with what I had to retrieve from my room.
“Laurier, here you are.”
“Father, what’s this?”
Laurier curiously eyed the rather large box that I held out to her, covered in easy to tear off wrapping. Watching her curiosity grow into intrigue as she realized the box wasn’t as heavy as it looked when she took it, I encouraged her with a smile.
“Go ahead and open it.”
“Okay...”
Although I did make it easy to unwrap, Laurier quietly unwrapped the box quicker and more deftly than I expected. And then, when she finally opened it up... a big smile spread across Laurier’s face.
“Wow... cuteeee!”
Rather, Laurier, you’re the cute one... but, I managed to keep that thought to myself.
“I asked a friend of mine to teach me how to make a stuffed toy, but... do you like it?”
“My Lord made this...?”
Sasha looked surprised. Well, it’s not as if I don’t understand why, though.
The alpaca soft toy that I made for Laurier, I had to seek out the help of an acquaintance of mine, a certain Princess, in order to learn how to make it properly. Well, I tried to amplify the cuter parts, so I’m not sure it really looks anything like a proper alpaca, but... I’m not so sure there even are alpacas in this world, or at the very least neither Sasha nor Laurier seemed to recognize it.
“It’s Laurier’s birthday, after all? I was hoping to make something memorable for you but... how is it?”
As I said that, Laurier finally looked up from the stuffed alpaca she’d been transfixed by and, as she hugged the toy to her chest, she smiled from the bottom of her heart with eyes full of sparkles.
“Thank you very much, father! I’ll keep it forever!”
“...I see. Well, I’m glad you’re happy.”
I think it’s pretty impressive how I’m managing to keep a straight face... since it felt like my heart stopped there for a moment.
Damn... that daughter of mine, her smile really is a lethal weapon! Laurier, you’re seriously an angel!
Although I was busy fighting a small scale war in my mind in order to keep my reason afloat, at the very least it seemed like Laurier was happy with her gift. Honestly, if I do say so myself, I thought I did pretty well considering that was my first try... Since I’m an amateur, I was a little worried about how it would turn out, but I suppose the proof is in the pudding as I saw how happy Laurier looked.
To already be such a bundle of cuteness at her age... I’m terrified to think of how beautiful she’ll be when she grows up. As expected of mine and Sasha’s daughter!
As I thought about that, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that said Sasha looked ever so slightly sulky.
“Sasha, is something wrong?”
“...No. Nothing at all.”
We both know that’s not true. Well, maybe she’s just a little bit jealous about Laurier receiving something and being left out of the fun... enjoying Sasha’s reaction, I smiled and shuffled over closer to the bed, leaning up next to her.
“Sasha, can you close your eyes for a moment?”
“...? Ah, yes...”
Sasha closed her eyes gently. Moving lightly in front of that adorably honest wife of mine so that Laurier couldn’t see what I was doing, I took out a hair ornament from my sleeve and placed it in Sasha’s beautiful silver hair.
“My Lord, this is...”
“It isn’t quite time for your birthday yet, but I just wanted to get my beloved wife something to say thank you for everything she does.”
Sasha softly ran a hand over the hair decoration with an astonished look on her face... then, an embarrassed smile spread to her lips.
“T-thank you very much...”
...Ahh, too cute! Just what kind of destructive power does an embarrassed Sasha hold!? Just how can she be so adorable!? If Laurier weren’t here, and she didn’t have another child in her stomach, I swear she couldn’t be a day over eighteen!
And in that way, I spent the rest of the day relaxing with my adorable wife and daughter... of course, I marked this down in my mind as one of the best days we’d spent all together as a family yet.
Yeah... After all, my wife and daughter are just too cute!